Case study

SMB Vanilla: a C reconstruction of two NES Mario games

SMB Vanilla reconstructs the gameplay of Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 Japan in C. It runs against a user-supplied ROM for level and graphical data and aims to preserve original behavior, including many glitches. The author reports both games are beatable; refactoring of Ghidra-derived code, tests, and some audio remain unfinished.

Targets: Game
Category: Independent reconstruction cases
Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
Sources reviewed: 2026-11-08
Evidence class: C1 partial scope or analysis entry

Stars: 68
Last commit: 2026-10-07
Language: C
License (GitHub): GPL-3.0

GitHub data as of 2026-11-10

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Evidence

Demo screenshot from the project's public documentation

Observed: Download and demo observed; the case covers part of the target software.
Scope: Partial
Checked: 2026-11-09

How evidence classes are assigned

Requirements & limits

Prerequisites: A legally obtained ROM dump is required to play.
Prerequisites: Building requires C and C++ compilers, Meson, and SDL2 or SDL3.
Limits: The Super Mario Bros. 2 Japan ending audio and regression tests are unfinished.
License: GPL-3.0 license.

Cite

BibTeX

@misc{smb-vanilla-case,
  title = {{SMB Vanilla: a C reconstruction of two NES Mario games}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/nukep/SMB-Vanilla}},
  url = {https://github.com/nukep/SMB-Vanilla},
  urldate = {2026-11-08},
  note = {Awesome REA entry: \url{https://awesomerea.org/resources/smb-vanilla-case/}}
}

Plain text

SMB Vanilla: a C reconstruction of two NES Mario games. https://github.com/nukep/SMB-Vanilla (accessed 2026-11-08). Awesome REA entry: https://awesomerea.org/resources/smb-vanilla-case/

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About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.

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Primary sources

README.md GitHub · nukep/SMB-Vanilla · Revision 20f4e02
CONTRIBUTING.md GitHub · nukep/SMB-Vanilla · Revision 20f4e02
BUILDING.md GitHub · nukep/SMB-Vanilla · Revision 20f4e02