[played on the FCE Ultra GX emulator on the Wii]
I think it's safe to say that Super Mario Bros. Special is probably the most obscure 2D game in the series. Released on a few Japanese computers in 1986, it's not exactly the easiest game to get up and running these days. From what I've seen, there have been a few attempts at getting the game ported to the NES, but none seem to be as accurate as the 35th Anniversary Edition by Frantik, which is the version I've decided to play.
It'd probably be best to summarize my thoughts on SMB1 before I get into talking about this proper, so I'd like to say that even nearly 40 years later, it's still brilliant! Certainly simple by today's standards, but it's easy to see why it was so revolutionary. And as a game building on that foundation, SMB Special's really solid!
The levels aren't quite as good as what Miyamoto and co cooked up for the original, but the fact that Hudson Soft got so close is definitely something to be admired. They also play with your expectations a few times, like having sub-areas in the water levels and having the goal-post in one level be in an underground section. These levels are also fairly challenging, never to the degree of something like The Lost Levels but still fairly tough, especially towards the end.
There's also cute little references to some of Mario's past appearances, with the additions of obstacles/enemies from Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., as well as the hammer power-up from the former (which is incredibly broken here, as you can still jump with it activated). Honestly, the enemies from Mario Bros. fit in rather nicely, and their appearances here genuinely makes me want to see them incorporated in a future 2D Mario. My only real criticism with these references is that they just end up feeling like glorified easter eggs, since they're so infrequent and really could've added some variety if used more. There's also a totally unique power-up that lets you swim through the air, but I completely missed it on this run.
In terms of criticisms, the only one I can really think of is that there's occasional leaps of faith, but they didn't really affect me too much once I learnt that you can clear just about all of them with a running jump.
For what it is, I really enjoyed SMB Special! I have to give props to Hudson Soft for making Mario levels this good so early in the series' life, and props to Frantik for porting all of this to the NES in the first place (it almost definitely wasn't easy)! It feels like a proper successor to the original SMB, even moreso than the sequel the Famicom Disk System got.
If you love SMB1 or want to check out this weird piece of Mario history in some form, this is probably the best way to do it!
I think it's safe to say that Super Mario Bros. Special is probably the most obscure 2D game in the series. Released on a few Japanese computers in 1986, it's not exactly the easiest game to get up and running these days. From what I've seen, there have been a few attempts at getting the game ported to the NES, but none seem to be as accurate as the 35th Anniversary Edition by Frantik, which is the version I've decided to play.
It'd probably be best to summarize my thoughts on SMB1 before I get into talking about this proper, so I'd like to say that even nearly 40 years later, it's still brilliant! Certainly simple by today's standards, but it's easy to see why it was so revolutionary. And as a game building on that foundation, SMB Special's really solid!
The levels aren't quite as good as what Miyamoto and co cooked up for the original, but the fact that Hudson Soft got so close is definitely something to be admired. They also play with your expectations a few times, like having sub-areas in the water levels and having the goal-post in one level be in an underground section. These levels are also fairly challenging, never to the degree of something like The Lost Levels but still fairly tough, especially towards the end.
There's also cute little references to some of Mario's past appearances, with the additions of obstacles/enemies from Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., as well as the hammer power-up from the former (which is incredibly broken here, as you can still jump with it activated). Honestly, the enemies from Mario Bros. fit in rather nicely, and their appearances here genuinely makes me want to see them incorporated in a future 2D Mario. My only real criticism with these references is that they just end up feeling like glorified easter eggs, since they're so infrequent and really could've added some variety if used more. There's also a totally unique power-up that lets you swim through the air, but I completely missed it on this run.
In terms of criticisms, the only one I can really think of is that there's occasional leaps of faith, but they didn't really affect me too much once I learnt that you can clear just about all of them with a running jump.
For what it is, I really enjoyed SMB Special! I have to give props to Hudson Soft for making Mario levels this good so early in the series' life, and props to Frantik for porting all of this to the NES in the first place (it almost definitely wasn't easy)! It feels like a proper successor to the original SMB, even moreso than the sequel the Famicom Disk System got.
If you love SMB1 or want to check out this weird piece of Mario history in some form, this is probably the best way to do it!