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Silverback Reviews
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7800 Rank: Unranked
Genre: Action
Awards: None
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Man... What Are These People Eating? |
Pros:
Fun, Frantic 2 Player Action. Fun Bonus Screens
Cons:
Could Be Considered Somewhat Monotonous and Weird Gameplay |
Money Found in the Sewer is Twice as Sweet As Money Earned. |
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Overview: It would be unheard of today for Mario and Luigi to appear on any console that isn't made by Nintendo, or in a game not developed and approved by them at the very least. They are very
protective of their property and they should be. Mario and pals are more recognizable around the world than Mickey Mouse! And the series is synonymous with high quality. So it's even more shocking when people learn that Mario and his brother appeared on a competing console during the NES' lifespan! But it's true! Due to negotiations and agreements that took place with Atari years prior, they were able to not only port the arcade classics of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior to the Atari 7800, but also the Mario Bros arcade game. These ports weren't developed by Nintendo either, but by Atari and their development partners. Of course this led to many of us young Atari 7800 owners thinking there was a chance that games like Super Mario Bros could come to the Atari 7800. But the truth is that this would be the last time the plumbers would see a release on an Atari home console (legally at least).
Graphics: Mario Bros is a single screen platformer where the backgrounds don't really ever change from a solid black. But the foreground platforms themselves can change in appearance and obviously there are different enemy and player sprites. Mario and Luigi look like fine interpretations of their non-super forms, but they may be a little chunkier than you would expect. The enemy sprites are easy to tell apart but they kind of look silly. The turtles look like their extremely tiny, maybe even like babies, the crabs look like a mess and the fire flies look okay but kind of weird. Overall, those are nitpicks, because as I said before it's easy to tell what they are even if they look dopey or off just a tad. If you want the best looking version of Mario Bros on a home console, then you may want to venture over to the NES.
Sound: Don't expect to hear the famous Super Mario Bros theme that we all know and love today. Again, this game was made before that era of the game series. But the songs and intros that do play here all sound pretty darn good. The sound effects aren't bad either. Especially if you compare them to Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior! Good stuff here.
Gameplay: This is the area I really want to focus on. If you're expecting Mario to control like he does today, or even like he did in his Super Mario series, then your going to be disappointed. He cannot be steered and controlled mid air during jumps and because of that... the game will feel wrong to most people. But truth be told, this is true of the arcade game that this is a port of. It will take some getting used to for modern day Mario fans. It controls well once you get your footing. You have to hit the bottom of platforms to flip over enemies, and then jump up to that platform to kick the enemy away. Mario has not learned to jump on heads yet, and because of that, modern players may be confused. It works and controls well for what it is. Unfortunately, I just find playing this game kind of boring. I did get into it a little more after a few days preparing for this review, but despite how well it plays I just couldn't get excited or say I had much fun the entire time I was playing alone. But if you throw in a second player then all that changes. Mario Bros is a brilliant two player game where you and a friend can work together, accidentally do something
to kill your friend, and then purposely play against each other to make it more competitive or to get sweet revenge. Its hard to explain, but the 2 player simultaneous mode feels organic. Everybody needs to play 2 player to get an incredible experience. This is where Mario Bros truly shines on the 7800 and honestly I think it plays better than even the NES version!
Interpretation: Obviously the arcade version is all around better, and the NES version looks and sounds better. But it's in my personal opinion that the 7800 version plays better than the NES. Get yourself some quality controllers for the 7800, or a couple Seagull 78 adapters and I think you'll have a great time with a friend here. If only there was somebody working on improving the visuals and sound, giving the 7800 version even more tweaks to be closer to the arcade version. Then it would be near perfect and preferable to the NES in every way...
Value: While the first few easy levels can become routine and repetitive to keep playing through, there is as much game here as you can work through. If you enjoy Mario Bros than this will keep you busy for a long time, and the 2 player simultaneous mode will give hours of enjoyment on top of it. Every few rounds, there is a timed coin grab bonus stage which breaks the monotony of the single player campaign, and in two player mode these can become a tense giggle fest highlight of the play through.
Overall: Mario Bros for the 7800 is an very good version of a kind of weird arcade classic and shines in 2 player mode. Its usually available on ebay for around 20-30 dollars loose and is worth picking up at that price for retro fun. Some people may find the single player mode a little dull (like I did) and if you don't usually play with friends then you may want to emulate before you buy. Overall, I think that fans of Mario and 2 player fanatics can pick MB up and have a blast playing this origin story of these two video game icons, which was set years before Luigi's lap-band surgery.
Additional Info:
This review was graciously written by Atari 7800 Forever contributor Silverback.
I would like to thank AtariAge for the use of screenshots used in this review.
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