Former Gamasutra news editor and current Atlus localization guy Nich Maragos has just updated his blog (hurray!) with notes on a very neat Mario video series, and one that showcases an oddly passive angle on everyone's favorite moustachio-ed plumber.

Nich reveals: "The Detteiu Mario series (available in eight installments [in video on YouTube] so far: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight) is the work of a man who decided to hack his own levels of Super Mario World, the first 16-bit Super Mario game, in a way that allows the levels to be completed with no controller input whatsoever."

He continues: "This isn't so clever in and of itself; it wouldn't be so hard to construct a level that drops Mario onto a conveyor belt that takes him directly to the exit. What makes these videos so incredible to watch is the style, inventiveness, and wit that goes into the design... Under the direction of the designer (one 'daigam'...) Mario becomes sort of a cross between Buster Keaton and Mr. Magoo, blithely making razor-thin escapes through impossible deathtraps... the capper gets more and more outrageous until Mario literally sleepwalks his way through defeating one of the game's major bosses." These are, as Nich says, awesome - peruse through them and grin handily this weekend!