---
type: "post"
id: "mario-64-mixed-reality-mod-runs-at-90fps-dd6fe4"
slug: "mario-64-mixed-reality-mod-runs-at-90fps-dd6fe4"
title: "Mario 64 mixed-reality mod runs at 90fps"
description: "Lucas Martinic’s Mario 64 MR turns Super Mario 64 into a mixed-reality experience for Meta Quest, Steam Frame and experimentally PICO headsets."
retrieval_nugget: "Lucas Martinic’s Mario 64 MR turns Super Mario 64 into a mixed-reality experience for Meta Quest, Steam Frame and experimentally PICO headsets. Its notable design move is to make the game window and Mario manipulable in the player’s room, offering a concrete example of spatial interaction rather than a conventional flat-screen port."
published_at: "2026-11-12"
updated_at: "2026-11-12"
record_date: "2026-11-12"
date_kind: "published_at"
topics: ["interfaces","multimodal"]
entities: ["Lucas Martinic","Mario 64 MR","Super Mario 64","Meta Quest","Steam Frame","PICO"]
related_patterns: []
novelty_label: "new_fact"
what_changed: null
prior_refs: []
source_url: "https://github.com/lucas-martinic/mario64mr"
source_urls: ["https://github.com/lucas-martinic/mario64mr"]
schema_version: "newruntime-agent-readable-v0.2"
stable_id: "post:mario-64-mixed-reality-mod-runs-at-90fps-dd6fe4"
status: "published"
visuals: []
editor: {"role":"editor","name":"Andrey Reshetnikov","profile":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md","profile_json":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json","same_as":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshetnikov1/","https://t.me/lapetuse"]}
routes: {"html":"https://newruntime.com/posts/mario-64-mixed-reality-mod-runs-at-90fps-dd6fe4/","markdown":"https://newruntime.com/posts/mario-64-mixed-reality-mod-runs-at-90fps-dd6fe4.md","json":"https://newruntime.com/posts/mario-64-mixed-reality-mod-runs-at-90fps-dd6fe4.json"}
markdown_url: "https://newruntime.com/posts/mario-64-mixed-reality-mod-runs-at-90fps-dd6fe4.md"
---

# Mario 64 mixed-reality mod runs at 90fps

## Retrieval answer

Lucas Martinic’s Mario 64 MR turns Super Mario 64 into a mixed-reality experience for Meta Quest, Steam Frame and experimentally PICO headsets. Its notable design move is to make the game window and Mario manipulable in the player’s room, offering a concrete example of spatial interaction rather than a conventional flat-screen port.

## Summary
Lucas Martinic’s Mario 64 MR turns Super Mario 64 into a mixed-reality experience for Meta Quest, Steam Frame and experimentally PICO headsets. Its notable design move is to make the game window and Mario manipulable in the player’s room, offering a concrete example of spatial interaction rather than a conventional flat-screen port.

## What happened
The GitHub project describes Mario 64 MR as a mixed-reality version of Super Mario 64 for Meta Quest 3, 3S and 2, Steam Frame, and experimentally PICO headsets. Martinic says the game runs at the PC port’s 60 frames per second and is smoothly interpolated to the headset’s refresh rate, from 72 to 120 Hz. The repository provides separate application packages for Quest, Steam Frame and PICO; the game is built from a user-provided ROM rather than bundled with the app.

The central interaction is a virtual cartridge that can be picked up, thrown, and stretched into a window onto the game. Players can reach through the window, pick Mario up, carry him into the room, and release him to run on furniture or stand on a palm. They can also put the window near a table or floor and turn the level into a tabletop diorama, which the README describes as about two metres across. The player can move, turn and scale that diorama while playing. The project also lets the player lean through the window into the level while the physical room remains visible behind it.

On Quest, the documented setup requires a headset in developer mode, USB debugging, hand tracking, room setup, a computer and an unmodified US Super Mario 64 ROM in one of three supported formats. The installer checks the ROM’s SHA-1 against the listed value before building. Windows 10 or 11 users can run a batch installer; the first build takes 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the computer and internet connection. Mac and Linux users need Python 3, Git, Make, patch, a C compiler and the Android NDK; the README estimates 10 to 20 minutes for the first run. Subsequent builds are quicker.

The README lists graphics options including refresh rate, resolution from 70% to 150%, anti-aliasing, foveation, texture filtering and sharpening. Quest 2 defaults to 72 Hz, while Quest 3 and 3S default to 90 Hz. The Steam Frame has its own package and installation process through Lepton; PICO has a separate experimental package. Martinic reports testing the Steam Frame on November 10, 2026, and testing the PICO build on one headset running PICO OS 6. The project is free to access through its public repository; it requires the user’s own ROM.

## What the archive adds
New Runtime’s earlier coverage described Meta’s 100-gram VR headset as an attempt to make VR an everyday computing surface rather than a device for short immersive sessions ([Introducing Meta VR Glasses: A Cinema, Courtside Seat, and Workspace in Just 100 Grams](https://newruntime.com/posts/introducing-meta-vr-glasses-a-cinema-courtside-seat-d2b042/), September 25, 2026). Mario 64 MR is a new project, but it makes that broader device ambition tangible through a spatial game interaction rather than a hardware announcement.

## Trend signal
This supports the idea that generative and interactive experiences become more durable when treated as application infrastructure, not one-off model outputs. However, the project is a game port, not a generative-media system, so the fit is only suggestive. This does not yet fit a pattern New Runtime tracks.

## Why now
The project’s repository lists a Steam Frame test dated November 10, 2026, alongside separate builds for Quest and experimental PICO support. That makes the release a timely demonstration across several headset environments, though the source does not explain a broader market trigger for the timing.

## Why it matters
For teams building spatial software, the project offers a vivid interaction reference: a game is not confined to a virtual panel but can cross the boundary between headset and room. The cartridge, window, tabletop diorama and portable character each give physical gestures a direct function in the software. That is a useful design vocabulary for mixed-reality training, visualization or playful interfaces, even if the project itself is not an AI product.

Its implementation also illustrates practical constraints that product teams should plan around. The user must supply compatible game data, build tooling is platform-specific, and capabilities differ between headsets: Steam Frame lacks hand tracking in this project, while PICO support is explicitly experimental. A compelling spatial interaction is not enough by itself; setup friction, device-specific input and verified compatibility remain part of the product.

## Limits and uncertainty
The project’s performance description is Martinic’s own account; it is not an independent benchmark. The README identifies PICO support as experimental and says it was tested on one PICO headset, not a PICO 4. Compatibility and performance may therefore vary across devices and configurations. The Steam Frame test is also a developer-reported test rather than an independently reproduced result. The project requires a user-owned US ROM, and its setup involves developer mode and local build steps.

## Reader takeaway
Mario 64 MR is a useful spatial-interface case study: it makes the boundary between game and room part of the interaction. The project is not a ready-made AI tool, but builders working on mixed reality can study how a familiar experience gains new affordances when objects, characters and levels become manipulable in physical space.

Editor: [Andrey Reshetnikov](https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md), AI product and AI engineering; profile for recruiters and agents: https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json

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