This game is basically simple fun. You play as plumber Mario and if you have a friend as Luigi traversing the lands of the mushroom kingdom trying to rescue Princess Toadstool. What set this one apart from other early Nintendo releases of the day is the varied levels and game play. Unlike say the game "Duckhunt" where you simply point gun at the screen and shoot and repeat or other games where the levels are basically the same and repetitive this one had different levels that really set things apart. Different enemies attack you and you have your boss type enemy at the end of a long journey through a set number of worlds in the kingdom, the end level always being a castle that contained a lot of lava and spinning fireballs. You also had to use strategy to defeat Bowser at the end of the levels because if you actually got through the castle with fire powers you could simply waste him with fireballs. If you were at least big it was fairly easy to get past him to get the ax that would send him into the lava, and if you were small you may have had a chance getting underneath him. Yes, by collecting a mushroom Mario would get bigger, and if you add a flower on top of that he hurls fireballs. You also got to go into underground type levels and ones underwater. Thankfully, unlike some characters in the video game world, Mario and Luigi could hold their breaths forever apparently in this game. The game was not entirely perfect, it was rather boring facing off against Bowser every time at the end and I thought the inclusion of Luigi was rather pointless as he was great in "Mario Brothers", but that game was a co-op game this one is not and you simply see him only if you have a friend that does not mind alternating turns. Still, it was a fun game certainly more so than say that horrible "Gyromite" game.
Review of Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.
(1985 Video Game)
One of the early games for the Nintendo system, opened things up a lot.
1 March 2010