Game Debate #100: Super Mario Bros.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,544]

[Gloves | 11,787]

Never pla...

Eeeehhhh just kidding. It's decent. Ignoring historical relevance it's still a great game; maybe not a 10, but still easy to pick up and play.

[DefaultGen | 5,407]

Good game, but not worth $80,000 CIB IMO.

[mbd39 | 2,024]

10/10. I'm in the minority, but it's my favorite Mario. No gimmicks, no bells and whistles, not too long, not too short. It's just right.

 

 

[Renmauzo | 1,201]

I can appreciate peoples' love for the original SMB, but the game never resonated with me. My parents picked up an NES in '88, and although this was the game I had, I couldn't get into it.

In '89, my Mom bought our local rental store's copy of Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa!! wihch was being advertised as 'Baby Mario'. I was hoping for an experience I'd enjoy more than SMB and I fell in love with the game.; I haven't gone back to SMB since. If it came to historical significance, this would be an easy 10, but on a personal level, for me it sits at a 5.

***Side note: I'd have to take a look at my sister's house, but that copy of Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa!! was an asian region cart (maybe a bootleg since the Famicom cart wasn't until '93...I feel like I remember seeing Korean on it...not sure...my sister has it). I would go on to get a Famicom and Disk System just for BMBU, and it's always hooked up and at the ready for that one game, lol.

[Nintegageo | 582]

10/10. It is a great game to play to this day. 

[JamesRobot | 5,804]

Rivals Mega Man 2 for the GOAT. 

I might not even care about video games if it weren't for Super Mario Bros. 

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

Have we seriously not done this game yet?  Based on the rules of the pole, I have to give it a 9 since I'm not including historical significance.  But even when you ignore the history, the game still holds up today and is easy to pickup and play through again and again.  Everyone really should play this game.

[Sumez | 2,963]

Fun gam

[Brickman | 3,989]

1/10 what a piece of garbage…just kidding.

I went with a 9/10. Absolutely love this game but I could easily rank SMB3 a 10 so this would slightly come under it. I do think this game is and probably always will be timeless. 

[Tanooki | 4,934]

It's fairly average, kind of blocky, feels kind of overrated and just there has been so many better things on the system, even older sys....GET OUT OF MY HEAD!  Sorry OptOut tried to pull another 4/10 on this one too.

 

Seriously though, I gave it a 9/10, it's not perfection but it's in its simplicity compared to the sequels it still just does so much right, and largely hasn't become creaky and annoying other than some slight memorization bits (like 8-4 has) to finish the stage which sucks if you're not good at that...a product of the time, like annoying games with many random identical doors to somewhere hopefully the exit.  Wasn't fun then, even less fun now...or I'd have probably given it a 10.

Great use of control, mechanics of the entire design element of attack, evasion, stage design.  The music and sfx are memorable and that's underselling it given.  It has so much hidden content for the period, 1UPs if you do this or that, the fireworks, the bean stalks, the warp zones, the jacked up minus world even.  It's hard, not evil, but it's a challenge if you go in blind to it as a fresh player, yet it does subtly hand hold new concepts by the world so by the time you hit world5, you have the tools you need.  A true stunner when you consider THIS was peak NES, peak bare system NES...it didn't get better than this until they started goofing with NROM, MMC this or that, and so on.  A game that pushed the limits right out of the gate, no peers, then even now among the blackbox array of games.  Despite all the advances, this still beats quite a great many of more colorful, more detailed, more widely designed things and that says a lot to earn its high place marks.

[Estil | 1,265]

10 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

Good game, but not worth $80,000 CIB IMO.

Unless it was also signed by Shiggy and the rest of the SMB creator gang...though that'd be kinda hard to do that over shrinkwrap without wrecking it...and what color Sharpie would use on a mostly all-black background?

[Estil | 1,265]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

A true stunner when you consider THIS was peak NES, peak bare system NES...it didn't get better than this until they started goofing with NROM, MMC this or that, and so on.  A game that pushed the limits right out of the gate, no peers, then even now among the blackbox array of games.  Despite all the advances, this still beats quite a great many of more colorful, more detailed, more widely designed things and that says a lot to earn its high place marks.

Not to mention (IIRC) they were able to squeeze it all in (somehow) in just 40KB of space.  And I always did find the NES/SNES helper chips (as I like to call them) quite fascinating.  Did the Genesis (besides Virtua Racing) and the N64 make use of distinctive helper chips in the cartridge at all?

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

SMB3 is a much better game....   if you're talking about adventure games, but for ACTION games, SMB is side-scrolling hop 'n bop perfection.  10/10 for me, as I can - and do - go back to it again and again year after year.

[CMR | 520]

10/10  If you think it doesn't deserve it, go back to 1985 and say it.

[Gloves | 11,787]

12 minutes ago, CMR said:

10/10  If you think it doesn't deserve it, go back to 1985 and say it.

You think if I could go back to 1985 I'd still be here with you lot? Tch.

[cj_robot | 542]

Yep, this is the one that got me hooked on video games for life. A timeless classic. I've played this game countless times, probably done everything you can do in every level, and yet somehow almost 40 years later I can still pop this bad boy in and have a good time.

10/10 without a doubt.

[OptOut | 8,889]

10 for sure, probably my most replayed game ever, I could never get tired of running through this one. I am also of the opinion that this is my favourite 2D Mario game, even if it is possible that others are technically better.

This and Dr. Mario are my two favourite NES games, no contest there, it's just picking BETWEEN these two that I find tough for my absolute favourite! 

[OptOut | 8,889]

5 hours ago, Tanooki said:

It's fairly average, kind of blocky, feels kind of overrated and just there has been so many better things on the system, even older sys....GET OUT OF MY HEAD!  Sorry OptOut tried to pull another 4/10 on this one too.

Geez, you rate LTTP 4 out of ten like ONE time, and you never hear the fuggin end of it! 

[Tulpa | 3,509]

3 hours ago, Estil said:

Not to mention (IIRC) they were able to squeeze it all in (somehow) in just 40KB of space.  And I always did find the NES/SNES helper chips (as I like to call them) quite fascinating.  Did the Genesis (besides Virtua Racing) and the N64 make use of distinctive helper chips in the cartridge at all?

First of all, they're not called "helper" chips, they're called "enhancement chips." I'm going to correct your misguided terminology with extreme prejudice, even if it kills you.

Virtua Racing was the only enhancement chip Genesis game. Two more were planned (Virtua Fighter and Daytona USA), but were ported to the Saturn instead.

The N64's architecture didn't really need enhancement chips. Closest we got was the Expansion Pak for the controller to play certain games properly.

[Link | 2,714]

18 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

Have we seriously not done this game yet?

Reed may have intentionally saved it for #100. Along with LTTP at 99 I can definitely see that being on purpose.

[Tanooki | 4,934]

15 hours ago, Estil said:

Not to mention (IIRC) they were able to squeeze it all in (somehow) in just 40KB of space.  And I always did find the NES/SNES helper chips (as I like to call them) quite fascinating.  Did the Genesis (besides Virtua Racing) and the N64 make use of distinctive helper chips in the cartridge at all?

No not really.  The genesis went with the 32X instead and when it failed they used some salvaged concepts for that disgustingly overpriced ($100 back then) copy of Virtua Racing.  Ig ot it like 2yr after it came out, Sega would on their own online shop and it by then was $20 as they couldn't get rid of the things.

N64 didn't either, they did two other things.  One was the 64DD which never left Japan (but almost did) and then their microcode triggers and related chips within the carts.  They had this dual setup of security lockout like a 10NES kind of vaguely so, but also allowed for more complex operations with the N64 itself.  Take for instance Mario 64 it is on the basic starter end, generic easy microcode chip, but late stuff like Factor5's Indiana Jones/Battle for Naboo use this ungodly complex one that allows for more stuff to work which tooks years(10+ after n64 got emulated to figure out and add for play.)  That's as far as either really took it.

[DarkTone | 985]

9. 

[RH | 4,907]

A 9 for me because, I don’t know.  A 10 just didn’t feel right. Anyway, I had a 2600 for a couple years before getting the NES with Mario/Duck Hunt.  The technology leap between the two absolutely blew my 8 year old mind.  I still can’t get over that and relive that moment a little every time I play this game.

[Webhead123 | 678]

The original Super Mario Bros. does show it age a bit. However, it was so well-designed and so purposefully simple to pick up and play that it remains impressively replayable, challenging and enjoyable even 37 years later. Ignoring historical significance and my own, deep, personal nostalgia and simply judging it on the fun-factor it offers still today, I think it deserves a solid 8 out of 10.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Webhead123