Luigi Bros.

[oRBIT2002]

A modified version of the NES-game "Mario Bros." (named "Luigi Bros") will be included in upcoming "Super Mario 3D World" for WiiU.
Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds0X4QkfeC4

A ROM-hack by Nintendo or do you think they have the sourcecode left for this stuff (unlikely?) to make this kind of modifications.

[tokumaru]

So, is this just a palette swap?

[qbradq]

My guess is the disassemblies that have been posted in the past 10 years would be better to base a rework on than the original sources

[tepples]

Are you sure it's even emulated, as opposed to just being Mario Bros. from Super Mario Advance recompiled for Wii U with retraux graphics?

What Mario Bros. disassembly? I'm aware of SMB1, but not Mario Bros.

[qbradq]

Ah, didn't get that this was "Mario Bros." instead of SMB. I'm at work so I didn't watch the video

[Dwedit]

It's obviously an emulation, since it would take way too much work to recreate something that accurate to the NES game. It also can't be a reskin of the GBA game, since the GBA game has far better controls than the first NES version.

[Gilbert]

I wonder how two-player mode will be like. So, just swap the two players and Mario becomes player 2? If it's just that it's a bit, errrr, unexciting. Hopefully there is something different about the second player character.

I originally thought that they scraped the 2-player modes so only Luigi is left as playable character, but after seeing the title screen again, these modes are obviously still there.

[rainwarrior]

Why would you need source code to do such a minor and graphical-only change? I don't think it would help either way if they had or didn't have the original source.

[oRBIT2002]

It looks like they have:
1) Modified the startscreen ("LUIGI BROS" instead of "MARIO BROS")
2) The blinking "PRESS START"
3) Palette-switch (Player 1 = Luigi, Player 2 = Mario (most likely anyway) ).

I guess 1 & 3 would be pretty easy to hack, 2) would probably need some codechanges.

[LocalH]

If it's anything like DK Original Edition, the code for that flashing PRESS START is nowhere near the efficiency of their old coding.

[tepples]

So why did they put it in at all? Was it a change in lot check requirements?

[rainwarrior]

Maybe they just thought it was sensible to tell the user what to do instead of let them guess how to leave the title screen.

[qbradq]

My guess is internal marketing. You have to convince your upper management that you've done something worth your paycheck, and hacking an old product without the source with easily visible results is a great way to do it. That flashing "PRESS START" could have been the internal kludge to get this green-lit.

Then again I'm marred by big-business sensizim

[oRBIT2002]

I can now confirm that player 2 is not Mario, it's Luigi. Player 1 is Luigi aswell but has a slightly different green colour than player 2.