Super Mario Bros 3 PC Prototype from id Software
usgamernetCited 3× on HN, 2019–2023
demo · general · evergreen · 2019–2023 on HN
A short clip of the Super Mario Bros 3 proof-of-concept PC port built by id Software's founders to pitch Nintendo on a PC version. Nintendo passed, and the same technology led to Commander Keen.
Cited as footage of a famous piece of gaming history whenever id Software, Commander Keen, or scrolling tech comes up.
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3 comments from Hacker News
They actually did a port of SMB3 and presented that to Nintendo. When Nintendo didn’t bite, they made new assets to make what became Keen. Here’s a video of the port: ▶ this video
One of the things that I wish was available to customers on a regular basis is the playable demo that was pitched to a company for a game that gets picked up. An example of this would be id software's demo for Super Mario Bros 3 on the PC[0] (even though that didn't get picked up). [0] ▶ this video
The smooth scrolling is pretty hard. One of my favorite bits of Masters of Doom about id Software was when they hacked a port of Super Mario Bros 3 to the PC, but as history can tell, Nintendo didn't bite on that one. ▶ this video