Thy Name Is Mario! King of the Universe!

Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo Buy Now

Here's a game you can set your watch to!

The original Super Mario Bros. was a game that 

everybody could identify with whether they were

fat or small, drunk or stoned, there was always 

Mario. Since the release of the first Mario Bros. in the

arcade we have seen numerous sequels, which have

been better than the last. When "Super Mario 64" was 

released in 1996 many of the gamers that bought it

weren't very familiar with its great grandfather that 

started it all. Luckily Nintendo salvaged this problem in

the best possible way by release the original Mario, not

only in full color and all of the levels intact, but with a slew

of new features. Like the Metal Gear review for Game Boy

there are only a few noteworthy games on the system. 

Graphics

The levels and characters were ported seamlessly using the

Game Boy's dying architecture and seemed to still impress me

even with today's graphics standard. The user interface at the

start screen is really cool and makes me wish Nintendo ported even

more classic games to the GBC. (Metroid?) The colors are bright

and vibrant and don't miss a beat. Developers take note and make

more games like this. 

Sound

How can you beat the classic theme? So the Game Boy's sound chip

is a bit of a joke in the development community but damn I can't

help but shed a big wet one when I hear that melody. Thankfully 

the Big "N" pulled of a smooth transition with the music although it's 

not perfect due to the lack of quality output signals from the GBC. 

No complaints here, I'm just a little sick of Sony.

Gameplay

This makes me laugh. Are you asking if the old Mario game plays 

well? Do yourself a favor and just go buy this beautiful title before

the world ends. The controls are exactly as the original had them set

up with a run/item button and a standard jump button, nothing

to take a class for. Of course there is that annoying part where 

little Mario feels like he's on ice skates and falls right off the damn ledge.

Also the game features a cool multiplayer mode which enables players

to race each other to the end of the course while at the same time 

foiling their enemy. An additional challenge mode forces players to

find hidden items in each level to open up special bonuses in the games

other programs. Speaking of which, one of the coolest features in DX is 

the Printer option which lets you print out stickers and other banners

through your GB Printer (sold separately). A very cool feature that will 

impress people at parties. 

Longevity

The key to this game is to score the highest points possible which makes

for a long gameplay experience. Also the extra modes add plenty of

other things to do when you grow tired of the tried and true original 

mode. Now here's hoping Nintendo releases "Super Mario Bros. 3 DX" soon.

Overall: 95%

-Evil Romero