Mario Bros.

"Back to the past with Mario on the Atari"

Mario Bros. is the first game that I played in the arcade that featured Mario and his brother Luigi bumping off the turtles that would later make up the Super Mario games. While not the most challenging or scientific game that I ever played in the arcade, it was one that was strangely addicting simply because of the way that you had to go about playing. Although I have played several different games that are modeled after this, I’ve found that there is nothing like returning to the scene of the crime to play something rather familiar.

There isn’t a story that I could find in the game and the only thing that I can say about this title is that it is the stepping stone for the future Mario games that you’d find on the market today. There isn’t much going for it in terms of visuals or even audio flare, so if you’re comfortable with your more modern versions of the Mario games, then you need to start looking elsewhere rather than playing this title. When I played it on the Atari, it was easy enough to control and easy enough to understand, so any gamer of any age and skill level should be able to pick this one up and play it with no problem.

-The Game Play -

Again, basic and to the point. The game revolves around a Mario Brother and taking out a bunch of turtles through-out a seemingly endless line of stages that really don't vary much but in terms of where the levels are placed. You have a POW block in the center which flips all onscreen enemies onto their back, and then you go around and knock them off the stage. While this may seem pretty dull for today's standards, you have to look past that and see it for what it really is: A very addicting game in a very basic way.

Mario Bros. is extremely easy to learn and there really isn’t all that much variation on the game once you’ve started to play. More of a game for kids to play in this day and age, there is nothing advanced that you have to learn and there are no added visual flares that you might want to see while playing. There aren't any secrets, and even though it's two players, there isn't much else to do but knock all the enemies off the stage and proceed to the next one.

The control in Mario Bros. is simple to work with as well, consisting of a joystick and a jump button. Once you get into the mode of running around the stage and bumping enemies from below, then you merely have to control Mario up onto the platform and knock the enemy off the stage. Easy enough that anyone can pick up on it within the first five minutes of playing. The only challenge that I found using the control and playing through the game is that you have to have some timing in the later stages in order to get the enemies before they get up and resume their path!

-The Visuals-

While basic, and to the point, it didn't have alot of flare to it, but offered you alot of detail in a game that was really quite basic. Putting you in different level designs, the only real thing that was different from one stage to the next was the color of the flooring and girders that you bopped turtles on. The fireflies that come through the pipes rotate with color and even the shaking that you get when you hit the POW block all does make the game rather presentable to the eyes. Even with the simplistic way that it is presented, Mario Bros. does have enough going for it for a classic Atari game!

-The Audio -

You have generic music and very basic sounds that included bops and that high-pitched jumping sound effect. It's really hard to imagine what the sound could have been like in this day and age, but back then, this was top of the line MIDI music programmed for arcade games and it does keep you moving through the stages. While there aren’t any different music selections for you to listen to, you’ll find that there is enough here to keep you running and jumping around until you find something else that catches your ear a couple of machines over!

-The Verdict-

Mario Bros. is a game that you have to play if you’re into the old school arcade games by Nintendo. I’ve run across this game and several of the Vs games in a local arcade and dropped a couple of bucks into simply because I like a good game. If you find this machine, it is worth a buck in quarters to pay homage to something that created a legendary series spanning almost two decades and several different home consoles!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/01/02, Updated 10/01/02