Super Mario Bros

Game: Super Mario Bros
System: NES
Year: 1986
Some perspective: Chicago Bears win a Super Bowl
Other games released that year: The Legend of Zelda, Gauntlet II, Painterboy, King’s Quest III
Compare to: New Super Mario Bros, Viewtiful Joe

Everybody knows the story behind Super Mario Bros. It represented a huge leap in what a home console could do. It was bright and imaginative. Before the Nintendo DS and Wii brought around New Super Mario Bros, this was the original side-scroller. And everybody owned it.

But was it any good?

This game seemed like a great place to launch my quest to revisit 100 classic video games to see if they are really any good and hold up well today, or if our nostalgia has gotten the best of us.

Super Mario Bros is a basic platformer. You control a plumber named Mario (or Luigi if your childhood included friends) in his mission to save the princess. In the process you jump over and on top of turtles, bullets, pipes and coins. Power-ups can be obtained by catching a mushroom and are taken away by running into an enemy. Pretty straightforward.

I played through Super Mario Bros struggling to balance the fond memories I had of this game with what I was actually experiencing. Those memories include sneaking out of my bedroom at night and watching my parents play in the family room until they caught me and sent me back to bed. I also remember the first time I ever reached what my sister and I called a “lava level.” I had no idea there were eight of them throughout the game. I remember that I didn’t actually beat the game until years after I got it. Finally, I remember loving it.

But now. Now I’m not so sure. Playing the game again a few things popped out at me. First, the controls are a little soft. I found myself leaning to the side, urging Mario to land where I wanted him to. Second, the levels are incredibly short. There were several times when I couldn’t believe I’d just beaten an entire level – it felt like I had just started. Finally, the game is very easy. To beat this game you really just had to keep moving. If you just kept going to the right, your momentum keeps your leaps and bounds out of harm’s way.

And yet. And yet. There is still something infectiously enjoyable about the game. Something so simple and so pure. It’s like a game that has been boiled down to its basic elements so there’s no fluff.

So what is the final verdict? Is this game still any good? Does it hold up? Are we blinded by our past?

Nostalgia fun: (10/10)
Actual fun: (7/10)