Mario Bros (NES/arcade)

[lithium]

Mario Bros is an often forgotten game. Donkey Kong gets nods for being Mario's start, and well Super Mario Bros just stole the show. But Mario Bros deserves a second look, as hiding under that simplistic exterior is an ingeniously designed little game.

You're Mario (or Luigi), and for some reason you're down in a sewer (not exactly typical plumber work). It's been overrun with pests, and you have to clear them out. The basic premise is simple: hit the pest from beneath, which stuns them, then come up and kick them off the ledge. The game board consists of one screen with various, symmetric platforms. The critters come out pipes at the top and work their way down to the pipes at the bottom, which warp them back up again for another go.

It's a very simple game, and when playing one player this is a detriment as it can get dull rather quickly. But grab yourself a partner and the game transforms itself into incredible fun!

The real fun comes from killing and manipulating your partner. You can push him, bounce on his head, bump him from beneath, not let him down from ledges (infuriates him everytime), unstun a pest he's about to kick off, and various other things. Killing your partner is incredibly satisfying and leads to cussing and laughing very quickly.

To compliment this chaos, the game's controls are quite loose. Turning around usually means sliding, and you're just never quite in control of your character. This is quite intentional and lends itself to the crazy game it can become when the two players are going for the throat.

But no where does it say you have to kill your opponent. You're quite welcome to work as a team and see how far into the game you can get. But can you really trust him? Do you really know he's going to let you get that turtle? The tension this causes adds to the game, and all it takes is one attack to change a calm cooperative game to mayhem.

The end result is a very simple game that has a surprising amount of depth, tension and replay value. It's not easy to reach the level of gameplay this game does with such simple elements to work with.

Like I said, a one player game this is not. But join up with someone, get a feel for the game, and have a blast.

[Low]

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Ugh. I actually ignored your review as I subconsciously read it as Super Mario Bros. Great write-up and you nailed the two player mode very well. Mario packed some great competitive gameplay for it's time, only wish I knew someone with a GBA link cable so we could go at the version included in the Advance Marios. *-neo

[Korly]

I had this game on Atari 2600.

It sucked on the 2600.

It's great everywhere else.

[Josh]

I hate it.

[cigsthecat]

My mom eventually refused to play this with me any more (Atari 2600) since I was constantly stealing her wafers.

[Bacon McShig]

I had a damn good time with this on my 5200, back in the day.

Single player, no less.

[ChaoofNee]

Yup, underappreciated.
This game is boat loads of fun. One of my first NES games, too.
Of course, this was when I was a wee lad, so I was confused when I got up to Level 50 and the game didn't end...
...oh, great, here comes the nostalgia...
Thanks, lithium. Now I'm gonna have to buy an E-card reader to make up for my broken NES. Stupid bastard, making me have fun... *grumble*

[unit003]

I was lucky enough to have the arcade around my area so I didn't have a problem when I was around to play every now and then. The 2 player game you described was totally dead-on, I've had so many bouts with other people who were good to start off with, then they start to pull this at the last second (flipping up a turtle/crab) and nearly getting my head bit off!

When super-mario bros. came out, I was kinda sad that they couldn't let you play 2 players together, but it did retain a good deal of that bump and kick play while butt-stomping and fire-balls were added to the mix. This makes me very unhappy with the new mario games because they were the meat-and-potatoes that made up the mario-style we've all come to know and love. When we got our first true 3D mario on N64, much of it was ripped out and stepped further away with sunshine, I'm just hoping it'll come back in a new GBA title or something...