by Brian - July 26, 2004

The year is 1985. Worries about the U.S. console market plagued the industry after Atari�s system failed miserably. Fear not, however, because one heroic plumber named Mario and a company called Nintendo was about to change the way we gamed forever. With the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System North America, gamers across the country could play arcade quality games at home on their Televisions. Its launch title, Super Mario Bros. became an instant classic, a system seller, and the series has since become the largest game franchise in history spawning countless sequels and branches in the series. The original Super Mario Bros. still ranks as the number one best selling game of all time clocking in at a whopping 40 million units sold. Now, nearly 20 years later, Nintendo has once again unleashed the Brothers onto the Gameboy Advance as part of their Classic NES series, but will it stand the test of time to remain �Super�?

The Princess is in Another Castle

Bowser has captured the Princess. Oh no! And he turned all of the mushroom people into bricks! Wait� why the hell am I destroying them all the time then? I am killing the people I am trying to save! Yes, according to the manual, all of the bricks in the game which you smash for fun and money (coins) are actually the people of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario is a murderer. But seriously, if you have never played Super Mario Bros. (shame on you) than you may not appreciate the game now.

The game is simple. You run, jump, and sometimes swim, through more than 30 levels, which are separated into 8 worlds filled with various bad guys, power-ups, coins, and pits. You have 3 lives to defeat Bowser and save the Princess. Of course, there are 1-Ups in some levels, and for ever 100 coins you collect, you gain a life, but its still not easy to get through the entire game with so few lives. Lucky for us, there are warp zones. If you just want to beat the game than you can reach world 8 in five minutes or less. World 8 is hard though. I still, after all these years, have not beaten the game without the help of a Game Genie. If you don�t want to use the warp zones though, be prepared for a long, perilous, and sometimes frustrating game experience.

The gameplay has really stood the test of time. After playing it for over 20 hours in the past week, it still remains one of the best platformers I have ever played. The only thing that bugged me was that the controls are not quite as precise as I would like. At first they seemed stiff, and they definitely are compared to the other Mario games that followed, but after a few hours of play I got used to it.

Old and Busted

Unfortunately, since this is a direct port of the original game, it shows with its early NES quality graphics. Instead of upgrading some of the sprites to their 16-bit cousins like they did with Super Mario All-Stars on the SNES, Nintendo left the game in its original form. Some may look at it as nostalgia, but the GBA can do so much more. Still, it�s not that bad. At least it doesn�t look like it came from Atari! You can tell what everything is supposed to be, and it still looks like Mario is pulling fireballs out of his nostrils, but I�m sure anyone who was playing games way back in 1985 won�t mind the low quality graphics.

Ah, I love Mario Music

Although the quality of the music and sound effects are not at the same level as some other GBA games, they hold up well. Although there are only a few musical scores in the game, they are all classics and incredibly catchy. I find myself whistling the Mario theme all the time, and I absolutely love the water level theme. Although not the best thing about the game, the music in the game definitely contributed to its success, and still does today.

Mamamia!

No matter how many times I die, no matter how many times I get killed by those damned Hammer Brothers in world 8 level 3, no matter how many times I beat the same level I still come back for more. If that doesn�t tell you that the game is fun, I don�t know what will. It�s addicting.

Pick up & Play

One advantage to the GBA version over the NES is that it�s such a great game to just pick up and play for a few minutes between commercials or when you are stuck in traffic. Since you can�t save your progress, you don�t have to be committed to it like you would an RPG or strategy game such as Advance Wars. This aspect alone made it worth my purchase. I actually got it for my mother�s birthday, but I�ve been playing it much more than she has.

Aside from that though, since it is a direct port, that means all the bugs from the original game are present. Although most if not all of them are minor, it still degrades from the quality of the title.

Closing Comments

If you are in a nostalgic mood and want some 80�s gaming goodness, definitely get this game. Any true Mario fan will get a kick out of it, and since its $10 cheaper than most GBA games, it�s a bargain. Relive a classic. Get Super Mario Bros. today.