This hack and its article contain references to the following sensitive content:
► Drugs, drug use or addiction
Crackhead Mario 64 is a ROM hack created by Kahan for the Mario Jams Disaster Competition, in which it placed 6th.
A sign at the beginning of this hack includes a statement in block capitals from the hack creator, stating that they do not condone the use of drugs, and that crack cocaine doesn't grant any superpowers in real life.
Gameplay[]
This hack features a custom mechanic that alters Mario's moveset. Throughout the hack's areas, Mario can "do crack cocaine" by touching any of the grey Star sprites scattered around. Each one of these will refill the counter in the upper-left corner of the HUD by a set amount. Each one of these corresponds to a press of the A button. Mario's momentum for most jumps will receive a large increase, which is used to jump absurdly high or jump long distances.
There are two secret courses in this hack. The first is called The Great Factory; it is comprised of two large areas with one Star each. The second area has 8 red coin to collect using a mixture of mechanics, including riding a Koopa shell and utilising a fading warp on a floating platform. The second secret course is called The Rich Whomp; it features a showdown against King Whomp.
Plot[]
The hack begins in a partially flooded, dark industrial setting somewhere. Mario meets with his friend on the other side of the puddle who offers some context for the scene, and some crack cocaine that resembles a static grey star sprite. His friend offers their condolences for Mario's loss of the Mushroom Kingdom, and explains that it was the result of the rich exploiting the environment, even though Mario did everything he could to stop them.
Then, his friend goes on to explain that they've brought Mario some crack cocaine to cheer him up. Supposedly, it's a special type of crack from a gas station that can empower jumps, "or something". Lastly, his friend reminds him to get some sleep soon, so that they can both rummage through the trash cans the next day, before the trash is taken away.
After falling asleep, Mario finds himself dreaming of another alleyway, this one much more narrow. A black Bob-omb Buddy waits for him at the other end and explains that the "crack" he took was nothing more than the remnants of the Power Stars. They explain that Mario must use them to prevent the disaster that took away the one thing he misses more than anything: the Mushroom Kingdom. With that, the Bob-omb Buddy transports Mario back in time using what appears to be a whole Power Star.
The Power Star warp sends Mario back in time to before the fall of the Mushroom Kingdom, and he finds himself standing outside a factory. His trash-rummaging friend is nearby, who also had a dream about being sent back in time. His friend alleges that the guy who sent them also gave them instructions to distribute the crack to the workers inside the factory, in order to allow Mario to reach the businessman responsible for harming the environment, and stop him from doing so any further. This can be done by removing the three Power Stars that are used to power the entire factory, thus shutting down the entire operation.
Using his friend's crack to jump absurdly high and far, Mario uses the crack to enter the factory through a smashed window, and navigate through it. The first of the factory's Stars can be found by navigating to the end of the first area. Along the way, Mario can speak to one of the factory's workers, who talks about how the crack they were just given affects their jumps differently. The second Star is a red coin Star, and after collecting it, Mario is warped to the evil businessman's room.
As is turns out, the businessman who ruined the Mushroom Kingdom was King Whomp himself. King Whomp explains that his motive- aside from the destruction of the Kingdom- was to make enough money to purchase an NFT. In response to this, Mario opts to kill him, using the powerful crack to overcome the sticky sand dragging him down, by crushing King Whomp with three groundpounds. Upon exploding, King Whomp drops the third and last Power Star in this hack, which transports Mario to the endscreen.
Contextual Analysis[]
At the time of this hack's creation, NFT's were a very hot topic in online and many offline communities. They are, in short, a controversial form of investment that relies on the blockchain to provide record of ownership of a digital asset.
NFT's have drawn a large amount of controversy. One of these main causes of controversy was their impact on the environment that resulted from their reliance on proof-of-work protocols, which at the time were needed to provide verification of the NFT's purchase on the blockchain.
Proof-of-work protocols are known to have very high energy demands; those demands are primarily met through the consumation of non-renewable energy, which is frequently associated with wide-spread environmental destruction. The computational power that requires this energy is also known to create excessive amounts of electronic waste, which is a known environmental and atmospheric contaminant[1].
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