yeah it's alright but I don't think this series is gonna go anywhere
Have to perform a certain amount of blowjobs on the cartridge to get the game to work
Believe it or not, there was once a legitimate rivalry between Sonic and Mario over who was the better mascot and who had the better games. And as someone who grew up with a Master System and then a Genesis, I was obviously on Team Sonic - the quick blue hedgehog jumps over the fat plumber. Imagine my surprise on a revisit when it turns out I like the first Super Mario game far more than the first Sonic game (which came out nearly six years later!)
The controls aren't the easiest to get used to especially by today's standards - Mario slips and slides with a slightly unintuitive momentum, making it feel like the player has to fight against the game in order to keep him from running facefirst into hazards. However, this battle against the controls is extremely rewarding to eventually overcome, and at the heart of it is the run button. By being able to speed Mario up and slow him down at the drop of a hat, it opens the door for some really cool momentum-based platforming tricks; this is incidentally what makes Mario far more satisfying to speedrun (ironically) than Sonic, whose momentum the player has far less control over.
One thing that SMB does far better than nearly all its contemporaries is provide a low skill floor to go with its high skill ceiling. Playing a safe, careful, deliberate game with minimal use of the run button will get you as far as 75% of the way through the game before World 7 arrives to kick your teeth in. Being able to see 6 worlds worth of bite-sized stages with interesting gimmicks that don't overstay their welcome provides fantastic motivation to keep returning to the game and improve your skill incrementally in order to see the last stages through to the end.
I feel like this would be a 3.5 or 4-star game, but having spent the past couple of years revisiting older games, I have to add at least a half-star to SMB for being an absolute windmill dunk in the context of the era it was released in. It's not perfect, but as far as first entries in beloved series go, on a scale from Street Fighter to Doom, it's far far closer to the latter.
The controls aren't the easiest to get used to especially by today's standards - Mario slips and slides with a slightly unintuitive momentum, making it feel like the player has to fight against the game in order to keep him from running facefirst into hazards. However, this battle against the controls is extremely rewarding to eventually overcome, and at the heart of it is the run button. By being able to speed Mario up and slow him down at the drop of a hat, it opens the door for some really cool momentum-based platforming tricks; this is incidentally what makes Mario far more satisfying to speedrun (ironically) than Sonic, whose momentum the player has far less control over.
One thing that SMB does far better than nearly all its contemporaries is provide a low skill floor to go with its high skill ceiling. Playing a safe, careful, deliberate game with minimal use of the run button will get you as far as 75% of the way through the game before World 7 arrives to kick your teeth in. Being able to see 6 worlds worth of bite-sized stages with interesting gimmicks that don't overstay their welcome provides fantastic motivation to keep returning to the game and improve your skill incrementally in order to see the last stages through to the end.
I feel like this would be a 3.5 or 4-star game, but having spent the past couple of years revisiting older games, I have to add at least a half-star to SMB for being an absolute windmill dunk in the context of the era it was released in. It's not perfect, but as far as first entries in beloved series go, on a scale from Street Fighter to Doom, it's far far closer to the latter.
NES Week: Day #7
So, we’ve finally made it. After enjoying some simple pinball, ‘climbing’ up some icey mountains, hitting a ball with a racket, finding gems as a red blob, being a motorcyclist, and fighting with some balloons, we have finally made it. We’ve made it to Super Mario bros.
I could’ve gone for duck hunt for the last game but I thought that wouldn’t be great enough and that the perfect game to play at last is Nintendo’s mascot himself! My history with this game is pretty short. I used to play quite a bit of it but never get past world 6. Turns out there was a way to getting to world 8 all the way from world 5 so…that was nice to know at last after I’d gone through quite a lot of pain but oh well.
In the game you play as Mario on his way to save princess toadstool from the evil king koopa (or peach and bowser). On the way you’ll come across goombas, koopa troopas and buzzy beetles. You’ll also find lakitus who just love to annoy you every chance you get. As a game, Super Mario bros. has aged pretty well. Not ridiculously well but definitely well enough for it to still be played today. And yes: it is pretty difficult near the end but not as difficult as some other Mario games on the NES (looking at you lost levels) but overall you’ll still be able to enjoy a timeless classic.
Classic, recognisable music, decent enemies, bullet bills come at the wrong time, your princess is in another castle!
So, we’ve finally made it. After enjoying some simple pinball, ‘climbing’ up some icey mountains, hitting a ball with a racket, finding gems as a red blob, being a motorcyclist, and fighting with some balloons, we have finally made it. We’ve made it to Super Mario bros.
I could’ve gone for duck hunt for the last game but I thought that wouldn’t be great enough and that the perfect game to play at last is Nintendo’s mascot himself! My history with this game is pretty short. I used to play quite a bit of it but never get past world 6. Turns out there was a way to getting to world 8 all the way from world 5 so…that was nice to know at last after I’d gone through quite a lot of pain but oh well.
In the game you play as Mario on his way to save princess toadstool from the evil king koopa (or peach and bowser). On the way you’ll come across goombas, koopa troopas and buzzy beetles. You’ll also find lakitus who just love to annoy you every chance you get. As a game, Super Mario bros. has aged pretty well. Not ridiculously well but definitely well enough for it to still be played today. And yes: it is pretty difficult near the end but not as difficult as some other Mario games on the NES (looking at you lost levels) but overall you’ll still be able to enjoy a timeless classic.
Classic, recognisable music, decent enemies, bullet bills come at the wrong time, your princess is in another castle!
The flagpoles at the end of each stage are a perfect expression of the design philosophy that underlies the whole game. The flagpole encourages you to reach for the top and rewards players that manage to pull it off with extra points. This reward never becomes stale because the game always finds new and slightly more difficult variations to this simple challenge that often smartly encompass the elements already introduced in the stage itself. But these penultimate tests of skill remain mostly optional and don’t hinder less experienced players from finishing the stage itself. It is perfectly alright to only catch the flagpole at the bottom (turns out it is even better when you speedrun the game) – you’ll still advance to the next stage like everybody else without carrying over any disadvantages for the rest of your playthrough. Even the occasional eruption of fireworks is completely unrelated to how well you performed. The game just occasionally celebrates you for making it one step further.
Despite Super Mario Bros. being the most important and influential game of its time, it is remarkable just how much its design philosophy differs from most platformers that came after it. Sidescrollers on the NES were predominantly about creating difficulty by asking an increasing level of precision from the player while at the same time punishing their mistakes more severely the further they came. This means that you either need expert reflexes or minute memorization of the game to make it through to the end and the vast majority of players won’t acquire either skill without repeating the same obstacles over and over again. Of course, learning through repetition is not problematic in and of itself. Only when combined with limited lives and a general lack of checkpoints or other save options does the habit of placing the most unforgiving challenges towards the end turn many of these games into a more frustrating and unfair than motivating and rewarding experience. In effect, the most difficult challenges become the same ones that players have the fewest chances to practice and experiment with, which completely undermines the idea of learning through repetition.
Although Super Mario Bros. works largely with the same elements mentioned above (finite continues, no permanent checkpoints, increasing demand of precision with a growing number of deadly obstacles), the act of mastering its challenges has far less to do with memorizing enemy placements or optimizing a perfect series of inputs than the impressive speedrun history of the game may suggest. Instead, Nintendo designed the game from the ground up to make the process of learning through repetition – in other words: the game itself as you experience it – as fun and engaging as possible.
The level design often offers multiple routes in almost every course. For example, the path on the ground can present a bigger gauntlet of enemies while the way forward above has more difficult platforming ahead. Hidden passages underground or in the sky might let you skip a tricky section of the level, but perhaps also make you miss out on a valuable power-up. Players have to make real decisions on how to progress, and their choices are likely to change on later attempts depending on their familiarity with the game. However, this is rarely because one option turns out to be clearly better than the others. Rather, the different decisions usually correspond to a player’s level of experience, which means they are primarily between a risky but more rewarding options against a safer but slower approach. Take a basic enemy encounter with a Koopa: It can be avoided, immobilized, or turned into a projectile against other enemies. While the last strategy sounds most tempting, it can also sometimes quite literally backfire. Even the power-ups adhere to this trade-off between risk and reward. The Mushroom and Fire Flower are mostly there to aid less experienced players by giving them extra health or an easy option to deal with opponents. But at no point are they required to beat the game. On the contrary, playing as little Mario has its own advantages like a smaller hitbox or being able to use tiny passages.
The process of active decision making is complemented by Mario’s movement, which allows for great flexibility and even split-second adjustments mid air. You can progress through the game at breakneck speed as well as slowly and methodically and it feels great to race past a course that posed a real challenge a couple of tries earlier. The wide range in Mario’s mobility also makes it pretty likely that you stumble upon small or big secrets fairly regularly, even after dozens of attempts. Every Green Pipe and breakable block not only functions as part of the obstacle course, but also might hide a new short-cut or power-up. Even the simple act of miss-timing a jump can turn into a discovery when you suddenly hit an invisible block. Especially the early levels hide alternative routes that allow you to completely bypass most of the challenges and you only have to beat eight of the 32 levels once you found out about the warp zones, no glitches required.
In the end, the whole point of the flagpole is to give players another opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the game without punishing those that have not reached that level of skill yet. Super Mario Bros. trusts you to figure out your own way to have fun with it, while still carefully guiding you towards a better understanding of its mechanics and teaching you everything you need to know. This balance occurs so rarely that I could not help but be impressed by how seemingly effortlessly Nintendo found it this early.
__________________
More Super Mario reviews
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
More NES reviews
Castlevania
Despite Super Mario Bros. being the most important and influential game of its time, it is remarkable just how much its design philosophy differs from most platformers that came after it. Sidescrollers on the NES were predominantly about creating difficulty by asking an increasing level of precision from the player while at the same time punishing their mistakes more severely the further they came. This means that you either need expert reflexes or minute memorization of the game to make it through to the end and the vast majority of players won’t acquire either skill without repeating the same obstacles over and over again. Of course, learning through repetition is not problematic in and of itself. Only when combined with limited lives and a general lack of checkpoints or other save options does the habit of placing the most unforgiving challenges towards the end turn many of these games into a more frustrating and unfair than motivating and rewarding experience. In effect, the most difficult challenges become the same ones that players have the fewest chances to practice and experiment with, which completely undermines the idea of learning through repetition.
Although Super Mario Bros. works largely with the same elements mentioned above (finite continues, no permanent checkpoints, increasing demand of precision with a growing number of deadly obstacles), the act of mastering its challenges has far less to do with memorizing enemy placements or optimizing a perfect series of inputs than the impressive speedrun history of the game may suggest. Instead, Nintendo designed the game from the ground up to make the process of learning through repetition – in other words: the game itself as you experience it – as fun and engaging as possible.
The level design often offers multiple routes in almost every course. For example, the path on the ground can present a bigger gauntlet of enemies while the way forward above has more difficult platforming ahead. Hidden passages underground or in the sky might let you skip a tricky section of the level, but perhaps also make you miss out on a valuable power-up. Players have to make real decisions on how to progress, and their choices are likely to change on later attempts depending on their familiarity with the game. However, this is rarely because one option turns out to be clearly better than the others. Rather, the different decisions usually correspond to a player’s level of experience, which means they are primarily between a risky but more rewarding options against a safer but slower approach. Take a basic enemy encounter with a Koopa: It can be avoided, immobilized, or turned into a projectile against other enemies. While the last strategy sounds most tempting, it can also sometimes quite literally backfire. Even the power-ups adhere to this trade-off between risk and reward. The Mushroom and Fire Flower are mostly there to aid less experienced players by giving them extra health or an easy option to deal with opponents. But at no point are they required to beat the game. On the contrary, playing as little Mario has its own advantages like a smaller hitbox or being able to use tiny passages.
The process of active decision making is complemented by Mario’s movement, which allows for great flexibility and even split-second adjustments mid air. You can progress through the game at breakneck speed as well as slowly and methodically and it feels great to race past a course that posed a real challenge a couple of tries earlier. The wide range in Mario’s mobility also makes it pretty likely that you stumble upon small or big secrets fairly regularly, even after dozens of attempts. Every Green Pipe and breakable block not only functions as part of the obstacle course, but also might hide a new short-cut or power-up. Even the simple act of miss-timing a jump can turn into a discovery when you suddenly hit an invisible block. Especially the early levels hide alternative routes that allow you to completely bypass most of the challenges and you only have to beat eight of the 32 levels once you found out about the warp zones, no glitches required.
In the end, the whole point of the flagpole is to give players another opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the game without punishing those that have not reached that level of skill yet. Super Mario Bros. trusts you to figure out your own way to have fun with it, while still carefully guiding you towards a better understanding of its mechanics and teaching you everything you need to know. This balance occurs so rarely that I could not help but be impressed by how seemingly effortlessly Nintendo found it this early.
__________________
More Super Mario reviews
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
More NES reviews
Castlevania
Pretty good
ゲーマー人生の入口。
Entrance to the gamer's life.
Entrance to the gamer's life.
Alright, so this is the first time I’ve ever beaten the first Mario on the NES, and after playing a bunch of old games that came out before the first Super Mario Bros, it helped me come to appreciate it to a whole new level. It’s making me interested in doing some kind of analysis on home console games before Super Mario Bros. and after, because just looking through this “History of Famicom” catalog book I got that talks about EVERY game that was made for the Famicom EVER, it’s crazy to see how the first Mario completely turned the gaming world upside down on its head. I won’t go into too much detail for this review, but Super Mario Bros essentially put home consoles on equal playing level with arcades. Not in graphics obviously, but rather in public interest. What would you get a home console for before 1985? To play games from the arcade but at home instead! Sure, these consoles had their own unique games that you might not be able to find at arcades, but the point was to emulate the arcade experience, so the majority of games focused on exactly that. One screen, maybe several if you’re lucky, with usually the same goal: get the highest score!
The only game I feel I can closely compare Mario to from before it came out, is the arcade game Pac-Land. They’re both side-scrolling platformers that feature a silly little guy running to the end of each stage to move on to the next. But Mario took that formula and made it like… good. Really good in fact! Absolutely excellent! Pac-Land isn’t bad by any means, but having to move right and left with two big red buttons instead of a convenient joystick or D-pad is hard to adjust to, and after playing Mario, feels so awkward.
Super Mario Bros itself has aged wonderfully. The controls are great and the levels are short and easy to learn to master, with the final world really putting your skills to the test. The way you control your gameplay through power-ups and physically growing larger and gaining fire projectiles as rewards is insanely unique. The gameplay is enough to offer a challenge, while still being very player friendly. The warp tubes and the start + a for continues is very, very kind to players, while still being hidden enough to not ruin all the fun. My only personal complaint is that Mario does slide around a bit which can be annoying to get used to, but my bigger complaint is the random maze parts in the later castles. I’m such an idiot that I couldn’t figure out the first two, and was forced to look up the pattern I needed to follow, which took away some of the fun, but is really more of a personal issue than a real issue in the game.
Super Mario Bros as a game is just weird too, but in a fun way! We’re so used to seeing him everywhere involving video games that we don’t really think about it… Sure, the Mario character was used before Super Mario Bros, but he was used in environments that fit his character a bit more. Mario, or Jump Man, was always in scenarios with construction and sewers, and is probably why you’re playing an Italian New York man anyways. Donkey Kong is clearly based around King Kong, which takes place in New York, so Mario was branded accordingly. But with Super Mario Bros, you’re in some far off land with a kidnapped princess of mushroom people, fighting off a terrible dragon turtle man to save her… You’d expect some kind of warrior or stereotypical hero to come save the day, no? Well, here’s an Italian-American man in overalls that climbed straight out the Brooklyn sewers to come break some turtles’ backs! It’s so random, it’s so weird!! I guess Mario was randomly hopping on turtles even while in the sewers in the original Mario Bros. arcade game, so at least he's following a theme it seems, but I would honestly have understood a monkey coming to save the day more in Super Mario Bros. because that at least would have fit the Journey to the West inspiration they seemed to be going with! But I’m so glad they didn’t go that route, because now it’s so much more odd and memorable just having this random everyday-man fight in this mystical world. Can you imagine American players seeing it when the NES first came out over there? Here you go kids, some arcade-style games, some sport games, a few shooters, and this random game where you play as an Italian beating the shit out of turtles and helping talking mushrooms... of course! Well, if the game is fun, who cares what wacky cast it uses ⸜(ˊᗜˋ)⸝
Mario absolutely blew up the home console market, and made it so getting a Famicom or NES was a must have, not just to enjoy arcade favorites in the comfort of your own home, but to enjoy video games in general! Sure, you could argue there were more complex and advanced things already happening on home computers, like the PC-88 for example, but the Famicom, and in turn Mario, was insanely user-friendly in a way many had not seen before. It makes sense why the system was such a hit, with Mario really helping push the future of gaming into millions of households throughout the entire world.
4.5/5
The only game I feel I can closely compare Mario to from before it came out, is the arcade game Pac-Land. They’re both side-scrolling platformers that feature a silly little guy running to the end of each stage to move on to the next. But Mario took that formula and made it like… good. Really good in fact! Absolutely excellent! Pac-Land isn’t bad by any means, but having to move right and left with two big red buttons instead of a convenient joystick or D-pad is hard to adjust to, and after playing Mario, feels so awkward.
Super Mario Bros itself has aged wonderfully. The controls are great and the levels are short and easy to learn to master, with the final world really putting your skills to the test. The way you control your gameplay through power-ups and physically growing larger and gaining fire projectiles as rewards is insanely unique. The gameplay is enough to offer a challenge, while still being very player friendly. The warp tubes and the start + a for continues is very, very kind to players, while still being hidden enough to not ruin all the fun. My only personal complaint is that Mario does slide around a bit which can be annoying to get used to, but my bigger complaint is the random maze parts in the later castles. I’m such an idiot that I couldn’t figure out the first two, and was forced to look up the pattern I needed to follow, which took away some of the fun, but is really more of a personal issue than a real issue in the game.
Super Mario Bros as a game is just weird too, but in a fun way! We’re so used to seeing him everywhere involving video games that we don’t really think about it… Sure, the Mario character was used before Super Mario Bros, but he was used in environments that fit his character a bit more. Mario, or Jump Man, was always in scenarios with construction and sewers, and is probably why you’re playing an Italian New York man anyways. Donkey Kong is clearly based around King Kong, which takes place in New York, so Mario was branded accordingly. But with Super Mario Bros, you’re in some far off land with a kidnapped princess of mushroom people, fighting off a terrible dragon turtle man to save her… You’d expect some kind of warrior or stereotypical hero to come save the day, no? Well, here’s an Italian-American man in overalls that climbed straight out the Brooklyn sewers to come break some turtles’ backs! It’s so random, it’s so weird!! I guess Mario was randomly hopping on turtles even while in the sewers in the original Mario Bros. arcade game, so at least he's following a theme it seems, but I would honestly have understood a monkey coming to save the day more in Super Mario Bros. because that at least would have fit the Journey to the West inspiration they seemed to be going with! But I’m so glad they didn’t go that route, because now it’s so much more odd and memorable just having this random everyday-man fight in this mystical world. Can you imagine American players seeing it when the NES first came out over there? Here you go kids, some arcade-style games, some sport games, a few shooters, and this random game where you play as an Italian beating the shit out of turtles and helping talking mushrooms... of course! Well, if the game is fun, who cares what wacky cast it uses ⸜(ˊᗜˋ)⸝
Mario absolutely blew up the home console market, and made it so getting a Famicom or NES was a must have, not just to enjoy arcade favorites in the comfort of your own home, but to enjoy video games in general! Sure, you could argue there were more complex and advanced things already happening on home computers, like the PC-88 for example, but the Famicom, and in turn Mario, was insanely user-friendly in a way many had not seen before. It makes sense why the system was such a hit, with Mario really helping push the future of gaming into millions of households throughout the entire world.
4.5/5
Neat little platformer but idk if you could make a franchise out of it. I highly doubt this game got any sequels.
Fiz um “1cc” de Super Mario Bros. - leia-se, zerar todas as fases (nada de atalhos!) sem game overs (usar vidas tá permitido, mas continuar do último mundo apertando A+Start não). Apesar de já ter zerado esse game mais de uma vez no passado, tenho a impressão de que esta é a primeira vez que o faço nessas condições. É um desafio maior do que eu esperava, o que fica evidente pelas mais de 8 horas totais que levei para concluí-lo.
Zerar SMB com essas limitações me fez reapreciar o quão bem projetado esse game é. É possível ver que por trás de cada goomba, moeda e cogumelo há uma intenção por trás; nada está lá por acaso ou foi jogado de maneira descuidada.
Essa experiência também deixou bem evidente para mim as proximidades de SMB com os jogos de Arcade que o antecederam. A narrativa de que a Nintendo teria sido pioneira em fazer jogos que se afastam dos arcaísmos arcadistas, criando verdadeiramente jogos “de console”, não se sustenta muito. SMB tornou ubíquas tecnologias como parallax scrolling e há concessões em seu design para uma experiência mais “caseira” ou “causal”, mas seu design está com os pés firmemente plantados nos Arcades – coisas como o scoring system ou o fato de ter uma “second run” deixam isso bem claro.
E, por fim, fodam-se os Hammer Bros.
Zerar SMB com essas limitações me fez reapreciar o quão bem projetado esse game é. É possível ver que por trás de cada goomba, moeda e cogumelo há uma intenção por trás; nada está lá por acaso ou foi jogado de maneira descuidada.
Essa experiência também deixou bem evidente para mim as proximidades de SMB com os jogos de Arcade que o antecederam. A narrativa de que a Nintendo teria sido pioneira em fazer jogos que se afastam dos arcaísmos arcadistas, criando verdadeiramente jogos “de console”, não se sustenta muito. SMB tornou ubíquas tecnologias como parallax scrolling e há concessões em seu design para uma experiência mais “caseira” ou “causal”, mas seu design está com os pés firmemente plantados nos Arcades – coisas como o scoring system ou o fato de ter uma “second run” deixam isso bem claro.
E, por fim, fodam-se os Hammer Bros.
Local lonely italian man who works a minimum-wage job goes rogue and starts a massacre around a decaying world, ends up saving a supposedly innocent girl in the process, is labeled a hero despite everything else. The rage, however, continues, there will be more to come.
Bravo Scorsese!
Bravo Scorsese!
No joke, the first time I played this was by borrowing a friend's GBA copy as a kid, and I thought it was a new game. That's how well it holds up. Idk why people on this website seemingly hate retro games so much (there are a lot of people who refuse to rate anything from the 8-bit era anything higher than a 3.5), but this game is still super fun to me, despite never having enough skill to actually beat it. Also, this game basically single handedly saved the video game industry from the crash in the 80's. We wouldn't be where we are today without this one.
i won't attempt to bolster the legacy of this game or be a deterrent from it either way. all i'll share is my two cents. this was one of my first games alongside sonic 2 and super mario bros. 3 and i played the shit out of it growing up. i used to have all the dungeon path orders memorized (worst part of the game that doesn't involve water) but nowadays i stick to as well-trodden a short path through this game as i can. i mean, it's just a super solid, easy to pick up experience. most of the levels have aged really well, you don't need to ask what anything does, it's all super intuitive. if the screen didn't block you from going backwards, it would be even better. didn't need a save feature and it's fine without it. the true transition to what a 'home console' experience would look like, alongside dragon quest and zelda 1.
Best 6 minutes ever
Having played this game a couple of months ago, finally going through all of the game's levels for the first time (I always used Warps before), it's nice to experience the entirety of this classic game.
It's no secret to everybody reading this review that Super Mario Bros. is one of the most iconic games of all time, with very recognizable graphics, music and its very fun gameplay.
When looking at a lot of other NES games, even some of the other popular ones, I'm surprised at how well this one has aged, in terms of controls and overall difficulty!
For a game released in 1985, I'm surprised that the game is not as overly difficult as a lot of other games that were released in the 80's, and even some in the 90's.
The only thing I didn't like was the big difficulty spike that suddenly appeared in World 8, but besides that, it's relatively smooth-sailing.
There's not much to this game that I can add that others haven't added. The controls are nice; the graphics, while simple, have their charm; and the music, while limiting, is well composed and catchy.
Super Mario Bros. is a classic in videogames, and without it, many other games wouldn't have existed.
It's no secret to everybody reading this review that Super Mario Bros. is one of the most iconic games of all time, with very recognizable graphics, music and its very fun gameplay.
When looking at a lot of other NES games, even some of the other popular ones, I'm surprised at how well this one has aged, in terms of controls and overall difficulty!
For a game released in 1985, I'm surprised that the game is not as overly difficult as a lot of other games that were released in the 80's, and even some in the 90's.
The only thing I didn't like was the big difficulty spike that suddenly appeared in World 8, but besides that, it's relatively smooth-sailing.
There's not much to this game that I can add that others haven't added. The controls are nice; the graphics, while simple, have their charm; and the music, while limiting, is well composed and catchy.
Super Mario Bros. is a classic in videogames, and without it, many other games wouldn't have existed.
I can't believe that they made a Chris Pratt origin story adaptation in video game form
My first experience with the original Super Mario Bros was back when I had that bootleg NES knockoff years ago. I had a blast playing it and a handful of other NES games, but even after emulating it and purchasing it on the 3ds virtual console, I never got around to completing it. In celebration of Mario day, I decided I would play through and finally beat the original version of the game that single-handedly saved the video game industry in 1985.
After nearly 40 years, does it still hold up? Overall yes, it's still very fun traversing through the game's levels but it isn't perfect. There are instances where you aren't in complete control of Mario's movement. Because of the slippery movement, it can lead to some cheap deaths that otherwise would likely not have occurred if you were playing one of the later Mario entries. Even the Super Mario All-Stars version that was released nearly 10 years after has the same issue. Regardless, it's still a timeless classic and a piece of video game history that shall not be forgotten.
After nearly 40 years, does it still hold up? Overall yes, it's still very fun traversing through the game's levels but it isn't perfect. There are instances where you aren't in complete control of Mario's movement. Because of the slippery movement, it can lead to some cheap deaths that otherwise would likely not have occurred if you were playing one of the later Mario entries. Even the Super Mario All-Stars version that was released nearly 10 years after has the same issue. Regardless, it's still a timeless classic and a piece of video game history that shall not be forgotten.
if you think this game “plays weird” and don’t get the hype i beg you to play 5 other NES platformers then come back, relax, and feel the lushness of the first true strand type game.
super mario bros is not the primordially simple jumping game it is often introduced as. platformers had ages to mature in the hypercompetitive arena of the arcade throughout the 70’s and early 80’s. aside from its understatedly elegant aesthetic, the ambition in SMB is in the elevation of movement from merely a mode of traversal to a gymnastic, expressive activity.
megaman, simon belmont, and ryu hayabusa are all transparently simple state machines— the amount of possible actions they can take is finite and countable. super mario bros did not invent momentum in platforming, nor was it the first to leverage the additional complications that a more involved system of movement entails. the friction between the player avatar and the ground. the acceleration from a dead stop to a full run. the short moment after taking your finger off the jump button before the character truly starts to fall. all the little intricacies and details compound to make mario a much more expressive vessel for a player to inhabit. what sets SMB apart is that the movement is honed to the extent it becomes even more natural than the comparatively simple systems of the above games.
mario’s body doesn’t literally move like the human form does, but negotiating the balance of a jump in mid-air, trying to establish steady footing on unhelpful terrain, and wheelin and dealing with newton’s first law in general is central to the human experience. in super mario bros, nintendo squarely refocuses the platformer from a cabaret of obstacles to a celebration of acrobatic motivity
and so, it became the bedrock upon which their castle was built
super mario bros is not the primordially simple jumping game it is often introduced as. platformers had ages to mature in the hypercompetitive arena of the arcade throughout the 70’s and early 80’s. aside from its understatedly elegant aesthetic, the ambition in SMB is in the elevation of movement from merely a mode of traversal to a gymnastic, expressive activity.
megaman, simon belmont, and ryu hayabusa are all transparently simple state machines— the amount of possible actions they can take is finite and countable. super mario bros did not invent momentum in platforming, nor was it the first to leverage the additional complications that a more involved system of movement entails. the friction between the player avatar and the ground. the acceleration from a dead stop to a full run. the short moment after taking your finger off the jump button before the character truly starts to fall. all the little intricacies and details compound to make mario a much more expressive vessel for a player to inhabit. what sets SMB apart is that the movement is honed to the extent it becomes even more natural than the comparatively simple systems of the above games.
mario’s body doesn’t literally move like the human form does, but negotiating the balance of a jump in mid-air, trying to establish steady footing on unhelpful terrain, and wheelin and dealing with newton’s first law in general is central to the human experience. in super mario bros, nintendo squarely refocuses the platformer from a cabaret of obstacles to a celebration of acrobatic motivity
and so, it became the bedrock upon which their castle was built
Inacreditável pensar que esse game é de 1985.
Simplesmente um jogo com mais de 30 anos de idade que consegue divertir e entreter até hoje.
Okay que as fases são relativamente curtas e repetitivas ao decorrer dos mundos e que os chefes do jogo são molezinha, mas até isso não tira o brilho desse jogo.
Com um sistema multiplayer pioneiro para outros jogos do Mario (Não só o multiplayer, mas toda a mecânica do game em si), um trabalho de som que simplesmente revolucionou o mundo dos videojogos e até mesmo um "EASTER EGG" que faz você pular de fase, Super Mario Bros resistiu perfeitamente ao tempo (Ainda sendo divertido e prendendo o jogador com um level design magnifico, mesmo com uma história que sirva apenas de plano de fundo).
Simplesmente um jogo com mais de 30 anos de idade que consegue divertir e entreter até hoje.
Okay que as fases são relativamente curtas e repetitivas ao decorrer dos mundos e que os chefes do jogo são molezinha, mas até isso não tira o brilho desse jogo.
Com um sistema multiplayer pioneiro para outros jogos do Mario (Não só o multiplayer, mas toda a mecânica do game em si), um trabalho de som que simplesmente revolucionou o mundo dos videojogos e até mesmo um "EASTER EGG" que faz você pular de fase, Super Mario Bros resistiu perfeitamente ao tempo (Ainda sendo divertido e prendendo o jogador com um level design magnifico, mesmo com uma história que sirva apenas de plano de fundo).
I mean, do I even need to explain my rating for this game? It is one of the most important games ever made, and we probably wouldn't be where we are now without it. Not to mention, the game itself is still fun, and really good to this day.
The gameplay is classic, the story is simple yet effective (even though it doesn't tell it to you), the music is catchy and iconic, the graphics, while not as great as other games on the NES, are really good, the levels are fun and challenging, and the controls are pretty responsive.
The only real problems I would have with it, if I thought about it, is how you have to start over every time you boot it up, and you get sent back to the beginning when you get a game over, but if you know what you are doing, it shouldn't take you long to beat it, so it's not that big of an issue.
Overall, it is an absolute classic of a game, and if it wasn't for the impact this game made, we wouldn't be here today.
Game #1
The gameplay is classic, the story is simple yet effective (even though it doesn't tell it to you), the music is catchy and iconic, the graphics, while not as great as other games on the NES, are really good, the levels are fun and challenging, and the controls are pretty responsive.
The only real problems I would have with it, if I thought about it, is how you have to start over every time you boot it up, and you get sent back to the beginning when you get a game over, but if you know what you are doing, it shouldn't take you long to beat it, so it's not that big of an issue.
Overall, it is an absolute classic of a game, and if it wasn't for the impact this game made, we wouldn't be here today.
Game #1
So I couldn't remember if I had beaten Super Mario Bros. 1 in full before (I have it on NES), end result is I decided to spend the night (okay, it's past midnight so technically yesterday so w/e) beating it. Since I was going for a pretty casual playthrough, I saved after each level (but NOT in level, nor did I reload unless I got a game over), but I did go warpless obv. It's Super Mario Bros. 1, there isn't much I can tell you about this iconic, 35 year old game that you don't already know, so this won't be too long.
The level design is pretty solid for the most part, it obviously isn't as expansive as something like Super Mario Bros. 3 but it is pretty solid as a basic platformer, in particular on the harrowing mushroom stages where you have to make jumps between mushroom platforms and various platforms that will see-saw or the like. The first level of most of the worlds tended to be some of the best imo, World 1-1 is truly a great tutorial style level and most of the time they tend to be the most focused on the platforming challenge where this game excelled.
The downside of level design imo was three areas. First off, the water levels aren't all that fun to play and are veeeery easy (I died once in them the entire run) so they end up feeling more like speedbumps. Secondly, the Bowser levels could be hit or miss, I liked the straight-forward ones that tended to be intense timing or platforming challenges while the ones that went for mazes felt like a fun idea but in too primitive of a form to be particularly enjoyable. Finally, 8-3 and 8-4 are bullshit, 8-3 just has too many Hammer Bros to feel comfortable finishing even after getting it down pat and while it is cool flavorfully it could have done more, and also while I didn't die to it whoever decided to end the enemy rush level with 2 1-tile platform jumps is eeevil. 8-4 actually isn't hard but the pipe puzzle just doesn't work very well imo, it's kinda easy to get your spot lost if you have to keep doing it over and is kind of a pain.
Story? It's like the first NES game ever, it's Mario, there's a princess, go save her, that's your story get out of here. Graphically, the game isn't as impressive as games with 35 years of sprite knowledge and ability (and usually 16-bit rather than 8-bit or anything) but I'd say it is fairly good for a NES game and it has some really iconic looks for a reason. The graphical leap to SMB3 is VERY notable but, like, this is one of the earliest NES games you'll find, so no surprise there. It ultimately looks nice. The sound is solid, with the soundtrack being fairly good (the Bowser's castle themes are nice), you've got classic power-up sounds, the works.
It's SMB1. If you are looking for a basic 2D platformer, it's got you covered pretty well, the controls are actually snappier than I thought they would be even if they are a bit odd compared to some later sMB-style games, there's plenty of challenge and until the last two levels it feels surprisingly fair. You won't find anything too advanced, but it also isn't baby feeling like a Kirby's Adventure. It is a game that feels like it holds up pretty well 35 years later, and not a lot of games can say that.
The level design is pretty solid for the most part, it obviously isn't as expansive as something like Super Mario Bros. 3 but it is pretty solid as a basic platformer, in particular on the harrowing mushroom stages where you have to make jumps between mushroom platforms and various platforms that will see-saw or the like. The first level of most of the worlds tended to be some of the best imo, World 1-1 is truly a great tutorial style level and most of the time they tend to be the most focused on the platforming challenge where this game excelled.
The downside of level design imo was three areas. First off, the water levels aren't all that fun to play and are veeeery easy (I died once in them the entire run) so they end up feeling more like speedbumps. Secondly, the Bowser levels could be hit or miss, I liked the straight-forward ones that tended to be intense timing or platforming challenges while the ones that went for mazes felt like a fun idea but in too primitive of a form to be particularly enjoyable. Finally, 8-3 and 8-4 are bullshit, 8-3 just has too many Hammer Bros to feel comfortable finishing even after getting it down pat and while it is cool flavorfully it could have done more, and also while I didn't die to it whoever decided to end the enemy rush level with 2 1-tile platform jumps is eeevil. 8-4 actually isn't hard but the pipe puzzle just doesn't work very well imo, it's kinda easy to get your spot lost if you have to keep doing it over and is kind of a pain.
Story? It's like the first NES game ever, it's Mario, there's a princess, go save her, that's your story get out of here. Graphically, the game isn't as impressive as games with 35 years of sprite knowledge and ability (and usually 16-bit rather than 8-bit or anything) but I'd say it is fairly good for a NES game and it has some really iconic looks for a reason. The graphical leap to SMB3 is VERY notable but, like, this is one of the earliest NES games you'll find, so no surprise there. It ultimately looks nice. The sound is solid, with the soundtrack being fairly good (the Bowser's castle themes are nice), you've got classic power-up sounds, the works.
It's SMB1. If you are looking for a basic 2D platformer, it's got you covered pretty well, the controls are actually snappier than I thought they would be even if they are a bit odd compared to some later sMB-style games, there's plenty of challenge and until the last two levels it feels surprisingly fair. You won't find anything too advanced, but it also isn't baby feeling like a Kirby's Adventure. It is a game that feels like it holds up pretty well 35 years later, and not a lot of games can say that.
I used to always look back on Super Mario Bros. as antiquated and poorly aged. However, I decided to give it a proper shot this time, as before I'd always use save states and warp zones. This time would be different; play every level; no save states, not even for game overs; warp zones can only be used to get back to where I made it previously. Playing it this way took a game that I always believed was obliterated by the passage of time, and made me truly appreciate it.
This was honestly some of the most fun I had with a game in a while. Even through the multiple game overs I got, I was constantly having fun. I saw myself getting better and better after each failure, it felt great. Everything truly clicked when I saw myself consistently speeding through 4-1 without halting momentum, even against the piranha plants and flagpole stairs. Each run I'd get through tricky stages like 5-2 faster and consistently jumping off the springs in 6-4, I was always improving. Man... I now understand this game, and why so many look so fondly on it after all these years. Even then, I find it all so strange.
Super Mario Bros. has jank, levels are fairly basic compared to modern day platforms, the physics are strange (at first at least), etc. However, I believe that is what makes this game so special. Its simplicity it was makes it stand out to me, it's platforming at its purest.
I'm so glad that I gave this game another shot and to play it like how I view it is intended to be played. To others that write off this game as old and antiquated, give it another go, without all of the modern hand holding. Maybe you'll see something special like I did.
This was honestly some of the most fun I had with a game in a while. Even through the multiple game overs I got, I was constantly having fun. I saw myself getting better and better after each failure, it felt great. Everything truly clicked when I saw myself consistently speeding through 4-1 without halting momentum, even against the piranha plants and flagpole stairs. Each run I'd get through tricky stages like 5-2 faster and consistently jumping off the springs in 6-4, I was always improving. Man... I now understand this game, and why so many look so fondly on it after all these years. Even then, I find it all so strange.
Super Mario Bros. has jank, levels are fairly basic compared to modern day platforms, the physics are strange (at first at least), etc. However, I believe that is what makes this game so special. Its simplicity it was makes it stand out to me, it's platforming at its purest.
I'm so glad that I gave this game another shot and to play it like how I view it is intended to be played. To others that write off this game as old and antiquated, give it another go, without all of the modern hand holding. Maybe you'll see something special like I did.
Who the fuck can't play super mario? The people who say this game is bad are the same people who think a game sucks after 2 years because "uhhh it looks old compared to the new Call Of Duty: Poopy Panty"
I played so many old platformers this year and the main thing I realized with them is that sometimes you really don't know what you've got until it's gone.
Because of the Mario games, you take for granted that A button jumps and the B button attacks, and then you play Alex Kidd in Miracle World and keep on punching bottomless pits and jumping on top of bats.
Because of Mario you think it's just a simple obvious thing to make sure your mascot character for your whole console and company is as effortlessly appealing as they can be, and then you go and play one of the OTHER Alex Kidd games on the master system. Yeech!
Because of this game, you assume it's a no brainer to make your character jump and then be able to control the trajectory in midair so as to hit the platform you're aiming for, and then you play something like Strider for the genesis, where you can either accidentally jump straight in the air right into a spike trap, or remember to first tap forward before jumping and hope that, if you don't first accidentally just step into a pit, your predetermined jump arc lands you on the platform.
When you play Mario, you think to yourself ah, here's a momentum button that makes sense. Sometimes you need a little jump to get across a small gap, sometimes you need to hold that button if you want to make a bigger one, and then you go and play a game like Psycho Fox, with some weird shit where like you have to hold the button to make him accelerate like a car
When you play Mario, it's clear to you that you should be able to just pick up the controller and play, and he should be easy and fun to control, and just like the hero's journey, the levels should be a little easy and welcoming at first, then progressively harder. The GAME should be hard to play, not the CHARACTER hard to control. And then, sometime later, you get a game like Blaster Master, where it's a whole lot of fun right up until the last level where you have no choice but to keep an upgrade for your vehicle that makes you stick to platforms and roll right into spike pits and the developers just laugh at you and say we did it on purpose, get better at games dork.
Any time you play a retro game and it's not fun to play, you have no right to just shrug and say that's how games were back then, or even worse, "the stiff play control is just part of the charm for a game like that back then." Super Mario Bros was the first game ever, and it did everything right. What's your excuse?
Because of the Mario games, you take for granted that A button jumps and the B button attacks, and then you play Alex Kidd in Miracle World and keep on punching bottomless pits and jumping on top of bats.
Because of Mario you think it's just a simple obvious thing to make sure your mascot character for your whole console and company is as effortlessly appealing as they can be, and then you go and play one of the OTHER Alex Kidd games on the master system. Yeech!
Because of this game, you assume it's a no brainer to make your character jump and then be able to control the trajectory in midair so as to hit the platform you're aiming for, and then you play something like Strider for the genesis, where you can either accidentally jump straight in the air right into a spike trap, or remember to first tap forward before jumping and hope that, if you don't first accidentally just step into a pit, your predetermined jump arc lands you on the platform.
When you play Mario, you think to yourself ah, here's a momentum button that makes sense. Sometimes you need a little jump to get across a small gap, sometimes you need to hold that button if you want to make a bigger one, and then you go and play a game like Psycho Fox, with some weird shit where like you have to hold the button to make him accelerate like a car
When you play Mario, it's clear to you that you should be able to just pick up the controller and play, and he should be easy and fun to control, and just like the hero's journey, the levels should be a little easy and welcoming at first, then progressively harder. The GAME should be hard to play, not the CHARACTER hard to control. And then, sometime later, you get a game like Blaster Master, where it's a whole lot of fun right up until the last level where you have no choice but to keep an upgrade for your vehicle that makes you stick to platforms and roll right into spike pits and the developers just laugh at you and say we did it on purpose, get better at games dork.
Any time you play a retro game and it's not fun to play, you have no right to just shrug and say that's how games were back then, or even worse, "the stiff play control is just part of the charm for a game like that back then." Super Mario Bros was the first game ever, and it did everything right. What's your excuse?
The first game to dare to ask the age old question that has plagued humanity since the dawn of time...
What is a-Mario?
Turns out the answer is a pretty good game.
To say this game is a cultural milestone would be complete understatement, its the landmark title of the NES ,and while it didn't end it itself or at least not alone, it represents the end of the videogame crash 1983.
While the NES launch line-up has a few other pretty good games and all served the purpuse of advertising the NES as something more akin to a toy than a console, in retrospect all of them have this, for a lack of a better word, kinda arcaic feeling, still retaining somewhat of an early 80's arcade feeling. Then Super Mario Bros. comes and slaughters the competition, which was not even competiton, is was the equivalent of an older sibling beating their younger brothers at Smash Bros., so one-sided that it wasn't even funny.
This was truly the first of the modern videogame console experience, the sheer quantity of levels, the secrets and the possibles skips clearly inteded to replayability; Mario moves in a slippery way that makes it hard to traverse the levels slowly, but it's an absoluty godsend to zooming across the screens, jumping and doging enemies like a madman, when this game hits its hardes, it's when it does something amazing for the time, or when it lets you have fun with its controls. It truly shows a ton of creativity, things that now we take for granted looking back are such a bizarre mix of elements and concepts that shouldn't work, but they really do. Truly a fantastic game....BUT...
It always pains me to do this with older games, 'cause it's almost inevitable, and in Super Mario Bros. case especially feels wrong but... yeah the games does have a lot of problems. My biggest complains don't even have to do with its age, the biggest thing that shows the passing of time is Mario's movement, but even I praised that 'cause it feels designed to master it. The level design however, in worlds 1 and 2 it feels actually pretty novel and fun, but from world 3 onwards, the cracks start to show.
Levels become a lot less different and start to blend with each other, at a certain point it feels that they just throw random enemies into the levels just to fill them (worlds 7 and 8 are a clear example) , the obstacles themselves start repeating; and by world 4 we have already seen everything and they don't do anything interesting with the ideas presented, and there's the MAZES, if there's an aspect in this game that feels ''arcadie'', it's the mazes, by far the worst part in the game and just here to pad out the time and make you lose both your lives AND your time. This game has a ton of fundemental design problems that I just couldn't ignore... as much as I couldn't ignore the fun I was having inspite of all of that.
Super Mario Bros. wears its age with a badge of honor, it's the stepping stone for evrything that released later and for every dumb mistake that it makes, there are one or two things that just make you awe and simply make you have fun.
This was not only the start of saga, but of an entire legacy, and for only that I'm thankful that I played it, t I had a really good time as much as a stressful one, but I wouldn't change anything about it from the slightiest.
Because the moment I started the game, that song started playing and I gave my first stepts in 1-1, Ieven after everything I've played, games leagues far better tha this one, I still had a smile on my face, 'cause it was him, a-Mario.
What is a-Mario?
Turns out the answer is a pretty good game.
To say this game is a cultural milestone would be complete understatement, its the landmark title of the NES ,and while it didn't end it itself or at least not alone, it represents the end of the videogame crash 1983.
While the NES launch line-up has a few other pretty good games and all served the purpuse of advertising the NES as something more akin to a toy than a console, in retrospect all of them have this, for a lack of a better word, kinda arcaic feeling, still retaining somewhat of an early 80's arcade feeling. Then Super Mario Bros. comes and slaughters the competition, which was not even competiton, is was the equivalent of an older sibling beating their younger brothers at Smash Bros., so one-sided that it wasn't even funny.
This was truly the first of the modern videogame console experience, the sheer quantity of levels, the secrets and the possibles skips clearly inteded to replayability; Mario moves in a slippery way that makes it hard to traverse the levels slowly, but it's an absoluty godsend to zooming across the screens, jumping and doging enemies like a madman, when this game hits its hardes, it's when it does something amazing for the time, or when it lets you have fun with its controls. It truly shows a ton of creativity, things that now we take for granted looking back are such a bizarre mix of elements and concepts that shouldn't work, but they really do. Truly a fantastic game....BUT...
It always pains me to do this with older games, 'cause it's almost inevitable, and in Super Mario Bros. case especially feels wrong but... yeah the games does have a lot of problems. My biggest complains don't even have to do with its age, the biggest thing that shows the passing of time is Mario's movement, but even I praised that 'cause it feels designed to master it. The level design however, in worlds 1 and 2 it feels actually pretty novel and fun, but from world 3 onwards, the cracks start to show.
Levels become a lot less different and start to blend with each other, at a certain point it feels that they just throw random enemies into the levels just to fill them (worlds 7 and 8 are a clear example) , the obstacles themselves start repeating; and by world 4 we have already seen everything and they don't do anything interesting with the ideas presented, and there's the MAZES, if there's an aspect in this game that feels ''arcadie'', it's the mazes, by far the worst part in the game and just here to pad out the time and make you lose both your lives AND your time. This game has a ton of fundemental design problems that I just couldn't ignore... as much as I couldn't ignore the fun I was having inspite of all of that.
Super Mario Bros. wears its age with a badge of honor, it's the stepping stone for evrything that released later and for every dumb mistake that it makes, there are one or two things that just make you awe and simply make you have fun.
This was not only the start of saga, but of an entire legacy, and for only that I'm thankful that I played it, t I had a really good time as much as a stressful one, but I wouldn't change anything about it from the slightiest.
Because the moment I started the game, that song started playing and I gave my first stepts in 1-1, Ieven after everything I've played, games leagues far better tha this one, I still had a smile on my face, 'cause it was him, a-Mario.
shocking technology for the 60s
Realised one day that I'd somehow never actually sat down and beat this iconic cornerstone that would define 2D platformers as we knew and continue to know them, so beat it I did.
Man, we've come a long way.
Super Mario Bros is a game I feel like I'm being a little harsh on, I was considering a 3* and done, but I feel like I do have to give a little leeway: this game meant a lot for the industry back then, and the fact a game that's approaching 40 years old is still as playable as it is to this day is surely a testament to its quality. However, under a modern lens it doesn't entirely withstand the test of time - to be expected, of course, but I do have to be somewhat impartial, at least.
The graphics are of course, violently simplistic. This was as early as early days got for NES (though it technically came out around 2 years into the Famicom's lifespan, so not so much there). The sprites are very basic and lack pretty much anything in the way of detail, all the more apparent when compared to its sequels such as Super Mario Bros 3. That said, the important thing is that the visuals still convey exactly what they're trying to, and it's rare you'll ever be led astray or confused by the graphics (and if you are, it's probably on purpose).
The level design is also very simple, but the developers were still able to work in a pretty decent amount of setpieces, such as the Lakitu, the Cheep-Cheeps soaring into the air, and the genuinely impressive labyrinth of the game's finale, Stage 8-4. Enemies are well varied and have easy to memorise patterns...except those damn Hammer Bros, where it feels like a gamble just getting around them, god forbid actually engaging them and their random streams of hammers. How many do they even have inside those TARDIS-ass shells of theirs?
The power ups are...well, bare-bones, a mushroom allows you to survive an extra hit while the fire flower gives you incredibly powerful projectiles as long as you can avoid damage - both make Mario a larger target and that can be absolutely lethal, but more on that in a bit. The other powerup is the Starman, which makes you invincible, and I have to say: thank you Nintendo, for having a clear indicator of when it's about to run out. It's a peeve of mine when invincibility can just suddenly end right as you run into danger, which is embarassing given that Nintendo wrote the book on that as far back as 85. No excuse, guys.
Where I have to seriously dock a point or two are the controls, though. I know, old game, but while the other factors don't pull this game down so much today, I think the controls do. Mario handles like a block of ice and makes manoeuvring, particularly in the air (which is where you'll be most of the time) awkward and inconsistent, and given a game over sends you right back to 1-1, it can make things very frustrating.
All in all, this is one of those games everyone with an interest in gaming history or even a general 2D platformer fan should play, but this is by no means a perfect game, and (almost) everything after it is quite rightly an improvement. You NEVER want to peak with your first installment.
Man, we've come a long way.
Super Mario Bros is a game I feel like I'm being a little harsh on, I was considering a 3* and done, but I feel like I do have to give a little leeway: this game meant a lot for the industry back then, and the fact a game that's approaching 40 years old is still as playable as it is to this day is surely a testament to its quality. However, under a modern lens it doesn't entirely withstand the test of time - to be expected, of course, but I do have to be somewhat impartial, at least.
The graphics are of course, violently simplistic. This was as early as early days got for NES (though it technically came out around 2 years into the Famicom's lifespan, so not so much there). The sprites are very basic and lack pretty much anything in the way of detail, all the more apparent when compared to its sequels such as Super Mario Bros 3. That said, the important thing is that the visuals still convey exactly what they're trying to, and it's rare you'll ever be led astray or confused by the graphics (and if you are, it's probably on purpose).
The level design is also very simple, but the developers were still able to work in a pretty decent amount of setpieces, such as the Lakitu, the Cheep-Cheeps soaring into the air, and the genuinely impressive labyrinth of the game's finale, Stage 8-4. Enemies are well varied and have easy to memorise patterns...except those damn Hammer Bros, where it feels like a gamble just getting around them, god forbid actually engaging them and their random streams of hammers. How many do they even have inside those TARDIS-ass shells of theirs?
The power ups are...well, bare-bones, a mushroom allows you to survive an extra hit while the fire flower gives you incredibly powerful projectiles as long as you can avoid damage - both make Mario a larger target and that can be absolutely lethal, but more on that in a bit. The other powerup is the Starman, which makes you invincible, and I have to say: thank you Nintendo, for having a clear indicator of when it's about to run out. It's a peeve of mine when invincibility can just suddenly end right as you run into danger, which is embarassing given that Nintendo wrote the book on that as far back as 85. No excuse, guys.
Where I have to seriously dock a point or two are the controls, though. I know, old game, but while the other factors don't pull this game down so much today, I think the controls do. Mario handles like a block of ice and makes manoeuvring, particularly in the air (which is where you'll be most of the time) awkward and inconsistent, and given a game over sends you right back to 1-1, it can make things very frustrating.
All in all, this is one of those games everyone with an interest in gaming history or even a general 2D platformer fan should play, but this is by no means a perfect game, and (almost) everything after it is quite rightly an improvement. You NEVER want to peak with your first installment.
when you think about the fact that the true milestone of the whole gaming history till this day is a '80s classic 2d platformer about an italian plumber with a sexy mustache who somehow lives in a kingdom where almost everyone is an anthropomorphic mushroom (but you also eat mushrooms for power ups... cannibalism ?) except for his brother who in this game is just a color swapped version of mario and i dont even know if it was already established to call him luigi and a princess who later on will be called peach but now is just generically referred to as princess toadstool and if you follow the story (which was probably written in a dirty ass guide book since this game has 30 words in total i think) the kingdom is being invaded by other ??? mushroom ??? like ??? creatures or whatever and an army of walking turtles led by the hot and tempting king koopa aka daddy bowser who in this game is ugly as fuck and gets a third degree burn and kidnaps princess toadstool because sexism and because he wanted to fuck her or something i havent read the guide book anyway i was saying really makes you realise we live in a simulation
italians are so cool ♡ wish they were real
italians are so cool ♡ wish they were real
man you can't even hit it with the big mess
I made a video about this game for the 35th anniversary (it's on Spanish, but you can see English subtitles): https://youtu.be/8rqiakCOatU
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The importance of the original Super Mario Bros. can't be understated: It doesn't have to do with being a genre pioneer, since games like Jump Bug, Pitfall or Pac-Land already included the jump mechanic, and the Mario franchise already had two games behind its back: Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. It isn't about being the sidescrolling game either, since Pac-Land's and Jump Bug's also scrolled their screens alongside the player, and a few days after the original Super Mario we had Makaimura on the arcades, which also included the jump mechanic alongside a screen that followed the player. What differentiates Super Mario Bros. from its predecessors is the creation of a world surrounding a mechanic, specifically the jump.
Shigeru Miyamoto's focus is the direct perception of the interactive premise for the player's immersion, and for that purpose there is particular care to the tangible effect of the environments. In simpler terms, that you can perceive the worlds physically. The key element is the depth in the aerial maneuverability. Super Mario Bros. allows a detailed control of the avatar while moving in the air. The weight of gravity in the impulse, the inertia in the jump direction in opposition to the player's command, and the feeling to confront the game's physical laws. To redirect the path of the avatar the stronger one presses the button. Such capability gives the aerial space to take relevance in the gameplay, since it's how the player decides their position, and thus the player becomes conscious of its position at any moment.
To give purpose to these controls, the game turns jumping in the main form of interacting with the environment. Obstacles can be avoided through jumping, similarly to Pac-Land, which was Super Mario Bros.'s main inspiration, but enemies can be defeated if we step on them, and that becomes a step forward by adding variables that react to our presence. The other form of including the jump in the gameplay is to hit blocks. Some of them contain coins that allow an additional chance to continue if you collect hundred of them, others contain upgrades to take a hit, being able to attack at distance, or time-limited invincibility. Some of them contain extra lives, others can be broken to make a path, or even allow access to other areas. The content of the blocks isn't immediately obvious since its appearance doesn't follow a pattern. They can be signaled, they can appear as another type of block and they can even be invisible. Basically, they're a secret, and this gives the game the sense of hiding more than what it appears to have, since it's optional content.
The intention of a world with a hidden face is manifested through pipes that lead to underground (or even underwater) passages, or vines that climb up to a world hidden in the sky. Even passages outside of the conventional interface of the game. That's why the decision of verticality as an abstraction of depth takes paramount importance to build places far from the surface, from what we know at first sight, and the focus on the vertical jump becomes thus a coherent decision since those are places that aren't reachable by just jumping, and they're hidden to our virtual body.
Because of how important it is to the progress of the player alongside its integration with the main mechanic of the game, the presence of a hidden world becomes an omnipresent feeling that differentiates Super Mario Bros. from other platformers that came after due to its influence, even among its own successors, because it means that the player perceives, decides its progress and leaves its presence in the world through jumping. Miyamoto turned thus this mechanic as a vehicle to expand the possibilities of exploration and personal body expression in a way that thirty-five years later still remains radical.
There's a last design decision that is very special and I haven't covered yet, and it is not being able to turn back. It isn't due to technical limitations since many of the previously mentioned games allowed it. Not being able to turn back is a deliberate decision because it makes the player potentially miss content that they won't be able to get if they didn't know about it, and that resonates to a surprisingly more profound level: The possibility to have missed something, to not have visited a place in a journey, to have taken something for granted at a certain point in time, because there's no coming back. By appealing to this sensation, the game's world takes presence in the player's mind even after having left an area behind, or even the whole game, because there's the lingering feeling of everything we didn't know and everything that could have helped us. That feeling is absent in the Mario games that came to the west after this one, which gives the original an unique quality. It's this sentiment that immortalizes Shigeru Miyamoto's masterpiece beyond what it meant back in the 80s in front of its predecessors, and it still represents the promise of videogames of worlds that can still capture our imaginations and warp our minds to them.
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The importance of the original Super Mario Bros. can't be understated: It doesn't have to do with being a genre pioneer, since games like Jump Bug, Pitfall or Pac-Land already included the jump mechanic, and the Mario franchise already had two games behind its back: Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. It isn't about being the sidescrolling game either, since Pac-Land's and Jump Bug's also scrolled their screens alongside the player, and a few days after the original Super Mario we had Makaimura on the arcades, which also included the jump mechanic alongside a screen that followed the player. What differentiates Super Mario Bros. from its predecessors is the creation of a world surrounding a mechanic, specifically the jump.
Shigeru Miyamoto's focus is the direct perception of the interactive premise for the player's immersion, and for that purpose there is particular care to the tangible effect of the environments. In simpler terms, that you can perceive the worlds physically. The key element is the depth in the aerial maneuverability. Super Mario Bros. allows a detailed control of the avatar while moving in the air. The weight of gravity in the impulse, the inertia in the jump direction in opposition to the player's command, and the feeling to confront the game's physical laws. To redirect the path of the avatar the stronger one presses the button. Such capability gives the aerial space to take relevance in the gameplay, since it's how the player decides their position, and thus the player becomes conscious of its position at any moment.
To give purpose to these controls, the game turns jumping in the main form of interacting with the environment. Obstacles can be avoided through jumping, similarly to Pac-Land, which was Super Mario Bros.'s main inspiration, but enemies can be defeated if we step on them, and that becomes a step forward by adding variables that react to our presence. The other form of including the jump in the gameplay is to hit blocks. Some of them contain coins that allow an additional chance to continue if you collect hundred of them, others contain upgrades to take a hit, being able to attack at distance, or time-limited invincibility. Some of them contain extra lives, others can be broken to make a path, or even allow access to other areas. The content of the blocks isn't immediately obvious since its appearance doesn't follow a pattern. They can be signaled, they can appear as another type of block and they can even be invisible. Basically, they're a secret, and this gives the game the sense of hiding more than what it appears to have, since it's optional content.
The intention of a world with a hidden face is manifested through pipes that lead to underground (or even underwater) passages, or vines that climb up to a world hidden in the sky. Even passages outside of the conventional interface of the game. That's why the decision of verticality as an abstraction of depth takes paramount importance to build places far from the surface, from what we know at first sight, and the focus on the vertical jump becomes thus a coherent decision since those are places that aren't reachable by just jumping, and they're hidden to our virtual body.
Because of how important it is to the progress of the player alongside its integration with the main mechanic of the game, the presence of a hidden world becomes an omnipresent feeling that differentiates Super Mario Bros. from other platformers that came after due to its influence, even among its own successors, because it means that the player perceives, decides its progress and leaves its presence in the world through jumping. Miyamoto turned thus this mechanic as a vehicle to expand the possibilities of exploration and personal body expression in a way that thirty-five years later still remains radical.
There's a last design decision that is very special and I haven't covered yet, and it is not being able to turn back. It isn't due to technical limitations since many of the previously mentioned games allowed it. Not being able to turn back is a deliberate decision because it makes the player potentially miss content that they won't be able to get if they didn't know about it, and that resonates to a surprisingly more profound level: The possibility to have missed something, to not have visited a place in a journey, to have taken something for granted at a certain point in time, because there's no coming back. By appealing to this sensation, the game's world takes presence in the player's mind even after having left an area behind, or even the whole game, because there's the lingering feeling of everything we didn't know and everything that could have helped us. That feeling is absent in the Mario games that came to the west after this one, which gives the original an unique quality. It's this sentiment that immortalizes Shigeru Miyamoto's masterpiece beyond what it meant back in the 80s in front of its predecessors, and it still represents the promise of videogames of worlds that can still capture our imaginations and warp our minds to them.