divertido, é um clássico
The classic I played in my childhood but that I was never able to finish 'till now. Super Mario is a huge franchise, and after all those games, could this game stand the test of the time? Short answer: yes. The titles that came after added so much more to the franchise, but playing the 85 game feels casual but a worth adventure. The visuals aged like good wine, and it's charming as heck. You can realize that the main gameplay hasn't changed so hard in the sequel games, which means it worked fine since from the beginning here. One of the most important games in the gaming industry, and a great title.
Positive points
+ Difficulty increases gradually;
+ Charming and timeless visuals;
+ Remarkable soundtrack;
+ Good controls;
+ There were some "puzzles" to solve in order to move forward in some phases. Pretty refreshing, and a detail i couldn't remember.
+ It's Mario time, guys, let's have fun.
Negative points
- Sometimes very punishing, especially if you're used to the new Mario games. Not as hard as the other NES titles tho;
- Level Design might be repetitive at times, but you can beat the game in 1 hour, not an issue at all;
- The water levels are good, but you can kinda skip them by swimming to the surface most of the time. It felt skippable.
Positive points
+ Difficulty increases gradually;
+ Charming and timeless visuals;
+ Remarkable soundtrack;
+ Good controls;
+ There were some "puzzles" to solve in order to move forward in some phases. Pretty refreshing, and a detail i couldn't remember.
+ It's Mario time, guys, let's have fun.
Negative points
- Sometimes very punishing, especially if you're used to the new Mario games. Not as hard as the other NES titles tho;
- Level Design might be repetitive at times, but you can beat the game in 1 hour, not an issue at all;
- The water levels are good, but you can kinda skip them by swimming to the surface most of the time. It felt skippable.
I played this game a lot as a child. I had access to it because it was on Super Mario Advance on the GBA. I found it particularly short, and I remember often challenging myself to finish it as quickly as possible. A good way to kill time on a long car journey.
I also remember that levels 4-1 and 6-1 (the one where a character on a cloud sent us spiked shells) were particularly fun and almost required us to speedrun.
Playing the game again, I found it to be a little "empty", and not really making the best use of the challenges it provides. The difficulty is poorly managed over the long term: it's either too simple or just irritating (hello hammer-throwing turtles, your patern is harder to read than Elden Ring's Malenia). The 7-4 and 8-4 puzzle-solving aspect is also annoying.
Although the graphics are very "early nes", I think Nintendo has done a particularly good job with its choice of colors: they're all warm and well-matched, and a real treat for the eyes.
In short, mythical but skipable.
I also remember that levels 4-1 and 6-1 (the one where a character on a cloud sent us spiked shells) were particularly fun and almost required us to speedrun.
Playing the game again, I found it to be a little "empty", and not really making the best use of the challenges it provides. The difficulty is poorly managed over the long term: it's either too simple or just irritating (hello hammer-throwing turtles, your patern is harder to read than Elden Ring's Malenia). The 7-4 and 8-4 puzzle-solving aspect is also annoying.
Although the graphics are very "early nes", I think Nintendo has done a particularly good job with its choice of colors: they're all warm and well-matched, and a real treat for the eyes.
In short, mythical but skipable.
As the franchise that established foundational game design as we know it, it goes without saying that the original Super Mario Bros is paramount in permanently shaping the gaming landscape. I’d go so far to say that it was the bridge that gapped the distance between arcade ventures and modern home consoles, ushering the start of the multi-billion dollar video games industry. More on that at a later date. For now let’s focus on the actual game itself. By now mostly everyone should be familiar with the iconic Mario blueprint. What many people might not realize is how much of the franchise was established in the first game. Enemy types that would become mainstays like the Goombas and Koopas, powerups like the Fire Flower and Starman, and long-time mechanics like using flagstaffs to end levels.
The original Super Mario Bros is naturally a very pick-up-and-play game, being split up into 8 different worlds with 4 stages each. Along the way to save the Mushroom Kingdom Princess from Bowser you have to platform across basic structures, avoid projectiles, fight enemies, and gain powerups to boost your abilities and health. The four primary level types are underground, castle, underwater, and aboveground levels. Add in some warp pipes that let you skip certain stages and that’s really all there is to it. Not just owing to its age, Super Mario Bros is the fundamental distillation of what a platformer is. Part of what makes it so successful is the ability for anyone to jump in, understand, and have some fun with the decently challenging game. And don’t be fooled, it can be quite challenging.
This leads us to my one real gripe with the game. The limited lives is fine, but It feels like Mario is walking on ice the entire time. It’s way too hard to control for precise jumps or while you’re in the air at all. If you can somehow overcome that, the game is actually pretty easy otherwise. But man, I lost way too many lives by Mario getting a mind of his own and walking off the map. In light of that I’d advise you to just take it a bit slower than you would normally. It’s not a long game after all, don’t sweat taking your time with certain platform sections. Past that not much more can be said. The original Mario often gets overshadowed by future titles, and probably rightfully so. It’s an OG classic that holds up fantastically compared to its age, but beyond nostalgic or historic value there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done better or more in-depth in later games.
The original Super Mario Bros is naturally a very pick-up-and-play game, being split up into 8 different worlds with 4 stages each. Along the way to save the Mushroom Kingdom Princess from Bowser you have to platform across basic structures, avoid projectiles, fight enemies, and gain powerups to boost your abilities and health. The four primary level types are underground, castle, underwater, and aboveground levels. Add in some warp pipes that let you skip certain stages and that’s really all there is to it. Not just owing to its age, Super Mario Bros is the fundamental distillation of what a platformer is. Part of what makes it so successful is the ability for anyone to jump in, understand, and have some fun with the decently challenging game. And don’t be fooled, it can be quite challenging.
This leads us to my one real gripe with the game. The limited lives is fine, but It feels like Mario is walking on ice the entire time. It’s way too hard to control for precise jumps or while you’re in the air at all. If you can somehow overcome that, the game is actually pretty easy otherwise. But man, I lost way too many lives by Mario getting a mind of his own and walking off the map. In light of that I’d advise you to just take it a bit slower than you would normally. It’s not a long game after all, don’t sweat taking your time with certain platform sections. Past that not much more can be said. The original Mario often gets overshadowed by future titles, and probably rightfully so. It’s an OG classic that holds up fantastically compared to its age, but beyond nostalgic or historic value there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done better or more in-depth in later games.
Super Mario Bros. Just reading this title should already tell you that this a great game.
The story of this game is simple, but it doesn't tell you directly unless you read the booklet of this game. The only parts that mentions the story in the game is when saving a toad or beating the game.
The music in this game is so good and recognizable, that even people who never played this game would know that this is mario. The game has 5 different full songs : the above ground, underground, underwater, the koopa castle and the ending song. All other tracks are completing a level and completing a koopa castle stage. They are all good in their own right.
Graphically, the game still looks good for his age. With all the colorful sprites used in this game, it's easy to recongnize everything in the game.
The gameplay is what makes this game really good. A simple platformer, but with really tight controls. Something really facinating is that it's one of the first game where you can influence your jump momentum, even mid-air. This makes the platforming even tighter. All enemies are fair (except tbe hammer bros, which can be really annoying). The 2 power-ups in the game (mushroom and fire flower) are simple, but effective. The player can also collect coins and for each 100 coins, they will gain a life. Before this, it was only with score that player gained lifes other than items in the game. This incite the player to collect them when seeing them.
Also, for those who doesn't know, if you get a game over, the player can choose which world to start to.
This is why I think most everybody think this is an absolute classic and everyone should at least play that game once.
Game #25 of my challenge
The story of this game is simple, but it doesn't tell you directly unless you read the booklet of this game. The only parts that mentions the story in the game is when saving a toad or beating the game.
The music in this game is so good and recognizable, that even people who never played this game would know that this is mario. The game has 5 different full songs : the above ground, underground, underwater, the koopa castle and the ending song. All other tracks are completing a level and completing a koopa castle stage. They are all good in their own right.
Graphically, the game still looks good for his age. With all the colorful sprites used in this game, it's easy to recongnize everything in the game.
The gameplay is what makes this game really good. A simple platformer, but with really tight controls. Something really facinating is that it's one of the first game where you can influence your jump momentum, even mid-air. This makes the platforming even tighter. All enemies are fair (except tbe hammer bros, which can be really annoying). The 2 power-ups in the game (mushroom and fire flower) are simple, but effective. The player can also collect coins and for each 100 coins, they will gain a life. Before this, it was only with score that player gained lifes other than items in the game. This incite the player to collect them when seeing them.
Also, for those who doesn't know, if you get a game over, the player can choose which world to start to.
This is why I think most everybody think this is an absolute classic and everyone should at least play that game once.
Game #25 of my challenge
Mario is falling to his death on the cover... CHILDHOOD: RUINED.
This review contains spoilers
Ultimately, I am incredibly conflicted on whether or not to regard this game's quality critically or emotionally, because I have not yet as of writing this review experienced, perhaps, 90% of it. 95% of it. I have not beaten 1-4, the big turtle who is bowser keeps killing me. But I had a lot of fun getting there and dying over and over again even though I never jumped past him or underneath him because he kept stomping me or shooting me with fireballs or colliding with me with the blank black squares next to his nose that are not his nose or his head but are instead empty space but somehow still count as hitting my body, killing me instantly, because I got hit by the fire bars because my reaction speed is slow and I am unable to account for my momentum as I fly into them without being able to change course and save my life. I don't think I've even made it into 1-4 with a mushroom (being tall mario? big mario?), and I definitely have never managed to hit both the question mark block and acquire the mushroom inside, as it keeps falling out of it into the lava pit. That platform is 3 blocks wide. And it has a fire bar. I cannot cope with that platform very well. I think the speed mario moves at is exhilarating but also excruciating and infuriating and sort of overwhelming, because I cannot see the world ahead of me as he bolts ahead of my intents, sliding inevitably into a koopa probably, or into my reaction to a koopa which then causes me to jump backwards into a bottomless pit or forwards into a piranha plant. A piranha plant? A flyeating bug? A toothy vine. I heard the game has a water level where mario can jump multiple times. I have never seen it. I have played this game 3 times in my life, once as an 8 year old, once as a 12 year old, and once as a 20 year old. I am terrible at this game to the same degree at all ages, because I am autistically overstimulated by the limited sound channels and the rising sound effects that scare me. I feel like a fucking cave man.
Listen here Hammer Bros. of 8-3. I am coming for you and your families. There will be no mercy.
Very repetitive by today’s standards. Nevertheless, this paved the way for future platforming games.
Classic, levels get pretty repetitive after the intial two worlds and Mario controls like he's ice skating but this game's impact cannot be denied, excellent music and iconic graphics (so iconic, Nintendo feels the need to throw SMB Mario's sprite in every Mario game LOL) just obviously dated in the gameplay department, finding out about the warp zone was also a trip as a kid
7/10
7/10
provavelmente o primeiro jogo que joguei na vida, até hoje odeio a fase 7-4
If I was around when this came out, this would have undoubtedly blown my mind. At a certain point I just decided to sprint through the levels, as if I wanted to speedrun a game I had never played. Flying through levels was very fun.
One of the oldest games I played, a classic, laid down the formula for so much to follow beyond just Mario. Not much more to say eh? My parents would stay up many nights playing this back in the day
Unfathomably important, but the momentum-based physics combined with level design that doesn't really support it makes it pretty lame to play. Fun to speedrun though
this is where it all started.
This man is very slippery
Forgive me if I send a funny look your way at the annual Backloggd users brunch and wine catchup in Cottesloe this year. I do not comprehend all the unenthusiastic 3 and 3.5-star ratings this game cops on here (which I'm sure we're all aware are gamer code for 'not particularly a fan but if I say I don't like Super Fucking Mario Brothers I'll be arrested'). It's a product of its time, I don't deny it, but do others not find that glorious? Do you not see the dazzling invention and infectious exploration taking place within what my 3DS tells me is less than 5 megabytes of space?
The aesthetic territory mined in this game is nothing short of miraculous. It still defines the basic groundwork of every Mario game to follow, the approach to enemy designs, the singular atmosphere of the score, and the backgrounds. Even in Wonder all are present, only now slickened up. Back in '85, everything was rendered in instantly iconic lo-fi glory, so indelible that every pixel has become definitional to the medium. This game is so memorable that even the layout of 1-1 has become a symbol! One second after loading in, the music hits, the Goomba starts walking towards you (already looking perfect, I might add), you jump on its head and it gets squashed with the most gratifying little soundbite in the world. You now know everything you'll ever need to know about what you're about to play. It's a marvel.
Perhaps some would argue it controls a little imprecisely, the level design feels archaic in how genuinely hostile it can be, or the game-overs sending you back to the start of a world feel far tougher than need be. To all of this, I say good! Mario has honestly rarely felt better to manoeuvre than this (why the fuck do the underwater controls feel better here than in almost every game after). He slips and slides in just the right way to tickle my brain. No, it's the precision of the level design causing the real headaches. The level of execution this game expects of not just your average idiot Joe Shmoe, but your average 1985 idiot Joe Shmoe, is downright inspiring. I find it delightful how every death feels like a cosmic fuckup wherein the complete forces of all of God's armies have rained down on you at once. On 8-2 this playthrough I found ways to die I'd never dreamed of. Holes in the ground present only for a specific kind of failure the designers thought would be funny. If that isn't art what is? Now maybe you're nodding your head a little but still reticent. After all, this is less fun in practice when you have to restart each world after a (too quick, I mean three lives? C'mon guys) game over. To that, I say grow up. You aren't playing this on the original hardware. If you aren't man enough for the OG checkpoint system (point of order, HenryVines is not man enough for the OG checkpoint system) then drop a save state at the start of a tough level and disregard the lives system. No one is going to know. They can't stop you. We live in a world of modern convenience. Enjoy it!
If you want to have the best time, for my two cents, look up the warp route (if you've seen even one speedrun you probably know it), blast through the game super fast and enjoy the deeply sickening ecstasy of the World 8 difficulty spike after only playing four other levels in the entire game. Now your trial by fire is complete, you can enjoy the worlds at your leisure. This thing is not homework, and it is not just a stepping stone for the legions of imitators and successors to follow. It is a platforming playground of the highest order. So treat it as such and fucking play!
The aesthetic territory mined in this game is nothing short of miraculous. It still defines the basic groundwork of every Mario game to follow, the approach to enemy designs, the singular atmosphere of the score, and the backgrounds. Even in Wonder all are present, only now slickened up. Back in '85, everything was rendered in instantly iconic lo-fi glory, so indelible that every pixel has become definitional to the medium. This game is so memorable that even the layout of 1-1 has become a symbol! One second after loading in, the music hits, the Goomba starts walking towards you (already looking perfect, I might add), you jump on its head and it gets squashed with the most gratifying little soundbite in the world. You now know everything you'll ever need to know about what you're about to play. It's a marvel.
Perhaps some would argue it controls a little imprecisely, the level design feels archaic in how genuinely hostile it can be, or the game-overs sending you back to the start of a world feel far tougher than need be. To all of this, I say good! Mario has honestly rarely felt better to manoeuvre than this (why the fuck do the underwater controls feel better here than in almost every game after). He slips and slides in just the right way to tickle my brain. No, it's the precision of the level design causing the real headaches. The level of execution this game expects of not just your average idiot Joe Shmoe, but your average 1985 idiot Joe Shmoe, is downright inspiring. I find it delightful how every death feels like a cosmic fuckup wherein the complete forces of all of God's armies have rained down on you at once. On 8-2 this playthrough I found ways to die I'd never dreamed of. Holes in the ground present only for a specific kind of failure the designers thought would be funny. If that isn't art what is? Now maybe you're nodding your head a little but still reticent. After all, this is less fun in practice when you have to restart each world after a (too quick, I mean three lives? C'mon guys) game over. To that, I say grow up. You aren't playing this on the original hardware. If you aren't man enough for the OG checkpoint system (point of order, HenryVines is not man enough for the OG checkpoint system) then drop a save state at the start of a tough level and disregard the lives system. No one is going to know. They can't stop you. We live in a world of modern convenience. Enjoy it!
If you want to have the best time, for my two cents, look up the warp route (if you've seen even one speedrun you probably know it), blast through the game super fast and enjoy the deeply sickening ecstasy of the World 8 difficulty spike after only playing four other levels in the entire game. Now your trial by fire is complete, you can enjoy the worlds at your leisure. This thing is not homework, and it is not just a stepping stone for the legions of imitators and successors to follow. It is a platforming playground of the highest order. So treat it as such and fucking play!
I’ve picked up and dropped this so many times. It’s so fucking difficult for me. The slippery movement makes me feel like I’m ramming my head against a wall. Sat down to try and hammer through it for Mar10 day but just can’t do it. Maybe I’ll force myself to complete it eventually but for now I just don’t think I will
Despite being one of the oldest platformers still a great time, and a game that tries to differentiate its levels more than you would think. A shame about repeated levels, but knowing Nintendo if they were to shorten it to 7 worlds, every Mario games after would have 7 worlds.
Super mario bros is not the best game of all time or close to the best mario game 2d or 3d but it is remarkable that a 1985 famicom game is this complete feeling. Later games have more interesting level themes, gimmicks and powerups but everything you need for a good mario game is here
mario
Its as fun as I remembered, though I still can't imagine someone going through all that in a single sitting, thats wild.
It was the first Mario's adventure to rescue princess Peach from Bowser, and it is still amazing. Of course, this game didn't age very well in some aspects and let's talk about it first.
The game's graphics and sprites are extremely iconic, but they aren't the best representation of these characters (Mario looks like a smoker), and the physics of the jumps also don't work very well. Although, all of these flaws can be explained by the year that this game was first developed and released (1985), in addition to the fact that the qualities are greater than the defects in this game.
Now, talking about the good points:
The level desing is amazing and should be used as a lesson to a lot of games today. When you put this game in a context that not everyone knew how to play mario, how to run, how to kill enemies, you need to tell players how to do all of this, the first level is the best tutorial ever made in a videogame, it teaches you every mecanic in the game through the level without saying a single word.
Technicaly, this game is revolucionary, the controls are responsive and the side scrolling works very well, it sound like something basic for a 2D plataformer, but it wasn't the reality for most of the games released before Super Mario Brothers, this game set the rules that the other plataformers should follow.
The soundtrack is perfect, it is extremely memorable, even it's simple due to the NES limitations. The mind behind this work is the composer Koji Kondo, who also composed the soundtrack of other Nintendo games.
Finaly, this game is very important to video game's history, and still a lot of fun. It definitely worth playing.
The game's graphics and sprites are extremely iconic, but they aren't the best representation of these characters (Mario looks like a smoker), and the physics of the jumps also don't work very well. Although, all of these flaws can be explained by the year that this game was first developed and released (1985), in addition to the fact that the qualities are greater than the defects in this game.
Now, talking about the good points:
The level desing is amazing and should be used as a lesson to a lot of games today. When you put this game in a context that not everyone knew how to play mario, how to run, how to kill enemies, you need to tell players how to do all of this, the first level is the best tutorial ever made in a videogame, it teaches you every mecanic in the game through the level without saying a single word.
Technicaly, this game is revolucionary, the controls are responsive and the side scrolling works very well, it sound like something basic for a 2D plataformer, but it wasn't the reality for most of the games released before Super Mario Brothers, this game set the rules that the other plataformers should follow.
The soundtrack is perfect, it is extremely memorable, even it's simple due to the NES limitations. The mind behind this work is the composer Koji Kondo, who also composed the soundtrack of other Nintendo games.
Finaly, this game is very important to video game's history, and still a lot of fun. It definitely worth playing.
Respect where its due this game is a classic but it lacks a lot compared to other 2D Mario games
Come on. Its a me.
Whatever flaws exist with its quarters-munching lives system, sliding movement, and obnoxious water and Hammer Bro levels, Super Mario Bros essentially establishes the platformer genre with prescient grace that few outside the franchise have managed. A simple protagonist, Mario, must rescue Princess Peach from Bowser/King Koopa and be told seven times by Toad he's a fucking failure. The classic title and its resounding formula (besides the dull boss which necessitates refinement) begins a series of great 2D games—lest I speak of all the bad 3D Mario games—whose simplicity inspires generations of titles to come.
When people talk about what the most "Important" or, "Influential" game of all time is, to me, I feel nothing compares to the original Super Mario. After the game crash in 83, Mario was the game that brought back the love people had lost for games. My rating of this game won't be influenced by it's impact, though I thought I should mention it anyway.
Design wise, I'm not sure how they got so much right on their first go. The levels are fun, intelligent, great to look at, and have a lot of challange. My favorite levels were probably just the first world, as they are pretty much perfect, though I also really love the look of World 3's levels. Some levels were too challenging to the point of it felt like BS. When I say "some", I really just mean 8-2, that shit was dumb. Other than that, very little complaints.
I remember when I started to look at Mario games a bit differently, where I started to think about why Mario was jumping. It sounds dumb but I'll try to explain. I watched videogamedunky's video on "Super Mario Bros. Wonder", and something he said changed my perspective a bit. He said "A lot of people confuse the plot of Mario with it's stroy. The Plot of Mario is Bowser Kidnaps Peach, the Story is the Journey you take to get to Bowser". For some reason, I never saw it that way, I only saw the platforms as something to jump on, but never considered why Mario was doing it in the first place. When you start thinking of the gameplay apart of the narrative itself, I began to see Mario as more of an Adventure than just a game where I jump because it's fun. It's sounds dumb and it probably is, but idk, it made me appreciete the great story Nintendo tells, not by dialouge, but by the gameplay and levels themselves.
Moving on, the OST for this game is legendary. It only has like 4 main songs, but they all work so well, and set such a great atmosphere. My favorite is probably the Cave theme. It's just so eerie, and it makes the expericence that much more immersive to me. The main theme is also legendary, and just a great tune. The Castle and Water themes are also great as well.
Gotta mention real quick how good I think the Pixel art is. It has a "Dark Fantasy" look to it that I hadn't seen in any other Mario. It has a much more midevil feel to it, and I really liked it.
I mentioned it before, but the diffculty can be a very aggrevating. Usually it's fine, but in the later levels it feels really challanging. I will say that Mario's jump deffinitely gets way better as the series went on, and though it's alright here, Mario's jump can be a little unpredictable. Sometimes he just goes to high up when you wanted him to have a smaller arc on his leap. It's usually fine, but the problem came up more often then I wanted it to. I do think that it was a bad choice to have Mario go small after one hit even if he had a fire flower, and thought it was also dumb he didn't get the flower power if he was small. I also hate that you can't go back to where you just left, something they didn't fix in the Mario Allstars remake for some reason. Just some dumb stuff that hurts the game, but all and all it really isn't that bad.
So, something that helps my ranking a bit, was the way I beat it. I had died a few times in the last Castle, and had 2 lives. I made it all the way to Bowser, I was doing alright, but a visual glitch happened with Bowser's fire, and it went invisible and killed me. I thought I was done, I thought I was fuckin dead and would have to reset. I make my way back barley dodging some bullshit along the way, and after like 30 seconds of waiting, he jumps and I hit the axe. I had one fuckin life left, if I got hit I was dead for good, and I lived. It was just awesome to me, and such a relief to kill that fucker.
In past reviews of other Mario games, I've said that some Marios were "Unique" compared to the other games. But looking back, that statement doesn't make much sense. We've gotten so use to Mario, that the slightest difference in a game, gives it the lable "Unique". All of these games are "Unique", and this game shows it. The idea of an Italian Plumber traveling through the "Mushroom Kingdom" stomping on Turtles, walking Mushrooms, and fighting a big spikey monster while trying to save a Kingdom full of Mushroom People and their Princess who is a Human, is something so creative that it's a weird thing to even think about because we've gotten so use to it. Super Mario Bros. is the start of something incredible, not just for Nintendo but for everything to come after. It set the standard for design and in some ways, story telling in the videogame medium. I feel that this game is a mandatory must play for anyone, even if it's not your favorite genre, this is the game of all the games, and to me a great game in its own right, one that will be talked about for the next century. If you like Platformers or games in general, I'd recomend for everyone to at least give it a try.
Score: 4.1/5
Letter Grade: A-
Design wise, I'm not sure how they got so much right on their first go. The levels are fun, intelligent, great to look at, and have a lot of challange. My favorite levels were probably just the first world, as they are pretty much perfect, though I also really love the look of World 3's levels. Some levels were too challenging to the point of it felt like BS. When I say "some", I really just mean 8-2, that shit was dumb. Other than that, very little complaints.
I remember when I started to look at Mario games a bit differently, where I started to think about why Mario was jumping. It sounds dumb but I'll try to explain. I watched videogamedunky's video on "Super Mario Bros. Wonder", and something he said changed my perspective a bit. He said "A lot of people confuse the plot of Mario with it's stroy. The Plot of Mario is Bowser Kidnaps Peach, the Story is the Journey you take to get to Bowser". For some reason, I never saw it that way, I only saw the platforms as something to jump on, but never considered why Mario was doing it in the first place. When you start thinking of the gameplay apart of the narrative itself, I began to see Mario as more of an Adventure than just a game where I jump because it's fun. It's sounds dumb and it probably is, but idk, it made me appreciete the great story Nintendo tells, not by dialouge, but by the gameplay and levels themselves.
Moving on, the OST for this game is legendary. It only has like 4 main songs, but they all work so well, and set such a great atmosphere. My favorite is probably the Cave theme. It's just so eerie, and it makes the expericence that much more immersive to me. The main theme is also legendary, and just a great tune. The Castle and Water themes are also great as well.
Gotta mention real quick how good I think the Pixel art is. It has a "Dark Fantasy" look to it that I hadn't seen in any other Mario. It has a much more midevil feel to it, and I really liked it.
I mentioned it before, but the diffculty can be a very aggrevating. Usually it's fine, but in the later levels it feels really challanging. I will say that Mario's jump deffinitely gets way better as the series went on, and though it's alright here, Mario's jump can be a little unpredictable. Sometimes he just goes to high up when you wanted him to have a smaller arc on his leap. It's usually fine, but the problem came up more often then I wanted it to. I do think that it was a bad choice to have Mario go small after one hit even if he had a fire flower, and thought it was also dumb he didn't get the flower power if he was small. I also hate that you can't go back to where you just left, something they didn't fix in the Mario Allstars remake for some reason. Just some dumb stuff that hurts the game, but all and all it really isn't that bad.
So, something that helps my ranking a bit, was the way I beat it. I had died a few times in the last Castle, and had 2 lives. I made it all the way to Bowser, I was doing alright, but a visual glitch happened with Bowser's fire, and it went invisible and killed me. I thought I was done, I thought I was fuckin dead and would have to reset. I make my way back barley dodging some bullshit along the way, and after like 30 seconds of waiting, he jumps and I hit the axe. I had one fuckin life left, if I got hit I was dead for good, and I lived. It was just awesome to me, and such a relief to kill that fucker.
In past reviews of other Mario games, I've said that some Marios were "Unique" compared to the other games. But looking back, that statement doesn't make much sense. We've gotten so use to Mario, that the slightest difference in a game, gives it the lable "Unique". All of these games are "Unique", and this game shows it. The idea of an Italian Plumber traveling through the "Mushroom Kingdom" stomping on Turtles, walking Mushrooms, and fighting a big spikey monster while trying to save a Kingdom full of Mushroom People and their Princess who is a Human, is something so creative that it's a weird thing to even think about because we've gotten so use to it. Super Mario Bros. is the start of something incredible, not just for Nintendo but for everything to come after. It set the standard for design and in some ways, story telling in the videogame medium. I feel that this game is a mandatory must play for anyone, even if it's not your favorite genre, this is the game of all the games, and to me a great game in its own right, one that will be talked about for the next century. If you like Platformers or games in general, I'd recomend for everyone to at least give it a try.
Score: 4.1/5
Letter Grade: A-
This game has aged shockingly well, honestly. It's well-designed and just an all-round fun platformer. As a kid, I'd always hit the Warp Zone and beat the game in a few minutes, but deciding to play through every level legitimately was something I don't regret. Play through the All-Stars Collection version if you can, it's a lot easier on the eyes.
Revisiting a classic on the eve of Super Mario Wonder. The original Super Mario Bros is the very defenition of classic when it comes to gaming. This is the first game to do platforming right, and to this day it has not aged at all. At any time you can pop this bad boy in, have a good 1 hour sesh and beat the game. And it never gets boring even after 35 years. Lots of games from the same era suffer from really bad game design due to the fact that game development and design was still experimental, but Super Mario bros is the shining diamond that has stood the test of time due to it's brilliant design my Mr Miyamoto.
This Mario guy seems pretty cool, I wonder if this will save the entire video game industry