Mario became a playable character in Donkey Kong Country in 1994 thanks to a clever hack.
Mario and Donkey Kong, who have a long history as rivals, frenemies, go-kart competitors, and tennis partners, have never appeared as playable characters in each other’s platforming adventures. However, thanks to a clever hack, this has now changed. The Italian plumber once kidnapped Donkey Kong’s son, while DK once took over Mario’s toy company and stole a bunch of little figurines. They have a complicated past, but now they can finally team up in each other’s games.
Mario is a playable character in a hacked version of the SNES classic Donkey Kong Country, courtesy of ROM programmer RainbowSprinklez. It’s aptly called DKC X Mario, and this isn’t a simple sprite swap. We won’t waste your time with it. Mario had to be completely designed for the game because his moveset is not in the original code. Donkey Kong is a hunting beast. He doesn’t spin, double jump and carry stuff. Watch the video and prepare to be impressed.
This is a Mario pulled from Super Mario World in both sprites and controls. There are mushrooms that make him grow, burning flowers and of course everyone’s favorite dino stuff, Yoshi. Otherwise, this is Donkey Kong Country. The levels are the same. The enemies, consisting mainly of King K. Rooli and his Kremlin army, are the same. If you’re really into the look of the original DKC, this could be a way to breathe new life into the ancient platformer.
The music also seems to change, replacing the original songs with songs from the Mario, Zelda, and Mega Man games. RainbowSprinklez wrote that the hack was “done for no other reason than I like Mario” in a documentary released alongside the ROM. You can download the whole thing here to give it a try, and this should probably be done sooner rather than later. Nintendo doesn’t hesitate to hire lawyers for projects like this.
