A fan is learning Unreal Engine to remake Super Mario Bros, with Chris Pratt starring as the titular plumber. The Super Mario Bros movie was originally set to be released in December 2022, but the date has since been pushed back to April 7th, 2023. However, Illumination Entertainment has recently announced that it will be premiering a teaser trailer for the film on October 6th at New York Comic Con.
When Illumination first announced the cast of the Mario movie, many fans were immediately incredulous. Some fans were delighted with the casting choices of Jack Black as Bowser and Charlie Day as Mario’s brother, changed forever by Luigi’s Mansion. Chris Pratt getting the role of Mario may have brought the most skepticism. Alongside the inevitable disappointment that Mario wouldn’t be voiced by his usual voice actor, Charles Martinet, fans of the series have been wondering what sort of voice and personality Pratt will bring to the role. Pratt joked about this back in 2020, saying “It’s-a me Mario” in his normal voice and promising that’s not how he sounds in the movie, but fans will just have to wait until the trailer releases to hear his actual Mario voice.
A dedicated fan has been creating a realistically styled version of Mario in an Unreal Engine project, featuring a fully detailed model of Chris Pratt dressed as the character. It’s taken them three months in Unreal Engine and “like a million tutorials” to make, but Re-Imagined Games has released both cinematic and gameplay trailers of the progress they’ve made so far. As stated in the video descriptions, “With zero game development experience, I’m learning Unreal Engine from scratch and picking up any other skills that I can along the way.” The cinematic trailer highlights things like the impressive title screen while showing parts that are still incomplete.
Fan Creates Cinematic Trailer For Chris Pratt Mario Game
The title features gameplay mechanics that fans of the original Super Mario Bros are familiar with, including breaking blocks, jumping on enemies, grabbing items, and touching the flag pole at the end of a level. Even details such as fireworks going off in the background have made it in. As the trailer suggests, other characters such as Jack Black as Bowser will be in future updates. For now, Jack Black’s Bowser is just a cube, reminiscent of the blocks used in the giant LEGO Bowser sculpture displayed at Comic-Con. However, Re-Imagined Games has made it clear that they will be continuing this project and polishing the visuals in the future.
It’s a testament to both the power of Unreal Engine and this new developer’s skill and tenacity that the game looks this impressive after only three months. While the trailer shows parts of the game that aren’t finished yet, what has been completed looks like a competent and faithful rebuild of the classic game that even includes some original features to set it apart.
The Super Mario fanbase has a considerable history of impressive fan projects. Many of these games are notoriously shut down by Nintendo through DMCAs, but they show remarkable ingenuity nonetheless. If fans would like to see how this project turns out, they can follow Re-Imagined Games’ channel for future updates on this Super Mario Bros fan game.
