If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to play Super Smash Bros. a decade before it came out, with online gaming technology that didn’t exist in the ’80s, Super lean bro. is your answer The NES retro home game pays homage to Nintendo’s fighting franchise (while straying away from Nintendo’s intellectual property) in a passionate, lovingly crafted project now seeking funding on Kickstarter.
The platform fighting game will ship as an NES cartridge using a custom memory management controller (MMC) with a WiFi chipset and antenna, allowing for online matches and software updates. It even uses modern tricks like netcode rollback, which predicts each player’s moves to account for potential network lag, and quickly fixes itself if necessary. In addition to online play, you can enjoy local co-op or try out its solo story mode with AI-controlled opponents. It’s a retro game with some modern frills and Ars Technica notes that it “glows when played on a real NES and CRT TV.”
Sylvain Gadrat / Kickstarter
Super lean bro. It’s been years in the making. Developer Sylvain Gadrat began work in 2016 on an ode to both the Smash Bros. franchise and the pixel art aesthetic of the NES. After soliciting feedback from friends and fellow enthusiasts, Gadrat unveiled the first version of the retro platformer two years later, with subsequent iterations fine-tuning the game engine and adding new characters, stages, and early online capabilities. He even shipped a more rudimentary Wi-Fi compatible cartridge in a limited run of 50 copies. In short, this is not a quick money grab: today’s version is the culmination of seven years of dedication.
At press time, the game’s Kickstarter campaign has raised nearly $60,000, surpassing its initial goal of $44,182 with 26 days to go. If you want to contribute, you’ll need to shell out €55 (just over $60) for a WiFi-capable cartridge; with a contribution of €15 you will get a digital copy to play with an emulator. Delivery is expected in April 2024. Finally, you can download a demo here to see if Super lean bro.The retro vibe of suits you well.
