Today is the three year anniversary of Super Mario Bros. Crossover, so we figured it was a good day to release the trailer for version 3.0. Finally, we’re going to have more levels. We decided to take the levels from an obscure Mario game called Super Mario Bros. Special. It is a pretty weird game that even has some new items and enemies. Playing the game is an absolute nightmare because it’s on an old Japanese computer and it has many technical limitations. Now that it’s playable in SMBC, it can finally be enjoyed like other Mario games. Also, I know that people want The Lost Levels in the game, but we decided to do “Special” first since it’s something different. We’ll be working on The Lost Levels for a future update.
The other big feature we’re adding is levels that change based on difficulty. This means if you play on easy mode, you’ll play an easier version of each level, and for hard mode, a harder version. I really enjoy the hard mode levels. Since I’ve played the game so many times, I’m used to playing through the levels pretty quickly, but on hard mode, I have to stop and think about what I’m doing. It’s really fun, and it plays with the player’s expectations. Easy mode is also fun. Instead of just making the levels easier, we added tons of coins. It makes you want to collect as many as you can so it changes the gameplay a bit.
And of course, there are new skins. Many of the skins in the trailer were released in version 2.1, but I included them since many people may not be aware of them. The new map skins are Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES and SNES), Super Mario Bros. Special, Atari, and Castlevania. There are also some new character skins that were not shown in the trailer only because there is so much stuff in the game it’s difficult to show it all. As mentioned in the trailer, the new version will be released in May or June.
In addition to the three year anniversary of SMBC, it is also the three year anniversary of Exploding Rabbit. It’s always fun to look back on the anniversary and see where I was last year. If you would have told me one year ago that I was going to raise $53,000 and move across the country to work with people I never met on a commercial game, I would have told you that you’re crazy… and I still think you’re crazy, but that’s what happened.
We finally seem to be settled into the house and have most of our finances and lives in order, so we’re able to get a lot more work done now. I think you’ll notice that you’re going to see a lot more stuff from us now because of that. I’m also focusing a lot more on being more social and transparent online, so there shouldn’t be any long gaps of silence from us. I’m hoping to release videos pretty regularly now, and maybe, for once, I’ll be able to do it.
And I’m sure you noticed, but we have an updated logo. It’s a bit more colorful and fun, and I think it fits the company well (although it almost seems too colorful for the current design of the site, but let’s just ignore that for now).
Hmm… I seem to be writing a lot, and lots of text on one page scares me, so I’ll stop. Happy anniversary to everyone, and thanks for helping to make my life a crazy adventure.
