FPGA Mario

The main components of the design are an FSM, a datapath, the keyboard, a hex display, and VGA adapter. One FSM that contains 20 states which allows the game to start, Mario to run, jump, collect coins, and game over. The Datapath contains multiple counters for the drawing of Mario, the background, and the rectangles covering the coins as well as outputs score to hex display. Spacebar is used for go (begin the game), right arrow for run (Mario run), and up arrow for jump (Mario jump).

Run states allow mario to “run”.  After one Mario image is drawn, a wait state is entered before next is drawn, to allow the player to see each image at a rate of 8 Hz to give the illusion of running. Jump states cause mario to jump.  The states from jump to coinerase_jump are repeated 10 times to create a longer jump before returning to Start state.  Erase states are the states that cause the background to move. The erase states send a signal to the datapath that draws a different section of a larger image every time mario is ‘moving’. Coin collect states  signal the datapath to draw a rectangular box over each coin, and have it move at the same speed as the background. This makes it so the coins appear to have been collected. Start state is the state that the run and jump paths of the FSM converge to. The signals from the keyboard module determine which next state the Start state goes to, jumping, running, or game over. 

In many games, there is a loophole that makes it very easy for the player to win the game.  In the case of the Mario game, if the player continuously presses jump, Mario will return to the jump state and will stay in the air.

If Mario landed on the obstacle, but behind the programmed address, the game would not be over as it would not be detected as an obstacle hit. The game is only over if Mario hit one specific address of the obstacle on the screen.