Super Mario Brothers and why I hate this game.

Super Mario Brothers has always been so respected in the gaming community. People praise it for: It's memorable music, resurrecting the video game market after the '83 crash, and creating the platformer genre. People will tell you that SMB was the template for what people used to create their own games like Loony Tunes, Gimmick, and Kid Kool... I hate hearing things like this. I am not a fan of giving credit to someone for mediocrity. And I suppose this might as well be: A Nintendo hate rant, a Mario ( series ) hate rant, and a rant focused on the game itself.

Super Mario Brothers was a launch game by Nintendo on their premiere console, the NES. However this was not the first game they ever made as they had their own Pong Consoles, Donkey Kong 1-3, and a few others. But I want to focus on Mario... Mario was the main character of the Donkey Kong game, trying to rescue his damsel from the giant ape. Here we see him jumping over barrels, smashing barrels with a hammer, smacking birds with whips, and a few other things. All because ever really reaching the SMB game. Now with all this previous knowledge of Mario, I find it extremely amusing that the best method of taking out your enemies is by stepping on them. In fact, the best option to take out the enemy... is by completely avoiding them. And here is pretty much where my first gripes begin with this game: It's lazy on just about every way you can imagine.

SMB1 has bricks for the ground, clouds and bushes using the game sprite, music that lasts like 39 notes long before it starts repeating, the characters are literally guys in overalls, the enemies are everyday vegetables and animals just anthromorphed, and the way to beat the boss of the game is to grab an ax which somehow destroys a bridge... oh and when you Do grab it, it repeats the same message 7 times. The story isn't even great. I think the ONLY thing that truly makes the game stand out is the Fire flower.

I always hear the same retorts: Well, it's their first game for the NES, well they could only do so much, well games werent fleshed out yet! Okay, let's be fair here. There exists adventure games before the NES, like Jungle Hunt for the Arcades.. in fact the Arcades held a lot of great inspiration for games that the NES could have blown us away with... You see, Nintendo MADE the NES... AND had 3 years to make the game. You see the NES began development in 81, released in 83 and Mario came out in 85. Now considering they designed the console, you'd think Nintendo would have the advantage over everyone else on having a great looking game, in actuality though, we got the opposite. We got probably the ugliest and cheapest looking thing possible.

But why? Why does EVERYONE put Mario 1 on a pedestal? Well, I'd probably say the obvious nostalgia. I mean, the world 1-1 music is recognized by everyone. Just about everyone played it, including their grandma. We had 27 years of exposure of Mario and its evolution, we hear it every day online, we hear remixes of the music on Smash Brothers and other games, we have remixes of Stages like Mario Forever, Rom hacks, rereleases... we're BOMBARDED by Mario. And each time we're reminded of our childhood, we're reminded of that day when we first turned on that NES and played Mario with our friend and died on World 2-2... or found that Warp Pipe.

So the big question I ask you? Is Nostalgia really a reason? I recently saw a video online of the Top 5 Mario games ever. And I KNEW that Mario 1 would be no. 1 or close to it and my mind was blown when I saw that Mario 1 was put above 3 BECAUSE of its impact on the world. Not because it's a better game, but because of good timing. I just can't imagine sitting down, playing an objectively better game and saying to myself, "Well it's not as good as the less fun and poorer quality predecessor."

It makes me wonder if they purposely put as little effort into the game as possible since Nintendo is known for not doing anything with their games but doing the same thing: Mario and Zelda. Just start with the bare basics and very slowly make it better until you plateau on your ingredients of cookies and then just keep redecorating that same cookie with old ideas until it just dies.

Also, about the whole impact SMB had on the industry. This is another argument people make that I can't stand. To claim that BECAUSE one thing happened, the future is now made... Especially considering there exists platformers before SMB and there exists sidescrollers before SMB.  I mean come on, even then, it's a character who runs right and dodges obstacles... Yes, it's very innovative!