This game is weird as shit, let's just get that out of the way. Basically none of the enemies have ever appeared in a Mario game prior nor have appeared since and even familiar enemies like koopas literally explode when you jump on them. That doesn't even consider the entirely different setting, princess and villain here. Designs of the environments and enemies feel wholly unique in a way that they feel foreign to the Mario series.

For as cool of an atmosphere as it sets, gameplay is pretty much the same. The main power up let's you shoot SUPER BALLS (not kidding, that's a real name) but can mostly be used like a fire flower with the additional property of bouncing on surfaces. Controls honestly feel a bit clunky so it took some time to get the physics and handling down. I'd say the game is a bit better designed than the original Super Mario Bros on average but it definitely suffers from its short runtime. It's only got 4 worlds to make up about half of a normal Mario game and I get that there were limitations on cartridge space, but it's a bit of a shame that creative designs never got expanded upon or even implemented in more difficult challenges.

A cool little piece of Mario's history and a short solid platformer regardless.