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I kind of want to make a whole level!

Materials: Assorted Perler beads and two interlockable 29x29 square pegboards. A strip of sticky-backed magnets.

Time: Several weeks of TiVo.

Cost: Hard to say -- maybe $30-$40, with most of the supplies bought on eBay.

You can check out the Perler Mario Coasters for more details on Perler/Hama beads and Nintendo sprites, since this project was an extension of that enterprise. All of the graphics are from sprites and backgrounds and stuff that people have taken from the game itself, which I think looks much more authentic than freehanding (which isn't so much my thing, anyway). It did, however, require several eBay refills of popular bead colors, since no matter how well-stocked you are you can never have enough black.

If I had more surface area to fill, I might move on to creating a more accurate level -- one with a dungeon and a water area, for example, with lots of background. At the moment, however, I'm pretty happy with this. The only downside is that Garth has taken an intense, arbitrary dislike to Frog Mario, so I find him on the floor some mornings