Super Mario Epic
From Mario Fan Games Galaxy Wiki
| Super Mario Epic | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer(s) | Jeff Silvers |
| Announce Date | December 26, 2002 |
| Release Date | April 20, 2003 |
| Genre | Platform |
| Players | 1 |
| Input | Standard keyboard |
| Medium | The Games Factory |
| Platform | Windows |
| Status | Released |
Super Mario Epic is a fangame created by Jeff Silvers. It was the first in what would become the Super Mario Epic trilogy, and is the predecessor to the more popular Super Mario Epic 2.
Overview
SME follows the traditional Mario story very closely: Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach, and it's up to Mario to rescue her.
Super Mario Epic features six levels:
- Donut Plains - A standard "generic grass level."
- Kalimari Desert - A desert level filled with Cobrats, Pokeys, and Pansers. Inhabitated by The Angry Sun, who begins to swoop down and attack Mario about two-thirds of the way through the level.
- Cheese Mountain - A mountain range made from the delicious dairy product. Fatguys make their only appearance in the entire Epic series here.
- 'Shroom Zone - A level inspired by World 4-3 from SMB.
- Ice Cave - A chilly underground cavern filled with Flurries and covered in slippery ice.
- Bowser's Castle - Home of the Koopa King, himself.
Secrets
Despite being such a short game, Super Mario Epic featured a few notable secrets.
- Luigi in Bowser's Castle - Luigi makes a cameo in Bowser's Castle. He appears above the ceiling in the long hallway leading to Bowser's Lair.
- Level Passwords - There are level passwords for each level in the game (besides Donut Plains). To enter a password, go to File > Password.
- Kalimari Desert - beenason
- Cheese Mountain - lithium
- 'Shroom Zone - comeasur
- Ice Cave - d7
- Bowser's Castle - aneurysm
- Cheat Screen - If you press shift during the game's end credits, you'll be taken to a "Cheat Screen" that allows you to start the game from any level and with as many lives as you want. You can also access the Cheat Screen by entering the password sharee.
Trivia
- The "sharee" password was chosen because it was the name of Silvers' then-girlfriend. He now sorta regrets doing that.
- All level-specific passwords are based on the titles of Nirvana songs.
- Super Mario Epic won Jeff Silvers an MFGG Award in 2004 for Best Secrets, an award he would win again the next year for the sequel, Super Mario Epic 2.
- The Ice Cave was added at the last minute as filler because Silvers felt that five levels was too few. This is evidenced by the obviously rushed graphics used (which Silvers took directly from an ice-themed Klik library).
- The "SMW Overworld" theme is used three times in the game. This was actually an accident; it was originally intended to be fill-in music for 'Shroom Zone and Ice Cave until more suiting songs were found. Silvers simply never got around to replacing the music and eventually forgot about it.
- Two of the levels, Kalimari Desert and Cheese Mountain, also appeared in Super Mario Epic 2: Dream Machine (though each is significantly different than its SME counterpart). They are both slated to also appear in Super Mario Epic 3.
- Sometime after its completion and release, Super Mario Epic began to appear on several illegal fangame compilation CD-ROMs being sold through various web sites, including eBay. This led to the "This game is FREEWARE" disclaimer that now appears at the beginning of all Jeff Silvers Software games.
