Play Super Mario Bros II 1998 (hack) Online

Ever wondered what Mario would feel like if Sega had stolen him in the '90s? "Super Mario Bros II 1998 (hack)" is exactly that—a weird, chunky, Genesis-style remix of the plumber’s adventures. The first thing you’ll notice is how different it looks: those sprites have that unmistakable Mega Drive grit, like someone filtered Mario through a Sega soundchip.

It’s still jump-on-goombas, grab-the-mushroom stuff at heart, but the levels twist in ways that’ll catch you off guard if you’ve played the originals to death. Some power-ups behave differently, pits show up where you don’t expect them, and the whole thing has this slightly off-kilter energy, like playing a Mario game in an alternate universe. Not gonna lie, I died three times in the first level because I kept assuming I knew how things worked.

If you’ve ever wanted to see Nintendo’s golden child dressed in Sega’s 16-bit leather jacket, this hack’s a bizarre little love letter to that era.