Here's something exciting for Super Mario fans and lovers of obscure Japanese tech.

A new MSU-1 fan project has just been released that adapts the four episodes of the Japan-exclusive Satellaview title BS Super Mario USA into a single ROM, with a freshly recorded English voiceover.

We've covered the Satellaview on the site a few times before, so I won't go into too much detail about its history here (you can read our article on it here for more information). Instead, I'll keep things to the basics, just to give you a broad understanding of what it was and how BS Super Mario USA fits into the story, just in case you still happen to be completely unfamiliar with it.

The Nintendo Satellaview was a Nintendo-produced add-on released exclusively for the Super Famicom in the mid-90s, in collaboration with the Japanese broadcasting company St. Giga, that allowed users to download video games and other services to their console via a satellite connection. What games you could play typically depended on a pre-existing schedule, with certain "SoundLink" titles benefiting from enhanced audio broadcast live to your machine via satellite.

BS Super Mario USA was one such sound title released for this service to benefit from this "SoundLink" approach. Described online as a score attack version of Super Mario Bros. 2 (known as Super Mario Bros. USA in Japan) with a fully voiced story that happens after the original game, it was available in four parts (initially broadcast throughout 1996) and saw Mario and friends once again having to take on Wart and his cohorts.

Given that the Satellaview was never released outside of Japan, this voice acting was only ever transmitted in Japanese, but now, thanks to the voice director SinCama and the programmer Luigi Blood, it's possible to experience a newly recorded version of it, which translates the experience into English.

Speaking about the project on his blog, Luigi Blood writes, "It was really fun to work on this, as part of the new Project Satellaview initiative that I have started a few weeks ago, with the goal of improving access to Satellaview games, as well as doing better restoration work than before. In fact, I was trying to rework BS Legend of Zelda at first to have a proof of concept of what I was aiming for, as I did have some frustrations about that one, but instead I was given the opportunity to work on this, which also very much shows the goal of the project, plus it gives you something that you have never played before in the proper intended way."

Here's the cast for the new fan-produced version:

Steven Medina: Mario, Birdo Red, Clawgrip
Santiago Vargas: Luigi, Birdo Green
Elliott Posadni: Princess Peach
Patrick Wallace: Commander
Ryan J. Hutchins: Toad, Birdo Pink
Emi Mastey: Narrator, Mary
Martin Gustavsson: Mouser
Thomas E. Thomas: King, Tryclyde
Tre'Vaughn Williams: Wart, Fryguy

-- Additional Voices --
Kitty Kaboom: Narrator B, Lola
Ryan Redding: Citizens
Loren Collins: TV Announcer
Satarou Light: Soccer Commentator
Scottpilgrimrules: Technical Difficulties
Vinny Vinesauce: Delivery Guys

You can download it now from the Project Satellaview website. Two versions of the MSU-1 are available: a version with the original music, and a special version for streamers to avoid copyright claims. A Japanese version is also planned, with Luigi Blood stating that "the ROM is fully complete and functional"; they just need to fill in the audio. To speed up the process, they are requesting that anyone with "clean" audio of all 4 episodes contact them on Twitter/X or BlueSky.