Super Mario Retrospective #1
Released:
– 1985 for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
– Remade as part of ‘Super Mario All-Stars’ in 1993 for Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
– Ported as part of ‘Super Mario Bros. Deluxe’ in 1999 for Game Boy Color
The gameplay
And so, a hero was born…
I find it’s always fun to look back upon a long-running series and see where it began, where it ended up, what changed along the way, and what stayed the same. In this game’s case, you can see both. There is a lot about Mario and his series which has changed and evolved over time, but you can still see many familiar elements here as well.
As noted above, there are multiple versions of this game. I’ll get more into that further below. Regardless of whichever version you’re playing, the gameplay is simple and yet highly addictive. The goal is to rescue Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser, a gigantic dragon/turtle sort of creature who would go on to become Mario’s long-time archnemesis. To get there, you travel through a bunch of colourful yet dangerous lands. There are eight worlds, each of which contains four levels: World 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-1, 2-2, etc. At the end of each world is a castle where you confront what appears to be Bowser, only it turns out to be one of Bowser’s minions disguised as him (which can be exposed with fireballs). You then rescue one of the Mushroom Kingdom’s other citizens, who gives the iconic phrase, “THANK YOU MARIO (or LUIGI)! BUT OUR PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE!” Onto the next world!
One thing I like about the game is that it actually has an ending. That hardly seems like a big deal nowadays, since it’s become well within the norm for most games to have a fixed number of levels and a definite endpoint. But this was back in 1985, when most games instead were more arcade-like (or actual arcade games) and could go on indefinitely, where the main goal was simply to last as long as possible and/or to get the most impressive high score that you could. Granted, I’ve also played more recent games which are arcade-like and go on indefinitely, and they can still be a lot of fun. All the same, it is satisfying for a game such as Super Mario Bros. to have an end point to reach for, and then at the end to be able to go, “Whoo! I did it! I beat the game!”
But this is not an easy game to clear. It manages to strike a balance of being accessible to newcomers, and yet offering a good solid challenge. As a kid, it took me a long time before I was finally able to beat World 8 and see the ending. Many years of practice later and I have since gotten very good at the game, being able to clear it multiple times. Enough that it eventually caused me to take for granted just how hard it really is. My brother – who has played a fair bit of Mario over the years but not half as much as I have – gave the game a try the other day, and he only made it to World 2-4 before getting his first Game Over.
Another nice feature of the game is the Second Quest. After you defeat the real Bowser in the eighth and final castle and rescue Peach, she offers you “a new quest.” Or, in the All-Stars version of the game, she words it as “a more difficult quest.” Either way, you play through all the levels again, with a few added tweaks to make them even tougher. It’s a nice way to get a bit more out of your playthrough.
The setting
This game introduces Mario’s homeworld, the Mushroom Kingdom. It’s a bright and colourful and happy place, and it suits Mario perfectly. It’s the primary setting of the franchise, appearing in many more games after this. Although there’s also many games after this which don’t feature the Mushroom Kingdom at all, instead taking Mario to foreign locations, each with their own interesting and unique features. In fact, one of the things I like about the Mario series is the sheer diversity of settings. But I’ll get more into that in later reviews.
The Mushroom Kingdom by itself is a diverse place too. Not nearly as much in this game specifically, but later games will show that it contains a multitude of contrasting biomes. Still, even in this first game, there’s an impressive variety of settings. There’s five main types of levels; overworld, underground, athletic, underwater, and castle.
One of the long-standing Mario traditions introduced here are secret areas. Somewhere within the main part of the levels, you can occasionally find hidden sections. Usually it’s either a special pipe which will take you to a short underground area, or else you can find a magic vine which will take you into the sky. While later Mario games would feature entire worlds in the sky, here the sky sections are simply small bonus areas. But it’s fun when you manage to find one of them; catchy music plays and you get to run and jump and collect a bunch of coins. Even in an otherwise linear game, exploration is encouraged.
Character tidbits
The game lets you choose between “1 Player Game”, with only Mario, or “2 Player Game”, where Mario and Luigi will alternate. Though unlike in some of the later games, Luigi controls exactly the same as his brother here.
In the franchise’s early days, Luigi simply served the role of the second player character, being otherwise very similar to Mario. Thus, for the first few games Luigi appeared in, including this one, he looks identical to Mario, except dressed in different colours. As time went on, Luigi was further developed into a distinct character of his own, being portrayed as taller and thinner than Mario, along with a more timid and fearful personality, and having slightly different gameplay mechanics from Mario. Mario and Luigi are nicely colour-coded as well; they both wear blue overalls, while Mario has a red shirt and red hat, and Luigi with a green shirt and green hat.
In this game, however, their default colours hadn’t been solidified yet. Here, Mario has a brown shirt with red overalls & hat. When he gets a Fire Flower power-up, his clothes become brighter and more ‘fiery’-looking; a red shirt with pale overalls & hat.
Luigi, meanwhile, starts off with a green shirt and white overalls & hat; somewhat similar to Mario’s Fire Flower appearance. When Luigi himself gets a Fire Flower, his clothes change to match Mario’s more fiery appearance and then he looks exactly the same as Mario; I always thought that was a fun little oddity. Later games, meanwhile, give the bros Fire Flower outfits which are distinct from each other as well as distinct from their default outfits.
The All-Stars treatment
There was the original NES version of the game. Several years later, it had a remake on the SNES, released as part of Super Mario All-Stars.
They both have the same gameplay and levels, just that the SNES version has redone graphics and a few other quality-of-life enhancements. I actually think both versions are worth checking out. The NES version has its own unique charm, and in many ways is more iconic. Overall though, if I had to pick only one, I am more partial to the SNES version, as I like the lusher and more detailed graphics. The SNES/All-Stars version is just gorgeous. Some of the finest 16-bit art around.
Another nice aspect of All-Stars is the added save feature, which saves your progress at the beginning of each world. After you complete the game the first time, it’ll save your progress for the Second Quest too. It distinguishes the Second Quest with an added star to the World/Level list. (World *1-1, *1-2, *1-3, etc.)
Mario and Luigi’s designs are also updated to more closely resemble what would become their current depiction, with Luigi looking less similar to Mario and being taller and thinner now, although he still controls the same as Mario otherwise and doesn’t yet have his own gameplay style. There’s other nice touches too, such as the added boss theme for the Bowser fights.
There’s also a third version of the game, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. It uses the NES version graphics, though it comes with its own touch-ups. Along with having a save feature of its own, it has a few new bonus modes and other nice additions not present in either of the previous versions, such as the added world map. Of particular note is the ‘You VS. Boo’ mode, which includes eight brand new levels where you race against the mischievous ghost, which are a lot of fun. I still prefer the All-Stars version overall, but this is a great port as well.
Overall assessment
As revolutionary as this game was at the time, it’s the most vanilla game in the series when you compare it to its numerous follow-ups. Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and the New Super Mario Bros. games all built and expanded upon the foundation that the first game laid down, adding many colourful new enemies and features and environments. And that’s not even getting into Mario’s unique 3D outings.
Despite that, the original Super Mario Bros. is still well worth playing in its own right. It’s undoubtedly a classic, but even aside from its “classic” status, it’s just an all-around fun and addictive game. I always come back to it at least once every few or several years, and will very likely continue to do so. Everything about it has an abundance of warmth and charm. You can see why this kicked off such an enduring franchise.
See you again for The Lost Levels!