Mario Hacks MIT

GameSetWatch reports on a Mario-themed MIT hack, transforming the 'little dome' into a NES wonderland. From the article at Laura's MIT Blog: "And of course, what Mario level would be complete without the all-important triangular flag? Unfortunately, one of the coolest parts of the hack was impossible to capture with a photograph. As I walked into Lobby 7, camera in hand, ready to document the hell out of MITMarioWorld, I was met with...music. The Mario theme was resonating throughout Lobby 7. It was. so cool."

Hack?

[tsangal]

Meh. This is a nicely done tribute to Mario but how is this a hack?

Re:Hack?

[Anonymous Coward]

They've "Hacked" MIT of course. In MIT's case, hack is MIT slang for harmless themed "prank" that changes the school for a small bit.

I've heard about them doing other hacks, like covering the dome in gold leaf with elvish writing in celebration of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, as well as putting an R2-D2 on the dome.

Re:Hack?

[porcupine8]

"Hack" at MIT means "prank," not "messing with computers". As I understand it, originally "hacking" meant, basically, leaving the established trail. At MIT, it came to mean exploring unusual parts of campus (which as a verb it still means), and then putting things in those parts of campus (like a car on the dome) and other pranks in general (usually used as a noun). At about the same time as that usage was evolving at MIT, the same word was being adopted by computer geeks (at MIT and elsewhere) to mean doing the same stuff, but in computers instead of in the physical world. So the usages are related, but the MIT one isn't really used anywhere else.

http://hacks.mit.edu/ [mit.edu]

Not so impressive.

[Gulthek]

Construction paper on the wall. Speed runs on a tv screen. This is definitely not an "A Squad" MIT hack.

See more and better here: http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/ [mit.edu]

Re:Not so impressive.

[Yeldarb-7]

3D tube & Mario hanging from the skylight. I beg to differ.

Re:Not so impressive.

[Gulthek]

Beg all you want, the hack is unimpressive even with the hanging pipe.

Check out the best of gallery: http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/misc/best_of.html [mit.edu]

Tetris!!!!!!! WOOOTTTT

[technoextreme]

Wooottt... They turned the green building into a giant tetris game.

Re:Not so impressive.

[g-san]

you mean like the A squad that did that website with dates from Oct 2003 saying photos will be posted shortly? WTF MIT?

Image capture with sound

[mknewman]

Hmm, interesting, both of my cameras can do sound capture.

Re:Image capture with sound

[Anonymous Coward]

Now in hi-fi [midisite.co.uk]!

Seriously, like nobody's ever heard the Mario theme.

Group X to the rescue!

[Strell]

Shiggity shiggity shwa! http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/mario.php [albinoblacksheep.com]

Looks like a lot of fun

[Anthony]

Great job coordinating all the extras. The coup de gras has to be the tube hanging from the dome.

Not hip to the MIT jive are we....

[technoextreme]

And who can argue with Mario content? But is this a news item, or just a blog article on some strange mutation of flash mobbing?

Nah... This is much older than flash mobbing. This is MIT hacking. It's a classic staple for all nerds.

Re:Not hip to the MIT jive are we....

[amrust]

Yeah, Haha! I just saw the link in another comment, of some classics [mit.edu].

Now I 'get it'. Good stuff.

Chain Chomps

[CriminalNerd]

Personally, I think that the Mario thing was an awesome "hack" to have, but either it's just me, or there were no chain chomps. =( Where are the cute little doggies?!

Re:Chain Chomps

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Chain chomps are Zelda.. not Mario.. Mario stole them..

Re:Chain Chomps

[NonSequor]

As I recall, the first chain chomps were in Super Mario Bros. 3. The only Zelda games that predate SMB3 were the first and second Zelda games and neither of them had chain chomps in them.

Re:Chain Chomps

[Corbu Mulak]

I think it was Link's Awakening that turned them into dogs though. I don't remember Chain Chomps being doglike in Mairo 3, except for the fact that they were leashed.