What can be said about Super Mario Bros. that hasn’t already been said. It’s probably THE video game. If you asked any random person off the street to name a video game title; even (or especially) if they had never played a video game before, there’s a good chance that “Super Mario” would come out of their mouth. It’s only one of the greatest selling games of all time. (A fact, no doubt helped by it being a pack-in title with almost every NES sold after 1986.) Some consider it the game that saved the US home console market after the US video game crash of 1983. It wasn’t the first side-scrolling platform game. But when it came out; it was the game that defined what a platformer should look like. Super Mario Bros. was the game all future side scrollers tried to emulate.
But all that was over 35 years ago. Even though Nintendo tries to make sure we never forget about it. They’ve rereleased Super Mario Bros. as a part of Super Mario Allstars for Super Nintendo, Super Mario Deluxe on Gameboy Color, on Gameboy Advanced as part of the NES Classic series, and even rereleasing it as a battle royale game for a limited time on Nintendo Switch as Super Mario 35! Nor can we forget the iconic music. They’ve been including remixes of the Overworld and Underground themes in almost every Mario game since Super Mario World. Nintendo has worked hard to keep Super Mario Bros. fresh in the back of our minds. Now, after all these years, should you play it again? I am going to make the argument that you should!
Super Mario Bros was released with the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System in October 1985 (or maybe not, no one actually knows, surprisingly, for such an iconic game). It was a smash hit. Computer Entertainer in their June 1986 issue said that it “belongs in that special hall of fame for truly addictive action games.” and “No owner of the Nintendo Entertainment System should be without the game - It’s a must!” Nintendo players agreed. Super Mario Bros. sold over 50 million copies by 1996, the best selling game ever at that point. Reviewers at the time all praised its fast action and colorful graphics and music. It’s not hard to see why. Nintendo’s previous 2 games starring Mario (Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. for the arcades) had just plain black backgrounds, not much music to write home about, and all the action took place on a single screen. In Super Mario Bros., Mario could run. He could swim. He could change his size and abilities by grabbing power ups. The game had levels with blue skies, dark nights, deep caves, and lava filled castles. In 1985 this stuff was groundbreaking. It was revolutionary. In its own time, this game fully deserved the 5/5s and 10/10s that it got.
But since then we have gotten 17 more mainline Mario games. Super Mario Bros. is no longer groundbreaking as Nintendo has spent 35 years breaking down and perfecting the Mario formula. Is Super Mario Bros. worth experiencing in 2022?
Controls
Well if there were some aspects Nintendo might want you to forget, the controls and physics would probably be one of them. When they released Super Mario Maker in 2015 for the WiiU, they changed the physics drastically. They kept these changed physics in Super Mario Maker 2 and Super Mario 35 as well. I find it hard to disagree with their decision.
In the original Super Mario Bros., Mario can not stop on a dime. His momentum takes him a lot further than in later titles. He skids more when changing direction. When in the air, Mario has less control than than he does today. You can slow the direction you are traveling but you can’t change directions mid-air. For seasoned Mario players, it will probably take a lot to overcome your trained muscle memory as jumps need to be taken with more thought. You can not adjust your arc like in modern Mario. Mario can not high bounce off of enemies either (that was added in the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2). The controls are not really poor however. They are just different compared to modern Mario. In fact, in the context of the NES era, there are only a few games with tighter controls. Get the first couple game overs out of the way while you adjust and the controls deserve 5/5 🎮’s
Gameplay
Super Mario Bros. is a masterclass in level design. There are probably 5,000 different articles and video essays on YouTube demonstrating how the iconic World 1-1 teaches players the rules of the game. But even 1-2 is just as iconic. Everyone will tell you that they found at least one place in the level where they got on top of the screen and found the warp zone. And I’d bet at least 90% can tell you where the hidden 1-up is. Levels aren’t too short but don’t outstay their welcome either. The difficulty isn’t too bad. You only start with 3 lives and get no continues so less skilled players might see several game overs. However there are several hidden 1-ups that will make your journey easier and warp zones that can help you get right back where you left off. There is also a code you can use to change the starting world on the title screen.. if you are a dirty cheater! (just kidding). Maybe the biggest flaw of the level design is that there is just so few of them. Only 32 levels can come by really quickly once you get good at the game. Only 4 minutes and 54 seconds required if you are a world record level any% speedrunner, or 18m 55s for warpless! The game is so much fun that you should have no problem just playing them over and over again. But comparatively, 32 is such a small package compared to modern Mario. 4/5 ▶️’s (still better than Super Mario Land’s 12 levels though!)
Graphics and Sound
I am sure that everyone has seen the meme where the jpeg of a screenshot of the game takes up more space than the game’s code. It brings up a good point in that the NES was limited in how much developers could cram into a cartridge. The NES has a 5 channel sound system only capable of a few beeps, boops, and buzzts. It really makes how good this game sounds all the more impressive. The sound effects are iconic and are the go-to when Hollywood needs to add “video game sounds” to a scene. (Along with the character furiously pounding on the controller like it owes them money, whether the controller is even plugged in or not!). The music is equally iconic. So much so that Nintendo will just remix the Overworld theme for the 69,420th time if they can’t decide what music to put in their next game. When you are trapped in one of the castle puzzles trying to find the right path, the 5 second dungeon music loop can get a little grating.
The graphics are bright and sprites are big. To save space the developers utilized some clever hacks like flipping the Goomba sprite back and forth to make it walk instead of animating it. Or having bushes and clouds in the background use the same sprite just recolored. Eventually Nintendo would develop memory chips that could enable better graphics in games like Super Mario Bros. 3 or Kirby’s Adventure but Super Mario Bros. is very plain looking. Nevertheless the graphics of Super Mario Bros. defined the 8 bit charm of the era and they are still an influence on a lot of indie titles that want to emulate their aesthetic. Super Mario Bros. got a dressing up to 16 bit for its Super Mario Allstars release but I still find myself preferring that “8 bit charm” of the NES version. 4/5 🖼️🎵’s
The So What
Super Mario Bros. is a classic and as such it can be hard to separate the context from the modern experience. While it may not have aged as well as some other games that are considered video game classics, it’s concise enough that the game is over before it drags on long enough to get frustrating or for modern gamers to notice its flaws. And most importantly it’s still fun after all these years. The best way to experience it was probably Super Mario 35, but since Nintendo decided that they don’t want our money and won’t actually just sell us Super Mario 35, you can still experience it via Nintendo Switch online. Either in its original release or as a part of Super Mario Allstars. If you’re under the age of 20 or somehow just have never experienced Super Mario Bros. then give it a try. 4.5/5 ⭐’s
Do you have a memory or opinion about Super Mario Bros that you would like to share? Please leave me a comment below.