Highlights

  • Modder Joshua Barretto recreates Super Mario 64 on GBA with impressive progress.
  • Early stages of the project show Mario performing moves and first level playability.
  • Nintendo's response to the fan project remains uncertain, but modders continue to achieve feats with Super Mario 64.

A modder is rebuilding Super Mario 64 to be playable on the Game Boy Advance. While the task may seem impossible at first glance, as the Game Boy Advance’s hardware is not as powerful as the N64, this modder is achieving amazing progress in their Super Mario 64 recreation.

Released in 1996, Super Mario 64 is not only one of the best Nintendo 64 games but also one of the most beloved titles of all time. The game was Nintendo’s first attempt to move its most prominent franchise to 3D, and it was a huge hit, selling almost 12 million units on the N64.

Mario 64 Luigi Multiplayer
Related
Old Footage Shows Luigi in Super Mario 64

Some really old footage of an early build of Super Mario 64 shows that Luigi was planned to be playable in the game before being scrapped.

A Super Mario fan called Joshua Barretto shared a video update of their Super Mario 64 recreated on the GBA a few days ago. Barretto initially wanted to try a direct port using the game’s code, but that proved troublesome, so they decided to rebuild the code from scratch, and the current results are amazing. In early May, Barreto shared a video in which Mario was a red triangle that looked very rough, and in less than two whole months, the game’s first level is already playable.

Modder Joshua Barretto Shares Progress on Super Mario 64 Recreated on the GBA

Barretto’s Super Mario 64 for GBA currently runs somewhat smoothly between 20-30 FPS, and Mario can perform several moves such as somersaulting, crouching, and long jumping. While not everything is running perfectly, it’s frankly amazing to see one of the best Super Mario games running on a GBA. The project is still in the early stages, but Barretto intends the full game to be playable on the GBA. Hopefully, the project won’t get a cease-and-desist letter from Nintendo, which is often hostile against fan projects using its properties.

Super Mario 64 has been living through a sort of renaissance in recent years, as modders and hardcore players keep achieving major feats with the game. Back in May, a gamer finished Super Mario 64 without using the A button to jump. This was a huge feat, which had been attempted since the early 2000s by different gamers, and this player only managed to do it after keeping the game running for 86 hours, exploiting a rare occurrence that only happens when playing on the Wii Virtual Console.

Soon before that, another gamer opened Super Mario 64’s unopenable door for the first time without using any mods. Located in the Snow World region, this door puzzled the community for decades until the gamer used a very complicated process to open it.