Super Mario Bros Review: Does it hold up to the rest of the series?

Super Mario Bros is one of the most classic and most discussed games of all-time. Everyone knows its music, Level 1-1, Mario himself, and tons of the memorable character designs introduced here. However, with so many games in the series, does this game still hold a candle in the modern day? Sure, it still plays well, but does it hold up to to the rest of the series? In this Super Mario Bros review, I, Brighton Nelson, will answer that burning question.

Level Design - 5

While some levels in this game are pretty masterfully made, as a whole, this game's level design averages out to be completely average in the platforming scene. Not the worst in Mario, nowhere near the best of Mario, but still better than a lot of platformers out there. Honestly, it's just entirely average.

Art & Graphics - 5

There's nothing wrong with the graphics in this game... I mean, they hold up far better than the vast majority of NES games. I don't mind old graphics, they're awesome! This game's graphics are pretty average, but they're great for the NES! Though, if I compare this to Super Mario Bros 3 or The Legend of Zelda or Mega Man games on the same system, it just can't hold up. Still, looks great and holds up to this day, but it doesn't stand out (unlike the beautiful artwork for the game above... that looks awesome).

Music - 8

I'm not trying to be a hater of this game, but it's clear that this music of this game is its best asset. Giving this an 8 for quality is generous, but this is one of the few times I'll actually just give a ton of points for its iconicness. There's so many soundtracks better than this game's, but almost no game has as many recognizable earworms that even many non-gamers can pick out. Ocarina of Time, Minecraft, and the Wii themes are the only soundtracks I can think of that would say hold the same power, if that. This soundtrack perfectly encapsulates the iconicness of gaming music.

Combat - 1

This is probably super obvious, but there's nothing special at all about killing enemies in this game. Some may love the simplicity, but I personally prefer at least a little bit of depth to combat in my platformers. Later games in the series get better, but, as much as jumping on the heads of enemies is fun and cute, I can't say killing enemies in this game is satisfying at all.

Platforming - 3

This category really is focused around this question: "how many platforming sections in this game have really stuck with me?" This game truly just has so few memorable sections compared to other games in this series and in the platforming genre. This category might seem arbitrary with controls and level design being around, but, for me, this category is imperative. The platforming in this game set a strong precedent, but I can't say it is super special.

Theming - 2

I know that these levels and their themes and the concept of an Italian plumber on shrooms was very new and incredible at the time, but, when stacked up against every other Mario platformer, there's nothing that really sets the original apart. Now, it set an incredible foundation—I can't deny that. But I'm not the type of person who will glaze a game just because it's old. Hot take, but I believe that even every New Super Mario Bros title has a more distinct theming to each other than this game to any other Mario game. While this isn't the worst game in the series, there's just not really a reason for me to jump back into this game's world when I can jump into a better Mario game.

Story - 1

I'm sorry, calling this game's story a story is almost too nice. This game might've created a couple iconic characters, but I can't give this game any higher of a score. This game's story did not do anything for me, even in the grand scheme of bad Mario stories, this is still near the bottom. While I wouldn't give any mainline Mario platformer a good score for story, the majority of other games in the series will still score above this.

Controls - 3

The controls in this game are... fine. They aren't horrible or disappointing, but they just don't feel that good. They aren't bad at all, but they're below average in the grand scheme of platforming. At least the game doesn't have slippery controls or horrible camera controls like some platformers. I can't complain, but some games just feel far more fun to control.

Quality of Life - 7

One thing people complain about a lot in this game is having to restart the game every time you die, which I can't hold against the game for three reasons: 1) it's literally wrong because you can restart the game from the beginning of the world if you click the right button, 2) there's a generous amount of warp zones and 3) this is a super short NES game. Honestly, criticism hailed against this part of the game is silly, but I just had to mention it.

There are a couple other things that bother me about the game that lower the score, though. The fact that the screen doesn't let you backtrack in levels is truly quite dumb and was obviously not a technical limitation, as proven by many NES games that followed. The 2-player mode was also horribly misguided—if it wasn't going to allow for 2 players at once, it needed to go with alternating the players between each level and death... not this bizarre, obscene way that punishes Player 2 for the fact Player 1 is good. The amount of little siblings who probably cried or threw a fit because they have super cracked older siblings? It makes me quite sad. Luckily, I'm not that much better than my younger brother at Mario, so this is more of a secondhand dislike for the mechanic than a true personal gripe.

The Verdict

Fun Factor - 5
Overall Score - 40%
Letter Rating - E

While the original Super Mario Bros. launched an incredibly famous series and set an incredible foundation for the platforming genre, it really doesn't hold up to most of the games in the series that follow. It's a good game when considering it for its time, but it really doesn't hold up today. Don't get me wrong—it's aged well, and is entirely playable! But it simply doesn't hold a candle to the rest of the better games in the series and other platforming games as a whole.

Primary Version: Super Mario Bros (NES)