Nintendo's iconic 1985 platformer Super Mario Bros features clouds and bushes in the background that are the exact same sprite design, just colored differently to save precious memory space.

A closer look

Nintendo's iconic 1985 platformer Super Mario Bros features clouds and bushes in the background that are the exact same sprite design, just colored differently to save precious memory space. The original Nintendo Entertainment System cartridge only had 40 kilobytes of storage available, which is literally less data than a single low-resolution email attachment today. To fit an entire sprawling video game into that tiny digital shoebox, developer Shigeru Miyamoto had to mercilessly recycle visual assets wherever possible. The fluffy white clouds floating in the sky are physically identical to the green shrubbery sitting on the ground, meaning your entire childhood of jumping over goombas was built on a foundation of aggressive, shameless recycling by brilliant Japanese programmers trying to cheat the system!