One of the greatest titles in history.
One of the things Nintendo is marked for when it comes to revolutionising the game industry was the addition of a story. It's arcade game Donkey Kong was the first game to have an actual story to make it feel more like a movie, which was Nintendo's aim. So ofcourse, this game had a story. It may seem simple, but it is one of the most creative things I have ever seen and probably will see. You are an Italian plumber on a quest to save the princess from King Koopa. The Koopa race (koopa means poo in Polish) is a turtle race. The king is a large turtle with a spiked shell and shoots fire beams. There are 8 worlds, 4 levels in each world. There are also a bunch of other enemies, like goombas, piranha plants, cheep cheeps. The story seems so basic, yet so creative and imaginative.
The gameplay is easy to understand. It is just basic side scrolling. You move from left to right, jumping, getting mushrooms to get bigger, and more. Even three-year olds can easily understand the concept of this game. Cause I know I did when I was that young. I really don't feel it's necessary to describe anymore gameplay to you, since it's that easy to understand. They did a great job with putting all this stuff in, and yet making it seem so simple and easy to understand.
An easy game to pick up and play at anytime, but going through the whole game and beating it is a different story. This is not an easy little game. Going through all 32 levels takes a while, and it's sure not easy. This game is pretty difficult. With enemies everywhere, it's not easy to get to places. Also, there are jumps to master and such. There are secrets in this game, but I doubt you'd find them on your first play through without any help, unless if you're a lucky guy. Also, those castles are pretty hard as well. They are like mazes, and you do have a timelimit. King Koopa is pretty easy to fight, it's not hard to find out how to beat him. Though getting to him is difficult. An eay game to understand, an easy game to pick up and play, and not an easy game to go through and beat.
The graphics simply don't matter in this game so I won't spend my time reviewing them. They aren't amazing, but the animations are all smooth, and it's pretty detailed. As for the sounds, they are very memorable. Everybody can easily recall the overworld song, the underground song, the castle song, and many of the sound effects. They are all good and are truly classic.
Take a moment and look at all the Mario games today. They are all rich with colorful 3D graphics, fun, and have a very large range. Can you believe me when I tell you that all those titles, and there are a lot, rooted from this game? This is a very nice little simple game to pick up and play. Yes, the gameplay, storyline, and all that is very simplistic, yet look at how creative it was. Could you have thought up a story where a plumber saves a princess from a turtle, eating mushrooms that make him grow, and taking flowers that let him shoot fire balls? This is a long and hard game, though we don't mind. The graphics aren't masterpieces, but they did their jobs. The sounds are very memorable. No wait, this whole game is memorable. Overall, this is an excellent game that really introduced gaming in a big way. It all really started from here.