This "awful" Super Mario remake actually brings a brilliantly low-fi new art style to the retro game

Mario
(Image credit: Isoco)

We're seeing an awful lot of Super Mario remakes at the moment. Actually, we're seeing a lot of remakes in general – in large part thanks to some very creative uses of Unreal Engine 5. I've thoroughly enjoyed all of these retro reimaginings and the skill it's taken to produce them, and I hope they continue. But I've found a slightly different type of remake, and I'm obsessed with how the creator labels it awful when I think it's genius-ly low-fi.

Rather than using Unreal Engine to create some intricate and loyal-to-the-original-design Mario sprites, this version turns the design on its head and uses Photoshop and Unity to recreate Mario in a blocky, 2D and simple way that is actually so much fun. Mario is then inserted into gameplay, with creator Icoso explaining the process of designing his movements – immediately showing his skill, and the fact that this is not as basic a process as it initially appeared.

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Georgia Coggan

Georgia is lucky enough to be Creative Bloq's Editor. She has been working for Creative Bloq since 2018, starting out as a freelancer writing about all things branding, design, art, tech and creativity – as well as sniffing out genuinely good deals on creative technology. Since becoming Editor, she has been managing the site and its long term strategy, helping to shape the diverse content streams CB is known for and leading the team in their own creativity.

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