Marios Bros.
Image: Nintendo

Today, we typically associate the character of Mario exclusively with Nintendo platforms, but throughout the '80s, the character appeared across a wide range of non-Nintendo machines.

The UK publisher Ocean Software, for instance, released several ports of Nintendo arcade games for home computers, including a version of the arcade classic Mario Bros. for the Amstrad CPC.

Originally released in 1987 (four years after the game hit arcades), the Amstrad version wasn't the most visually impressive recreation of the popular Nintendo title, with Mario and his enemies looking a little bit worse for wear. So, as a result, a French coder named Jean-Marie has joined forces with a musician named Lunoka and an artist called Onevision to spruce up the less-than-stellar port with some new graphics, music, and improved code (thanks IndieRetroNews!).

It looks a tiny bit sluggish, judging from the video above, but seems perfectly playable and a whole lot prettier than the version that fans got back in the '80s.

The creators revealed the overhauled port earlier today on the CPCWiki forums, which is where you'll find the download for the game, should you want to try it out for yourself.

[source cpcwiki.eu, via indieretronews.com]