Super Mario Bros. levels can now be encoded and generated in a new way

The new approach, based on GPT-2 language model, was developed by a team of computer scientists at IT University of Copenhagen. In a paper published on the arXiv server, the group describes their work as well as the ways in which other people can use it.

Mario Brothers was first released in 1983. It features two Italian plumbers who emerge from a sewer to try and rescue Princess Peach. She has been held captive by Bowser. To save her, the brothers have to travel across obstacles made from pipes and bricks (with the help of the player). The terrain changes as they move, according to the level that they have reached in the game. The team from Denmark recreated a single aspect of the game: the number of levels.

Researchers used Generative Pre-trained Transformer 2(GPT-2)–a language model open-source created by OpenAI–to translate user requests into graphics of Super Mario Brothers levels. They created a little bit of Python code that helped the language model to understand what was needed and then trained it with samples from \”Super Mario Bros. : The Lost Levels\” and the original Super Mario Bros.

Source:
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-02-encode-generate-super-mario-bros.html