Holy cow this is incredible!
I don't know if you're good with making games but do you think this can become a reality one day? I mean personally if I were to offer some criticism is that you should try to make it a bit more like the modern Mario. But dont get me wrong I love this art style. Maybe you should see if you can find someone to work with you on making this a reality. That said great job.
This reminds me so much of Braid.
Love it. While Nintendo has given a lot of effort to remake the older mario games and style, the art has always been very much dependent on the company's evolution of the brand. Seeing something like this, the environments all reworked and detailed with a different aesthetic in mind, just goes to show how much the subtle advances you choose to make can alter the reputation and following of any form of media drastically. After first seeing the images, I can tell you that your consideration of how things may have went differently based on the original public responses of that classic 8-bit wonder truly comes through in your work...and personally looks a bit Braid-esque to me.
P.S. The missing half-star is because as much as I enjoy this, there is now a nagging pain I carry that this does not actually exist. I may or may not be able to cope.
Love this. To me, its kind of got a Spelunky flavored approach to what Mario might have looked like.
Nice work!
its awsm