[Demo] [SMBX] [Update] The Legend of Darkness + A 40th Anniversary Level Mash-Up

**HengShao** · (This post was last modified: 09-14-2025, 07:43 AM by HengShao.)

The Legend of Darkness is a SMBX-38A episode made by Hel Studio, whose members are mostly from China.
For details, you can click HERE.

[Image: lzdIK]

About this project
The project was initially started by me in the summer of 2015. However, due to academic commitments and the team members' personal responsibilities, progress was slow. By 2022, dissatisfied with the earlier level designs, we made the decision to rebuild the entire episode from scratch. Thanks to our collective effort, we are now proud to present this playable demo—we hope you enjoy it!

The Legend of Darkness offers a wealth of unique features, including diverse characters with distinct personalities, innovative gameplay mechanics, vibrant, dynamic cutscenes, and, most importantly—challenging and fun levels!

TRAILER

SCREENSHOTS
[Image: lyjbX]

STORY
The princess has mysteriously vanished! When the Mario brothers rushed to the castle upon hearing the news, all they witnessed was Bowser's shadowy figure retreating into the distance—and the sudden appearance of a mysterious mask shrouded in dark mist.
The moment the mask manifested, the world twisted in chaos: the sky was swallowed by darkness, thunderbolts split the clouds, and howling winds lashed the land with torrential rain. Mario tried to intervene—only to be blasted away by a surge of dark energy, leaving him unconscious...
Where has Princess Peach disappeared to? What was Bowser's true purpose at the castle? And most chilling of all—what unholy force commands this mask of darkness?
To rescue the princess and uncover the truth, the Mario brothers must now embark on a dark adventure beyond imagination!

DOWNLOAD OF THE DEMO
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aDBPE7J...drive_link

About the 40th Anniversary Level Mash-Up
To celebrate Mario's 40th Anniversary, I created commemorative levels based on the framework of the SMBX-38A project - 'The Legend of Darkness' that our team previously built, and integrated them into a standalone game for everyone to play. These stages blend elements from Super Mario Bros. with other classic 2D Mario games, offering a fresh yet nostalgic experience for players.

For details, you can click HERE.

SCREENSHOTS FOR THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY LEVEL MASH-UP
[Image: 1757733641-256587-tlod-mario-40th-annive...levels.png]

[Image: 1757733641-256587-tlod-mario-40th-annive...levels.png]

TRAILER FOR THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY LEVEL MASH-UP

DOWNLOAD OF THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY LEVEL MASH-UP
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aDBPE7J...drive_link

CREDITS

Spoiler

DISCORD
https://discord.gg/DwCgAKa7HQ

**VinnyVideo** · 08-22-2025, 09:23 PM

This looks cool! I really like the graphical style in this.

I'm also impressed that you've kept working on it for a decade.

Course clear! You got a card.

[Image: CourseClear.gif]

**HengShao** · 09-14-2025, 07:46 AM

(08-22-2025, 09:23 PM)VinnyVideo Wrote: This looks cool! I really like the graphical style in this.

I'm also impressed that you've kept working on it for a decade.

Thank you very much! It took us much time to determine its art style, with lots of graphics replaced and updated.

**4UrSafety** · 09-16-2025, 09:01 AM

After I downloaded the 40th anniversary mash-up, this happened.
[Image: yREfujE.png]

I found this game by watching someone stream it, and this issue wasn't mentioned. I feel like the streamer would have said something if it was his own experience, so I'm assuming his curator somehow cleaned the file themselves before sending it to him and didn't say anything.

What do I do?

**VinnyVideo** · 09-16-2025, 09:20 PM

@4UrSafety Thanks for letting us know about this issue. We'll need to look into why this game is getting flagged as a virus.

I should note that false positives are a common problem with fangames. I'd estimate that 80-90% of games on MFGG are made with a Game Maker or Clickteam product. Game Maker and Clickteam are legitimate products. But because of the way they create "containers" in memory for games to run in, antivirus programs sometimes get confused, since the .EXEs sometimes have "signatures" similar to malware. Some antivirus programs (like Windows Defender) often think that safe fangames are viruses/Trojan horses.

If you've downloaded a file that your antivirus software flags as suspicious, it's always a good idea to run a virus scan and make sure that any important files are backed up.

Course clear! You got a card.

[Image: CourseClear.gif]

**HengShao** · 09-19-2025, 08:42 PM

(09-16-2025, 09:01 AM)4UrSafety Wrote: After I downloaded the 40th anniversary mash-up, this happened.

I found this game by watching someone stream it, and this issue wasn't mentioned. I feel like the streamer would have said something if it was his own experience, so I'm assuming his curator somehow cleaned the file themselves before sending it to him and didn't say anything.
What do I do?

(09-16-2025, 09:20 PM)VinnyVideo Wrote: @4UrSafety Thanks for letting us know about this issue. We'll need to look into why this game is getting flagged as a virus.

I should note that false positives are a common problem with fangames. I'd estimate that 80-90% of games on MFGG are made with a Game Maker or Clickteam product. Game Maker and Clickteam are legitimate products. But because of the way they create "containers" in memory for games to run in, antivirus programs sometimes get confused, since the .EXEs sometimes have "signatures" similar to malware. Some antivirus programs (like Windows Defender) often think that safe fangames are viruses/Trojan horses.

If you've downloaded a file that your antivirus software flags as suspicious, it's always a good idea to run a virus scan and make sure that any important files are backed up.

The engine (SMBX-38A) we used uses code obfuscator to prevent others from cracking the game. It won't do any damage to your computer.
It isn't me who created this engine and sadly I can't remove the code obfuscator in this engine. Sorry if it brings any inconvenience to you.