Super Mario Bros is without doubt one of the greatest games to hit a Nintendo console, or any console for that matter!
Super Mario Bros came at a time when the western video game market was declining in its infancy due to some incredibly stupid moves by the leaders in the market at the time. Nintendo already had a strong hold over games in and around Asia, and decided to step in and release their NES along with Super Mario Bros in America, Britain and Europe. The rest is pretty much history. Whilst it had an impact in Japan, it had an even greater effect in the western hemisphere and arguably helped save the gaming market and shape it in to what you see today.
It's hard to write a review on this game because everyone has played it at some stage in their lives, and even if there's someone out there who hasn't, they at least know how to play it because it's now so ingrained in to every day culture that not knowing how to play it probably means you've suffered from some sort of memory loss or you're reading this as a recently re-educated feral person.
Anyway, The aim of the game is to rescue the Princess Toadstall from the clutches of the terrapin Bowser and his army. Playing the role of little Italian plumber Mario (and his brother Luigi in two-player), you have to jump through the Mushroom Kingdoms eight 'worlds' to find the princess and save her from the bad guys. This game introduced many groundbreaking ideas which have since become a staple in platforming games, even used in rival series such as Sonic The Hedgehog. The coins scattered around, for example, give the player a set amount of points per one collected, and collecting one hundred of these gains the player an extra life. That's just a fact of life, everyone knows that.
There are also power-ups to collect which add to Mario's abilities and make the levels easier. The Red Mushroom makes Mario larger and allows him to receive an extra hit from most of the hazards and enemies in the game. The Green Mushroom gives Mario an extra life (called a 1-up). The Fire Flower is an item which is obtainable if Mario has already collected the Red Mushroom, and it allows him to shoot bouncing fireballs along the ground which can kill enemies from a safe distance, and lastly, there's an item called a Starman, literally a little star with a face on it which can be found in secret boxes and collected for temporary invincibility from hazards and enemies.
The games graphics for its time were superb, and they still hold up well today. It's vibrant, colourful and full of charisma. There are clouds with smiley faces, entire levels made of brick and grass, underwater caverns, castles, lava pits, dark underground areas, and occasionally he game goes from day to night, which in itself was pretty amazing back in the day.
There's also a lot going on in the world of Mario- bad mushrooms stomp towards Mario in militaristic fashion, turtles with wings hop around and cause havoc, Piranha Plants pop up through pipes and snap their jaws at Mario and flying enemies hover above in the sky to avoid being flattened. There can be a lot of enemies on screen at once without things slowing down or looking odd, and the hit detection is spot on.
The sound is also fantastic and still holds up well today. The music is catchy and memorable and the bopping sounds when hitting an enemy and firing fireballs have become iconic in gaming, and are still used in most modern Mario games and emulated in other series.
Super Mario Bros has great replay value and there are tons of secrets and shortcuts to find. There's a hard mode available after clearing the normal mode (which to this day I must shamefully say I still haven't completed fully), and there's also a two-player mode, where you co-operate as Mario and Luigi to save the Princess together. There are also some competitive elements to balance the two player game out and it's a race to see how gets to the princess first (or who dies first, your call).
One thing which may put new players off is the lack of a save function, but the game plays well without one, and there are many shortcuts hidden for people who don't have time to visit each individual level, although these take time to find.
The controls are great and are easy to use but difficult to master. The game isn't as fluid as the later entries in the series but that's not a bad thing. Learning to position your jumps for some of the later stages is key to beating the game and the better you become at controlling Mario, the quicker you'll be able to beat it. br />
What more can be said? You won't find a game older than Mario which is still as much fun to play as it was when it was first released. The game has stood the test of time. It's a classic which will be played as long as there is an audience for video games. If you've just finished reading this and you still haven't played it, you owe it to yourself to great a copy and give it a spin. Do it. Do it now. br />