It’s January 14th, 2008, and I’ve just downloaded Pavlov’s experiment in gaming demos.  Super Mario Fusion for the PC is a homebrew fan game, and I’m here to drop it on you like a hot and steaming Fire Flower.  Let’s begin.

Super Mario Fusion is based on the Hello III Engine, a system used to make a good many Mario fan games in the past.  If you’ve got your finger on the homebrew scene, you’ve probably played more than a couple.  Level designs vary from creator to creator, from fun to crap.  The creator, JudgeSpear, shows good design capabilities, but that isn’t what makes SMF the new "must play" of the new year.

The demo, only just released, gives 6 unique levels to play in, and a few basic or regurgitated levels from the source engine.  At this point, its a proof of concept demo, but what we get is by no means unpolished.  The engine plays comfortably like a Mario game, played out somewhat difficultly on the keyboard using the arrow keys and the Shift (jump), Ctrl (run/fireball/lift/etc), and Spacebar (release Mario World style reserve item) keys.  Or, you can use the Z, X, and C keys, which is a little more comfortable, and doesn’t have the problem of triggering Windows Sticky Keys when jumping repeatedly.  If you have a gamepad, I’d recommend snagging JoyToKey (or similar software) and mapping the keys to it for a far better Mario experience.

We start on the over world map, similar to SMB3, and can wander straight to any level we wish.  There are Toad Houses with SMB3 power-ups for the offering, including the normally elusive Hammer Brother suit.  There’s also a yellow switch palace and a not so mobile Hammer Brother encounter.

Starting from the beginning, we have a couple basic Mario-esque levels.  Well designed, but not special in any way.  "The Entryway" sets the stage with standard jumping, killing, swimming, and just all around a little of everything we’ve come to know in a Mario game, mashed into one with a flagpole at the end.  Both traditional enemies, SMB2 throwable enemies, and some late-series enemies make an appearance.  Level 2, "Storm Canyon", steps it up a bit with a darker, stormy atmosphere leading into a smokey, spooky cave.  The difficulty is stepped up a little, and if you’re not comfortable with the controls, you’ll probably die.  It’s still Mario style challenges, including a Starman gauntlet the likes of which we saw in SMB3.

Beginning with Level 3, "Lair of the Leviathan", the game takes its own twist.  You enter the gut of a giant sea monster, ala Bonk’s Adventure or Joe and Mac.  The twisted tunnels of flesh throw plenty of spikes, platforming, and Dry Bones (that skeleton turtle that just won’t die) along the way.  Pipes are even reskinned to match the digestive motif.  It’s challenging and well made.

Level 5 (4 isn’t finished) may be the sole reason you pick up this demo, as Mario enters a beautiful 16-bit recreation of Bubble Man’s level from Mega Man 2, complete with coins and question blocks.  The enemies are mostly the same, but have to be dealt with using Mario’s abilities, rather than with a Mega Buster.  (Of course, if you have a Fire Flower, blasting is always an option.)  The hermit crabs can be held and kicked like Koopa Troopas.  Several enemies can be jumped on or thrown (SMB2 style).  In true Mega Man fashion, the level concludes with you against the classic Bubble Man, who can be beat either with a Fire Flower, or jumping on his Bubble Leads, and throwing them back at him.  Lots of fun.  Here’s a video by the creator with a play through of Level 5, and a preview of Level 9, which I’ll get to.  Watch now, if you’re impatient.

Level 6 is the Mystic Forest.  Or, at least it will be.  Available for little more than quick power-ups, and a general tech demo, there’s not much there.

Lastly available (not counting engine demos, mushroom houses, and the like) is Level 9, the Covenant Assault.  Probably as valued as the Mega Man stage, this places Mario against the likes of the Covenant from the Halo series.  Many of the enemies are extremely difficult to kill, and sport guns of which Mario can pick up and blast them back with.  Its a cross-over the likes of which boggles the mind, but in a really entertaining sort of way.  Much of the material comes from the free title Halo Zero (as of this writing, the homepage is suspended, but this leads to one of many download sites), another good platformer in the vein of Abuse, the shooter I briefly pimped in the XO article.

Being only the first beta release, there’s still a lot to come, should the author see the project through.  In the works are levels inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog, Castlevania, Ghouls & Ghosts, Shoot ‘em ups such as Gradius and R-Type (should be interesting to see how those get converted), Kirby, Donkey Kong, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and whatever a crazed mind can come up with.  The creator will likely keep posting videos of new levels on their YouTube channel, so keep an eye out for new developments.

• JudgeSpear’s new YouTube Channel
• Download Super Mario Fusion Beta v.0.0.0.1 (on megaupload.com, so no saying how long the link will stay functional)
• My page stats show people are still clicking the old download link, which doesn’t work anymore.  Go to the forum links below to get the latest versions.

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