With elements such as a stomp attack, green claw enemies that act like Piranha Plants, and a save-the-princess storyline, it's easy to spot Super Mario Bros.'s influence on Braid, a 2-D platform game. "Super Mario Bros. provided the core game mechanic that Braid and so many other games are based on, so it only seemed appropriate to reference it," explains designer Jonathan Blow in an interview with CVG.

Upon reaching the castle at the end of a world, a dinosaur tells the main character, "I'm sorry, but the Princess is in another castle." This alludes to Super Mario Bros., where the Mushroom Retainers utter a similar line when rescued. Not surprisingly, Braid artist David Hellman says that the castles are also "throwbacks to the famous/iconic/beloved castles of Super Mario Bros."

The beginning of Braid's "Jumpman" stage is based on the first stage of Donkey Kong. In the early days of Donkey Kong, "Jumpman" was Mario's original name.

Braid is downloadable from Xbox LIVE Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points. A PC version is also planned for 2008.