Super Mario Bros 3 PC Prototype from id Software

usgamernet · 155.2K views · 2015-12-14 · 6:08

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Overview

A short clip of the Super Mario Bros 3 proof-of-concept PC port built by id Software's founders to pitch Nintendo on a PC version. Nintendo passed, and the same technology led to Commander Keen.

On Hacker News

Cited as footage of a famous piece of gaming history whenever id Software, Commander Keen, or scrolling tech comes up.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2019–2023

Topics

Game history & retro gaming Tech company stories & documentaries

What people said

enneff · 2023-07 · Reference
They actually did a port of SMB3 and presented that to Nintendo. When Nintendo didn’t bite, they made new assets to make what became Keen. Here’s a video of the port: [VIDEO]
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ohithereyou · 2019-06 · Reference
One of the things that I wish was available to customers on a regular basis is the playable demo that was pitched to a company for a game that gets picked up. An example of this would be id software's demo for Super Mario Bros 3 on the PC[0] (even though that didn't get picked up). [0] [VIDEO]
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gaogao · 2019-04 · Reference
The smooth scrolling is pretty hard. One of my favorite bits of Masters of Doom about id Software was when they hacked a port of Super Mario Bros 3 to the PC, but as history can tell, Nintendo didn't bite on that one. [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by usgamernet, played through YouTube.

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