Mario Bros.

"A Collectors Game Although Not A Good One"

Our little red plumber friend named Mario first appeared in a little game Donkey Kong, instantly he became a hit character. A little while longer Mario starred in his first game Mario Brothers. This time he came with his younger, less intelligent, stringy brother, Luigi. Mario Bros. is a true pluming adventure, and although overshadowed by its first sequel, Super Mario Brothers and was included in its third sequel, Super Mario Brothers 3, Mario Bros. is an incredibly great game.

STORY LINE:
You, Mario and your partner Luigi have been trapped in the sewers with enemies. Mario and Luigi must race to see who can get to the first set of enemies in a given amount of time. Whoever gets those will win. After a while you will come across a few secret screens that are a poo load of fun to play.

GRAPHICS:
Some people think that Super Mario Brothers was the first game to come out for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This is just a myth, there were many games that came out before it. Mario Bros. is an example of one of those games. Being one of the first games for Nintendo the graphics are not top of the line material, but if you have ever played the mini game in Super Mario Brothers 3, then you should recognize these graphics. All around they are pretty well done. There is not too many graphical glitches, but they are also not the best you can get.

CONTROLS:
As in most NES games out there are only two buttons that you need to learn. Both of them make either Mario or Luigi jump. The D-Pad controls Mario just like every other game. As far as controls go, Mario Bros. is absolute perfection.

SOUND:
Boot - Doot - Doot - Doot - Do - Do - Doo!!!! Does this sound familiar, well if it does then you should get some help because you are hearing what you are reading. Any way there are the same beeping and background music as every other Mario game out there and overall is pretty great. The only real problem is the repetitive nature of the music, it can get a bit annoying.

GAMEPLAY:
Personally, I feel that there was not too much thought that was put into how much fun Mario Bros. was going to be. There was no real plot and not too much of a challenge. After a while of playing the game you will have all of the tricks of the trade mastered and you will become bored quickly.

REPLAY VALUE:
Most people have played this game in Super Mario Brothers 3, and they liked it the first few times around, but quickly found the game annoying and almost a deterrent of the game. This is true in this game as well. Enjoying the game when you first play it will be an easy task, enjoying the game an hour after you play the game will be much harder to do. Just not too much replay value in this game.

CHALLENGE:
Easy would not begin to describe Mario Bros. challenge. There is some sort of anti-challenge ray installed in this game. There is not too much more to say.

MULTIPLAYER:
There is a multiplayer in Mario Bros. but it really is not too much different from the one player mode. There is no new modes or screens added onto the 2 Player Mode, and the only real difference is the fact that you can annoy your friend when you two start to play it.

BUY RENT?:
If you can find this game and have a working NES and it is not overwhelmingly expensive, then go ahead and get the game, but if you don't you are not missing out on too much.

OVERALL: 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/01, Updated 09/22/01