There’s an argument to be made that Super Mario Bros. is the most influential video game of all time. SMB created the blueprint that all platformers (2D or 3D) followed for the next 30 years. It may seem simple, run forward, jump on some platforms, avoid some enemies and get to the end of the level. There’s so much depth within such a simple design.

Gameplay wise, SMB is still fun to play despite thirty years of gaming. All of the controls are tight and smooth. When you want Mario to jump, he jumps. When you want him to run, he runs. There aren’t any spots where you feel like the game screwed you over. The game is also very easy to follow. The goal is to get to the end of each level to advance. Along the way there are obstacles, usually enemies to bypass or holes to jump over, that Mario must overcome in order to succeed. There are three power-ups that can help you: the Mushroom which makes Mario big and gives him an extra hitpoint in case he’s hit by an enemy, the Fire Flower that lets Mario shoot fireballs and the Star which allows Mario invincibility for a short while. Each enemy has their own unique attributes. For example a Koopa Troopa that’s green will walk straight and fall off any cliffs, while a red Koopa Troopa will turn around when approaching a cliff. The enemy system quite easy to remember (and still used today in Mario games).

The level design is quite smart. It would have been easy just to throw these obstacles together and call it a game, but Nintendo did better than that. There are secrets all over SMB’s eight worlds (32 levels). While maybe today gamers won’t hunt down for every 1-Up Mushroom or every coin, back then finding every little secret was on par with 100%ing a game. Sure there are the big ones. Finding the Warp Zones that let you skip a few worlds was obviously a great accomplishment, but finding all those hidden blocks with 1-Ups made you feel like you were an expert at the game. Every Mario player tried to go down every green pipe in the game. Every Mario player hit every brick just for the satisfaction of finding a gold coin (or ten). That’s what made SMB brilliant, the game was so much larger than its eight worlds would suggest.

Amazingly, despite there being about five or six musical tracks in the entire game, all of them are memorable and often remixed today in current games. The overworld theme is perhaps the most recognizable piece of music in video game history. The sound effects are just as memorable. SMB also looked great for its time. There was some really smart palette swapping done (for example, a goomba and a mushroom are just palette swaps of one another, as is a cloud and a bush) and the colors really work for the Nintendo. When you remember some of the graphical junk the NES produced in the 1980s it really makes one appreciate what SMB looks like.

Really, that’s all there is to it. SMB is still fun to play for a night. And whether or not you’re playing it just to beat it or going through every single green pipe, you’re still in for a memorable experience.

Pros:

-Controls feel tight

-Memorable music, sounds and graphics

-Smart level design

-Memorable enemies and characters

-Simple to pick up

Cons:

-Not difficult at all

-Someone with Mario Maker could remake the whole game in a couple hours

Technically it isn’t perfect, but in 1985 it probably surpassed that expectation anyway. It’s influence alone give it a perfect grade.

Grade: A+