Do you get the impression that Super Mario Bros.‘s levels are somehow getting smaller? Ah, well, that’s because they are. World 1-4 is the briefest level yet, clocking in at a couple of screens shorter than 1-3, which in turn was shorter than the stages that preceded it as well. But it makes sense: This […]
Super Mario Bros.‘s first couple of stages ease players into the rules of the game’s world: Walking, jumping, stomping, fireballs, secrets. With World 1-3, however, the game properly becomes a platformer. At this point, you’re expected to have a handle on the basics so you can contend with the more complex demands ahead. World 1-3 […]
Once Mario automatically descends the pipe beyond the first fortress, World 1-2 begins in earnest. It brings about a significant change in setting: Mario goes underground, leaving behind the blue skies and calliope music of World 1-1 in favor of gloom. In fact, the blue-tinted Goombas who live down here have retroactively been renamed “Gloombas,” […]
The funny thing about Super Mario Bros.: After conquering World 1-1 — which really only takes a few minutes of your time — Mario marches past the flag pole to the fortress stationed at the end of the World. And then, once World 1-2 begins… he keeps right on marching. Instead of fighting through the […]
Something that truly impresses me about World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. is that it gives you a taste of just about everything Mario can do. Short of swimming and climbing vines, his entire repertoire is contained here. And yet, the game doesn’t feel like it’s tipped its hand once you get to the flagpole […]
If the month-and-a-half gap between Parts IX and X of The Anatomy of Super Mario gave you the impression I was procrastinating… well, it’s because I was. This first stage of Super Mario Bros. may well be the single most analyzed and written-about stage of any video game in the medium’s history. Countless critics have […]
Editor’s Note: The best way to read this series is to go page-by-page through the site index. Or you can grab the entire series in print from Amazon.com… You know what makes a game great? Well, lots of things can make a game great. But a really good place to start is when that game offers you […]
Before Mario leapt into the page of legend with Super Mario Bros., he took one last side excursion. Wrecking Crew doesn’t really count in the lineage of the core Mario games; not only does it not involve a single bit of platforming (Mario can’t jump!), it’s not even by the usual Mario folks. Instead, it’s […]
Man, I used to think Zelda II was the official Nintendo black sheep. But you guys and your preemptive strikes against Donkey Kong 3 have made me change my mind entirely. Donkey Kong 3 is weird, to be sure. It represents a radical shift in style, tone, and structure from the previous Donkey Kong games. […]
After featuring Mario as a villain in Donkey Kong Jr., Nintendo’s next title in the Donkey Kong series… had nothing whatsoever to do with Kong. Instead, it focused solely on Mario, once again in the role of protagonist, in a game that in many ways seemed like a step backward in terms of design yet […]
The final stage of Donkey Kong Jr. neatly embodies the gestalt of the entire game. It calls to mind the equivalent level of the original Donkey Kong, yet its familiar objects finds itself turned (literally) sideways to make use of Junior’s vertical agility. You remember the final stage of Donkey Kong, yes? The construction site […]
Donkey Kong Jr.‘s repetition of its predecessor’s beats continues here. Where its second level resembles Donkey Kong‘s third stage, the third level here somewhat evokes Donkey Kong‘s second stage. Which is to say, it’s the low point of the game. The problem with this screen is similar to the one with the cement factory: […]