'Full Screen Mario' Must Come Down

Ryan Vogt will be the first to admit that Full Screen Mario, a perfect re-creation of Nintendo's iconic Super Mario Bros. created by a college student and playable for free online, is "amazing." That doesn't mean it should remain available, however. In fact, the game "should be taken down immediately," Vogt writes on Slate. Josh Goldberg may have rebuilt the game, but it's not his: It's Nintendo's, and the company isn't happy about Goldberg's version. Goldberg and others have complained that it would be a "jerk move" if Nintendo forced the site down, particularly since it's been so many years since the original game came out. But "the jerk move is to give something away for free that the rightful owner charges for," Vogt argues.

Nintendo is still charging for the original game, which can be downloaded for a low price to your current console, and it continues to add more Mario games to the series. The iconic character "is intrinsically tied up with Nintendo," Vogt writes. "For the company to hand its mascot’s pioneering adventure over to the public would mean not only allowing Goldberg to give it away, but Microsoft and Sony to sell it on their gaming systems. If that doesn’t make your heart shudder, maybe you never loved the smiling plumber in the first place." His advice to Goldberg: Take his obvious talents and create a new game of his very own. Click for Vogt's full column. (More Super Mario Brothers stories.)