What has been circulating as a rumor in the gaming community for decades has now become a reality.
When we think of the N64, our thoughts likely turn to the game that revolutionized 3D gaming: Super Mario 64.
But what would this legendary title look like on the Super Nintendo? That’s probably what YouTuber Game of Tobi thought, too, so he recreated the game on the SNES.
Super Mario FX
If you look at the game without any prior knowledge, you might think it’s a direct port from the N64 to the Super Nintendo. Although the graphics are noticeably more pixelated and blurry, they come surprisingly close to the original.
In reality, Game of Tobi built its own engine. Only the assets—textures and Mario’s animations—were taken from Super Mario 64. So far, you can “only” explore Princess Peach’s Castle and the first level, called Bob-Ombs Bomb Mountain.
The road to get there, however, was rocky.
- The biggest bottleneck: To fit everything into just 2 MB of memory, the developer had to significantly shrink the levels.
- Textures in Super Mario FX have varying levels of detail. They often had to be greatly simplified to keep the game running smoothly and remaining playable.
3D Isn’t That Far-Fetched
Of course, the N64 is considered Nintendo’s first “true” console capable of reliably rendering 3D. However, the fact that the third dimension is also possible on the SNES is thanks to the Super FX chip.
- The Super FX chip is an additional graphics processor that was built directly into the cartridge in some SNES games.
- It takes the load off the Super Nintendo’s CPU and enables complex 3D graphics, polygon models, and additional graphics calculations that weren’t possible with the original hardware.
- One of the best-known games that used the Super FX chip for 3D graphics was Star Fox (released in Europe under the name Starwing).
In the video by Game of Tobi, you can see him playing Super Mario FX on an iPad using an original Super Nintendo console. He uses the FXPak Pro, which allows ROMs to be played on original hardware.
You can see the current status and Super Mario FX in action in the player’s YouTube video.
Another player has already brought Super Mario 64 to life on the PlayStation—and it looks just as bizarre.
The idea behind Super Mario 64 on the Super Nintendo isn’t new. Rumors have been circulating in the gaming community for a long time that Nintendo had already planned a 3D Mario game for the SNES, pointing to the FX chip that would have made it possible. The YouTuber has now, in 2026, provided proof that it works.
