Cameron Home

Retro Review - Super Mario Bros.



Posted: Friday, March 06, 2009

by Cameron Home

The second ever Mario game, how memorable it was. Well, it's actually the third, if you include Mario's debut as Jumpman in Donkey Kong as a Mario game. The first was Mario Bros, by the way. Back on Super Mario Bros though. This is a classic game, and is known as one of the most memorable games of all time.

The facts: The game was originally released on the NES in 1985. The game has sold over 40 million copies since then, and is the best selling video game of all time.It was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and is one of the games that made his career rise. The game inspired two sequels, Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3, a lot of imitators, spin-offs and a series that is still known today. This game was what made Mario Nintendo's mascot. The plot of the game is that a princess, Peach, is captured by an evil turtle king, known as Bowser. Two plumbers, Mario and Luigi, have to save her. The goal was not only to save her, but get past the levels before time run out. Naturally, like all platformers, Bowser had some enemies to block their path. Mario and Luigi could get hurt by getting touched by an enemy, falling into a pit or the time running out. If Mario or Luigi weren't in their giant forms, they would die after touching an enemy. With the latter two though, death was instantaneous, no second chances. As for weapons, well, they had to jump, or stomp, on enemies to kill them. Luckily, there were power-ups that the brothers could use to make them stronger, live longer, or even kill enemies in different ways. Unfortunately, once you got a game over, you couldn't re-start from where you were because before as back then, barely any games, if any, had save features. The game has had many remakes and re-releases. In 1993, SMB and other Mario games on the NES were re-made in a version called Super Mario All-Stars. The sound and graphics were re-made to go with the SNES, the capabilities of the game were improved and the game in general had some minor changes. This version of the game had a save feature. In 2006, New Super Mario Bros was released on the DS. It was the first Mario side-scrolling game since 1992's Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. The game had many elements from the original game, and others, with quite a few differences. There were 80 levels and 8 worlds, so the game wasn't very short. There was much added, including shops, bonus levels and new bosses. It might have been different to the classic SMB, but it was still a great game. The game was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console on the 5th of January, 2007 in Europe and other PAL regions. Everything, including glitches, remained.

The Opinion: Super Mario Bros is a classic, and is really memorable. It isn't too difficult, but one slip up and you die, so it is still quite hard, unlike some of the Mario games of today. The fact that there is no save feature makes it complete and utter difficult, and that means you have to complete it one sitting. The graphics for the game were amazing, for it's time anyway. Compared to the graphics nowadays, though, they aren't the best. Despite this, the game does not look so bad it is unplayable and it's many remakes, or at least some of them, have updated graphics. The graphics, I would rate about 6/10. The music of the game is very memorable. Despite being 8-bit (like the graphics), the music is catchy and can get stuck in people's heads easily. For such an old game, it's surprising that some people still have the tunes in their head to this day.  I would have to rate the music 8/10. In conclusion, the game is top notch quality for an old NES game, and if you have the internet on a Wii, I recommend to download this on the Virtual Console ASAP. If you cannot, but you have a DS, why not get New Super Mario Bros? It might not be the same, but it is equally fun. So, the game is a brilliant retro game, and perhaps one of my favourite games.

The Rating: 9/10

Mr. Cameron Home is an average joe who enjoys writing, gaming and just overthinking about the world in general. He also enjoys reading, and take time out of his life just to read and write.

 He is currently co-writing a book with Connor Davidson.
 
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)
» left by Connor Davidson
 3 years 55 days ago.
92 fans. Follow Connor Davidson on twitter!
Mr Home.
 
I must say I like the rating system.
» left by Anonymous
 3 years 49 days ago.
Do you know how to write a paragragh Mr Home? This is tough to get through because it reads like directions.
» left by Cameron Home 3 years 49 days ago.
15 fans. Follow Cameron Home on twitter!
When I was transferring it, the article went all weird.
 
I'll fix it right now actually.
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