Someone Hacked Mouse Support Into ‘Super Mario World’

Though Super Mario World was released nearly 27 years ago, people are still discovering new ways to mess around with one of Nintendo's all-time classics. Thanks to a new exploit, it's now possible to run original code directly on a Super Mario World cartridge, allowing hackers to develop their own mods for the game without the requirement of ROMs or emulators. One of the early mods, developed by YouTube creator SethBling, adds mouse support via the SNES mouse.

(You might have heard of SethBling because of the wild creations he makes in games like Minecraft, like an elaborate mouse trap or a playable version of the mobile game Angry Birds. He makes tinkering accessible to a wide audience.)

A few days ago, SethBling published a video explaining how the exploit lead him and others to pull this off. Though technical in nature—get ready to learn about Hex editors!—SethBling is very good at making everything accessible to laymen. Despite not knowing how to code, I could follow along.

Once this breakthrough was established, and tools were developed to craft mods, SethBling and others started experimenting. It's now possible to,say, give Mario telepathic abilities—or control elements of the game with a mouse!

SethBling teased mouse support in the original video, but it's now real.

He didn't add support for the mouse you might be using to view this story, but one Nintendo specifically made for the SNES. Most people probably remember the SNES mouse because of Mario Paint, but lots of other games—Revolution X, Jurassic Park, Doom—were also compatible with it. (Where's Mario Paint Switch??) When used in conjunction with another player, it becomes a powerful tool.

You can, for example, remove objects from Mario's hand and attack enemies:

Or grab pieces of the geometry and make a moving platform for Mario:

It's weird, interesting, and underscores how, to many, the underbelly of games are a complete mystery. Though many games, especially Nintendo ones, are controlled and coordinated experiences, with a little bit of digital elbow grease, we can finally start seeing how it all works. If you'd like to do your own tinkering, more information is in this YouTube description.

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