Super Smash Bros.-Inspired Super Tilt Bro. Brings Online Gaming to the NES with an ESP8266, FPGA

Independent game maker Broke Studio is bringing online play to the Nintendo Entertainment System with a Super Smash Bros.-inspired brawler which includes Wi-Fi connectivity on-cartridge — thanks to an embedded Espressif ESP8266 module.

"Super Tilt Bro. is a platform-fighting game for the NES, with a unique and revolutionary Wi-Fi enabled cartridge that allows you to play online," Broke Studio founder Antoine Gohin explains of his company's latest creation. "Super Tilt Bro. is a fighting game with platforming mechanics, in the pure tradition of the platform-fighter genre. You will jump, run, and punch around to propel your opponent out of the platform. But most of all, you'll be able to play online through your internet connection against players all around the world!"

Today, online multiplayer from a games console is nothing special — but back in 1985, when Nintendo's Famicom hit US shores as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), it was almost unheard of. For all its features the eight-bit NES does not include a modem of any kind, which is where Broke Studio is breaking with tradition and throwing some modern technology at the problem: an Espressif ESP8266 microcontroller module with Wi-Fi radio.

"The electronic [game] board integrates an ESP8266 Wi-Fi chipset and an FPGA to orchestrate communications between the NES and the Wi-Fi chipset," Gohin explains. "As any modern game should, Super Tilt Bro. implements a rollback netcode. It ensures you can play with little or no lag, with the game predicting your opponent’s inputs. Of course miss predictions happen, and are rapidly corrected by the game engine. The final result is seamless, and only shows minor disturbance when your connection weakens. To fit on the very constrained NES, the rollback engine exploits the fact that the entire system memory can fit in only one internet packet."

The game itself, inspired by Nintendo's popular crossover platform fighter Super Smash Bros., was developed by Sylvain Gadrat in 2016 and first released in its most basic form in 2018 — though with local-only multiplayer, until Broke Studio began development of its Wi-Fi-enabled NES cartridge and teamed up with Gadrat on the project.

Now, Gadrat and Broke Studio say that both the game and the Wi-Fi cartridge are stable and ready to ship — and are crowdfunding mass production via Kickstarter, with physical rewards starting at €55 including boxed game with manual and digital copies of the soundtrack and a tie-in comic book. At the time of writing the campaign has already easily exceeded its funding goal, with rewards expected to ship in April next year.