Can you imagine if I told you that back in 1990, ID Software developed a PC version of Super Mario Bros 3 and submitted it to Nintendo? I think you would be excited and curious to find out what happened to it. Yes, John Romero briefly demonstrated it back in 2015, but that was all. We didn't think it would become loose in the wild. Fortunately, it has found its rightful place at the Strong National Museum of Play thanks to a contribution. Andrew Borman, Curator of Digital Games at The Strong, recently revealed the finding of this peculiar oddity.
Ars Technica was able to get some further intriguing information on the donation's beginnings, but for obvious reasons, they chose not to reveal the donor's name. "A game developer was the donor," Borman revealed to Ars. It seems that the donor acquired the game at some time in their career rather than personally contributing to its development. Thankfully, it's now at a museum, where it will be kept for, you guessed it, "research purposes." No, it will not in fact.
Potentialities
Super Mario Bros. 3 is a game. ID Software (formerly known as Ideas from the Deep) produced a PC version as a kind of demo in order to propose the idea to Nintendo. In addition to recoding the game for the PC, it sought to enhance the side-scrolling gameplay with new features. We all know how it ended, I believe. As a result, Ideas from the Deep shelved this project and proceeded to produce a few. It has its own hits, such as the Commander Keen series, which are comparable.
The demo's contents are playable despite being quite rudimentary. Levels 1-4 from the game are included, although several elements are missing since it seems like the project was barely completed a week before it was presented.
In any case, this Super Mario Bros 3 PC demo will stay at the Strong going forward as a memento of what may have been an intriguing collaboration between two of the biggest names in the business today.
pic.twitter.com/j0tLgNxz3l @museumofplay — Borman, Andrew (@Borman18) Thirteen July, 2021
Comments