A new video of a Super Mario 64 mod shows off a new mode of play that the classic platformer never had. YouTuber and well-known Mario 64 ROM hacker Kaze Emanuar recently released a video showing of splitscreen co-op in the game.
Emanaur is a modder best known for hacks such as Super Mario 64: Last Impact and Super Mario 64 Land. The latter added added 75 new music tracks, 8 new bosses, and 32 new levels to the N64 classic. His modding work on Mario stretches back almost a decade now. Emanaur's efforts have contributed to sustainability of the Mario 64 community.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Emanaur walks viewers through the two-player split-screen mode. Using an N64 and a Mario 64 ROMhack, players can use two N64 controllers to play as Mario and Luigi in a split-screen version of the game that lets the brothers run around at the same time. If one player opens a door or goes into a level, both players will spawn holding hands at the beginning of the following area. It's a bit rough in terms of framerate, but it does indeed work on an N64.
The video proves Nintendo could have added split-screen to Mario 64, but it would have taken way more time and the game would have run at a choppy framerate. The mod won't be released until February and the video was released to build hype but not too much hype, according to Emanaur.
In a decade already full of great Mario games, it is important to recognize the active communities surrounding older games in the series. The popularity of speed-running and Kaizo level creation around Super Mario World and the other 2D Mario platformers are a major reason that Super Mario Maker and its sequel exist. Nintendo, however, doesn't exactly have a history of being appreciative of this section of its fanbase.
Nintendo is notoriously litigious with its properties and the creator of this mod is no stranger to those. In 2017, his Super Mario Online mod was taken down and 20 videos related to the game from his YouTube channel were removed. In the video he talks about the legality of releasing the mod.
"Since a patch only includes my own code and stuff I can actually release it legally," Emanaur said in the video, "but technically it's illegal or Nintendo can take it down if I upload a video of their Mario game so that's what I got the copyright strike for."
Super Mario 64 is available for the Nintendo 64.