(Part 1 of 5)
There are many different levels when it comes to how a video game can be remembered over time. One of these layers can be seen as moderate success, where a game does good enough to where people remember it fondly and will enjoy playing it for years to come, but then there are levels that can go further beyond that. One level can be how a game is remembered for improving a company or a person’s outlook on game development, showing them where to focus their attention on for the foreseeable future. One level can show how it can improve an entire video game console, which could have had a huge lack of quality titles at that point, and will now have people darting their eyes towards these systems and buying more of them. Another level could even improve entire aspects of game design in general, like genres, sub-genres, what you can get away with in a video game, graphics, gameplay, innovation, immersion, and many more. But, there are very few games that make it on the level of being able to save the video game industry at one of its absolute lowest point. One of the video games that could definitely hold this title would be with the original Super Mario Bros.
Yeah yeah, what the fuck ever Mega, we have all heard this story a million times, I hear you say, but it is still an impressive feat nonetheless, and one that should be admired. But, with all that being said, does the original game that started it all still hold up all the way to this day? Well, yeah, of course it does. It is still a pretty good game even after all this time, and while its formula has been improved upon and perfected in numerous ways by many, MANY others over the past 38 years, the original is still fun to come back to, and I would say it is still a pretty decent game. That didn’t stop me from overhyping it in my original review though, which I made back when I had first discovered this website, and I had even less of a clue of what the fuck I was doing. Which is why I am going back and remaking not just this review, but several other reviews I had made back when I first started out, just so I won’t be embarrassed about what I had done before anymore.
The story is one we are all familiar with, Princess Toadstool getting kidnapped by King Koopa, and it is up to the Italian plumbers Mario and Luigi to go save her, which is one that may have been done to death, but one that we still look back on fondly no matter how many times it is used for a Mario game, the graphics are definitely basic when it comes to an NES game, but the art style does still hold a lot of charm even to this very day, and it is still appealing to look at nowadays, the music is iconic in every way, with every single track being remixed many different times throughout other titles in the series, but as for the original tracks, they still hold up very well, and are still good to listen to to this day, the control is very simple, but it still works pretty well, so no need to comment on that any further, and the gameplay is as classic as you can get for a 2D platformer, and as basic as it can get too, which you can’t really blame the game for, but that is what you get with it.
The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of either Mario or Luigi, go through a set of eight worlds, each containing four short, yet contained levels, jump on mostly anything that comes in your way, gather plenty of coins, powerups, and extra lives to help you out along your way, and defeat plenty of bosses that will test your speed and skill………. and by plenty of bosses, I mean just one repeated over and over, and by testing your skills, I mean testing how well you can run under him and hit the axe behind him. Again, pretty damn basic. So yeah, this is all shit that we have all seen time and time again, so it could be easy to just shrug this gameplay and game in general off as just being “the first one”, and while you would be right in doing so, it is still good to go back and recognize how important it is and how well it holds up.
For every single mainline Mario game that comes after this, they had to use what was first introduced in this game as a basis for innovation and taking this series to another level. Sure, there would be games that would ditch the 2D style, and also the Point A to Point B approach, but most of the key elements are still there: you play as the red guy, you run, you jump, you grab coins and shiny things that make you strong and make your brain go brr, you defeat simple enemies that could still also hurt you if you aren’t careful, and you are usually saving something at the end of the day, whether it be a girl or an entire kingdom. So, for being the game that all others would take inspiration from, did the original nail the formula down? Well, yeah, I would say so. It isn’t as fleshed out or as exciting as other games, but the speed at which you move is good, your jumping feels great when you can time it just right, it feels satisfying to take out enemies and get items, and it can still be pretty challenging to this day, especially when it comes to World 8. Not to mention, there are also the plenty of ways you can approach the game, whether it be where you just play through all the levels normally to get the full experience, or you can use the secret warp pipes to blaze through the game, with people being able to beat the game in 5-10 minutes. So even if you prefer playing it one way, there is always another option if you are feeling up to it.
But, with all that being said, if you find it hard to come back to this game, or even going to experience it for the first time, I don’t blame you. In a series that has had MANY titles that has expanded the formula in so many ways even to this day, the original Mario Bros. is, again, as basic as it gets, so you won’t be getting anything all that special if you do decide to check it out for yourself. Sure, it is appealing in a way where you can see where it all began, but it may not be as easy to go back to for some if they are more used to the improvements of later games, which is totally understandable. In addition, in terms of actual problems the game has, the only real one I have would be with the life system. Since this is an early NES game, you only get three lives, and once you are done, you get sent right back to the title screen to start all over again. Yeah, you can get more lives, and there are exploits you can use to keep game overs from happening, but even still, it does feel really defeating whenever you do get sent all the way back to the beginning of the game because you suck.
Overall, despite its basic-ass nature and its limited life system, the original Super Mario Bros. is still a pretty good game even after all of this time, and one that is still nice to revisit every now and then whenever I get in the mood. I would definitely recommend it for those who are not only fans of Mario, but also fans of 2D platformers in general, because you will probably find something to really like, or at least appreciate, about this one. You know, such as the fact that they established this formula that many other games would go on and replicate for many years to come. That’s pretty cool, and it’s also pretty cool how they didn’t completely RUIN this formula with something like, I dunno, a SEQUEL or anything like that, right? That would’ve been ridiculous if that happened.
Remake #3
There are many different levels when it comes to how a video game can be remembered over time. One of these layers can be seen as moderate success, where a game does good enough to where people remember it fondly and will enjoy playing it for years to come, but then there are levels that can go further beyond that. One level can be how a game is remembered for improving a company or a person’s outlook on game development, showing them where to focus their attention on for the foreseeable future. One level can show how it can improve an entire video game console, which could have had a huge lack of quality titles at that point, and will now have people darting their eyes towards these systems and buying more of them. Another level could even improve entire aspects of game design in general, like genres, sub-genres, what you can get away with in a video game, graphics, gameplay, innovation, immersion, and many more. But, there are very few games that make it on the level of being able to save the video game industry at one of its absolute lowest point. One of the video games that could definitely hold this title would be with the original Super Mario Bros.
Yeah yeah, what the fuck ever Mega, we have all heard this story a million times, I hear you say, but it is still an impressive feat nonetheless, and one that should be admired. But, with all that being said, does the original game that started it all still hold up all the way to this day? Well, yeah, of course it does. It is still a pretty good game even after all this time, and while its formula has been improved upon and perfected in numerous ways by many, MANY others over the past 38 years, the original is still fun to come back to, and I would say it is still a pretty decent game. That didn’t stop me from overhyping it in my original review though, which I made back when I had first discovered this website, and I had even less of a clue of what the fuck I was doing. Which is why I am going back and remaking not just this review, but several other reviews I had made back when I first started out, just so I won’t be embarrassed about what I had done before anymore.
The story is one we are all familiar with, Princess Toadstool getting kidnapped by King Koopa, and it is up to the Italian plumbers Mario and Luigi to go save her, which is one that may have been done to death, but one that we still look back on fondly no matter how many times it is used for a Mario game, the graphics are definitely basic when it comes to an NES game, but the art style does still hold a lot of charm even to this very day, and it is still appealing to look at nowadays, the music is iconic in every way, with every single track being remixed many different times throughout other titles in the series, but as for the original tracks, they still hold up very well, and are still good to listen to to this day, the control is very simple, but it still works pretty well, so no need to comment on that any further, and the gameplay is as classic as you can get for a 2D platformer, and as basic as it can get too, which you can’t really blame the game for, but that is what you get with it.
The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of either Mario or Luigi, go through a set of eight worlds, each containing four short, yet contained levels, jump on mostly anything that comes in your way, gather plenty of coins, powerups, and extra lives to help you out along your way, and defeat plenty of bosses that will test your speed and skill………. and by plenty of bosses, I mean just one repeated over and over, and by testing your skills, I mean testing how well you can run under him and hit the axe behind him. Again, pretty damn basic. So yeah, this is all shit that we have all seen time and time again, so it could be easy to just shrug this gameplay and game in general off as just being “the first one”, and while you would be right in doing so, it is still good to go back and recognize how important it is and how well it holds up.
For every single mainline Mario game that comes after this, they had to use what was first introduced in this game as a basis for innovation and taking this series to another level. Sure, there would be games that would ditch the 2D style, and also the Point A to Point B approach, but most of the key elements are still there: you play as the red guy, you run, you jump, you grab coins and shiny things that make you strong and make your brain go brr, you defeat simple enemies that could still also hurt you if you aren’t careful, and you are usually saving something at the end of the day, whether it be a girl or an entire kingdom. So, for being the game that all others would take inspiration from, did the original nail the formula down? Well, yeah, I would say so. It isn’t as fleshed out or as exciting as other games, but the speed at which you move is good, your jumping feels great when you can time it just right, it feels satisfying to take out enemies and get items, and it can still be pretty challenging to this day, especially when it comes to World 8. Not to mention, there are also the plenty of ways you can approach the game, whether it be where you just play through all the levels normally to get the full experience, or you can use the secret warp pipes to blaze through the game, with people being able to beat the game in 5-10 minutes. So even if you prefer playing it one way, there is always another option if you are feeling up to it.
But, with all that being said, if you find it hard to come back to this game, or even going to experience it for the first time, I don’t blame you. In a series that has had MANY titles that has expanded the formula in so many ways even to this day, the original Mario Bros. is, again, as basic as it gets, so you won’t be getting anything all that special if you do decide to check it out for yourself. Sure, it is appealing in a way where you can see where it all began, but it may not be as easy to go back to for some if they are more used to the improvements of later games, which is totally understandable. In addition, in terms of actual problems the game has, the only real one I have would be with the life system. Since this is an early NES game, you only get three lives, and once you are done, you get sent right back to the title screen to start all over again. Yeah, you can get more lives, and there are exploits you can use to keep game overs from happening, but even still, it does feel really defeating whenever you do get sent all the way back to the beginning of the game because you suck.
Overall, despite its basic-ass nature and its limited life system, the original Super Mario Bros. is still a pretty good game even after all of this time, and one that is still nice to revisit every now and then whenever I get in the mood. I would definitely recommend it for those who are not only fans of Mario, but also fans of 2D platformers in general, because you will probably find something to really like, or at least appreciate, about this one. You know, such as the fact that they established this formula that many other games would go on and replicate for many years to come. That’s pretty cool, and it’s also pretty cool how they didn’t completely RUIN this formula with something like, I dunno, a SEQUEL or anything like that, right? That would’ve been ridiculous if that happened.
Remake #3