First Level Of ‘Super Mario 64’ Remastered In Unity, Playable In Browser

With the 20th anniversary of the seminal “Super Mario 64” looming on the horizon, fans will no doubt be hoping for something special from Nintendo to commemorate the landmark release. However, even if the Big N fails to do so, gamers can relive some of the memories in glorious HD, thanks to the efforts of one developer.

Computer science student Erik Ross has rebuilt the very first level of “Super Mario 64” using the popular Unity game engine. The experiment is free to download from Erik’s Blog and is easily playable in a browser window. To play in a browser, simply click here, agree to load the Unity web plugin, wait for the level to load and begin playing. Ross has implemented both keyboard and mouse controls as well as support for Xbox gamepads, but insists he has no desire to continue development.

“I currently do not have any plans to develop this any further or to resolve any bugs, unless they’re horrendously gamebreaking and horrendously simple to fix. This project is provided as-is, and you are free to use it for any purposes you like, with the exception of selling it for profit,” he said.

The experiment provides a glimpse at what a remastered, HD version of “Super Mario 64” might look like if given a Galaxy-esque coat of paint. The experiment was built by Ross to demonstrate a custom-built Unity plugin he created called the Super Character Controller. The Super Character Controller is available as a free download, and allows Unity developers to add common character controller functions to characters.

As noted by PCWorld, the popular Unity engine was made entirely free to use at the recently concluded Game Developer’s Conference. Version 5 of the Unity engine features advanced graphics rendering features, including physically based shaders, real-time global illumination, a revamped editor, a new audio mixer and much more. Unity has long been a popular choice for independent developers and hobbyists alike.

(Credit: YouTube/Erik Ross)

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