“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

I checked with the WingDamage gods and they agree that you cannot have an unofficial Mario day without discussing the original Super Mario Bros. It simply cannot happen.

To put it as simply as possible, Super Mario Bros. is a masterpiece.

Do you remember where the pipe you can go down is located? Do you know where to get the first mushroom? Do you know how to get the fireworks at the end of the level? How many details of SMB are imprinted on your brain forever? I bet you can hum the song from the game. I bet now that I have mentioned it, the song is actually running through your brain right now.

Mario is the perfect blend of challenge, fun, and (dare I say?) whimsy. There are secrets around every corner from power ups to warp pipes. There is a constant feeling of discovery. Even after all these years, I am still finding new paths or new power ups. Any game that can keep you coming back after two decades is special.

The controls are simple: hold B to run and A to jump, but they work perfectly. Later games would add spin jumps, wall bounces, and butt slams, but for me nothing beats the simplicity of the first SMB.

Why did I pick this game?

This is the game that convinced the world they needed an NES and single handedly revived the video game industry. Before SMB, everyone thought video games were a fad whose time had passed. Too much shovelware and piracy had caused the video game market to crash. Mario brought us all back from the edge of complete disaster and established Nintendo as the video game company. Not bad for an overweight plumber with a mushroom habit.

I remember playing this on my buddy, Keith’s, brand new NES that he got for his birthday. We stayed up all night trying to explore every nook and cranny of this epic game. We cheered when we discovered the secret warp pipe on level 1-2 that let us skip ahead in the game. We couldn’t stop talking about the game at recess the next day as other children listened to our stories and shared their own exploits. Wild stories of secret levels and a way to get 99 lives from one level filled our heads. This is the first game that I remember everyone played and everyone talked about.

Along with Super Metroid, SMB is one of the few games that I have played through dozens of times. I still throw this one in from time to time and try to do speed runs. I have played through it so many times that I have literally lost count.

Does it hold up with time?

Super Mario Bros. more than holds up with time. In fact, it defeats time by jumping on its head like a goomba. Mario still feels perfect even after more than two decades. Countless games have copied the formula, but none have truly surpassed the original.

Tags: 2-D, Friday Old Games, Mario, NES, Nintendo, platformer, Super Mario Bros.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 8:43 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.