In the Mushrooms of Madness

August 12, 2015 6:58 PM

Mods and hacks for console games are becoming more common place as tools improve and resources for newcomers grow. However, the total conversion The Call of Cthulhu based on Super Mario World is in another class. The modder completely changes aspects of the engine, turning it into a twitch puzzler with mind bending graphical effects. You can watch the game speed-run here for a quicker glimpse of the game. Vinny, of VineSauce, as a commentated playthrough here.

A VineSauce forum member claims to have uploaded the ROM file here, although I haven't tested the file myself, and I would recommend caution downloading a zip file off of Dropbox.

posted by codacorolla (15 comments total)

The mod appears to originally be by a Spanish speaking creator, and I had difficulty finding a good copy on an English site. There are a few ROM sites out there hosting it, but they made my antivirus light up like a Christmas tree, so proceed with caution.
posted by codacorolla at 7:01 PM on August 12, 2015

I like the inversion on the boss fight. The visuals are impressive, too. The fact that the cheerful Mario jump noise stays the same my brain isn't quite sure what to do with.

This is incredible, though.
posted by Earthtopus at 7:14 PM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

It says in the youtube video title, but just to reiterate--the speed run link is to a tool-assisted speedrun (TAS) which is a type of speedrun on an emulator which uses (abuses?) the ability to rewind an emulator to any point in time as well as input shenanigans (like holding up+down at the same time, impossible on a controller). These tricks allow basically perfect play.
posted by TypographicalError at 7:45 PM on August 12, 2015

If you want more info about TAS, the guys behind TASBot at this year's Summer Games Done Quick gave a live demo.
posted by TypographicalError at 7:49 PM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

Quick pointer on the Vinesauce link too: That playthrough crashes about 3/4 of the way through (as I found to my disappointment). You might want to watch Part 2 (ie, the replay) if you're not looking for Vinnie's first impressions.
posted by solarion at 7:56 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

I question the authenticity a mod that retains Mario as its hero.

Lovecraft was absolutely terrified of swarthy Italians (among many, many other ethnicities).
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:05 PM on August 12, 2015 [16 favorites]

This is the last time I buy a game from Vinny.
posted by BiggerJ at 9:23 PM on August 12, 2015

solarion: I'm sure the link will be added to the OP if you ask a mod or admin or petition the Grand High Arbiter or something.
posted by BiggerJ at 11:34 PM on August 12, 2015

I tried the dropbox ROM and it works so far with zsnes and the pc hasn't exploded. Of course dropbox has Condileeza's stench on it so now I feel dirty.
posted by adept256 at 5:38 AM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

That opening map screen of Mario standing alone in the depths of an uncaring cosmos made me laugh louder than I expected.
posted by FatherDagon at 10:35 AM on August 13, 2015

Watched the video. Interesting.

I think Eversion does a much better job of merging hop-n-bop gameplay with Lovecraft though.
posted by egypturnash at 2:33 PM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

What is the music? It sounds kind of like its from Chrono Trigger, but I'm not as confident as I should be, which makes me think it's not.
posted by Caduceus at 5:10 PM on August 13, 2015

Oh, the stuff with the foreground and background is really clever.
posted by Caduceus at 5:14 PM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Some of the music is borrowed from... I think Final Fantasy 4. Some from a Zelda game. I expect it's from lots of different titles.
posted by Archelaus at 7:03 PM on August 13, 2015

The two-speed scrolling thing, if I remember correctly, is an unused feature of Super Mario World's game engine.

The music in the final boss fight is the final boss music from Castlevania III.
posted by JHarris at 8:45 PM on August 13, 2015