Super Mario Bros.

"The original! What more can I say?"

Nintendo said in its 2005 E3 conference "Let us put a number in your head- 2, as in 2 billion. That's how many games nintendo has sold in the past 20 years."

Nintendo is the gaming company, hands down. There may be other companies that make games, but Nintendo is THE gaming company. The Nintendo Entertainment System (The NES) was, like Atari, a revolutionary system that captured the hearts of millions, and even today touches the heart of nearly all who play it.

When you say nintendo, you think of one, and only one person; Mario. The horribly stereotypical Italian plumber is the pop culture symbol of videogames. Even if you've never played a videogame in your life, the picture of Mario is recognizable.

Now, Mario didn't start in Super Mario Bros. Rather, he played small parts in over a dozen games, the most notable of which is Donkey Kong. He and Luigi also made their allstar debut in an entirely different game called Mario Bros.

However, Mario's career truly launched with the release of Super Mario Bros.; the original platform game.

What's a platform game, you ask? It's one of the simplest forms of videogame entertainment. The goal? Platform games have one goal- you begin at point A in a level, and your goal is to get to endpoint B of the level. Once you've done that, you continue on to the next level, and the process begins anew. It's remarkably simple, and oodles of fun to do.

Gameplay
Super Mario has a very basic construct. You control mario (Or luigi, if you were to play 2-player.) You walk along in the sidescroll fashion. You have one command besides walking- jump. Using a combination of walk and jump, you jump over hazards, and jump over enemies. Some enemies, such as the lovable goomba, can be killed. All you have to do is jump on them. Others, like the pirahnna plant, cannot be killed, and by stepping on them, you will die.

Being a plumber, Mario knows his pipes. By standing on top of certain pipes and pressing downwards, mario can travel through the pipe to a secret area and obtain bonuses. No vile waste, just lots of goodies.

Now, mario can only take one hit before he dies, normally. However, you can pick up powerups. One of the features of Mario is to jump underneath a block. Doing so will activate the block, which will either explode or open to yield an item. There are four items that it can yield. The first is a super mushroom. Said mushroom will cause Mario to grow in size and become Super Mario, allowing him to take another hit from enemies. When he is hit, though, he shrinks back to his puny size.

Another item is the fire flower. By obtaining a fire flower, Mario's outfit scheme changes (as does his hair color), and he is allowed to shoot fireballs from his hands. Fireballs kill all enemies, and are generally awesome in every way.

You can also obtain a StarMan. StarMan will make mario invincible (unable to die, except when he fals off a cliff) for a short period of time. Running into enemies destroys them instantly.

Lastly, there's the one-up mushroom. This mushroom is green instead of red, and you gain an extra life for getting it.

NOW, there are several types of levels. First, there's the open air levels, where you walk outside, generally speaking, you deal with jumping up through the air on platforms in these levels. There are also cave levels, where you deal with lots of pipe enemies and hazardous gaps. Ice levels, where mario has to deal with hordes of enemies, and possibly some ice issues. Water levels, where you have to learn to swim while avoiding water hazards. And, of course, the dungeons.

There are 8 worlds, each of which consists of 4 levels. Level 4 is ALWAYS a castle. In said castle, you have to deal with fireballs and lava pits, with a boss at the end. Bowser, the maniacal dinosaur, will always be the boss in the dungeon, which means you fight him eight times. Fun, isn't it?

Story

Simplistic story. Princess Toadstool (you may know her as Peach) was kidnapped by Bowser the dinosaur. We never do find out his motivation behind it, but that's ok. At the end of each dungeon, after defeating bowser, you find a bag with a mushroom man in it, and the mushroom man tells you "Thanks, but our princess is in another castle!" You do that seven times, and finally come across the poor princess at the end of the eight castle. Tragically simple, but you know what? All nintendo games are like that, really.

Graphics and Music
The NES is old; REALLY old. I can't really rate the graphics or the music on this system, because my opinion is so distorted and skewed... I mean, it's impossible to do that. Still, it wasn't half-bad for its time.

It's the mario classic. Just do your best not to expect anything more, and it's a good time for all.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/05