What poses as pretty much the prototype of the Super Mario franchise is quite fun at its very core. An infinitely replayable endless platformer that tasks you with getting rid of "pests" that emerge from the pipes, every few rounds switching it up and adding new mechanics whilst increasing the difficulty.
It's a little bit fun for a couple of moments, the main problem with it is the controls being wayyyyy to stiff (in line with Donkey Kong's) and there wasn't a clear direction of what to do with the brothers just yet, since nearly all of the enemies here didn't stay for the rest of the franchise either with the exception of the crabs or the Shellcreeper being a prototype Koopa Troopa.

It also doesn't help that literally any other version of this game is better than this one.

Retro Yearly List #9 [1983: Mario Bros.]

After jumping over barrels and rescuing Pauline, here Mario started his violent path of beating animals, so he's been doing this for a long time, he also debuted his punching and running abilities, and used to kick as well, but did not learn how to jump on enemies yet.
It's just a simple, point-based, arcade game, but is well-designed, there are different enemies with unique characteristics and it becomes pretty difficult at a pixel-perfect level, forcing you to use your time wisely and train some moves. Controls are a bit stiff, but you'll get used to it after some practice. This took more time than I imagined, really instigating my challenging spirit, and more important: it's fun.
Also there is a 2-player mode which works like a co-op experience, featuring Luigi, which debuted in this game.

Most franchises have rough beginnings and Mario is no stranger to that, this game is boring as hell.

As an actual video game and not a bla bla bla video game history it’s important it changed the industry thing, this game isn’t particularly fun.
The controls are rough, they are not fun to play with, the momentum is terrible, if you even call that a momentum, the jumps feels to much like moon gravity and the enemies are fast as hell.

Overall a pretty mediocre time for this day and age but for 1983 this game looked pretty damn sweet.

i spent hours of my life stomping

























koopas

I think I first encountered this game as a pack-in via Super Mario All-Stars and was incredibly confused by it. The term "romhack" didn't even exist at that time, but that's what it felt like to me. What do you mean I can't jump on a koopa to kill it? The controls are always what killed this for me. Mario would either refuse to jump sideways without getting some momentum first, or if you did start moving, you'd soon be floating away to the edge of the screen. The overall gameplay concept was never really all that fun either.

Old game is old. Controls are stiff and mario lacks the fluidity of movement he will later be known for. Found myself battling against the controls more than the turtles, which isn't a good sign.

A humble beginning for Mario.

Played on Switch.