The first C64 game I completed. It's a competent SMB 1 clone, but significantly harder due to some wonky enemy placement and ultra-precise jumps in some of the later stages. Also, you lose all of your diamonds (equivalent of coins) upon death which makes racking up extra lives exceptionally difficult until you know what you're doing.

I was a big fan of the DS game (which I honestly think is the better place to start with this franchise) and Twisted Dreams, so I'm glad I decided to go back and play this through and eventually got to a point where beating it without save states was no issue.

*For the love of god, if you're playing on an emulator, make sure you map "up" to an actual button. Old C64 games collectively had this weird thing where up on the keyboard (or joystick) was jump instead, and I'll never understand what madman thought that was acceptable.

7.5/10. Version played: C64 Emulation via Vicex64sc (3.7 0046085) version 's libretro port on Linux Retroarch 1.16.0 on Steam Deck OLED Steam OS(Arch Linux Variant).

Content played: Non-Save State run: Up to stage 8 several times. Save state run: All levels.

I've been wanting to get more into retro PC games
and I thought this would be a good first entry.
Sometimes you can't have the real deal on a particular system, so someone just says fuck it, I'll make my own mario port with blackjack and hookers...In a way that doesn't break copyright law. For MS-DOS that gave us Commander Keen, and for the C64, by a german developer. Appearantly a significant amount of old PC retro games come from Germany....I guess my neighbors are doing better than the Netherlands when it comes to games.
It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure out that this game is using Super Mario Bros as a template. The fact that its giana ''sisters'' instead of mario ''brothers'', the blocks you bash your head into, enemies to jump on, the bushes, the underground levels, the powerups, them ushrooms on the...cover of questionable quality. its all quite clear.

But this isn't an authentic clone. It's its own variant, its own take on the formula that I think justifies its own existence. It's not just an inferior version of Super Mario Bros that works on the Commedore 64. Its its own neat little game. It's a fairly simple movement/momentum based 2d Sidescrolling move to the end platformer. You only have a few verbs, running with 2 digital direction degrees and jumping with different analog height degrees, and then you just..Go through the obstacle course with those tools through a scrolling stage. It's similar in that you're mostly balancing speed and direction and how that effects jump distance/height, as well as balancing your jump height and how that effects the distance and arc to quickly jump accross gaps to the end goal by reading what kind of jump you need when correctly, as well as timing and positioning based reading required for the various dynamic enemies and obstacles in your way for which you need to use prediction/act pre-emptively as your character does not respond immediately. Plus, positioning and possible paths are obviously limited by being side scrolling and requiring gravity/friction.

You read the situation, and judge when you should jump, with what jump height, and when you should keep holding forward or let go or press backwards so that you will get over the obstacle on time, and often need to do so a bit earlier than expected. Each choice then effects the next, because you inherit momentum from your last jump as it takes time to get to full speed, and that momentum effects your possible jump distance/height/arc. It is within your agency to decide whether you keep going fast, the faster you let the screen scroll, the less reaction time you have. However, going fast feels more rewarding and is more beneficial/encouraged because it takes time to gain speed and switch direction. There then is a balcance between collecting/exploratio based playstyles which is safe and can lend you more lives, vs the speed based playstyles, or the ones in between. This is all basically the same as super mario bros, the difference is in the low level stuff.
But let me review it by listing things that are different, I think that'll actually give a better idea instead.

The style of music is entirely different and has that EU Commodore 64 charm. The theming isn't entirely a rip off but I wouldn't say its as cohesive and charming as marios? I never thought I'd say it but the enemies just seem so..Random..I mean I know the manual says that this is all taking place in a floaty dream world she's trying to get out of but still. What's with those dong looking enemies? Bouncing balls? Slinkys?

The scaling and screen size is a bit different but not in a way too significant. The camera in Mario bros actually takes some time to pan to mario once he gets around the middle, while in Giana sisters it just straight up starts moving. There's also the fact that it's a PAL game and boy if you set the emulator to that it runs at PAL speed...It gives the game a relaxing vibe that requires patience which despite me being European, I'm not used to. It also kind of overstayed its welcome this way. When I set it to NTSC it was a wildly different feel that felt more like what I'm used to, despite it being the same game. I'm not sure if it breaks the game considering it's likely an EU version. I did see some visual glitches and It seemed like the timer was moving similarly despite me being faster?

The most significant difference you'll first see is the timer! I tried absolutely taking my time to break bricks and gather lives and get a feel for it aaaaand It quickly resulted in my death. I couldn't make it in time! I never really had that happen in Mario Bros. While its not the most organic way to do it, keeping this timer relatively low actually makes the game a lot more interesting. If you want to get your lives, you better get those gems quickly. If you want to increase your points by killing enemies and breaking bricks, you better not take too long, just take what you can get and move on. I'm not sure what points do outside of getting you higher on the highscore screen (in many NES games they give continues but I don't know whether this game has them), but they're sure more interesting to get in this game. I actually find it more fun to try to get all the gems in this one. You don't get lives that quickly though.

Next up, the controls are wildly different. Giana does not have a run verb and is slower overall, even in NTSC. One thing I appreciate is that you can hold the jump button before hitting the ground and like a buffer giana will jump immediately when she hits the ground (though this does de-emphasize needing the technique to time jumps well). Input wise though, the jump button is set to up. This is especially annoying if you're playing with a gamepad where they aren't separate buttons that can all be pressed simultaneously. Luckily I could just remap the keys in this emulation. Anyway, I don't have any measurments or proof, but generally, Gianas controls feel more floaty (heh, the manual wasn't kidding). Her jump feels like it takes a bit longer. Mario takes longer to go up and hangs a bit longer in the air but then falls down in like half the amount of frames, making him feel weightier and snappier, with more commitment required as you can adjust less. The easing in speed in each stage is also different, it feels more even and less intense in Giana adding to that floatiness.

I can adjust my height in similar distinct ways, but it feels like in Giana it's more divided into 5 base heights and in Mario 4, again, don't quote me on this stuff I have no measurments its just first impressions. If you tap the jump button in Mario you'll jump quite a bit higher, so you have a bit more control, so that might show what I mean. Meanwhile, Mario forces more commitment to your momentum, in Giana if you let go of the forward button mid jump she'll actually respond and she'll respond more to the back button letting you correct your movement more. On the other hand, switching direction at higher speeds seems to take a bit longer in Giana, and doesn't have that little switch animation. Speaking of animation, the one for hitting a block is absent in Giana sisters. Either of these lacks of animation make for worse game feel overall, but it still functions. Getting to full speed seems like it takes a bit shorter in Giana. I'm not sure how fast giana and marios speeds are in relation to the enemies and various timings. So overall, Giana feels less momentum and commitment based, though with pal 50hz that works in its favor.

Despite this, the fact that the timer is low, as well as the fact that there are no pipes to crawl down into as far as I know, means that Giana orients itself less to the beginner friendly exploration based gameplay and more to the rush based gameplay a more advanced player would be into. Interestingly enough though, the mid level of stopping to pick up coins and items or for dangerous unknown moments actually feels.. harder in Giana because you have to balance more things. As the scoring is a bit more interesting, I don't think that's a bad thing.

Collision in Giana was a big wonky at times, though I can't tell whether this was my emulator. When I picked the ''fast'' emulation, several times I'd clearly jump on an enemy and I would just die. I couldn't replicate this once I was using the ''accurate'' one. What didn't change however was that if you wat to squeeze between two horizontal blatforms below one another in parallel when jumping towards it from the top, holding the right button often ends in me getting on its edge, and then being thrown off. I don't really remember how Mario Bros handles it. What does seem to be the case is that these kind of details differ. I believe that in Mario Bros you can run accross small gaps with speed but I wasn't able to do that here. Collision in general is rather different too, and so I also asssume how collision influences speed/physics is different as well.

Ofcourse, there's powerup differences too! You do not change in size/hitbox when getting the mushroom equivelent. Not sure whether you get to form 1 if you get hit when having both the mushroom and the flower, it differs per mario game too. The fireflower equivelent, which seems to be a lightning bolt, behaves completely differently. You can only have 1 bolt on screen at a time (unlike 2 in mario) but when close you can use it in very quick succession, also rewarding getting close to enemies. In movement Its closer to the mario land one. It doesn't bounce it just moves diagonally in a pretty sharp angle rather quickly and then once it hits something it will do the same in the opposite direction. However...If you get TWO lightning bolts, they get a homing attack!..The behavior of this can be quite strange and unpredictable and on 1 particular enemy it sometimes gets stuck. It can also get stuck if there's a platform above and an enemy below it. This sucks because you can't then shoot again until its off screen or actually hits its target, however I think it adds an odd charm to it of trying to not let it happen.

There's no stars as far as I know, but I've had a bomb and a clock come out. These are triggered by another button. The clock stops the enemies and the bomb can instantly kill most enemies on screen. There's also a water drop and a pineapple but I have..No clue what they do. Maybe they're just point items? Not sure if there's rng on items I think its just stage dependent.
That's the player character relavent mechanics but there's also quite a few different environmental mechanics. The most major one is that you don't bounce off of enemies when you jump on them at all! You just kinda squish through them. This does actually influence how you need to time certain parts. Same goes for enemies that are walking on a platform above you, breaking a brick does NOT kill them or do anything realy, which feels less satisfying and interesting, but also means the enemies stay a threat at points. What IS different is that at a few select spots, these weird ball shaped rocks drop from the bricks that stop your movement for a bit which you can then jump on. I'm not even sure what this adds haha.
Checkpoints seem to work similarly but I don't know of a continue system.

The flagpoles at the end aren't there, instead they are replaced by tricky, often punishing final jumps with lots of gems (the stock 100=life collectible..At least I think, I haven't checked how many gets you a life). It might not be as unique but it's still relatively satisfying to get them all. At the end of the stage you'll get a bonus of 10 diomands so every 10 stages is a guaranteed life I think. There's 32 total. Giana features most of the stage themes/types from Mario Bros. The outside flatland, the more ''athlethic'' stages, the castles, the underground stages..But no underwater stages. Maybe there were technical limitations or it was too ambitious. I also don't think I've seen any ''guess the correct path that's probably the most annoying path'' castle stages.

Platform gimmicks and obstacles are different too. The main pressure and punishing platform mechanic in the game is disintegrating platforms on a timer (1 tile at a time). It's pretty barebones. There are no moving platforms. There are no bonus rooms in the clouds. There are no springs. There are no spinning ''firebars'' instead we have..Balls bouncing slightly up and down?. Spikes? Oh yeah speaking of which, again, can'' tell if an emulator or old version bug, but I could stand on the side of the spikes without getting hit. Instead of piranha plants, there's these pipes with static fire on top of them and also floating platforms with weird white looking fire. There was nothing to make up for them either. It's a bit more generic. Speaking of which, there aren't actually that many direct enemy equivelents, and the roster here is pretty barebones. Yes we have the ''Basic dumb goons that run forward forcing you to do a basic jump over them'' goomba equivelent owls. The fireballs that come out of the ground in castles are the fish. The bullet bulls are now these bees that fly from the screen. There's no real cheep cheep, there's no lakitu, no hammer bros. There are a buncha goomba variants you can't jump on that are like spinies. But the biggest omission feels like a lack of koopas and piranha plants. They feel so much more dynamic and crucial to mario yet they're missing. The fact that koopas leave shells you can kick adds so much interaction, dynamics, expression, risk reward, etc. The fact that piranhas get in and out of pipes adds to the risk reward of deciding to do the tricky pipe side jumps or waiting for the right timing while rewarding having the fireflower and fireball timing.

What IS interesting though is that it has not 1 boss with a bunch of variants, but two. The weird cockroach thing (it kinda creeps me out) kinda bounces back and forth a bit a few times and then charges at you. You can't jump on it so basically it means you predict when it charges and then jump. Or you can use a fuckton of lightning bolts (again, the closer the more rewarding, but riskier, common in these games). The other is a dragon thing that kinda flies/circles around and then charges. Either is a fine enough twist on the ''Having a boss that's basically a harder to read, dynamic, risky final jump to get past'' idea that's not very common in games outside of the first mario bros.

The level design is similar to Super Mario Bros, less gimmicks, more using the different regularized systems and existing tools together. It also does not follow arcade design where it just moves on to thing to thing like a rollercoaster. Unlike the later Mario games that focused more on a particular formula of introduce gimmick and situation, expand, vary or twist, final challenge, It's more like a series of basic jumps and reads that kinda flow into one another, where things are placed in such a way that you still have to think about your speed and height, and sometimes stop for enemies that come on too quickly as you can not stop on a dime. As you get further in the game the difficulty curves with more pressure/urgency and punishing mechanics emphasized like the disintegrating platforms and pits. Like Mario Bros, it feels very minimalistic and straight to the point in that arcady manner. While it's not like a shmup where every single second counts with tons of decisions to make (it's more relaxed), it still leaves me less impatient than a lot of modern platformers. There's just the right amount of stuff to read and inputs with nuance to consider and just the right amount of challenge thrown at you to keep you there through the one sitting game.

The game-feel is a bit lacking compared to Mario Bros. It doesn't have those fine touches and polish. Nor does it feel nearly as thematically or atmospherically charming, cohesive or interesting. The music makes up for it though, it gives the game a fun vibe. And you got to remember that there weren't like, big companies behind these games, these were the equivelent of current indie devs, and there are different hardware limitations, so even of copying is easier, It's still a nice job.

All in all, I think that Giana Sisters is a worthy sidegrade for the Commedore 64. I grew up playing a bit of the Nintendo DS game, and I know there was a modern steam game as well, so I'm curious as to what direction they took these games in to give them more of their own identity and how they hold up. For now, this has been a nice introduction to the charming, DIY Friendly system that was the commodore 64. I think it's time to venture into something a bit more unique or daunting, given that fast paced action was not what old computers excelled at. For now, this was a neat little experience I could see myself coming back to every now and then in an attempt to 1CC it.

I'm surprised they decided against naming her Maria.

This counterefeit Soup isn't all what Mario sets out to be but not without its own merits: It actually emulates parallax scrolling that SMB doesn't, and the music is truly unique. Shoutouts to the castle track.

Outside that it's very clunky, full of rough jumps, unclear what does and doesn't kill you (alongside what enemies can and cannot be killed), sometimes falling down a pit wins the level for some reason, and I have hardly any idea what the power-ups can do but I can indeed shoot.

I think if Nintendo had sued they absolutely would have won though.