One upcoming, truly bonkers Super Mario 64 mod sends our beloved plumber across the multiverse to, among other things, absolutely rip and tear demons.
The Mario in the Multiverse mod uses the 1996 platformer's still solid bones to build a wild adventure across some of pop culture's most recognizable locales. The teaser trailer below practically flips through references at light speed - someone has probably taken count of every universe that Mario jumps through, but my eyes could just about spot Spongebob, Splatoon, Rayman 3, Pokemon, Doom, Crash Bandicoot, Half-Life, and Katana Zero.
Mods are so great because they open the door to possibilities that cowardly corporations wouldn't have the guts (or legal rights) to actualise, like, for example, Doomguy frolicking around Mario's Bomb-Omb Battlefield level. The infinite power of mods mean that the opposite concept can also exist in the same realm, evidenced by the Mario in the Multiverse clip below.
The fun part about Mario in the Multiverse? You can play DOOM like DOOM or play DOOM like Katana Zero; the choice is yours, my friend! pic.twitter.com/Z05kOyW8mMAugust 16, 2024
Yes, that's three Super Mario blasting demons into fleshy sprite chunks, all while showing off some acrobatics. He even cosplays as side-scrolling slash 'em up Katana Zero's protag for some bullet time parrying.
"The fun part about Mario in the Multiverse? You can play DOOM like DOOM or play DOOM like Katana Zero," modder Rovertronic tweeted. "Inversely, you can play Katana Zero like DOOM, if you'd like." I'm guessing the odd focus on Katana Zero is probably a way to cope with the indie's seven-year-wait for DLC.
🍷 Mario's a bit tipsy tonight... Maybe he had one too many shots... oopsies! pic.twitter.com/EC8zwBgXzOAugust 4, 2024
There's no release date yet for the wild multiverse-spanning mod, though Rovertronic says it's "very close to being completed but needs a lot of polish."
For now, other modders have been remixing the moustachioed plumber's adventures in all sorts of other fun ways. One turned Super Mario 64 into a pseudo-roguelike with an infinite amount of randomly-generated levels, while another enabled 16-player multiplayer and custom characters in the classic platformer.
