If there could be one character that could be considered an icon of the video game industry as a whole, Mario takes that title easily. There is no one (mild exaggeration) who doesn’t know about Mario nowadays. With this game he single-handedly saved the video game industry. But what about today? Can current gamers still like such an old-fashioned platformer? Does it still have that special feeling it had when we were young? With it now being available on the Wii virtual console, gamers can re-experience a classic, but does it still hold up well? Here is what I thought.

Graphics

Let’s face it, although they weren’t that bad, and there was worst on the NES at times, the graphics weren’t really that good back then, and I still don’t consider them that good. There have been games released near the same time that looked quite a bit better. What it did was set the style of the baddies and characters that are now seen in every recent Mario game. The design of the goomba never really changed since then, except in Super Mario World, Bowser still looks the same, Toad hasn’t changed and most other monsters in the game are still seen in more recent games. And I’m sure that some graphical elements in SMB influenced other game makers. So although the graphics don’t look that great and the animations are very simplistic, it set standards for all the Mario games to come.

Gameplay

SMB is pretty much the most basic platformer out there. Again, it set standards in the world of platforming games. It’s all incredibly simple: run to the right, jump on monsters, get upgrades to throw fireballs or get invincibility, get hit you lose your upgrade, get hit again you die, and try to get to the end. In castle do the same thing, and defeat an incredibly easy bowser, rinse and repeat until you beat world 8, where you’ll save the Princess for the first time (kinda…). The game is quite repetitive, but still poses quite a bit of a challenge, but only in the later stages. You get a limited amount of lives in the game, and if you get a game over, you get a nice little “Game Over” screen, and you have to start the game all over again. No continues, you just die. So basically, I find that the game is almost TOO basic, but it’s somehow still a blast to play, and is hard enough to pose a bit of a challenge to experienced gamers. And it’s incredibly fun to try and speed run.