The First Ever Super Mario Bros. Romhack

This is Tonkachi Mario, the FIRST EVER Super Mario Bros. Romhack, made all the way back in 1987. This game is historic, and we had a ton of fun playing it too!
Romhack Wednesday playlist: www.shorturl.at/bchA9
Spreadsheet with every hack: www.shorturl.at/aqBVZ
How to apply an ips patch: • How to apply or create...
Glitchat's Kaizo Mario History: glitchcat7.com/the-complete-h...
‣ Twitch: / kosmic
‣ Twitter: / kosmicd12
‣ Second Channel (Full VODs, etc.): / @kosmicspeedruns
‣ Reddit: / kosmic
Edited by Bismuth:
/ bismuth9
/ bismuth9
/ bismuthi
Intro music: • Title Mario & Luigi ...
Outro music: • Video
#Kosmic #SMB1 #Mario

[@Kosmicd12]

Be sure to check out the links in the description, lots of good stuff for you! Also Subscribe!!! :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/f16pl6xmodZ4n9E

[@neilt82]

I'm loving the romhack spreadsheet. How about "Jelly Mario Bros." or "Joe & Moe's Pizza Delivery" for future installments? 😄

[@Kosmicd12]

@@neilt82 what is the pizza delivery thing, I couldnt find it

[@neilt82]

@@Kosmicd12 It's an SMB1 romhack with a lot of custom graphics. It seems a bit tricky to find, but an image search for "Joe and Moe Pizza Delivery" should lead you to it.

[@LeetTron5000]

its raw mac wednesday!

[@Arkume8Beltz]

Amazing room hack!! Play with gliches, diferent paths, etc..waho! I was 8 years old wen it was made..xD

[@MichelleSleeper]

Seeing a hack this sophisticated made in 1987 is like learning the ancient Greeks invented the steam engine.

[@zachd4693]

lol

[@otesunki]

they w h a t

[@a-bombmori7393]

@@otesunki If I'm not mistaken they invented the general concept but in a form that was inefficient enough that they didn't think it was worth pursuing.

[@mattguy1773]

The Greeks knew about the concept of technology but not how to make it yet

[@internetsurferxxx2678]

look up "mud flood reset" videos. you will be blown away

[@ShinyAlex01]

The fact there is a Mario romhack that's older than SMB3 is mind blowing lol

[@Windo0ows]

there already was one it was us smb2

[@ShinyAlex01]

@@Windo0ows yeah true lol

[@tuskoub]

@@Windo0ows and All-Night Nippon Super Mario Bros

[@half-dusted]

@@tuskoub not exactly a fan made ROM hack but it is definitely a ROM hack

[@areaxisthegurkha]

@@Windo0ows haha tru

[@Bismuth9]

Free bingo square: "How many people have ever [verb] this [thing]?"

[@AvoidThisLloyd]

How many people have PLAYED this ROM HACK

[@qzxzqzxzqzx]

SpongeBob SquarePants :-)

[@NileR]

[Beaten] [Game]

[@andrewhxrris]

at least one

[@dmk12345]

Things.

[@thexbigxgreen]

I'm legitimately amazed at how technically sound this hack is in comparison to modern hacks, given the technology and knowledge base available at the time.

[@iantaakalla8180]

I think it’s sound simply because they couldn’t imagine much further than a SMB or an SMBTLL-styled level.

[@Fearagen]

For a romhack being made in 1987 this is actually technically impressive. Of course now you can add custom sprites and stuff and just completely change super mario bros but back then this was insane.

[@T3n50r]

This is insane even by todays standards tbh. SMB1 romhack is not easy. Not just that, the trolls in this hack is next level shit. Who would have thought the first kaizo coin block was made even before it had a name, and that you had to use technical glitches to even get further in the game? If this is not a really good troll hack, I don't know what is. The guy who made this is a fucking genius.

[@KMerrow]

This was clearly made by someone who looked at The Lost Levels and thought "Still not hard enough."

[@MultiGamer64REAL]

Based comment

[@InsertFunnyThingHere]

"these guys tried to make it hard and not only failed, but it's not fun in the slightest. Like even i could do better Oh well I'm bored, let's get to code"

[@EnigPartyhaus]

1:33 that chain of flagpole balls is now known to be an unused object, for this hack from 1987 to find it and no one realizing this for decades is insane

[@komos63]

hehe balls funny

[@kaldo8907]

But they realized it in 1987

[@marcgomez8391]

What the heck, I was expecting a super basic rom hack but what I've watched is among the best I've seen in all these rom hack Wednesday videos. How is this 7 years older than me holy crap.

[@TheShredFaster]

i was expecting the same thing when i saw the video title, i'm glad i was wrong. really cool to see a romhack so ahead of it's time played by one of the most skilled players

[@insectduel]

I'm expecting YY-SMB which is completed version but whatever.

[@BUGFlower413]

Same here! I expected the simpliest hack ever, but the amount of glitch-techniques and the game design is actually amazing o.o

[@slapthesloper]

Imagine if you could find the creator of this and have like a conversation about mario with him. Would be amazing content to see how much he remembers 35 years later

[@NinetyLegos]

This is awesome level design and the fact they knew about the glitches and compensated for a player doing them is awesome. Definitely an awesome hack. Way ahead of its time. Shout out to the devs of the hack and Kosmic for making it really fun to watch

[@NinetyLegos]

Thanks for the Heart Kosmic

[@miwiki6]

@@NinetyLegos brotha

[@pokepress]

If the same person made the tool and the hack, I wouldn’t be completely surprised it turned out as exploit-reliant as it did, just because they would have had such a detailed understanding of the game from making the tool.

[@linhero797]

More often then not. Back then people made editing tools for themselves. And maybe would release them after they make a test project. So this may actually be a test project.

[@mjdxp5688]

Imagine being in the late 1980s and getting this weird disk with an edited version of Super Mario Bros. on it. It must have been insane to play a full level hack of one of the best games at the time without even knowing how significant it is. That's like playing a full level hack of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe ROM hack on the Switch today.

[@ItsameWario]

The joy in every trick he does even when he’s done it a million times is so infectious, so fun to watch these!

[@GroovyDominoes]

I like how some sections of some levels are taken from lost levels 0:51 - having the turtle on top of the bricks in 1-1 9:32 - this section being the start of 4-1 16:12 - this section being the start of 4-2 22:09 - this section being 7-4 (as kosmic said lol) 22:44 - this one looks a bit like 4-4 to me P.S. Thanks for making a playlist and even a spreadsheet for the rom hacks! I appreciate the effort put into it.

[@andrewzhang8512]

nah the last one is definitely 8-4 from smb1

[@Kosmicd12]

@@andrewzhang8512 it's definitely 4-4 from 2j haha

[@LatteWiiU]

Hi groovy

[@andrewzhang8512]

@@Kosmicd12 doesn't 4-4 have like no lava in the beginning tho

[@leap123_]

do you plan to update npcs are becoming smart game

[@pendragon5573]

This romhack was way, WAY ahead of its time.

[@xtlm]

Or it proves that times just don't change that much. One or the other.

[@PatrickDavis28]

I wouldn't be surprised if it took literally years for anyone to beat this hack due to how niche and unknown many of these glitches were in the 80s. As far as I know it took until people actually started speedrunning SMB for them to discover things like walljumps, block clips, etc. Also the half invisible blocks are insane

[@dycedargselderbrother5353]

My memory is fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure a number of tricks were [re-]discovered with TASes and gradually adapted into speedruns. Forgotten mechanical knowledge about the game would truly make these the lost levels.

[@1stCallipostle]

If I recall Wall jumping has been known since pretty much the beginning to some extent Now it took until the internet became mainstream for it to become COMMON knowledge

[@thag_simmons]

been thinking about this romhack non-stop ever since this vid dropped. it's been nearly 40 years and we're still making mario levels that look like this! I wonder if the creator is still around and what they think about mario maker if so.

[@Lamoosa]

its actually insane that they knew all of these glitches in 1987

[@GamingGardevoir]

I’m mostly impressed by how this game basically invented the castle having a back door

[@imperiallarch7610]

I lost it at the kaizo block, followed by offscreen bowser fire. Mario Maker creators are reusing trolls that are older than I am. XD

[@VideoGaming4Dummies]

They literally made you work for that warp zone. XD This is definitely a piece of history right here!

[@RetroSetJoe]

Today I learned I'm as old as the first Kaizo block. This is insane!

[@wileecoyotegenius5955]

The fact that this was made before Super Mario Bros 3 blows my goddamn mind. Amazing hack considering when it was made.

[@tadness121]

00:22 "Dude it's raw mac Wednesday" - the closed captions Please cook your mac & cheese before you eat it.

[@MateDrinker33]

:D

[@EtherianAmber]

first i caught the playlist when it was fresh out of the oven, now this video, wtf

[@Kosmicd12]

First by a longshot 🤯

[@ryjelsum]

Definitely read the article by glitchcat7 in the description if you're a technical person and want to learn more about Tonkachi, which was an on console editor. You had to do all of your modifications using the controller directly to the game ROM, there was no sort of even remotely modern coding environment or anything like that coupled along with it - just some variously inaccurate information about SMB in a short manual. From the sounds of things, it was insanely laborious to use, but FDS games being on disks just *barely* made Tonkachi editor, and this, possible. With that context it makes me appreciate the hack all the more. The fact that they not only knew all of the bugs and quirks used in this hack in '87, but made this using such a primitive coding tool is absolutely mind boggling. They must have really loved SMB, it must have been a labor of love for this person.

[@HerringUSNA]

Dude 😎 it is super cool of you to put together the romhack list with download links. Good stuff my man.

[@dwightgerdes7468]

This is actually the best hack I’ve watched you play.

[@sir.paulord901]

It's honestly pretty awesome that you took the time and effort to not only make a playlist but also making an excel spreadsheet with all the hacks AND a link to a tutorial on how to apply them. That's rad.

[@brianbks02]

3-4 is just when Bowser is busy filing his Taxes when Mario arrives.

[@ara3866]

This was extremely fun to watch, thanks mate! Also pretty happy to see that stuff like that, after so many years, has been preserved.

[@sonofsarek]

Wow. This is the 1st video of yours I have seen. Nice play through. It’s amazing they did this in 1987. How was it even distributed? Like old school tape-trading? Was there some Japanese magazine that it was mentioned in?

[@CptJistuce]

Probably "buy a disk from a store in Akihabara". As I understand things, Japan's software piracy laws were light to nonexistent at the time, so pirate games were readily available.

[@ViIvaNunner]

man this is one of the coolest smb1 hacks ive ever seen like yeah theres definitely more crazy or impressive stuff gameplaywise but the fact this was made in 1987 and how you describe it being made and how its full of crazy glitches and weird stuff that like nobody has ever known about, and the weird like labyrinthine nature of going back to previous sections from other levels and... its just absolutely insane and weird and i dig it hard

[@oldtimegames96]

Kosmic has kept the tradition up with wall clips, soft locks, and 8000 point shell kick.

[@llSuperSnivyll]

It's interesting that someone, back in 1987, before SMB3 was even released, someone decided to, not just make a ROM Hack of SMB1, but add glitch abuse, kaizo-like mechanics, and looping through levels of all things.

[@DragonUltraMaster]

I've known about some crazy stuff in SMB, but seeing it like this and by a grandmaster really showed something incredible. This was an extrodinary run!

[@nemojimeister8769]

Thanks for the playlist and spreadsheet Kosmic!!! That is epic

[@Caspur189]

Always love the rom hack wednesday vids :) this one was super dope, keep up the great work dude

[@cosp6750]

Honestly very happy for this video. Thank you for the playlist!

[@royalpurple8576]

My grandfather made this I'm so proud that still people playing it today ty

[@CreepyMisfit7]

Thank you for all your hard work making this super accessible!

[@JoLiKMC]

This video was a ton of fun to watch! You have some real skill in _Super Mario_ and a lot of knowledge, too, Kosmic! I may have to watch more of your stuff if it's all this great~

[@Kosmicd12]

thanks for the very kind message! I have lots more romhacks I've played (see playlist in pinned comment), world record speedruns, and other various challenges!

[@MrTropicalFusion]

Yo Kosmic, thanks for the tip at the head of this video that talks about where to obtain all the hacks! I've been wanting to try some of these for a long time. I appreciate your dedication to this ancient game and look forward to your new KZbin posts often. Thank you!

[@JunkyardDave]

This was extremely cool! Great explanations and very neat to see this.

[@607]

This hack is fascinating!!! Thanks for showing off as much as you could.

[@ThePharphis]

Wow, this is incredible. Thank you for showing it off for us all to enjoy :) I hope whoever made this got some high paying gig in computing based off of his passion.

[@nicholas_7r]

With this creator's knowledge of the game all the way back in 1987 imagine if they started tasing Super Mario Bros in the 90's. They would have been so far ahead of the earliest speedrunners it would have been insane.

[@justinhicks306]

Wow! This really blew my mind. What a gem.

[@vidman5000]

Amazing hack and awesome playlist. i can't wait to dive into these on my series x.

[@logicless6709]

This dude deserves way more subscribers for the entertaining content he puts out

[@AnyThingWorx]

Your laugh’s infections, man. It’s always refreshing to see so much positivity on here. Keep it up man.

[@yozarian86]

I’ve seen over 20 of your rom hack videos and this is the craziest most amazing SMB I’ve seen. In all these years no one’s topped it I guess. Lol

[@TeraunceFoaloke]

This is impressive for how old this thing is. Thanks for sharing this.

[@whazzup_teacup]

I'm very impressed that this was made so early and that it's not even that trashy.

[@EthanMr.D]

An upload from kosmic is a day maker for me!

[@ninatiels]

Wow. This was true kaizo. You needed all kinds of advanced skills to beat it. Awesome hack

[@Tovvvija]

This was the best rom hack ever and it is so freakin' good. I can't even imagine the work they've put in to this in 87 ...

[@KaceyTime]

Yoooo playlist hype. Spreadsheet is great too

[@alfredocasas1498]

This was an amazing watch!

[@legion2590]

The history link in the description was great!

[@SilverKnight16]

This is super imaginative. And made in 1987?! That's madness, and I'm totally here for it.

[@kchrules775]

I though the first rom hack would be from like 1998 or something. 1987? That is incredible

[@mikereynolds1368]

Wow, trolls, twice twice, kaizo blocks, wrong warps, I mean stuff that people "discovered" in recent history done all the way back in 1987. Wow. All that plus the fact you had to manually hack the rom. Really impressed with this. Thanks for sharing kosmic!

[@paul_warner]

This video is so much fun to watch while high 😂 this man is just casually walking through walls and jumping off of the air while his surroundings are going nuts. This was made _by_ a crazy nerd _for_ other crazy nerds.

[@vikinglife6316]

This hack is absolute genius and the fact this was done in 87 blows my mind

[@MTerrence]

The idea of a proto-romhacker leaving a kaizo block behind in 1987 only for a SMB world-record holder from halfway across the world to blunder into it in 2021 is trippy.

[@AmethystSpeaks]

The clipping through walls thing on the moving platform (11:30) is based on continuously holding left. It triggers the mechanic that pushes Mario opposite of where he's trying to walk (collision).

[@davidboyeswahn4654]

The first Romhack, and after 34 years still the best by a mile.

[@JorfDB]

been watching a little mario every morning, thanks for the content Kosmic R)

[@Kosmicd12]

R)

[@FordFourD-aka-Ford4D]

This was such a trip. I gotta wonder what other secrets and Easter eggs there might be hidden in the depths of this hack!

[@jes3d]

insane on how he still posts. came here from your bullet bill glitch video from 5 years ago.

[@linkthehero8431]

The reason that one castle block is solid is to act as a marker for when Mario goes into the castle and tells the system when to put Mario behind the background. Just a little bit of technical info for you guys 😉

[@ogedeh]

This IS super impressive, wow

[@JP-pq9xi]

I'd love to see an interview with who made this hack. This is incredible.

[@enigmaoftheechidna6279]

13:00 that made me laugh so hard that my back cracked, that was amazing. And the glitch was pretty cool too

[@rileyparks1894]

Seeing this is so cool, the dev had to have put sooo much work into making it this good! Right at the end you asked if this was the first ever romhack, I dunno if you meant for any game but the story of Ms. Pac-Man is interesting and started because of a romhack in like '82, you should look into that

[@SopaDoEspaco]

This is so awesome dude

[@BagelNosed3DSuser]

This is just a baby making a whole video game in a day. Edit: just realised the flimsy lifts in the ground could have been thought to be like quicksand Edit 2: this is the real lost levels

[@AlexanderWare3]

Full romhack Playlist LETS GOOOOO

[@Eight-Bytes]

Those dots acting as ladders made me laugh with that sound.

[@casabaixo]

Awesome hack, Kosmic! Saw earlier the complete 2h video on the twitch!

[@EebstertheGreat]

Do we know how much evidence there is that this is the original ROM? Is there a reliable history of the Tonkashi editor?

[@joeyabuki5959]

I've been reading about it and found this: "Included on the Tonkachi’s disk were codes and instructions to recreate a pre-built pack-in game as a demonstration of the editor’s capabilities. Meet history’s first-ever Mario ROM hack, the true original “Kaizo” - Tonkachi Mario." So, my guess is someone used the editor with this "bundled" code to recreate the game. You can find the Tonkachi Editor on the internet. I don't think this is a real "dump" from 1987, but an exact hack using this code.

[@_polpon]

Such a fun and interesting hack :)

[@o2Tenka]

I remember having a "999 in 1 nintendo" that had A LOT of mario hacks that are now lost in time... I'd love to see you play those but I don't think anybody has access to those pirated versions

[@Irreve-rsible]

Most interesting romhack of any game i've ever seen.

[@GamingGardevoir]

6:50 Did this man really invent the castle back door?!

[@aleksitjvladica.]

Tonkachi blowed my mind!

[@hdofu]

Dang, I've been following the NES Rom Hacking scene since the end of the 90s, I had no idea that Japanese super mario bros scene went this far back in time.

[@Official_Lamar_Berry]

So this is the first ever Super Mario Bros. romhack.This is awesome! It should be on the famiclones

[@snowy5133]

Even though I was there while it was live yesterday, I'm still watching the video

[@matthewjahnke6956]

I knew about that vine hack. I also knew about that standing on your back and breaking the bricks hack. I also knew about that swimming on top of that wall hack.

[@McNibbler]

This hack is insanely cool

[@thenumberquelve158]

The St. Andrews of ROMhacks, if you will. I hope Tonkachi means "fever dream" because wow, some of the random stuff that happened on your playthrough was WILD. I had NO idea ROMhacking went back that far. 1987 was the year Doug Williams was Superbowl MVP. Ronald Reagan was still US President when this came out. Amazing to think.

[@ym2612girl]

Tonkachi means "hammer," I believe. This hack was bundled with an editor for the Famicon Disk System called the Tonkachi Editor, which allowed you to modify your FDS games. It's pretty nuts, I've been studying it.

[@thenumberquelve158]

@@ym2612girl Thank you!

[@glitchinggaming7581]

the guy who made this rom hack is 100% a time traveler

[@johneygd]

Normally i don’t care about those SMB1 rom hacks,but this one is definitely mind blowing,considering it’s from 1987 and it was also very forward thinking with elements never seen before in certain theme levels such as scale platforms in a fortress level or blicks under water etc,,,

[@Irreve-rsible]

I just wonder why they made a rom hack back in that time period. Especially an interesting rom hack with the history, and game knowledge and giltches involved. Who would even be able to play something like this at the time? Very fascinating.

[@callmehydros]

Kosmic, maybe you should do a speedrun fail compilation for the people who can't go on Twitch, still good job man!

[@simplyfantastic58]

Yes! It has been uploaded!

[@justsomeguy5628]

It would be a lot of fun to watch you do a few streams Speedrunning this. You could try to figure out the quickest path and embrace the entirety of the jank.

[@randomviewer896]

There might have been some "hacks" of early atari 2600 games. However, none of them would be as sophisticated as this. It's crazy that someone figured out how to make this in 1987. I wonder if the creator was linked to SMB1's development somehow.