Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
Super Mario Bros. in 64 Pixels
By Jonathan Poet
Super Pixel Bros., the brainchild of Brad Slattery, is a reduction of the classic Nintendo game into its pure blocky essence. A reimagining of the original "Super Mario Bros.," Super Pixel Bros. boils down all the characters, blocks and other bits of the scrolling Mushroom Kingdom world into an 8-pixel-by-8-pixel handheld. Mario is a single pixel, as are the enemies and the projectiles you can fire.
"The game shares some similarities with the original, you just need to use your imagination since all the characters are represented by a single pixel," Brad writes. His version has 20 levels, based on the originals, and even includes boss fights. (Your single-pixel hero has to jump on his single-pixel nemesis a certain number of times before hitting the ground.)
He is working on plans to sell the PCB boards, which combined with off-the-shelf parts and his open source code would be enough to build the game. (A custom case might be fun to design yourself.) He also is working on a possible full-kit version. Either way, this is probably less of a beginner DIY electronic project, since it relies on tiny surface-mount components.
Still, with the challenging gameplay and the ability to make new levels, anyone willing to take it on could be in for some long-term fun.
[via Hack a Day]
