Rate the Game #1 Super Mario Bros.

CLOUDBOND007 1/2

Well, I can say that the game is still as fun today as it ever was. I completed a replay of SMB about a month ago, and was impressed again by how close to perfect the game truly is. The one thing it seems to lack, looking back on it today, is consistent challenge. Now that's something I never thought I'd be saying, considering my usual preferences. But having played SMB2j/The Lost Levels (and going through World 8 in SMB) it becomes clear how the difficulty can really enhance the overall experience. But I love everything else, from the classic music, the creative visuals, and great control. I'd have to give it a rating of 4.5 out of 5

cuttersDCut 1/2

Yeah, SMB is timeless. Challenging and fun. I agree with CB, 4.5 out of 5

SethraShnoo 1/2

It certainly deserves all the praise and recognition it gets for revolutionizing the video game industry. And it still holds up well, even today. The only reason I don't give it a perfect score is because SMB2j and SMB3 both improved on its core gameplay. 4.5 out of 5.

Crawl and 1000

After reading an essay on a similar subject a day or two ago, I've been thinking about genius in games. There are only a couple of examples of genius in games, I think. There are even some games I'd consider masterpieces, five star games, that aren't exactly the work of genius. For instance, Goldeneye. It's a damn fine game, basically perfect in every way, brilliantly balanced and designed. It was nurtured by a company that was, at the time, the biggest force in videogames. The people that worked on it obviously worked very hard and were very talented ... but I wouldn't say they were geniuses. Super Mario Bros. is the closest thing videogames have to a "Citizen Kane". It not only did something which is quite rare in gaming -- pretty much invented its own genre (and probably the most important genre in games) -- but also did something that is almost otherwise unheard of: Invented a style of play, and perfected it on the very first try. One of Super Mario Bros. achievements, which is sometimes overlooked in favor of its inventing the modern sidescroller, is that it introduced what is to be expected from a home game. Super Mario Bros. set the standard for length and ambition of a game. It's interesting to me to think of all the ideas that Super Mario Bros. had that it took other games years to catch up to. For instance, Dracula X has an extra goal of trying to find secret paths to save three women. Well, Super Mario Bros. is loaded with lots of alternate paths and secrets, way more than Dracula X. There have been complaints about old 8-bit games having cheap controls, and therefore 16-bit games are sometimes praised when they have certain control features, among them being able to control jumps in midair. Of course, Super Mario Bros. had fast, intuitive control (and he could be controlled in midair) way back in 1985. And this excellent control wasn't there just to prevent claims of "cheapness", it was full integrated into the game. There are times when you MUST "bend" your jump in the air. While Super Mario Bros. gives players advantages, it also derives challenges from those advantages. For all the reasons Super Mario Bros. deserves respect, it also deserves to be played. The game is incredibly fast (I've yet to play a sidescroller that beats its pace) and stages like 7-3, where birds arc across the screen, are particularly exciting. I suppose the question that remains (that has been raised before in this topic) is one of challenge. Well, I might feel more comfortable giving this score to Super Mario All Stars, but here I'm forced to rate the game individually. When I first played the game, I definitely didn't think it was too easy (it took me about 2 weeks to beat). Of course, it was also my first game ever. But in that experience, it was perfect. I still remember how the first time I beat 8-1, I was at exactly 000 seconds left on the timer. If Super Mario Bros. 2j and Super Mario Bros. 3 improved on the formula, Super Mario Bros. gave them the perfect base to build on. But it also gave all games the perfect base to build on. Rating: 5

Kairobi King 1/2

4.5/5 I don't really have anything else to add.

Magnus Crowe

I'll give it a 5/5. They just don't make platformers like that anymore.

Iron Ball of Destruction

5/5 Because I'm just that hardcore *shrudders*

Junus Crowe

5/5 I'd probably give that score to all the games on Super Mario All-Stars. (Except that 2-player Mario Bros. adaptation, if you even count that as a separate game.)

Flying Omelette 1/2

I have a hard time giving a rating to a game on the spur of the moment, if I haven't played it in awhile. But, eh... Anyway, SMB is one of my favorite games, too, but I think one problem I had is that I got both it and SMB3 at the same time, and SMB3 stole all my attention away. I then later got SMB2 and I actually finished them all in the opposite order of release - I beat SMB3 first, then SMB2, then SMB1. I don't know if SMB1 really is harder than SMB3, but maybe because I spent so much time with SMB3, I just "learned" it first, and that's why I was able to beat it first. But, anyway, I guess I'm going to give SMB1 a 4.5/5, too.

jup 1/2

I'd have to rate it a 4.5 out of 5, as well. This game has always been great. It has the right amount of challenge and length. I even remember, when I first got it, thinking that I'd play this game til the end of time. There are a whole lot of reasons I could have given for liking this game...that have already been told above. Besides, if there is one game that has the potential of still existing (and being playable) when our Sun goes dark, it will be this one. Because, it is only one of three games I consider to be 'street rubbish'. These three titles are ones that have been produced in such massive amounts and in such an indestructible way that wiping them from the face of the Earth will be a task not fit for Humans. (For crying out loud, some guy built a full sized chair out of nothing but SMB cartridges.) Long after the last original system that could ever run them has died of circuit failure, they will exist. These are games that Marty McFly will stumble across at any future point in time. And, these are games that every gamer, until the end of time, should play at least once. What three titles am I talking about? (I bet most can guess...) 1. Atari 2600's Pac-Man. 2. Atari 2600's Combat. 3. NES's Super Mario Bros. I suppose a distant number 4 could be NES's SMB/Duck Hunt combo cartridge (I even remember when GameStop sold SMB/DH for nine cents over the SMB alone cart for nineteen cents.) and number 5 would have to be Game Boy's Tetris. Super Mario Bros. WILL be jumping and running and throwing fire balls long after we're all dead and gone. Oh, yes. They WILL have to dis-invent the television to stop the classic Mario. Mark my words. I was just wondering how much SMB brought to the gaming world. After all, I can't think of any previous characters that could duck, throw fire balls as an upgrade option, grow or shrink in size, duck down large pipes, attack via jumping upon the foe's head, obtain extra points for reaching the goal at certain times and a few other things like that.

Rushifell

I give SMB a 5/5. It set the standards for all sidescrollers and few are as good.

BJ Strykes

4/5. I think it's a great game, but I also think later games improved on its formula.

DEATHAMSTER 1/2

4.5/5 I have nothing new to add.

Vampyrus

4/5 I like it but I hardly ever play it anymore.

Camira Breen Thumbs-Up! C

I'm just going to give a Thumbs-Up since I don't think I'm qualified to score games. Although I've played Atari games before the NES arrived, Super Mario Bros. is the game that got me hooked on videogames in general.

Morgannon

Now THIS is what 8-bit gaming is all about! ^_^ 5/5

Minerva K Red Thumbs-Up! C

I'd give a 5/5, but I haven't played and beaten enough games to feel qualified enough to give a numerical score (damn, that's a lot of words!) So, Thumbs up!

Oh Sassparilla

I give it a 5/5 and a thumbs-up!

James FP 1/2

I'm going to give it a 4.5/5, too. I think it's an excellent game and, of course, the one that "started it all", but I also agree that other games would improve on its formula. I like SMB3, SM: Lost Levels, and even Yoshi's Island more. SMB1 is always good for a quick-play, especially if I don't have a lot of time and just want to pick up a game and play it in about 15-30 minutes.

Facilitypro No Rating

SMB played a huge part in shifting the focus of videogaming from attaining high scores to "finishing" the game.

MaskedSheik

The first thing I thought when I saw this was "eh, 4.5/5". Then I thought "4.5/5's" the grade that everyone would give to this game." And yes, you guys proved me right. This is exactly the game that would receive 4.5's around the board. It's a classic game, without the graphics or many special abilities/powers/obstacles that are found in other platforming games, but with great level design and control. It's a game that can be fast and slow at the same time, and I've loved that (not even SMB3 or Yoshi's Island matched that). However, it's a hard game and I find that a lot of it is running around, having to play rather perfectly in order to survive the level. The flower isn't exactly useless, but it wasn't used to its potential. I can see a level which was much more based on throwing fireballs. I think that, although simplicity is often the best, Super Mario Bros. should have given a little more difference in gameplay from level to level. That would have opened up many more options for level design. 4/5

DOVEBLOB

5/5 SMB is one of my favorites and one of the games that got me into video gaming. I think before SMB, video games were just kind of something that was there. We had Atari systems, but they weren't a big part of my life. The changes SMB made to home video games are what MADE me a gamer.

Lord Vyce

153/5

Agisuro Thumbs-Up! C

I'll give a thumbs-up. I'm not good at scoring games.

CataTonic9

Man, what a great game Super Mario Bros. is...Like so many others have said, it's the one that really made me become a true gamer. I give it 5/5.

honestgamer

On a 5-point scale, I'll go ahead and give Super Mario Bros. a 5/5 simply because even if other games eventually did things better, there hasn't been a generation of games since that has consistently provided games better than Super Mario Bros. Terrible sentence, I know. But Super Mario Bros. was the best game available for quite awhile, as far as the 8-bit scene went. And even though its successors were sometimes grander, more complicated, and more fun to discuss with friends, Super Mario Bros. was the sort of perfection gamers had no right to expect at the time of its release. It was an evolutionary leap equivalent to a pea pod turning into a full-grown plant in three minutes.

BOGUS666

I give Super Mario Bros. a 5/5, too.

ErniePants

5/5 This game certainly deserves it, for it revitalized and revolutionized the video game industry. And without video games, the Omni-Wonder of the Universe would've decided long ago that human existence on this planet has no purpose, and thus swallowed your puny earth whole. Have a nice day!

SETZERtheGREAT

5/5 Super Mario Bros. is one of the few games I would give a perfect score to.

Pero the Cat

5 stars out of 5 from me, too.

Brigade Delbrack

4 out of 5 Great, revolutionary game, but not the best ever. It's been topped.

Red Clawbot

Looks like all you guys summed it up for me, especially Crawl (that's Josh Becker's genius essay, no?). This game is as legendary as it is revolutionary. The structure of this game has specific level patterns and a comfortably diverse range of unique enemies, items, and power-ups. Such creativity is genuine. No game has made going from left to right more meaningful than this one. 5 out of 5

The Joyful Kun

I rate Super Mario Bros. a 10 out of 10 because it is one of the greatest NES games of all time. The GBA version is exactly the same, but it's also a very good port of the original game for fun to kill some time.

ACC KAIN 1/2

4 1/2 out of five. This is actually my least favorite of the NES Mario games, but I can't deny its significance in video game history.

Nixxy Blayde 1/2

4.5/5 I wonder how well Super Mario Bros. has really aged over the years? It was the most revolutionary game of all time when it was originally made, but playing it now, I long for better boss fights and more diverse stages. But I still give it near-top honors for what it was, what it meant to video game history and for still being fun and enjoyable to play.