Another week, another legendary gaming IP brought into the real world with mixed reality. This time it’s from arguably the most recognisable videogame IP on the planet; Super Mario running on Microsoft’s HoloLens.
VR and MR engineer Niu recently posted a look at this experimental project, which is of course entirely unofficial, on Twitter. A short clip shows Mario as he first appeared in Super Mario Bros on the NES in 1985. Instead of parading through the Mushroom Kingdom, though, the Italian plumber is now in our world.
好きなところにマリオを出現させて歩きまわらせられるアプリを作りました。 pic.twitter.com/DVKTIeuqZP
— niu（にぅ） (@niusounds) May 20, 2017
Using HoloLens’ depth sensing Mario traverses a bedroom, jumping over tables and surfaces, occasionally falling to the floor. He doesn’t just walk from side to side, either; he’s fully capable of accessing the full depth of the room. Though not without bugs, it looks startlingly accurate; at one point in a subway he even falls through the crack between the train and the platform.
Sadly you’re not likely to ever get to play this take on Nintendo’s beloved character. Nintendo itself has been fairly non-comital about VR, let alone MR and we doubted he’d ever see the company release something for Microsoft’s HoloLens.
Mario is just the latest in a line of classic gaming franchises we’ve seen adapted into intriguing MR prototypes. Just last week we saw Rocket League adapted into a table-sized diorama, and earlier this year Valve’s Portal series was brought into the real world in an amazing way. HoloLens itself is still only available as a $3,000 developer edition, so it’ll be a while until this technology and similar experiences will be available to consumers.
Maybe we should start setting developers challenges for other IP we’d love to see in the real world. Personally I’d vote Loco Roco; what would you like to see?
