The game that breathed life into home consoles again after the crash of 1984
The game that propelled videogaming to new hieghts
Simple controls
MISS
Poor Luigi... someone's had it out for him since the beginning
What better game to start out a Retro Games Spotlight than the game that breathed life into home consoles again after the crash of 1984 than Super Mario Bros. I can remember when I first got this game along with my Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. I was four years old when I first got my hands on an NES. Before that, I'd go out to my aun'ts house and play Barnstorming, Dodge 'Em and Soccer on the Atari 2600. Super Mario Bros. came packaged with Duck Hunt and the Zapper light gun when the NES was released. The game's story (or lack there of back in those days) revolved around Mario and Luigi, the Mario Brothers. While I don't remember these guys ever being labeled as plumbers back then, they somehow stumbled into the Mushroom Kingdom, a vast world ran by Princess Toadstool and her followers, the mushroom people. One day, the evil King Koopa, Bowser, and his koopa minions kidnapped the Princess and a handful of her people. The rest of the kingdom's inhabitants were transformed into blocks and shrubs spread across the entire kingdom. (Yawning yet? By today's standards this would likely make for a horrible game) As Mario and his brother Luigi (only used in 2 Player game) you travel through many different areas such as the kingdom overworld, underground caves, underwater stages and large castles with lakes of red fire. The game's eight main levels were broken down into 4 sub-levels a piece in this fashion. At the end of the sub-levels 1and 2, you would end the stage by leaping onto a flagpole and entering a small castle. Following the end of sub-level 3, you would leap onto the flagpole and enter a large castle. Sub-level 4 could not be completed in this same way, however. Waiting on you at the end of the castle was the King Koopa himself, Bowser. To defeat the turtle king, you would have to knock the bridge out from under him. An axe was provided behind him to do so... the only problem was getting by him. As you completed each of the first 7 levels, you would be greeted by a member of the Mushroom Kingdom. They would give you information that the Princess you seek was in another castle. By the end of Level 8, you would complete your mission and find the Princess herself. While Super Mario Bros. didn't sound like the greatest story of all time... the buttons used to play the game were actually not so hard to figure out. Considering the Nintendo Entertainment System controller only consists of a direction pad, Start, Select, A and B buttons, it didn't take too terribly long to get accustomed to the controls. using left and right on the direction pad would send you running in that particular direction. As SUPER MARIO, the down button would allow you to crouch. The A button would be used to jump over gaps and onto the heads of enemies while B would only be used if Mario obtained a Fire Flower, which would allow him to spit fireballs at his enemies.
Nintendo's Entertainment System played 8-bit games. This of course, gave all characters and enemies on the game a very blocky look to them. At the time, however, the only system that was out to compete with it was the Atari and the NES' graphics far surpassed it. In the sound department, however, the theme from Super Mario Bros. showed just how much sound had improved between the era of the Atari and the NES era. From simple bleeps and dings to an orchestra of synthed music with bleeps. Even today, the original Mario theme is extremely popular among gamers the world over.
I remember years ago while playing this game I would try time after time to do the '1UP Trick' on level 3-1. Just the other day I sat down, plugged up the ol' NES and fired up a game of Super Mario Bros. I went to one of my favorite gaming sites and did a search on it. I couldn't believe all of the little hidden secrets I had never discovered before... such as the infamous MINUS WORLD and the Start+A trick after losing your last life to start you back out on that particular level. Even after 20+ years of gaming, the original Super Mario Bros. still amazes me... and still stands the test of time among other games today. SCORECARD: (via www.enterthezombiegod.com)
8 (Concept)
10 (Gameplay)
9 (Visuals)
8 (Sound)
9 (Value)
8 (Tilt)
FINAL SCORE: 8.5