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!