It certainly doesn't make for a good name, but Tuper Tario Tros.—seriously!—at least makes for an interesting concept. The Flash-based game recreates most of Super Mario Bros. World 1-1, letting the player fill in the blanks and reach new heights by dropping tetriminoes from a Lakitu to build new platforms and drop mushrooms.

Tuper Tario Tros. is a fun experiment, but after years of being conditioned to press the space bar to jump, it's not the easiest thing in the world to play. But play it anyway.

Tuper Tario Tros. [Newgrounds via Waxy]

It's really not all that funny. I'd say slightly disturbing is more like it. Mario and Luigi are portrayed as the drug-crazed maniacs they'd likely be if they were real boys, and it isn't pretty. Mario's teeth in particular will be giving me nightmares for weeks to come.

Oh, and please blame Chris A for sending us this link. Thanks, Chris.

The personal blog 2-Bit Wasteland takes a sometimes irreverent, sometimes idealized look at the grunts of gaming's enemy forces. They're different that a boss and his motivation exists in a game either "to build sympathy for the protagonist and encourage the player to rally behind him," or "to flesh out the enemy and make him a more three dimensional character, often furthering the player's understanding of the hero's ordeal."

Waves of grunts? A different story. Or non-story. 2-Bit Wasteland seems to indicate they represent an opportunity - more characters through which a game may extend the narrative. In many games, I could see how integrating everyone into the story would make it prohibitively dense. But if only for the humor, let us consider what might motivate anonymous, ubiquitous cannon fodder like the goomba.

The Life of a Goomba: A Grunt's Motivation? [2-Bit Wasteland, Dec. 18]
This raises a lot of questions, for example why are Goombas working for Bowser? Do they simply obey out of fear? Does Bowser have some kind of mind control? Or does he offer a great BUPA health insurance plan with benefits? Here lies the major flaw with games today: bog standard enemies have no motivation for their actions, and players disregard this flaw as if it's ok. Perhaps it seems trivial to consider this when talking about Super Mario Bros but the fact is very few games have evolved from this extremely basic premise. If you stop to actually think about it does anyone else consider that Mario might be the bad guy? Almost every single creature in several different worlds seems to pit themselves against Mario and put their lives on the line. Nobody stops to deliberate that he might be the evil one. Just because Bowser looks a bit nasty everyone thinks he's a baddie. Maybe he was just trying to overthrow the monarchy, Perhaps Peach raised the taxes too far. Perhaps she sent all the Koopa peasants to live in the lava world whilst she got the nice castle off their hard working backs. Doesn't seem so unreasonable now does it? Perhaps Bowser was a freedom fighter and maybe Mario was a puppet knight of the monarchy who mercilessly went world to world slaughtering all who passed him. Maybe not, the point is we don't know.

Some people just never admit when they're in the wrong

There are games that do this right, Gears of War pits you against the fearsome Locust race who rise from beneath the earth to lay waste to humanity. The genius of this race is that whilst you don't agree with their motivation you can understand it. Humanity landed and ravaged the surface of their planet and then destroyed a large portion of their species when they emerged from beneath. Furthermore the race design paints them as some giant mutated insects - they all obey a "Queen" and think as a single mind. In a twist the bosses in Gears tend to have less motivation and are more often larger creatures often who The Locust cant control themselves e.g. The Berserker, a blind charging beast, who thinks of nothing else other than tearing you limb from limb. The genius of this and Gear's story is that it gives you just enough information leaving the player to speculate. This becomes particularly effective in the 'Sires' section of the second game. So why don't other games do it? Laziness? Probably not, it's more likely the design and time constraints of game creation naturally result in shortcomings such as these.

Worth note is Shadow of the Colossus which pits the player against large roaming beasts that traverse the land. The brilliance of these creatures is that they pose no direct threat to you and are simply there for you to kill for your own selfish deeds. Its a unique dynamic where the player's motivation takes a back seat as Wanderer destroys these creatures to restore life to his love. The complete lack of 'grunt' enemies gives the game a sparse feel which results in a lonely journey that is accompanied with a constant feeling of dread. A brilliance not paralleled in any game since. Anyway back to the task in hand.

Evolution is required. No longer can we face off against meaningless enemies without reason. And I know games are fundamentally about the gameplay and that is the most important factor but I feel insulted by constantly being fed character development that is surpassed in every conceivable way by The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Imagine a game where every enemy had an agenda, a back story, where no two were the same, perhaps they have a family. What if you came across a Goomba with a wife and kids? Would that make you think twice before so carelessly jumping on their head and crushing their skull into the pavement?

- 2-Bit Wasteland

Weekend Reader is Kotaku's look at the critical thinking in, and of video games. It appears Saturdays at noon. Please take the time to read the full article cited before getting involved in the debate here.

"Super Mario Bros.: Cleaning pipes and taking names," goes the first entry. We can see where this is headed. "Two bare-chested dudes on a mission neither can accomplish without the other," is the description for Contra. Duke Nukem is a "muscled Chelsea queen." Mortal Kombat is "Likely the first and most tranny-relevant video game." And the "hands-down gayest video game of all time," oughta set a few people off.

The Gayest Video Games [Out.com via Go Nintendo]

"Did you notice around :49 his tapping actually shook change off my desk and onto my floor?" writes Brentalfloss. Yes. All I can say is, I feel sorry for your downstairs neighbors, dude.

Tap-Dancing the Super Mario Bros. Theme [YouTube via GoNintendo]

The above creation, from Kotaku tipster and sculptor Jaime (aka "Kalapusa"), fits in wonderfully with the previously featured realistic—and equally disturbing—Piranha Plant. Oh, and alongside the similarly realistic Blue Shell, it's for sale.

Yes, it's a little tiny. But tiny enough to hang comfortably from a Christmas tree branch, if you have such a thing.

Potentially the most exciting news to come of this particular post is Jaime's plan to create a "realistic Baby Metroid in formaldehyde" for a future product. Uh... awesome?

Speaking of "Super Mario Clouds," he tells The Guardian's Keith Stuart:

"I knew that the clouds would be simple enough for people to latch on to, and I knew that in order to make art that dealt with technology, you had to, in a way, have the art not directly be about specific technologies. I mean, we think everyone played Nintendo, but really, hardly anybody played Nintendo. Now looking back on it all – it's about… what do these pixelated clouds represent? It represents the whole progression of humans, communication and technology. But I couldn't write that down. And it became a meme slowly. I put it up and it took years for people to see it, but it worked…"

Art doesn't have to mean anything (right?). But if you'd like to share your own thoughts on the work, have at it. And check the original article for more about Arcangel's peers, influences and other works.

The game of art: a profile of digital artist Cory Arcangel [The Guardian UK's Game Blog]

A commenter asks "Was that one hand for left AND right hand, or was it just a really intense right hand part?" and the artist, RigorMortis999 replies, "the former becoming the latter."

Good thing Mario didn't run down to his final 100 seconds at the end.

Mario Theme with One Hand Only [YouTube User RigorMortis999, thanks Isiah O.!]

"Luigi: A life in the shadows" cover the other brother's origins from palette swap to star of his own (two) video games. Anybody else remember playing Mario is Missing? Yeah, that game starred Luigi.

Best bit? Right here...

But Luigi's heart has strayed at least once during the previously mentioned Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The Beanbean Kingdom the two stars explore has a prince to match the Mushroom Kingdom's Princess Peach. Prince Peasley is a dashing (if self-absorbed) pretty boy, who throughout the game slowly gains Luigi's attention. As time goes on, Luigi seems almost enamored with Peasley, blushing at his compliments and eventually trying to hug him, which Peasley deftly dodges, as Peasley seems to only love himself. But this bi-curious side of Luigi has yet to return, as he's since stayed pretty true to Daisy. However, that hasn't stopped the devs of the M&L series from continuing to ramp up Luigi's effeminacy to Tingle levels of fab.

I totally did not know that. I thought when Luigi wasn't with Daisy, he was letting Peach cheat on Mario with him. Also, I thought John Leguizamo and Samantha Mathis as the "ideal" Luigi/Daisy couple.

Check it out, if you're a little Luigi-curious:

Luigi: A life in the shadows [GamesRadar]

This might be played through a Wii/GameCube emulator, not on the console itself. There are a few flaws in the re-creation - how many can you spot? Mario doesn't go into the subterranean coin chamber, but that doesn't mean it exists, so let's say that one doesn't count.

Fan Recreates SMB World 1-1 in NSMBW [The Tanooki]

First up is the disorienting and somewhat upsetting Half-Life Super Mario Bros. I guess in a 2D world, a gray haze is all Mario would see for miles around on either side of his orange brick path. But I can't remember the last plumber I met that uses a crowbar. And guns? Really?

Next up is a Castlevania Half-Life 2 mod that makes a lot more sense in context. But it still has the inexplicable crowbar.

Both videos are brought to us by Machinima.com.

So, tell us about it, and brag to your fellow commenters. Or feel free to ask open questions of those who do have the game. Again, as a courtesy, flag any spoilers and maybe hit a couple returns to give folks a chance to look away.

And if you're still not sure what all the fuss is about, check out some of our coverage of the game from the preceding week:

New Super Mario Bros. Wii Review: Go Buy A Wii
New Super Mario Bros. Wii In-Game Tips
New Super Mario Bros. Wii Super Guide In Action
You'd Better Watch This New Super Mario Bros. Wii Strategy Video
Nintendo's Temporary Mario Museum, The Video Tour
Thank You Mario, But Our Princess Is In Another Game, Getting Kidnapped Again

BoingBoing's Cory Doctorow writes that he stopped by Hacklab yesterday unannounced and asked to see the Super Mario laser cutter. Sure enough, they fired it up and it played. Warning, if you boost your speakers to hear it, the guy says "f—-ing awesomesauce," at the beginning so it might not be a great idea if you're somewhere where saying that word would be inappropriate. Like church.

Hacklab.to's Laser-Cutter Really *Does* Play the Mario Bros Theme! [BoingBoing via 8-Bit Fix]

The shindig is more than just a line-up for an early purchase. Nintendo says it'll deck out the store with gaming stations, costumed characters, and a Super Mario Bros. museum showcasing Mario's history over more than a quarter century. Live gaming tournaments, trivia and prize giveaways also are promised.

And there's the matter of being able to buy and play the game well in advance of its launch tomorrow. The event will run from 3 to 7 p.m. and the store is located at 10 Rockefeller Plaza (48th St between 6th and 5th Aves.) in Manhattan.

So all youse in the Tri-State Area, think about subway-ing, PATHing, or Metro Northing over there to get your red box. And if anyone else knows of launch events elsewhere in the country, feel free to share their places and times in the comments.

Granted these may be Mario and Luigi lookalikes, given that the robbery and beatdown took place on Halloween night at a Great Kills, NY gas station, not in some Mushroom Kingdom borough. According to police reports, the dressed up duo assaulted and robbed the 48-year-old taxi driver after an altercation inside the cab.

A third man dressed in a tuxedo, who we'll presume was Toad in formal attire, is also being sought.

Wanted in Halloween assault: Not so Super Mario and his brother Luigi in cabbie beatdown [NY Daily News - thanks, Will & Chrismoke!]

This Saturday, Nov. 14, Nintendo will be be bringing interactive gaming stations, costumed characters, trivia, prize giveaways and live tournaments to their New York store to celebrate the release of Wii must-have New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The event will also include a Super Mario Bros. museum filled with "memorabilia pulled from Nintendo's archives that chronicles Mario's history and cultural impact over nearly 25 years."

Are you going to be there? It runs from 3 to 7 p.m. We will, maybe even Totilo will be wearing bells.

What about New Super Mario Bros. Wii? Planning on picking it up? Is it time for Wii owners to start lining streets and counting days?

Let us know.

This Mario Bros. mushroom was created by artist Radiance Art with over 80 individual pieces of glass. It's mounted in a 15-inch square zinc frame and you can pick it up on Radiance Art's Etsy page for $175 (USD).

Building a Church of Mario to put it in, however, will be the real drain on your wallet. Especially if you expand the concept to a Church of Nintendo and commission Radiance Art for Pac-Man and Zelda stained glass windows.

Stained Glass Mario Mushroom Powers Up Ordinary Windows [Technabob]