GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 01/02/2007
- Released on: 12/25/2006
- Originally published on GameSpot: Super Mario Bros.Wii) Review
It might be 2007, but you know what? Lakitu is still totally awesome. So are goombas, koopa troopas, koopa paratroopas, and buzzy beetles. And don't even get us started about the Hammer Bros. Those guys throw dark. This list of cartoony thugs comprises the more memorable enemies of 1985's Super Mario Bros. If you were coherent at the time, you might remember when this little gem was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It's the game that essentially brought console gaming back from the brink of destruction after Atari buried all those copies of E.T. in the desert and the Atari 2600 console was crushed under the weight of a million unsold Pac-Man tapes. For those who weren't coherent back then (or during any of the billion rereleases this game has seen since), Super Mario Bros. was the game that inspired all those stupid T-shirts they sell at the mall--you know, the ones with the pictures of mushrooms and turtles on them? Regardless of your frame of reference, this game is the blueprint for 2D platform gaming. It's one of the most amazing games ever made, and it's now available on the Wii's Virtual Console for five bucks.
This plumber is freaking out. Seriously. The Mushroom Kingdom makes Mario's previous anti-ape adventures seem downright common by comparison.
While Mario had saved women before, Super Mario Bros. was the game that established the princess who Mario must save, as well as the evil Bowser, the crazy dragon/turtle thing that's served as Mario's main nemesis for years. When you come back to Super Mario Bros. after all this time has passed, it's easy to see why it caught on, and it still stands out today. Sure, game standards have evolved by leaps and bounds since 1985. But the player's control over Mario--the ability to run, the height of his jump, and how you have just the right level of air control--surprisingly is still satisfying. Of course, if you've played this game to excess before, it's more a matter of reacquainting yourself with the timing of Mario's movements as you run to the right, toss out a few fireballs, jump on top of a few Bullet Bills, hop over a few bottomless pits, and land on the glowing axe at the end of each world. It's hard to imagine a world in which a person isn't already innately familiar with how to play Super Mario Bros., but if you are such a person, we're going to take a wild guess and say that you, too, would enjoy this game today, provided you can take it in context.
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