Super Mario Clouds Tutorial

Tech art pioneer Cory Arcangel has an amazing tutorial on his website describing the process by which he made one of his most famous works: Super Mario Clouds, which consists of a modified version of the Nintendo game, Super Mario Bros. with everything removed except the background clouds.

In the tutorial, Cory provides links to the actual downloadable ROM itself as well as detailed instructions for the soldering/hardware work required to install it. If you've never seen assembly code up close and personal -- or simply never from the inside of a Nintendo game -- here's your chance. It goes something like this:

.inesprg 2 ; 32k program memory
.ineschr 1 ; 8k chr graphics
.inesmir 1 ; standard mirroring
.inesmap 0 ; NROM mapper....aka no mapper...

.org $8000 ; 32 k cartridge

clouds_start: ; include cloud hex file
.dw clouds_start_addr
clouds_start_addr:
.incbin "clouds.hex"

Cory's walkthrough is cogent and clear as well. In fact, the whole "Things I Made" section of his website is a treasure trove for anyone interested in inspiration or practical advice for making this kind of art. Good stuff!