Super Mario 64 gets 'horrific yet impressive' demake on forbidden hardware

Super Mario 64 was a revolutionary game when it launched on the Nintendo 64, though had it been released on the following console instead Nintendo might have ended up bankrupt…

Nintendo’s infamous 3D platformer is available on so many consoles and since gamers found a way to port it to the PC it’s taken on many different forms.

The one we’re highlighting today is Super Mario 64 if it was released on the Atari Jaguar, and its straight-up nightmare fuel.

YouTuber Budfolk is responsible for this unique build of the game and has made it clear that they don’t plan on releasing a public demo. The project is just a bit of fun and was created “purely to explore what the Atari Jaguar hardware can do.”

Turns out it can indeed run Super Mario 64, just not in the way Nintendo, or God, intended.

The opening romp around Peach’s castle is fairly normal. It’s far more pixelated than usual, but it works, sort of.

Textures are all over the place and when Mario enters Bob-Omb Battlefield he’s greeted by Koopa the Quick phasing through the floor.

That’s not even the worst part though. The worst part is when he runs up the hill and meets the Chain Chomp. I don’t even know how to describe it other than a rabid emoji. It gave me a good chuckle though.

Eventually Mario finds his way to the top of the mountain, fights a GIF of King Bob-Omb and saunters off with a star.

Despite some scary looking enemies this demake of Super Mario 64 looks like an absolute blast. Don’t get us wrong, had this been what the game actually looked like when it first released it would have nowhere near the notoriety that it does now, but it’s a cool little side-project nonetheless.

It’s also not the only fan-made demake you’ll find online…

From Bloodborne PSX to Halo: Combat Devolved; we need more demakes!

The Super Mario 64 Atari Jaguar port is just one of many impressive ‘demakes’ you’ll find online.

One of the more famous examples is the PS1 version of Bloodborne, which reimagined Sony’s exclusive as a game made for its first ever console. It featured the same general gameplay, but obviously at a much slower pace. Despite this I’d still love to play a full version.

While you’ll never get to see it become a fully-fledged release it did get a neat spin-off called Bloodborne Kart, which was later stripped of its Bloodborne influences and renamed to Nightmare Kart. You can still play it on Steam to this day.

Other popular demakes take inspiration from the Nintendo Game Boy of all things. We’ve seen versions of both Dead Space and Silent Hill 2 made for Nintendo’s handheld console, but the best example is undoubtedly a Game Boy Color version of Halo: Combat Evolved.

Hopefully we see a few more examples in the near future. They’re fun glimpses into what could have been had these legendary video game developers gone down different paths, and they’re leagues better than the AI slop crossovers we’ve been seeing recently…

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