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'Infinite Mario' Adjusts Difficulty Based on How Badly You Suck

by Warren Riddle on September 12, 2010 at 09:00 AM

screenshot of 'infinite adaptive mario'
Gamers (and not just the completely inept ones) have been investigating and developing dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) software for several years. The system conceivably recognizes a player's skill level based on gameplay, and then adjusts the game's difficulty settings appropriately. Given the innumerable mods of 'Mario' games, it's only fitting that one 'Mario' clone seems to have inspired a groundbreaking development in DDA.

Using Markus Persson's awesome 'Infinite Mario,' which incorporates aspects of 'Super Mario Bros. 3' and 'Super Mario World,' Ben Weber has crafted 'Infinite Adaptive Mario,' an evolving game that actually spawns entirely new levels with varying degrees of difficulty. Ph.D. candidate Weber expounds, "Upon death, the difficulty is decreased based on the amount of progress made by the player." But, rapidly completing a level increases the degree of difficulty, which can involve the creation of additional enemies and adjustments to the frequency and sizes of gaps.

Weber professes, "The best way to get a feel for how dynamic difficulty works in 'Infinite Adaptive Mario' is to try it out for yourself." But, if 'Infinite Mario' is still too challenging -- even with DDA -- you can always just let Robin Baumgarten's A.I. program play it for you.

Tags: ben weber, BenWeber, dda, flashgames, gaming, infinite mario, InfiniteMario, nintendo, Super Mario, Super Mario Bros, SuperMario, SuperMarioBros, top, videogames

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