Mario Bros.

Last Updated: October 11th, 1999

Name: Mario Bros.
System: NES
Genre: Action
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release date: 1986
Age rating: N/A
Players: Two; simultaneous

Note: Do not confuse this game with Super Mario Bros.

Instruction Manual
Review by James

Review by: Harnold

Objective: Get as many points as you can by killing enemies and gathering coins.

Luigi teams up with Mario for the first time in Mario Bros., a non-scrolling, infinite level game. Mario can hit enemies from underneath to flip them over, then merely touch them to get rid of them completely. The POW Block, when hit on the bottom, will flip over every enemy touching a platform. Mario starts out with 2 lives in reserve, earning another after his first 20,000 points. In the two player simultaneous mode, Mario and Luigi can either work together or compete against each other.

Objective: Get as many points as you can by killing enemies and gathering coins.

• Try killing off more than one enemy at a time for more points: wait until you have more than one enemy flipped over, and then proceed to take them out quickly. Mario will get 800 for the first, 1,600 for the second, 2,400 for the third, etc.
  
• Mario can hit the POW Block 3 times before it dissipates into nothing... so use it wisely. The POW Block will reset after every second bonus phase (I think).

• The POW block is introduced here, reappearing in SMB2 and SMW2, each time more versatile and more powerful than before.
• Mario Bros. also appeared in SMB3 (in 2 player mode) where you can battle for cards that the other player has.

• Graphics:
  2.5 - Graphics get better in future Mario games.

  Sound:
  3.1 - Not too great, but they reminded me of being at an arcade.

  Play control:
  2.5 - Mario can only move at one speed, and once he jumps, you can't control him while in the air.

  Challenge:
  3.2 - Gets pretty involved around Phase 10, but the difficulty doesn't seem to increase after that.

  Satisfaction:
  3.2 - Repetitive.

  Design:
  2.0 - A simple design that does not change. Rather small field of play.

  Replay value:
  3.0 - Simultaneous 2 player mode is really fun.

  Overall:
  3.3 - The 2 player mode "makes" this game.

• +
  Fun to play when you're bored.

  -
  Extremely repetitious. Mario gets no reward for beating phase 99, and the difficutly seems to stop increasing after Phase 10.

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