Mari0 is the original NES Mario but crossed over with Portal, yes that’s right, Portal. Mari0 is not a Rom hack or anything like that. It was built from scratch by those guys over at Stabyourself.net, and if I know anything about those guys it’s that they make the most challenging games ever. The first thing you will want to know about this game is that it is the exact same game as the NES Mario, the only difference is new customization, and a portal gun.
This game can be extremely irritating, or it can be extremely fun, it all depends on how you use the portal gun. You could use it to get across the maps at record time, or you could do it my way and mess around with the 2D portal gun physics until you remember there is a time limit and then lose because of said time limit. You can use the portal gun to move enemies around, move yourself around, or accidentally move the power up you were going to get off of a ledge. I would have to say the portal gun is very useful, but hard to use. This game also has multiplayer where you actually play at the same time unlike the taking turns style the original Mario had. Altogether I would have to say that the gameplay is just what you would expect with a NES Mario but with so much more.
The Customization: In the game you can control your character with a PS3/Xbox controller or set key mappings and use the mouse to aim the portal gun. You also have the option to take control of what your character looks like with hats and RGB sliders to change his clothes and skin color. Oh, did I mention this game also has a full-scale level editor?
The tile selection screen in the level editor
The character Customization screen has a lot to offer, if a lot to offer means hats and color to you.
The customization in this game truly amazes me, you can create your own Mario game if you want to, it even allows you to create custom textures for your own map pack. This game is one of the most customizable games I have seen in a while, and I am sure you will enjoy that aspect of it. It also has different shaders you can add to make the game look smoother, brighter, more pixellated, and much more.
Altogether, Mari0 delivers a great experience full of customization, portals, and maps. If you want to get it it’s for PC, Mac, and Linux.