The NES Cat: Review #8: The game that created and set the standards for platform side scrollers. It's majesty Super Mario Bros itself.

Super Mario Bros box art

Well, this game needs no introduction. We all played it, we all love it, it's the game that is connected deeply with our childhood. It spawned a legendary series that still exists to this day with each game being a landmark and receiving exeptional reviews. The chubby Italian plumber gave us endless hours of fun, trying to beat the enormous stages and save Princess Toadstool (Peach).

Nintendo set the standards for side-scrolling platform games with Super Mario Bros, a genre that sold like no other on the 8 and 16-bit era. The game was released in 1985 as a "sequel" to the 1983 Mario Bros (will be reviewed soon) and was one of the launch titles for the NES.

The back of the box

I still remember the first time I played the game. The controls were so accurate that it felt like I played the game before. After a few tries (few tries is like 20 lives...) I passed World 1-1 and went to the first dungeon. I was dark, the music was less cheerful, darker and the enemies harder. It was pretty difficult. I remember leaving the NES on overnight so I didn't lose my progress (no saves back then). I managed to complete the game by playing all the 8 Worlds, not by using Warp Zones after 3 months of full gaming.

Now enough with nostalgia, let's review the game:

The player takes on the role of the main protagonist of the series, Mario. The objective is to race through the Mushroom Kingdom, survive the main antagonist Bowser′s forces and save Princess Toadstool.

The player moves from the left side of the screen to the right side in order to reach the flag pole at the end of each level. The game world has coins scattered around it for Mario to collect, and special bricks marked with a question mark ("?"), which when hit from below by Mario, may reveal more coins or a special item.

Super Mario cartridge

Other "secret" (often invisible) bricks may contain more coins or rare items. If the player gains a red and yellow Super Mushroom, Mario grows to double his size and can take one extra hit from most enemies and obstacles, in addition to being able to break bricks above him.

Players are given a certain number of lives (and may gain additional lives by picking up green and orange '1-Up' mushrooms, collecting 100 coins, or defeating several enemies in a row with a Koopa shell), which are lost when Mario takes too much damage, falls in a pit, or runs out of time, the game ends when all lives are lost.

Mario's primary attack is jumping on top of enemies, though many enemies have differing responses to this. For example, a Goomba will flatten and be defeated, while a Koopa Troopa will temporarily retract into its shell, allowing Mario to use it as a projectile. These shells may be deflected off a wall to destroy other enemies, though they can also bounce back against Mario, which will hurt or kill him.

An alternate way to damage enemies is with the Fire Flower, an item which, when picked up, changes the color of Mario's outfit (or only increases his size if a red and yellow mushroom had not been used previously) and allows him to shoot fireballs.

A less common item is the Starman, which often appears from concealed or otherwise invisible blocks. This makes Mario temporarily invincible to most hazards and capable of defeating enemies on contact.

The game consists of eight worlds with four sub-levels called "stages" in each world. The final stage of each world takes place in a castle where Bowser or one of his decoys are fought. The game also includes some stages taking place underwater, which contain different enemies.

In addition, there are bonuses and secret areas in the game. Most secret areas contain more coins for Mario to collect, but others may contain "warp pipes" which allow Mario to advance to later worlds in the game, skipping over earlier ones.

• The minus World

The Minus World (aka World Negative One) is a glitch of the game that allows Mario to pass through bricks on the World 1-2 Warp Zone. The player can enter the Warp Zone by passing through the wall and the pipe to World 4-1 may instead transport the player to a stage labeled "World -1".

This stage's map is identical to Worlds 2-2 and 7-2, but in an underwater setting, and upon entering the warp pipe at the end, the player is taken back to the start of the level, thus trapping the player in the level until losing all extra lives.

The glitch occurs because passing through the wall allows the player to reach the warp pipes before the screen has scrolled far enough to activate the invisible object that initializes the warp. The game defaults to the World 4-2 warp data since this is the first warp defined in the program. Most warps have three pipes with the destination world number displayed above them; since the world 4-2 warp has only one pipe, the other two exits are set to world 36, so that a blank tile is displayed in the empty spots.

• Graphics and Sound

The detail of the graphics were outstanding for an 1985 game and are beautiful to this day. Colourful worlds with detailed enemies and backrounds brought the Mushroom Kingdom into life and felt like a real functioning world.

The sound needs no introduction. The Super Mario Bros theme is burnt into our minds and it is recognizable in any execution. The sound effects are also unique, with the jump and stomp being all time classics that passed on to the sequels of the game.

• Reception

The game sold over 40.24 million copies, making it the best selling game on the NES with a differce of 22 million copies from the 2nd placed Super Mario Bros 3. Of course its enormous selling numbers are justified as the game was, in many occasions, a launch title that came with the actual console.

Conclusion: Super Mario Bros is a fantastic game, it is still played and it should be the first stone in everybody's collection. The game set the standards for other thousands of games to follow and spawned the well known Super Mario series. Get it now if you don't have it. Beat it if you yet haven't. You'll find it on eBay for about 40$ complete with box and manual. I personally own also a sealed copy of the game, but I was lucky to find it through a store that had a few NES games left in it's warehouse back from the day and sold them next to nothing. The sealed ones on eBay go for over 1.000$.

-NES Cat