For the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Nintendo is doing a little ROM hacking.
On November 11, the company will release a limited-edition Mario-red version of its Wii console in Japan. It will include an exclusive version of the legendary action game with altered graphics. For example, as shown in the one screenshot that Nintendo has released thus far, the question marks on the item blocks will be replaced with the number 25.
This isn’t the first time that Nintendo has gone into the Super Mario Bros. code and tweaked the sprites. A Famicom Disk System game called All-Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. replaced the game’s enemies with characters from a popular radio talk show. (Copies of the limited-edition game currently sell for about $500.)
As usual, there’s no word yet as to whether this Wii console or game will be released outside Japan.
Nintendo is going all-out in Japan for the Mario anniversary, releasing a limited-edition box set of Super Mario All-Stars, a Mario-red Nintendo DSi XL and a regular-sized DSi.
Not to be outdone, Nintendo of America made a website.