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Super Mario Bros. review

Game: Super Mario Bros.
Platform: NES
Genre: Action (Platformer)
Developer: Nintendo

Reader review by ghostyghost

August 13, 2006

The year is 1985, the Nintendo Entertainment System has just launched on North American Shores, and with it Mario becomes the most popular videogame hero. When the game first came out I wasn’t born yet, so I didn’t get to experience the adventure until 1995. Thankfully, it was worth the wait Super Mario Brothers is one of the best games ever made.

Nowadays games that ship with a console launch are often mediocre, but that was not case back then. Mario was eased into homes with the purchase of the console. It only took minutes before I realized what a quirky character he was. I progressed from castle to castle in search of Princess Peach, Mario’s love. Along the way I met the evil villain Bowser many times, and learnt how vile things with shells can be. Of course, this was only the start of the adventure I would take part in.

The adventure started you out in world one-level one, the first of eight worlds and thirty-two levels before U was finished. Getting Mario through each level and onto the flagpole was the challenge, which I did by using the simple control scheme. The “A” button made Mario jump, holding the “B” button made him run, and the d-pad chose the direction that he moved. Naturally, Super Mario wasn’t as simple as the first level led me to believe. And before I knew it I was underground in a cave, then swimming around fish, and then dropped into a castle. Every level was a different experience and I was easily immersed in the Mushroom Kingdom. Everything was 2D like Saturday morning cartoons. As I ran through each level, jumping on koopas, birds, and everything else in my way, I noticed the screen moving with me whether I went upwards, forwards or backwards. Shamelessly I found screen jumping fun at the time.

Yet, even better was watching Mario grow and shoot fireballs out what seemed like his nose, but was actually his hand. When I collected a mushroom out of question mark boxes, Mario doubled in size. When he was this size flowers came out instead of mushrooms giving him the insane ability to shoot balls of fire at his enemies. Upon contact every enemy disappeared giving me a nice clear path through the level. I never appreciated the variety, as everything was different and kept me interested. Unfortunately, every time I turned off my NES, I was whisked back to the beginning with no ability to save my progress. Still, I couldn’t help but adore Mario as he jumped over pipes and gaps to find a cootie-filled girl. When I finished I felt a sense of accomplishment, but also sad that my adventure was over. Then it started again, with different enemies in different places. “YES!” I shouted I could still play Mario again.

Although Mario wasn’t as pretty looking as the transformers on TV, but he was a funny looking plumber in an extraordinary world. It was easy to look at with colors that changed more then the weather. No matter what level I was in, there was something different about it. The game allowed me to do anything without stopping to load. Yet, the best part of Mario was its awesome soundtrack. Its classic upbeat and catchy themes had me humming along with it. The fact a lot of levels had a different theme-song was even better, as I learned to recognize each level by the sound coming from the TV. Truly, the graphics and sound only further immersed me in Mario’s World.

It’s an experience like Super Mario Brothers that keeps me playing games to this day. I’ll never forget starting it up, or how it was fun for everyone in my family. Quite frankly, if you have ever enjoyed a videogame, play Super Mario Bros.

Rating: 10/10

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