(Originally posted in 2015)
(1983, Nintendo Entertainment System)
With the upcoming Super Mario Maker making me really excited, I’d like to visit all the earlier games that it’s based off of (my thoughts on NSMBU already went up in 2014). Continuing with Super Mario Brothers, this game in particular is really difficult to approach, as it’s pretty much the big bang moment that made me a lifelong fan of games. By now, Super Mario Brothers feels so entrenched into my being that trying to review it is similar to giving my take on the act of breathing or motor control. I guess I’ll just share some memories from the 80s, plus my thoughts on playing the game in 2015 and see how it goes…
Prior to Super Mario Brothers, I could remember messing with Pac-Man once or twice, but never really “got it”. It was more of a novelty, but at around 3 years old (?), maybe I just wasn’t ready for such a fast-paced and challenging game. A bit later on, I first tried Super Mario Brothers at my grandparents’ house and was beyond astonished. “You can move a man through a huge world of monsters and traps….inside of a TV? Are you kidding me or what?!” I finally beat the first stage, only to discover there was a whole other level underground. Now there’s dark lighting, even more music, and the seemingly impossible challenge of all the pits, piranhas and tricky, moving platforms. If memory serves, I might have independently ridden a bicycle for the first time that day, but that was just a distraction. Finally getting my own NES that Christmas, I “beat” the game while a party was being held in the house. After I made a big scene about this accomplishment, my grandfather pointed out that was just the first world, and my head almost exploded.
So how does it play today? While still offering plenty of immediate fun, it aged in accordance to the arrival of its more timeless sequels, going as far back as when I rented the strange but hugely expansive Super Mario Brothers 2/USA. Progressing through the levels with Mario’s fair, but slippery physics often demands more attention than the enemies or level design itself. The minute cosmetic changes between the worlds (Look, a new type of foliage! Hey, there’s water here!) were only interesting to those who started the game before being exposed to later platformers that took you all around the world, if not the whole universe. The lack of backtracking within the very level you’re in really feels like you’re playing something from another era, not much further beyond single screen games preceding it. The sound effects and music are sparse and simplistic, yet so fun and iconic that they’re still remixed by Nintendo to this day.
I only have room for such criticisms because the game was too busy re-inventing the genre to be concerned with its barrenness. What made it so impactful back then, the core gameplay, is still satisfying and challenging to this day. I can always get a pre-Sonic the Hedgehog fast and tense thrill by sprinting though 2-3, being pursued by flying cheap-cheaps. If you try making it through the brutal and puzzling final stages without using the infinite 1-up trick, collecting coins feels more important than any other Mario, save for SMB2 Japan. Even if I don’t need the lives, I still have to get those hidden 1-up mushrooms and vines, just because. Power ups such as invincibility stars and fire flowers offer hope, not just amusement. The Hammer Bros and Lakitus are far more annoying but all the more satisfying to topple, feeling more like the game’s mini-bosses. All the subtle, smart touches like a whole stage of menacing, but empty bullet bill cannons that don’t fire until the next level are still pleasing to notice.
Something particularly interesting about the game is that as time goes on, this version of the Mushroom Kingdom stands out more and more for its stark and inhospitable atmosphere. The only area I ever found cheerful was the whimsical giant mushroom stage and brief cloud-top bonus areas. This isn’t a fun adventure taking you everywhere from beach resorts to worlds inhabited by giants, hidden star worlds, ghost mansions or the inside of a giant clock, eventually being bothered to punish Bowser yet again. Here, you’re on a serious mission on his unfriendly turf, with little relief between the treacherous oceans, tense mountaintops and miles of land taken over by the Koopa-Army.
What’s more to say really? Why am I even writing this? Almost everyone into games has at least tried the original Super Mario Brothers. While it’s been bested by many games after it and often feels archaic, there’s a world of fun to be found each time you go down that pipe.
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