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The Perpetual Mario Machine is a set of custom levels for Super Mario World (Remember that? SNES madnezz??) designed by some Japanese guy. In these levels, Mario completes the entire stage without any player assistance whatsoever; in fact, if you even brushed the controller Mario would be instantly eviscerated. Instead you get to sit back and watch our placid hero get bounced willy-nilly around the stage, guided apathetically to the level goal by the level itself.

This is weird. We all know that Super Mario Brothers is a game. It might, in fact, be the game. But all the definitions of what a game entails demand interaction as a central function: ergodic activity, as supernerd Espen Aarseth puts it. There's gotta be a player, there needs to be some kind of feedback loop employed. Otherwise it's TV, or a movie, or jerk-off material, or whatever. Not a game. So here we have a veritable icon of video gaming (Mario the semi-retarded plumber!) subverted into passive entertainment. It's almost as curious as that awful movie they made.

However, the 'player' - or the person holding the controller - still has choice I guess. You can move or jump through the Perpetual Mario Machine levels... with the near-certain knowledge that you are dooming Mario through your participation. You can choose how he dies, if you wish, or you can hands-off and let him bumble towards a brighter future on his own. Interactivity is limited but it is there. Watch and Mario wins. Play and Mario dies. So yes, we're looking at a game here, but a pretty shitty one.

Posted by Chris at 03:13 PM >> Commentations (1)