I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm a big Super Mario fan. And if I'm just as talented as Michael Schaffer and Florian Hufsky, who originally created the Mario Deathmatch game Super Mario War, then I'll make my own Nintendo tribute. Since I don't have the necessary skills to make a non-profit fan game based on the Super Mario series, I'll have to make do with supporting those who can make a superb game based on my all-time favorite Nintendo character...like Percival.

Super Mario War, which gives players the goal of stomping as many enemy Marios as they can, has been ported into the PSP by Percival last week. Super Mario War v1.0 was playable on fw1.0, 1.5, and 2.00+ via the eLoader. However, some 1.5 users encountered black or blue screens while playing with this game. Well, good news for all 1.5 users, the game has just been updated to v1.01 and you can now say goodbye to those black and blue screens.

Percival has also fixed other problems such as maps not loading, goomba showing twice in Goomba mode, and menu music continuously playing even during the game. The first version also made the text appear in weird positions when exiting or pausing a game during a screen shake; but since the latest release promises to be better, that has been fixed as well. If you've had problems reading the numbers 2 and 3 on v1.0's race mode, they are now legible in v1.01.

There are alot of other improvements and new stuff to expect in this version, like a font replacement for the giant one used in the chicken and tag mode, Mario skin appearing first, being able to set only one human player, and ability to change to a random skin by pressing circle during team select. The authors of the game has also made it possible to save the game in a folder other than /PSP/GAM/smw.

With regards to the maps, there are a few new things to expect as well. Percival shares:

• Map selection: hold square and press left/right to jump 10 maps.
• Map selection: press analog left/right to jump to a map name starting with the next letter.
• Preview map button changed from square to L/R.

Like the previous release, v1.01 is still fully mod-able, so you can use skins, maps, graphics, and music according to you heart's own liking. Feel free to use custom skins, maps, graphics, and music available in Super Mario War's official website; however since the site's pictures are made for the PC screen, Percival gave us a tip "to resize each picture until it's 50% smaller".

Based on v1.60 of Michael Schaffer and Florian Hufsky's game, Super Mario War for the PSP is played via the following controls:

Menu:
Cross - Select
Triangle - Cancel
Circle - Random
Square - Fast map select (hold square and press left/right)
L/R - Preview map
Analog left/right - Change map

Team select:
Up/Down - Select skin
Left/Right - Change team
L/R - Change character to change its skin or team
Circle - Change to random skin

During a game:
Cross - Jump
Square - Turbo, use item
Circle - Use power-up
Start - Pause
Select - Exit Game

Expect Michael Schaffer and Florian Hufsky's Super Mario War v1.20, a few bug fixes, and Adhoc multiplayer to be incorporated in future releases of this great PSP homebrew game. Now I've given you all the details regarding the game...if ever I missed anything, just open the README text. I'll leave you now to enjoy the game, and I think I'll go and do the same.

Download: [Super Mario War v1.01 for fw1.0 and 2.0+ (via eLoader)]
Download: [Super Mario War v1.01 for fw1.5]