Here’s How Twitter User Turned a Little Lego Mario Into a Super Mario Bros. Controller

by Frank Stich

People have already played Super Mario Bros. with a variety of things used as controllers, such as Guitar Hero guitars, real-life drum kit, and Donkey Kong’s bongo peripherals.

A Twitter user under the nickname @r1ckp declared himself a “hardware hacker” and found a way how to use a Lego Mario as a physical controller to play the iconic Super Mario Bros.

@r1ckp used a Mario mannequin that was released as part of a Lego Super Mario toy set this year. To navigate through the game world of Mario, the Twitter user tilts Lego man forward and backward, and it can shoot fireballs, head down pipes, and jump easily. The game itself is running via an emulator in a Linux virtual machine on Mac.

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The Internet ProtocolFrank Stich

This whole thing became possible due to the fact that the Mario figurine has some interesting tech, namely, it is equipped with a color sensor, gyroscope, Bluetooth protocol, and an accelerometer to communicate with the digital elements of the toy. The hacker says that he intercepted the signals Mario was sending over Bluetooth and plugged them into the controls of the emulator.

According to the hacker, the whole setup process took nearly 4 hours in total. He also added that he would share the code at a certain point to allow others to try this hack on their own.