Category: News

Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0 Released

Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0 is released. Play it now!

The day has finally come. Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0 is now playable. We’ve been working on this update for over a year, and there are a lot of changes. The two big things added are skinnable graphics and a new power up system. There are about 800 tracks of music in the game now. We also added Luigi and Bass as playable characters, and because of the skinning system, it seems as if there are many more characters. For a full list of changes, see the version history.

Although I still did all of the programming, I had some help for this version. Zach Robinson did all of the custom graphics in the game and helped design the skinning system. Him and I are a team now and we’ll be working together on many future games. We also have custom music made by Mathew Valente. He’s been making Super Nintendo versions of the Blaster Master music. He’s not completely done, but you can hear a few of them in the game if you play as 16-bit SOPHIA. I’ll add the rest of the songs as he finishes them. He also made nsf versions of the Mega Man 9 and 10 soundtracks which we use in the game.

Sadly, there are a few problems in the game that I can’t do anything about at this current time because of the Flash platform. The music emulation will slow down the game for some people, especially Super Nintendo music. If this is the case for you, you can change the music console in the options menu. Adobe is releasing an update at some unknown time in the future that should address this. As soon as they release it, I’ll update the game.

The other small problem is that there is a delay when the game loads at the beginning because it is very heavily compressed. It may appear that the game is not working, but it will continue on after a few seconds. I apologize for that, but there doesn’t appear to be anything that can be done about it at this current time. This is what we get for cramming so much awesomeness into a flash game.

I’ve been working on this game for almost 3 years now. When I started, I knew nothing about making games or programming. With all of the experience I got from working on this, I now feel I’m ready to make my own game. Exploding Rabbit will now be shifting focus away from Super Mario Bros. Crossover to work on an original game, which we feel will be awesome. We’ll still update this game a few times a year with more skins, and I’ve mentioned before that we’ll add the Lost Levels in the next update. So we’ll still be updating this game, but it won’t have our full attention like it has in the past.

I expect that there will be bugs that were missed by the testers. Please report them in the bugs forum. I’m not going to fix every bug because the game is free and I could spend my whole life doing that, but I’ll be sure to get the important ones.

I am very happy this day has finally come. It’s been a lot of hard work, but it’s worth it to see it all come together. We hope you’ll enjoy playing Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0. We’re very excited to finally release it, and even more excited to start working on our awesome original game. Exploding Rabbit will entertain you for many years to come!

Interview with Nitro Game Injection

I’m doing an interview with Kyle Crouse and Larry Oji from the Nitro Game Injection podcast.

I’m doing an interview with Kyle Crouse and Larry Oji from the Nitro Game Injection podcast. I’m very excited because I’ve had a huge man crush on Larry since I met him last year at World’s Fair Use Day. The interview will be broadcast live at Arecibo Radio. After the interview I’ll update this post with a link to the archived version. The interview will be at 2:00 Pacific time tomorrow (Sunday).

Edit: The interview was a lot of fun. You can listen to the entire show here. My interview starts 27 minutes in and lasts for about an hour and 40 minutes. Also right before the interview starts you can hear me say “shut up” to Iggy. 🙂

Site gets Hacked, Forums get Upgraded

The website got hacked, so I took the opportunity to upgrade the forums.

So… the website got hacked a few days ago. I guess it was hacked mostly for fun and just because it was vulnerable. I talked to the hackers and found out that they got in through vBulletin. I never liked vBulletin, and it would have taken a long time to restore it back to how it was, so I just ended up starting fresh with some new forum software. The site should be much more secure now so I don’t expect to be hacked again.

The new software we’re using is called Xenforo, and it was made by the original creators of vBulletin. It’s a lot easier for me to maintain and it also runs much faster and smoother than vBulletin. I think everyone will really like it. The software is very new so I had to install a bunch of add-ons to get some of the functionality we had in vBulletin, but more stuff will be added as it gets upgraded.

I think most of the new stuff on the forums is self-explanatory. I’d recommend everyone upload new avatars because Xenforo supports higher resolution than vBulletin did. When you click on someone’s username, you’ll see a bigger avatar. The PM system is also pretty cool. They’re called “conversations” and it’s pretty similar to Facebook. Actually, a lot of stuff is similar to Facebook. I think it can communicate with Facebook also.

Oh yeah, and there’s another big thing I added that people have been requesting for a while. Chat. Yeah, now you can chat on the forums. When you’re logged in, there will be a bar across the bottom of the screen. You can use that to enter chatrooms or talk with people one-on-one. If you want someone to show up as a buddy in chat, you have to follow them in the forums. You can also create your own temporary chatrooms.

I think that’s most of the new stuff. We’re also gonna be moving the wiki to wikia for a number of reasons… mainly because it will be easier for me to maintain. Most people didn’t like the way it was set up on this site. So anyway, enjoy all the new stuff. I hope this will hold you over until the update to Super Mario Bros. Crossover comes out. And I haven’t been working on it lately since I’ve been working on the store and the new forums. It will be awesome when it comes out though.

Oh and I forgot to mention… all of the stuff from the old forums got imported except for the blogs. You can create new blogs, but the old ones are gone. It’s possible an importer might be created in the future, so don’t be surprised if all the old blogs show up at some point.

The Exploding Rabbit Store is Open For Business

The Exploding Rabbit store is launched and full of awesome video game merchandise.

Edit: The store is no longer available.

Greetings! For a long time, people have been requesting to buy shirts related to Super Mario Bros. Crossover and Exploding Rabbit. I’m happy to announce that that is now possible through the Exploding Rabbit Store. Since it’s just opening, we don’t have a ton of products yet, but there is still some pretty awesome stuff there. We have all the stuff you could want with your favorite exploding bunny on it, and we also have a few items related to the world famous “Downward Thrust”.

It’s pretty easy for us to make new products for the store, so feel free to make suggestions in the new Exploding Rabbit Store forum. We’ll probably also be pitching some of our own ideas there to see what you guys think. I’m hoping eventually the store will be pretty big and have stuff related to all kinds of video games. And maybe eventually we’ll be creating our own original games and have our own official artwork in there. It’s all very exciting.

Profits from the store will go towards making Exploding Rabbit more awesome, so you can feel good about the money you spend in there. And we did our best to make sure that the products are high quality, so you can buy with confidence. Anyway, start browsing the store and let us know what you think in the forum.

And I promise the update to Super Mario Bros. Crossover is coming. It’s just a really big update so it’s taking a long time. Have a great day!

Super Mario Bros. Crossover – One Year Anniversary

One year has passed since Super Mario Bros. Crossover was released and Exploding Rabbit was created.

One year ago today, at about 7pm central time, I posted a little game called Super Mario Bros. Crossover on Newgrounds. Just days before that, I launched the Exploding Rabbit website, although I consider today to be the anniversary of Exploding Rabbit as well. As everyone knows, the game was an instant success all around the world. I remember waking up the next day and practically having a heart attack when I saw how full my inbox was. Looking back, I can see how much I’ve grown as a person, and how much Exploding Rabbit has grown as a company/community. Back then, this website was nothing more than 3 or 4 pages. Now it’s huge and has a friendly community. The success of Super Mario Bros. Crossover brought many people with similar passions together, and I’m excited to see how things continue to expand.

Back then, Super Mario Bros. Crossover was only at version 1.0, and it lacked Ryu, SOPHIA III, difficulty levels, cheats, and many other features. Today, it’s at version 1.2, and the version I’m working on is much further along, although not ready to be released yet.

It’s pretty amazing thinking of how far everything has come in one year. It makes me wonder… if we could come this far in one year, just imagine where we will be next year, or in 5 years, or even 10 years. It will be amazing.

I know things have been pretty quiet lately. I’ve mainly been improving some stuff in my personal life and working on SMB Crossover for a few hours each day. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it is looking absolutely awesome. I’m looking forward to the day everyone will be able to see the skins in action, because they’re badass.

Anyway, happy anniversary Super Mario Bros. Crossover and Exploding Rabbit, and thanks everyone for your support. I will continue to operate at maximum downward thrust.

WFUD 2011 Panel: Remix in the Gaming Community

This is a video panel of World’s Fair Use Day 2011 talking about how fair use relates to independent video game projects.

Here’s a video of the panel I was on for World’s Fair Use Day. Also on the panel with me are the moderator, Josephine Dorado from the New School, and David Lloyd and Larry Oji from OC ReMix. We talk about how fair use relates to our video game projects. Obviously, the project I talk about is Super Mario Bros. Crossover.

Overall I was pretty happy with how the panel went. You probably can’t tell, but I was really nervous. I had to concentrate really hard just to drink a glass of water because my hand was shaking. After I said some stupid things and made people laugh, I felt more comfortable. There’s one question I answer near the end about Chrono Ressurection, but for some reason I was thinking of Crimson Echoes, so my answer makes no sense. But my mind went blank while I was talking, so my answer wouldn’t have made sense anyway.

Also, Larry Oji is awesome. I hope I get to hang out with him again sometime.

Super Mario Bros. Crossover Version 1.2 Released

Awesome! I am pleased to announce that version 1.2 is done! This version took me way longer than I thought it would, but I feel it was worth the wait. There is enough new stuff to make the game feel new again, which is always a requirement for me when I do an update.

Of course, the main attraction is the ability to play as SOPHIA the 3rd, from Blaster Master. She’s in the game fully equipped with hover, wall-climbing, homing missiles, and swimming controls. She was the most difficult thing to add to the update, but I think you’ll agree it was worth it when you see how much fun it is to play as her.

The next main feature I added is a new gameplay mode called “Survival Mode.” In this mode, when a character dies, they become unusable until you revive them with a 1-up mushroom. The catch is that you can only revive characters when you enter a new world (beat Bowser). It’s pretty fun, and it’s the way I originally intended the game to be played, so it’s nice to have it in now. I decided not to put it in at the beginning because I wanted the game to be more approachable, and the original version was sort of a demo anyway.

The other main feature is unlockable cheats. Each cheat has different conditions that must be met before it will be unlocked. Some cheats will be unlocked by killing a certain number of enemies, while others will require you to beat the game on a certain difficulty level. My favorite cheat in the game turns all enemies into Hammer Bros. Also, there is another cheat called “Evil Hammer Bros.” that makes all of the Hammer Bros. chase you. I challenge players to beat the game on Extreme mode with both “All Hammer Bros.” and “Evil Hammer Bros.” cheats enabled. I’ve played it a bit and it’s extremely challenging.

Also, there’s now a manual for the game on the wiki that’s maintained by the Exploding Rabbit community. Soon it will be updated with all the information from version 1.2. There’s also a lot of other stuff on the Super Mario Bros. Crossover wiki page, so feel free to check it out. If you ever want information on the game, that’s the place to find it.

I’ll be taking a break from the game after I fix any major bugs that are reported in this new version. I’m gonna be focusing on updating the website and working on some videos. It’s difficult to say when the next update will come out, but I do promise that it will be awesome just like this one and the previous one. I’d like to thank the amazing community of dedicated fans that helps me out with the game through encouragement and their vast knowledge of video games. I also want to thank anyone that plays the game. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to share Super Mario Bros. Crossover with you.

You can see a list of all changes in version 1.2 on the version history page. And of course, you can play the game here. Have fun!

Speaking at World’s Fair Use Day

I will be on a panel discussing fair use related to video game culture and remixing at World’s Fair Use Day on January 13th, 2011.

Whoa, someone wants me to speak in public! What are they thinking? I’m going to be on a panel discussing fair use related to video game culture and remixing at World’s Fair Use Day, held on January 13th in Washington DC. The other people on the panel will be David Lloyd (djpretzel) and Larry Oji (Liontamer) from OverClocked ReMix and Josephine Dorado from the New School. I’m a huge fan of OC ReMix, so I’m very excited about meeting David and Larry. I’m hoping to eventually make some of my own remixes to submit to OC ReMix.

I very much enjoy public speaking, but I never imagined I’d be doing it so soon. And this is awesome because I feel very passionate about fair use and video games, so it’s a great topic to talk about. If anyone lives near Washington DC, feel free to come to the event and hang out with me. I’ll be leaving right after Fair Use Day is over though because I’m getting married the next day, no joke.

The panel will be filmed and I’ll be posting a video on the website, so don’t feel bad if you can’t attend.