One of the most prolific and talented game creators on Facebook is a chappy called Kevin Owocki who has been providing more than a few extra reasons to log on the site.

But if you think Scrabulous is perhaps treading a fine copyright line, then Mr Owocki tends to not only cross it but reach the pavement on the other side.

Among his creations are games based on Nintendo’s Mario and Duck Hunt but, although the source is without dispute, Kevin pulls them off extremely well. And he’s serious enough about creating killer gaming apps to ensure that any niggles are ironed out, ensuring gamers can play as near-damn perfect a title as possible.

The Mario game in particular is quite stunning and it plays along the same lines as the original platform games. There were some initial issues with the controls, problems that have since been ironed out but hundreds of people have given it a go and that has got to be encouraging.

Duck Hunt is another classic title, based on the NES game which lets gamers shoot a host of feathered friends. It may be primitive if you match it to titles today but it is games like this which prove most effective on Facebook – simple, easy-to-pick-up games that also have that pang of nostalgia are sure to get people into the swing of playing.

Sure, it’s not sophisticated but the more people play, the greater the likelihood they will progress to something more challenging. Kevin has also produced Sonic, Line Rider and Beer Pong and all are worth rooting out.
“I run a website full of Flash games and I decided to turn them into Facebook applications,” he says. “I like to concentrate on recognisable characters and it just seemed natural to bring a great character like Mario over to Facebook.
“I’ve played Mario since I was a kid on the NES 8-bit, and he’s one of my favourites. Hopefully in the future we’ll be able to build in more comprehensive levels and multi-player support.”

Although the games are “tributes” to the greats made by the likes of Nintendo, Kevin is convinced the Japanese giants’ efforts would be better put to use in joining him rather than acting against him.

It could be argued that having the games on Facebook could encourage people to find the real thing, perhaps getting such a feel for characters like Mario that they snap up a Wii and try Super Mario Galaxy.

He says: “Nintendo really should look into porting their games over onto the Facebook platform. It’s very powerful, but still easy to do! Users seem to be reacting positively to having their favorite characters within their Facebook. I hope to see more growth of the application, and it seems to be growing steadily right now.”