It's amazing to think how much things have changed, but the original is still as almost as good as ever.
Mario can only do two actions to start off with the two face buttons: run and jump. The d-pad makes him walk, controls where he’s facing and occasionally let him travel through pipes, often gifting him with a shortcut or bonus area. Mario can also pick up power-ups. If he’s small, you'll see a mushroom bobble out, which makes him grow upon touching. This gives him an extra life, since being hit will cause him to shrink back again. Secondly, if he’s full-sized, he can touch fire flowers. Throwing fire at goombas and even Bowser hasn’t lost its charm, and it makes you wonder why none of the 3D titles feature this power-up.
Super Mario Bros. is split up into eight worlds consisting of four levels each. You run around in snow, at night, on grass, across bridges, and in more areas. Plus, all worlds end with a dark castle. And each world is capped off with a daring trip into a dimly-lit castle, where you must defeat Bowser by reaching the other side of the retractable bridge and hit the switch to make him fall into the lava. These fights are always exciting, and as you progress through the game, he becomes harder to beat (walls start to get in the way, and towards the end, he can throw hammers). There are quite a lot of different enemies in here too; goombas, koopas, fish, and even those annoying hammer-throwing fiends. All this does a good job keeping the game varied.
It may be short, but it’s difficult too. You only have five lives at the start, and even though you can collect 1-ups, dying is frequent especially past the halfway point. More enemies and longer levels ensure this. However, there are checkpoints in nearly every level, so you don’t have to start from the beginning each time. It’s not too frustrating, but the final world can make you grumpy. It took me what felt like forever to finish the last two levels.
That’s all I can say about Super Mario Bros. It’s so simple that I can explain everything you need to know in a few paragraphs. At the same time, it’s excellent fun that will make you come back for more. If you have never played it before, it may be too late to understand why it’s special, especially after Super Mario World and the 3D games. Despite this, you owe it to yourself if you are a fan to go back in time and rescue the princess the very first time.