The past never looked this good.
+Inclusion of the Japanese Mario 2… listed as 'the Lost Levels.'
+Graphical overhaul make the old NES games look just as good as Mario World.
-Aside from the Japanese Mario 2 (Lost Levels), there's no new content for the experienced Mario fan.
-Saving, while awesome, makes the NES games easy.
-Released only as a pack-in for the SNES, this will be hard to find.
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In 1985, a Japanese gaming company known as Nintendo revitalized the dormant video gaming market in America by releasing their Nintendo Famicom as the Nintendo Entertainment System. The leader of this gaming revolution? Super Mario Brothers, featuring the soon-to-be-world-famous Mario. More Mario games would follow, including one made for America because the Japanese edition was thought to be 'too hard!'
By 1994, things hadn't changed much. The NES had been replaced by a successor, the Super Nintendo, which also launched with a Mario game: Super Mario World. As the years went on, Nintendo decided to take advantage of Mario's popularity and release something special: Super Mario All-Stars.
Super Mario All-Stars would collect the Mario games from the NES and touch them up for the Super Nintendo. Not only did Nintendo include all three Mario games that American gamers knew, but they even included what would become known as 'The Lost Levels' – the Japanese Super Mario Brothers 2! Much harder than the original Mario Brothers, Nintendo actually thought it would have been too hard for Americans and instead altered a game made by Mario's creator: Doki Doki Panic. In perhaps a touch of irony, this game was also released in Japan as 'Super Mario USA,' and is also included in the Japanese release of Mario All-Stars.
However, Nintendo still wasn't satisfied, and December 1994 brought a new game…
Since this was the era of packaging a free game with the console to help new gamers on their way, Nintendo looked at the sales of Super Mario All-Stars and decided to update their best-selling SNES+Game package by combining Mario All-Stars and Mario World into perhaps the best Mario re-make ever.
This game.
That's right; there are five Mario games here in this pack. And I don't even know where to begin. Each Mario game has been brought onto the Super Nintendo in style, receiving insane levels of graphical enhancement compared to their NES counterparts. Older games like Super Mario received detailed backgrounds to go along with the updated sprites taken from Super Mario World (though colored like the old Mario games were) – and the music was touched up as well to sound better on the SNES, while still keeping those same notes and rhythms that made the music so good in the first place.
The added feature of battery-backed saving also helps this game out by letting the player resume Mario's many adventures without a problem. Stuck in Mario 3's seventh world? Save your game and come back after a nap or something. There's no rush to finish the game in one sitting. Admittedly, this makes it a problem when the first three Mario games thrived on making the player sit through the game without saving.
When it comes down to the games themselves…
Mario 1 has been re-created perfectly here, complete with controls that could be considered iffy by modern audiences. While this is the best edition of Mario 1 out there, the way the controls play when contrasted against the appearance of the game now really feels off – somewhat akin to playing a 3D Zelda game that played exactly like the first NES Zelda game.
Overall, this one receives a solid 7.5 out of 10. The graphical update helps a lot, but it still feels out of place.
Mario 2/Lost Levels, on the other hand, is pretty much brand-new to America. Despite the fact that this is the second time it's been collected (All-Stars plain came out first, after all), most players still probably will not have seen this game before. As such, the same problem also hits here as it did with Mario 1: despite looking fantastic, the controls are the same as they were before. Purists are going to love it, those used to newer Mario games are going to find it awkward.
Overall, this particular remake earns 8 out of 10. Like with Mario 1, the update helps a lot, but the controls still feel off. However, new content really raises the score for this one.
Meanwhile, in comparison, Mario 2/USA has perhaps aged just a little better. The unique gameplay for a Mario title keeps this one still feeling fresh in comparison to the other Mario 2. Multiple playable characters, complete with different controls for each, also help increase replay value overall nicely – but at the same time, the uniqueness also doesn't just feel right for a Mario title.
Overall, this remake earns 8.25 out of 10. It's aged a little better than Japan's version and the fact that the player can choose from multiple characters and play through a rather unique setting really helps in this case.
Mario 3, the NES masterpiece, comes through the updating process almost unscathed, however. The controls, though a little loose at times, play almost as tight as the controls to be found in Super Mario World. Each of the eight worlds (nine, if you want to get technical) all have received upgrades that make them look even better than Mario World's lush backgrounds – and nary a powerup was moved out of place either. Before this game, I didn't think it was possible for this game to get any better… and yet here it is. That said, the battery-backed saving really removes a lot of the difficulty… though it's also a welcome respite from the brutal gauntlet that Mario 3 once was.
However, that doesn't stop this remake from earning 9.5 points out of 10. Really, this one alone is fantastic.
Super Mario World, finally, is a perfect replica from its solo counterpart on the NES. Despite being crammed into a cart with four other Mario games on it already, Mario World shines as gem in a cartful of other precious stones. Honestly, I don't know what else to say, considering it wasn't updated for this release… despite not actually needing it.
Super Mario World alone gets 9.25 out of 10 overall. Really, it's a fantastic game… but just shy of Mario 3 to me.
Individually, these games may not be the best around, even after their upgrades… but combined into one cartridge, this becomes the perfect Mario package for the Super Nintendo – making it perhaps one of the best games of the era, despite being a repackaging of two other games… one of which was already a repackaging.
In the end, if you don't own Super Mario All-Stars or Super Mario World, yet still have a Super Nintendo, stop what you're doing and hunt for this on Amazon.com or eBay. You owe it to yourself to grab this fantastic game.
And if you've only got one of the two… well, yeah, this should be in your collection anyhow. However, I'd recommend grabbing the other game you're lacking. It'd probably be cheaper in the long run.
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Overall Combined Score:
Gameplay: 10
Visuals: 10
Audio: 10
Replay Value: 10
Personal Tilt: 10
Final Score:
10 out of 10 - Perfect!