Mario Bros.

Name: Mario Bros.
Year: 1986
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Arcade, Platformer (Single Screen)
Hours Played: Countless
Beaten: N/A
High Score: 77,710

After Donkey Kong (1981) but before Super Mario Bros. (1985) came the arcade game Mario Bros.  Although it was a one-screen platformer, in the vein of it's predecessor, it would introduce many of the elements that would become Mario staples, including sewer pipes, malevolent turtles, momentum when you run, falling from any height, and of course Mario's green-clad brother Luigi.

Every level has the same layout, and features Mario (and in two-player co-op mode, Luigi) running around platforms, attempting to hit enemies from beneath to stun them and then touch them head-on to knock them out of commission.  Like many older arcade games, the challenge comes from keeping track of everything on screen at once; stunned enemies get up and move faster if ignored for too long, fireballs appear unexpectedly at the edge of the screen, and sentient icicles can freeze platform sections.  For true chaos, add in a second player; bumping into them can send both of you ricocheting into enemies (a mechanic later revisited in the New Super Mario Bros. games).

Unlike so many of the games in it's vault, Nintendo has figured out exactly where this game belongs: as a free mini-game. You can play a slightly updated version as a battle game in Super Mario Bros. 3, play it in full from the SMB3 title screen in Super Mario Bros. All-Stars, and it's included in numerous Game Boy Advance Titles (Super Mario Advance 1-4, Mario & Luigi).  Interestingly, all of these use the NES version of the game, as opposed to the technically superior arcade version, suggesting that Nintendo considers this the "real" version of the game (or at least the easiest to port).

Mario Bros., along with Balloon Fight, was one of the first competitive co-op games, and still holds up when played with two players.  That being said, it's short length made it difficult to justify a $50 price tag even back in 1986, and with the release of Super Mario Bros. 3 in 1990, this cartridge became all but obsolete.

Graphics & Animation: 3 (Average)
The graphics here are pretty good;  Mario, the green sewer pipes, and the Koopas (known back then as "Shellcreepers") are instantly recognizable.  For such  a short game, though, I wish they could have included the extra animations from the arcade game (Mario burning when he touches a fireball, turles stepping outside their shells and flipping them over, etc).

Music & Sounds: 1 (Bad)
No in-game music (except little ditties when the game starts), and the sound effects, while effective, are sparse.  Not much to say because there's not much here.

Controls & Level Design: 4 (Good)
The controls in Super Mario Bros. are top-notch, and it's easy to see why: Nintendo was perfecting them all the way back with this game.  Although there's no "run" button, momentum (jumping higher when running, sliding when you turn quickly) still plays a huge part in this game, forcing you to be aware of enemies' positions at all times lest you leap headfirst into one...

Story & Presentation: 1 (Bad)
Not much to say here.  The title screen looks pretty good (better then most of the black box arcade games, actually), and there's a nice little melting effect when the icicles freeze the platforms... and that's about it.

Length & Replayabilitiy: 1 (Bad)
Multiplayer is the only reason to keep coming back to this game, but even then, you're going to get tired of Mario Bros. pretty quickly.

Total: 9 (Average)