There have been a lot of remarkable Mario fan games over the years, but that never stops us from being amazed at some of the beautiful and creative work that is being done in the community.
Super Mario and the Rainbow Stars is the perfect example of this. Developed by the Mario fan creator Starshi, it is an adventure platformer inspired by Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario and sees Mario exploring a beautiful 3D overworld, before entering a set of gorgeous 2D levels that feature various new gimmicks, bosses, and cutscenes.
The fan game has been in development for several years now, with the pixel artist sharing near-constant updates on its progress via videos and images across social media. From what we've been able to gather, it originally started life as a project made using the SMBX 38A engine but eventually switched over to the SMBX 2 engine at some point in 2023.
A demo of the old version of the game has been available since the beginning of last year, with a new demo of the latest version expected to drop at some point today. According to Starshi, this demo will include the prologue and the entire first chapter and is roughly 2-3 hours long in total.
You can follow Starshi's Twitter account for more updates on the project as they emerge.