Super Mario Bros is a classic game, practically defining the modern platformer for generations. And, not surprisingly, it has become the gold standard when it comes to homebrew devs who are itching to stretch their legs. Ports of SMB to various non-nintendo platforms are plentiful, and considering how studied the game has become, they are usually quite accurate. I figured it'd be neat to show off the most infamous unofficial (and one official) Super Mario Bros ports around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fSO-UTdCI8
Super Mario Clone
Platform: Atari 2600
Talk about a marvel - this game is amazing on just about every technical level. The mario sprite in particular is incredible for the hardware, and the cartridge uses a Harmony chip to produce the music. The level layouts and graphics for everything other than mario aren't too accurate, but the gameplay is there. This is just a proof of concept, the guy intends to build his demo out to the first 4 worlds of the original Super Mario bros game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8teXm6723-g
The Great Giana Sisters
Platforms: C64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, GP32, PSP, DS
Probably the most infamous Super Mario Bros clone around, the Great Giana Sisters came from a time in europe when clones were rampant. GGS was unabashed about how big of a rip off of SMB it was, proudly proclaiming "THE BROTHERS ARE DEAD" on the boxart for the game. GGS actually differs quite a bit from the normal SMB clone in that it attempts to add in its own twist via additional power ups. Your fireball, for example, can be upgraded, so that it acts like the bounce ball from Mario Land, or, ultimately, so that it can pass through walls. The C64 version lacks much musical fidelity (relying on the "wet" noise the C64 is known for), but the Amiga version is pretty well known for its weird soundtrack. Both versions are by Chris Huelsbeck, known for his rocking metal themes. This game brought the wrath of Nintendo, as the game was pulled from store shelves. Today, it is believed that no original copies of GGS exist anymore, as LemonAmiga has tried for years to find a non-cracked copy to archive (without luck). GGS actually still lives today, where it has spun off into it's own original, and legal, series. Great Giana Sisters DS was released a few years ago, and Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams was released recently to warm reviews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jysn0Z30oJI
Super Mario bros Special
Platform: PC-88
This one isn't actually unofficial - it's a real, licensed Nintendo game, developed by Hudson, for the PC-88, a computer popular in japan in the 80s. Despite being legal, the game is garbage. See, most of these old japanese computers lacked hardware support to scroll the screen horizontally (actually, the NES did as well, but special mappers in the cart gave the NES the ability to do so), so a major hurdle to overcome was how to fake scrolling. SMB Special uses one common method to circumvent this - it doesn't scroll. rather, the game uses what's called page flipping - where walking off the edge of the screen loads a new screen that places you on the other side. Think the Legend of Zelda to get a good idea of how this worked. The actual level designs aren't bad, the engine is relatively solid for the hardware, too. However, the extremely choppy nature of the game, which is a fault of the hardware, not the programming, kills any playability. This is probably the worst real Mario game available on any system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R09tiXxdF_8
Super Boy
Platforms: MSX, Colecovision, Sega Master System
Super Boy is a korean clone of Super Mario Bros originally written for the MSX. It is actually a relatively well-known series in Korea where it enjoyed massive success. Given the limitations of the hardware (the MSX also couldn't scroll horizontally) it is a master piece. Rather than resorting to page flipping, the game uses full-character width scrolling. That is, since the background tiles couldn't scroll, they'd shift the entire background over, 1 full tile at a time. Sprites, of course, can move smoothly, but the background scrolls very choppily as a result. The game, however, is very playable, and you quickly get used to the odd scrolling. Beyond the weird background, and a few color changes due to palette differences between hardware, it is an incredibly accurate clone of SMB, and probably the most playable of them all. The SMS port in particular is excellent, because it DOES feature hardware scrolling, resulting in a game that looks, sounds, and plays exactly like SMB on the NES.
Virtual Mario
Platforms: GP2X, PSP, Sega Saturn
The above screenshots are from the Saturn version of Virtual Mario, released today in fact. This is a "3D" remake of SMB that really doesn't play all that accurately and doesn't look that great either. However, given the platforms this game is written for, particularly the Sega Saturn, and particularly because it's written in BASIC on the Saturn, they're great technical feats. Impressive from a coding standpoint, but not all that great to actually play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhi9W15v60M
Super Boy IV
Platform: Sega Master System
Technically a part of the Super Boy series from above, and technically NOT a clone of SMB but rather Super Mario World, this game shows how great the pirates at Zeminia were and how close to later Mario games they actually came. After producing a near-perfect port of SMB to the SMS, they tried to up themselves and wound up creating a great game in its own right. You'll likely never, ever come across one of these carts in real life, as they were produced well after the SMS was phased out, even in Korea, and thus are hyper rare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZnl4eyu_Ao
Super Mario World
Platform: Famicom
I'll leave off with this game, which technically goes against the rules of the topic since it's running on Nintendo hardware. This is a high profile pirate which you can actually find pretty easily across china even today. It's a near-full port of Super Mario World to the famicom - it ends after the woods section of the game, but the final castle and final boss are actually coded, simply inaccessible. Similar to Super Boy IV, it demonstrates how the core mechanics of Mario World actually don't rely on the SNES hardware that much, and the art direction scales well to other, less powerful hardware (Mario Land 2 is also a good example of this). It plays well, which is surprising for a chinese pirate, and it's relatively bug free.
I'm sure there are other Mario clones out there, and feel free to post videos or screenshots of any I missed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fSO-UTdCI8
Super Mario Clone
Platform: Atari 2600
Talk about a marvel - this game is amazing on just about every technical level. The mario sprite in particular is incredible for the hardware, and the cartridge uses a Harmony chip to produce the music. The level layouts and graphics for everything other than mario aren't too accurate, but the gameplay is there. This is just a proof of concept, the guy intends to build his demo out to the first 4 worlds of the original Super Mario bros game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8teXm6723-g
The Great Giana Sisters
Platforms: C64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, GP32, PSP, DS
Probably the most infamous Super Mario Bros clone around, the Great Giana Sisters came from a time in europe when clones were rampant. GGS was unabashed about how big of a rip off of SMB it was, proudly proclaiming "THE BROTHERS ARE DEAD" on the boxart for the game. GGS actually differs quite a bit from the normal SMB clone in that it attempts to add in its own twist via additional power ups. Your fireball, for example, can be upgraded, so that it acts like the bounce ball from Mario Land, or, ultimately, so that it can pass through walls. The C64 version lacks much musical fidelity (relying on the "wet" noise the C64 is known for), but the Amiga version is pretty well known for its weird soundtrack. Both versions are by Chris Huelsbeck, known for his rocking metal themes. This game brought the wrath of Nintendo, as the game was pulled from store shelves. Today, it is believed that no original copies of GGS exist anymore, as LemonAmiga has tried for years to find a non-cracked copy to archive (without luck). GGS actually still lives today, where it has spun off into it's own original, and legal, series. Great Giana Sisters DS was released a few years ago, and Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams was released recently to warm reviews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jysn0Z30oJI
Super Mario bros Special
Platform: PC-88
This one isn't actually unofficial - it's a real, licensed Nintendo game, developed by Hudson, for the PC-88, a computer popular in japan in the 80s. Despite being legal, the game is garbage. See, most of these old japanese computers lacked hardware support to scroll the screen horizontally (actually, the NES did as well, but special mappers in the cart gave the NES the ability to do so), so a major hurdle to overcome was how to fake scrolling. SMB Special uses one common method to circumvent this - it doesn't scroll. rather, the game uses what's called page flipping - where walking off the edge of the screen loads a new screen that places you on the other side. Think the Legend of Zelda to get a good idea of how this worked. The actual level designs aren't bad, the engine is relatively solid for the hardware, too. However, the extremely choppy nature of the game, which is a fault of the hardware, not the programming, kills any playability. This is probably the worst real Mario game available on any system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R09tiXxdF_8
Super Boy
Platforms: MSX, Colecovision, Sega Master System
Super Boy is a korean clone of Super Mario Bros originally written for the MSX. It is actually a relatively well-known series in Korea where it enjoyed massive success. Given the limitations of the hardware (the MSX also couldn't scroll horizontally) it is a master piece. Rather than resorting to page flipping, the game uses full-character width scrolling. That is, since the background tiles couldn't scroll, they'd shift the entire background over, 1 full tile at a time. Sprites, of course, can move smoothly, but the background scrolls very choppily as a result. The game, however, is very playable, and you quickly get used to the odd scrolling. Beyond the weird background, and a few color changes due to palette differences between hardware, it is an incredibly accurate clone of SMB, and probably the most playable of them all. The SMS port in particular is excellent, because it DOES feature hardware scrolling, resulting in a game that looks, sounds, and plays exactly like SMB on the NES.
Virtual Mario
Platforms: GP2X, PSP, Sega Saturn
The above screenshots are from the Saturn version of Virtual Mario, released today in fact. This is a "3D" remake of SMB that really doesn't play all that accurately and doesn't look that great either. However, given the platforms this game is written for, particularly the Sega Saturn, and particularly because it's written in BASIC on the Saturn, they're great technical feats. Impressive from a coding standpoint, but not all that great to actually play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhi9W15v60M
Super Boy IV
Platform: Sega Master System
Technically a part of the Super Boy series from above, and technically NOT a clone of SMB but rather Super Mario World, this game shows how great the pirates at Zeminia were and how close to later Mario games they actually came. After producing a near-perfect port of SMB to the SMS, they tried to up themselves and wound up creating a great game in its own right. You'll likely never, ever come across one of these carts in real life, as they were produced well after the SMS was phased out, even in Korea, and thus are hyper rare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZnl4eyu_Ao
Super Mario World
Platform: Famicom
I'll leave off with this game, which technically goes against the rules of the topic since it's running on Nintendo hardware. This is a high profile pirate which you can actually find pretty easily across china even today. It's a near-full port of Super Mario World to the famicom - it ends after the woods section of the game, but the final castle and final boss are actually coded, simply inaccessible. Similar to Super Boy IV, it demonstrates how the core mechanics of Mario World actually don't rely on the SNES hardware that much, and the art direction scales well to other, less powerful hardware (Mario Land 2 is also a good example of this). It plays well, which is surprising for a chinese pirate, and it's relatively bug free.
I'm sure there are other Mario clones out there, and feel free to post videos or screenshots of any I missed.