Popular video-game character Mario becomes self-aware; now learns about his environment, experiences emotions, responds to voice commands

London: Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system that allows Mario, a popular video-game character, to learn about his environment, experience emotions and respond to voice commands.

Researchers at Germany's University of Tubingen programmed an artificial intelligence into Nintendo's Super Mario Advance so that Mario can play his own game.

They claim their project has generated "a fully functional programme" and "an alive and somewhat intelligent artificial agent."

Mario can be taught using input from a human operator that jumping on a Goomba (one of his recurring enemies) will definitely kill it.

The character will also make decisions on what to do based on what he has learned, 'The BBC' reported. The character is also programmed with "internal emotive states" allowing him to respond to how he is "feeling".

If he is hungry, he will find and collect coins, or if he is curious he will happily explore the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario can also calculate how many moves he needs to make to reach a certain position.