Super Mario Brothers Was Designed On Graph Paper

As we approach the release of Super Mario Maker, a new program that will let you make and share your own Mario levels (like those achingly hard ones that get passed around on YouTube a lot) here comes this video that reveals how the original designers lovingly laid out the levels of the original Super Mario Brothers: with graph paper.It makes perfect sense. In a game predicated on breaking a series of blocks to obtain treasure and coins, and where everything fits in roughly the same constrained proportions, of course they would view the layout in squares. This approach is also incorporated, more or less, in the Super Mario Maker, where there’s an invisible but immutable grid within the game to build your levels. View full post on FacebookWhen we say everything was built on graph paper … we mean everything. Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamSource: Kotaku via KottkeJohn WenzWriterJohn Wenz is a Popular Mechanics writer and space obsessive based in Philadelphia. He tweets @johnwenz.