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Learning ASM, while admittedly tedious, allows ROM hackers to do things like create new 'sprites' (which, in SNES language, refers to all moving objects, from platforms to Goombas) or implementing patches that add new mechanics, effects, or rules to the game. Lunar Magic's simplicity also serves as a gateway drug to more advanced SMW hacking, which requires one to learn the ancient programming language Assembly (ASM) used by the SNES. It might not be as simple as Super Mario Marker, but it comes close, and predates it by nearly a decade. 'It's just so user-friendly and intuitive, without foregoing advanced functionality,' explained leod, echoing the gushing descriptions from every other user I interviewed. Particularly, the SMW tool Lunar Magic created by user fuysoya is not only credited as one of the best game-editing tools ever made, but also credited for both launching and sustaining the community.īest SMW Music 99 - VLDC9 - Abstract. Yet despite being a tight knit internet family with it's own lingo, in-jokes, history, and social norms, the community's continued existence traces back to the original goal of making Mario ROM hacking as accessible as possible. Some of them I've talked to for almost half of my entire life by now.' To leod and many other community members, that's because if you stick around long enough, fellow SMW hackers, 'go from just a group of people doing the same thing you do, to an actual group of friends.They're people to care about. Long-time member and PR manager Koopster explained that, while the dream of hacking and creating their own Mario levels is what initially brings people to the site, 'The eagerness to hack does fade with time.' Yet many return year after year anyway.

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Several years ago, the entire SMW Central website-all its forums, hacks, resources, etc.-were destroyed in what is now referred to as 'The Great Wipe.' The official reason given for the happening? 'I got a little bored one evening and together with Smallhacker and Pac, it was decided that we should try out a little experiment: giving all non-banned users full moderator privileges.' The rest, as they say, is Great Wipe history. 'This one video alone made so many people join our community.' 'It's amazing to me how much influence a silly little prank like that video had on other people's lives,' leod said. Others, like SMW Central moderator leod (a gullible 13 year old at the time) figured out that the rad ass laser suit was actually created with a level editor tool called Lunar Magic. Many viewers went scrambling back to the Super Nintendo game.

The event that jump started the community's first big boon in 2010 only exemplifies that.Īn infamous YouTube video entitled 'Hidden Laser Suit Super Mario World' went viral (or as viral as niche nerd videos go) by passing a Mario hack created by KPhoenix for a legitimate power up obsessive SMW players somehow missed. One of the key differences between the much smaller world of Mario ROM hacking and the Super Mario Maker community is that it maintained the rough and tumble sensibility of hacker culture. 'The site exploded with popularity, peaking at about 2010 and stabilizing since then,' said S.N.N., a head administrator on the site for nearly a decade during its early days.