In our constantly evolving world of advanced physics engines, retina displays, and that are graphics cards that are pushing games over 100 frames per second, it’s hard to look at a game like the original Super Mario Bros. and imagine what it would be like if it was published today. As a 2D scroller, Mario was a fun but challenging even in the early levels. The creator of the original First Person Mario (Freddie Wong) has come back to show everyone how unbelievably impossible the ending of this game would have been in 3D.

First Person Mario: Endgame is the sequel to the original demonstration of what Mario would look like if it were made using today’s FPS happy world. In the original, it was made pretty clear that the experience would be chaotic. It sounds almost as crazy as playing the 2D version with a 5-foot wide Lego controller, but that’s been done already.

The first part of Mario, at least in 2D land, is pretty easy though. The obvious question is whether or not you could survive in that same experience later on in the game. A quick look at FPM: Endgame pretty clearly makes the answer a flat “no”. Even if you were able to survive jumping from tank to tank and taking out the baddies, there’s no way you could manage jumping on the sheer volume of cannonballs being shot at you. Even in a 3D space, being stuck on those tanks makes it impossible to strafe or dodge in any way. There’s only one thing to do: jump and pray.

First Person Mario

Once you get beyond the tanks, of course, you’ve got to take on the final boss. 3D Bowser is infinitely more menacing that his 2D self, and seeing his massive body flung towards you makes it hard to imagine you’re going to be able to run underneath of him in time. Of course, you know you you’re going to win, and you’ve got that HUD showing you life in 2D is so much simpler while you panic. The battle comes rapidly to a close and Bowser inevitably puts his massive body through the floor and plunges to his doom. Everything is as it should be, and Mario ends as the hero we all remember him.

The most impressive part of this visual experience is that it comes at the hands of five talented individuals after four weeks of rendering and anmation. Brandon Laatsch lead the way to the sequel with a combination of 3dsMax, After Effects, Premier, Vray, and Krakatoa. Brandon comments that on a single computer this project would have taken 50 hours in just rendering, but through a networking his computers together the process took significantly less time overall. You can take a look at a behind the scenes for this impressive video on Brandon’s YouTube channel.