At first glance, it seems like a logical thought-process: take two celebrated games and their mechanics and mash them up to deliver an even better game. After all, fully-developed, AAA-quality crossover games are nothing new: we have the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise, Nintendo's Super Smash Bros., and more recently, Street Fighter X Tekken (incidentally, all of which are fighting games).

Enter the folks over at Stabyourself.net, who received some attention last year for working on a mash-up of their own. Dubbed Mari0, the game combines the classic platforming adventures of the titular plumber with the iconic Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device from Valve’s Portal games. Toss in some four-player coop, downloadable map packs, a level editor, and 33 different hats (inspired by Team Fortress 2, perhaps?), and you have yourself quite a package for the low, low cost of free ninety-nine. 

It isn’t terribly innovative -- there already has been a 2D side-scrolling Portal game, as well as countless other Mario experiments -- and the re-created levels from the original Super Mario Bros. are practically untouched. But the game is just stupid fun anyway: trapping Goombas in an endless falling loop was one of my favorite activities, and as you might think, the Portal gun definitely makes it easier and faster to bypass certain obstacles in the SMB levels.

Also, since most of the momentum rules of the Portal games can be applied here, launching myself through a series of Portals to perfectly land on that damn level-ending flag is pure bliss. 

Besides the Super Mario Bros. map pack, Stabyourself.net also included their own Portal-themed levels, and while they’re alright for the most part, they sometimes feel like they’re just downright impossible to solve. Luckily, for those like me who don't like them, a surprisingly deep level editor is available, with the ability to use both of the developer's Super Mario and Portal assets (including your own custom work if you have them), and I’m curious to see what other people can come up with. 

I’d love to see indie developers do more quirky game remixes like this -- usually, this kind of stuff would only exist in PC mods, or in the do-it-yourself genre of games popularized by the likes of LittleBigPlanet and ModNation Racers. 

My totally-random-and-in-no-way-deliberate idea: someone needs to take the mechanics from Just Dance and mash them up to a Star Wars game. Wouldn’t that be hilarious?

Oh, wait. That already happened.