Super Mario Bros. Crossover dev's Kickstarter races past goal

Super Mario Bros. Crossover developer Exploding Rabbit has nearly doubled its Kickstarter goal to fund platformer Super Retro Squad, due for PC and Mac.

Exploding Rabbit set its sights on $10,000 but at the time of writing the indie studio had raised $17,152 with 23 days left before the deadline ends on Thursday 19th July.

Whereas Super Mario Bros. Crossover was a free game constructed out of licensed characters and assets, Super Retro Squad will be an original commercial product.

It will still be based loosely based on the studio's most well known game, only now with original levels and new characters.

Manni and Lanzo are two German miners who dig too deep and end up in the Asparagus Kingdom where they must Rescue Princess Apricot. Erin is an intergalactic thief who gets attached to a suit of armour, while Mecha Boy is a genius scientist who's part robot.

Each of Super Retro Squad's eight characters will have a world based around them with over 40 stages in total. The game will feature four-player online co-op and players can choose between 8-bit and 16-bit graphics.

Exploding Rabbit founder and creator Jay Pavlina would like to turn Super Retro Squad into a franchise, possibly with each character getting their own title. "Each game will be based on a different Nintendo game," he said, unafraid of a lawsuit.

While Exploding Rabbit could only guarantee a PC and Mac version for now, Pavlina said he would like to make iOS and Android versions as well.

As far as rewards go, those who donate $5 get their name in the credits, and for $15 you'll get a copy of the game when it's released.

Additionally, Exploding Rabbit posted the following stretch goals:

• $20,000 - Time Attack modes, leaderboards and achievements.
• $30,000 - Translation into French, Italian, German, Spanish and possibly more languages.
• $40,000 - Eve VII playable character plus an additional ninth world.

Super Mario Bros. Crossover is a popular browser-based game that allows players to go through the first Super Mario Bros. with other retro characters like Samus, Link and Mega Man. Each character has their own unique moveset, soundtrack and sound effects. Check it out here.