Super Mario Bros. played with eyes closed, what can mankind achieve next?

We saw Mark play Mario with his feet a couple months ago, but s00pcan was unimpressed: he can navigate everyone's favorite plumber through the first two levels of Super Mario Bros. with his eyes closed. He claims he can do 1-4 now as well, but all he's got for proof is the first two. If he jumped half a second later, he could hit the warp, but it looks like s00pcan's got a couple more college years ahead of him to make that all happen. Peep the video after the break.

[Via Joystiq]

[humpty @ May 2nd 2007 9:23PM]

1. Record a video of gameplay for any game. Dont make it too perfect.
2. Position camera so that the frame captures your head, hands with controller, and television.
3. Play video on said television.

Optional
- comb your hair
- blindfold for added effect
- show video of cables and such (dont matter)

Tada!.. any game canbe played with closed eyes ...

[Paul Fehr @ May 2nd 2007 9:27PM]

I've got a question, how can you be sure he's doing it? And not just someone off camera?


Cool nonetheless.

[greg @ May 2nd 2007 9:31PM]

If this is true then i think i lost faith in society.

[Big @ May 2nd 2007 9:41PM]

If it is possible to play a game with your eyes closed - then either:

#1 The game is too predictable - thus suffering from aspects of poor game design.

#2 you're a loser who never goes out and will be a virgin until the Hydrogen in the Sun burns out.

Girls don't typically respond to: "Hey baby, I can rescue princess toadstool with my eyes closed".

do they?

[Brandon West @ May 2nd 2007 9:47PM]

They do respond, usually with "I'm sorry, but your princess is in another castle."

[motorer @ May 2nd 2007 10:03PM]

"#1 The game is too predictable - thus suffering from aspects of poor game design."

Or maybe the game has been out for 20-some years and he's probably played it a couple times.

"#2 you're a loser who never goes out and will be a virgin until the Hydrogen in the Sun burns out."

Or maybe he's got something called a "hobby"

you don't even know the kid. i love how someone can judge another person's character solely on a youtube video. I'll do something similar and judge you solely on your one comment. you're an asshole.

[Jason Martin @ May 2nd 2007 9:48PM]

What's the big deal? I used to do that in high school 17 years ago. Granted, I could only do the first level at the time, but my friends and I used to challenge each other to "blind" video game playing often. I'm so glad I have better things to do nowadays.

[Chucula @ May 2nd 2007 9:55PM]

Mario can definitely be played without looking. Especially if you know the secret button combination for the super star spawning.

What we need is a robot to play the game for us so we would not have to be virgins until the sun goes red. We could teach the robot to play with its feet or with its eyes closed. Just imagine!

lol

[Big @ May 3rd 2007 11:58PM]

takes one to know one.

[mrblack @ May 6th 2007 1:06AM]

I believe what he was referring to when he said "poor game design" was a modern game design principle; It states that if any part of the game is so "fixed" that it can be accurately predicted, then there isn't enough random events going on. According to good game design, the player should get a slightly different level experience every time (random enemy placement, etc.), so if the game is predictable (ie. you can play it with your eyes closed because you know it won't change) then by textbook standards it is indeed bad game design.

[motorer @ May 6th 2007 3:49AM]

Good job, dude. You just insulted probably the most influential video game of all time. "Textbook standards"? Super Mario Bros. wrote the fucking book on video games standards.

[LittleJoe @ May 2nd 2007 10:14PM]

annnnnnddddd... this is why you are not getting laid.

[Grant @ May 2nd 2007 10:28PM]

wow, can you get help for something like this?

[Ken @ May 2nd 2007 10:48PM]

big freaking deal! i can play Wii Sport with my mouth! haha

[John Doe @ May 2nd 2007 10:46PM]

There are about 10,000 possible ways this could be fake. Not saying it is but if you are going to do it, do it in style. Hanging upside down, feet tied, arms tied, blindfolded with some mechanism that will cut the rope and drop you in a tank of water if you die in the game.

[quartertone @ May 2nd 2007 10:55PM]

Wow. You people and your negative comments.

I agree with motorer. There is no way you can judge him from this one video.

Besides, I think this demonstrates his (possibly) excellent memory, if anything.

[TriZz @ May 2nd 2007 10:56PM]

I think it's the ole 'mirror in the controller' trick!

[Bman21212 @ May 2nd 2007 11:15PM]

Have any of you actually watched the video? It is not that impossible to do if you actually work at it. Hard? Yea, maybe. But not impossible "he must be cheating" hard.

Thats pretty cool

[Talya @ May 2nd 2007 11:18PM]

Seriously, guys. There is a young boy here, who is BLIND and fan of videogames. Level 2? Hah. He plays it all. I give you the link, but it is all in spanish. His dream is to have a notebook.

This is from the newspaper.

PDF here in case someone wants to read it.

[MrPumpernickel @ May 2nd 2007 11:24PM]

I'd be actually impressed if he didn't take the shortcuts, you could train a monkey to do what he did. Playing through the actual level is a whole other thing.

[Luis @ May 2nd 2007 11:51PM]

I watched this. He kinda sucks. I'm not wowed because anyone can do that unlike the guy who plays with his feet. That kid is awesome!

[NovaLand @ May 3rd 2007 1:27AM]

Like I expected, it had to be a crazy japaneese guy if u want to see someone completing the whole game blindfolded. Just a level is nothing to be impressed over, we've seen worse!

Besides, it would have been more impressive if u would see the fingers and the controller so u could verify that moves are really his moves. Now he's just sitting there jerking his fingers to a pre-recorded game of SMB. The fact that we even see him in the picture at all is kinda useless except that we know who we're bashing.

[Jennifroo @ May 3rd 2007 2:04AM]

@Big "Girls don't typically respond to: "Hey baby, I can rescue princess toadstool with my eyes closed"."

Nor do they respond to "Hey Baby, I sit on Engadget all day writing disparaging comments about a kid, who I've never met, having a good time." I'd rather be with the kid playing games and enjoying himself.

[MAK1981 @ May 3rd 2007 6:44AM]

"@Big "Girls don't typically respond to: "Hey baby, I can rescue princess toadstool with my eyes closed"."

Nor do they respond to "Hey Baby, I sit on Engadget all day writing disparaging comments about a kid, who I've never met, having a good time." I'd rather be with the kid playing games and enjoying himself."

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Hit the nail on the head with that comment. So many people so insecure about themselves they have to anonymously insult someone they don't know. Good comment :)

[joseph @ May 3rd 2007 6:38PM]

I believe the proper answer to this one is...

"Havent you ever heard of a hobby?"
--Some other guy in this thread.

[Michael Morisy @ May 3rd 2007 2:21AM]

Pssh. That's nothing compared to what some blind gamers can do:

"The latest challenger stands up, defeated. “Next victim,” says someone in the crowd. Another competitor trudges to the front of the room, sits in a black chair facing a large television screen and picks up a video game controller. Everyone knows it’s hopeless.

During a special Mortal Kombat competition on Sunday at the DogTags Gaming Center in northeast Lincoln, Brice Mellen effortlessly defeated one opponent after another as he rocked in his chair, his back to the television screen.

Brice wasn’t showing off by turning away from the video characters fighting on a platform under a rainy, overcast sky. He can’t see them.
Brice, 18, who has been blind since birth due to Leber’s disease, began attracting attention for his video gaming prowess last summer when he was featured on several television programs, including NBC’s Today Show."

Taken from http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/01/09/local/doc43c1d4abb1afc086867574.txt

[branchan @ May 3rd 2007 9:04AM]

That's nothing, as Michael pointed out, this guy does it waaaayy better:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8731861/

[Rus @ May 3rd 2007 9:24AM]

This could be real and he just filmed it dozens (maybe hundreds) of times until he got through it. It looked like it was more or less luck especially with landing on the shrooms and turtles.

[PDubNYC @ May 3rd 2007 9:58AM]

The route he took was not really that hard. I think most of us who spent a lot of hours back in the day playing this game could do this in fairly short order. Particualrly the first level. He basically kept running until he was sure he had hit a wall, and jumped. Or occasionally down a pipe where the music changes to let him know where he is.

[Jeff Fu @ May 3rd 2007 12:59PM]

Lol love the nerd bashing. He probably is a friggan nerd; look at his emaciated state, probably only eats once a day. However there is no need to give him crap for that. Most of you are reading a gadget web site. Go play some football or watch some sports tech geeks.

[s00pcan @ May 3rd 2007 7:36PM]

Hi. I basically take these cheating comments as compliments now, since it means that you don't think it is possible. It's not that hard, it just takes practice and memorization. Half of it is timing, the other half is using sound. If you have any questions.. ask. Also, yeah blind people have way more practice with this than I do, so I would expect them to be able to beat whole games whereas I can only do a few levels. This video took many tries to get, but I've been able to do it first try while I was stopped at a red light while driving on my gba because it's so easy now.

Also, this video is of a crappy run and I usually do it much faster than this. For instance, not missing the jumps and staying on top of the pipes in the first level and in the second level by the two koopas, who it is safer to avoid by going over top of. The better video from this session got cut off by my stupid camera and only recorded half of it. I uploaded a slightly better one that I took with my 360 webcam, check my other videos.

In response to the news post, I've gotten to the warp before, but it is usually just luck whether I end up in the pipe or at the warp. I have a third video of where I got there but I was so embarrassingly lost at the fact that I made it to the warp that time that I didn't upload that one either.

If you have any questions, ask.

[wondersquare @ May 3rd 2007 9:27PM]

yes the game is very predictable.

i just wish i had a camera or someone had walked in on me so i could actually prove what i'm about to say.
one of the most unbelievable things happened to me when i was a kid.
i was in my room really late one school night.
i was sitting on the edge of my bed and i happened to be playing super mario brothers.
well i was getting tired and before i realized it i fell asleep.
i woke up the next day with controller in hand and as i looked at the screen i saw the i had just rescured the princess in the last level.
it just hit me.. i had beat super mario brothers in my sleep and no one would ever believe me.

[ReNz @ May 8th 2007 11:12AM]

yeah man i 100% agree with you on that..SMB is like that foundation for video games. SMB is that one that started it all..without that where would we be as gamers

[ReNz @ May 8th 2007 4:34AM]

RL, why dont you guys give him his PROPS. i mean i dont see you in this video, put yourself in his shoes. would YOU really stoop that low to show the world, via youtube, that you can beat a few simp levels on mario by cheating with mirror magik or for someone else to actually be playin while it looks like your doing the work. But like i said untill i see anyone of you turn in a vid with you playin with your eyes closed ill give kid what he's due..and thats mad P.L.U.R...shoot i know for a fact i cant do that.

more power to ya bro