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Super Ear Man Bros.
The latest Super Mario Brothers fan remake is called Super 耳男 Bros. (Yes, the abbreviation "Bros." is part of the official title.) Loosely translated as "Super Ear Man Bros.," the game is a heavily modified version of the original SMB title for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. In Ear Man, however, the game is all about suffering and frustration rather than family-friendly fun. Designed to be nearly unplayable in its complexity -- full of "gotcha" hidden blocks, fireballs, and hard-to-avoid enemies preventing movement at every turn -- the game seems more of a life lesson in failure than entertainment. But one fan, Erik Kastner, has played through the entire game and posted a recording (below). My favorite part is around 1:45 in the video, when the level-end castle turns into a robot and attacks Mario. Watch and be amazed (or just supremely frustrated).
Super Ear Man Bros. (SUPER耳男BROS) from kastner on Vimeo.
To play the game online, click here twice (oddly, you have to visit the site, hit Back, then click again). All you need to know: press Z to jump and don't panic. Also, for some reason I could only get it to work on Windows. Sorry, Mac users! See also: a complete walkthrough (in Japanese).
For SMB completists, here's some previous _floss coverage: Acceleration Due to Gravity: Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario World + Quantum Physics = Lots of Fun, Five Super Mario Brothers Videos, Knitting 'Super Mario Brothers,' Level One, Lunchtime Quiz: Mario Villain or Obscure Dinosaur?
(Via Waxy.org.)