There is perhaps no other game in electronic gaming history as universally loved as the original Super Mario Brothers. The game is nearly 30 years old now, and people are playing it to this day. The bizarre combination of plumbers, turtles, princesses, fireballs, man-eating plants, lava, coins and of course mushrooms (which was perhaps the key ingredient the designers utilized when coming up with this strange game formula) somehow worked together to capture the imagination and attention of most the children, and even some of the adults in the 1980’s.
Mario, Luigi, Toad(s), The Princess and Bowser are back, but this time there is no taking turns. Instead the designers have taken many of the successful elements of Super Mario Brothers 3 and Super Mario World and combined them with co-operative and counter-operative (I’ll explain later) elements for the most fun and infuriating side scrolling game I have played in years. The game allows up to four players to go through the level simultaneously and does it with a high level of success. Players can grab each other, work together for mega jumps, utilize Yoshi and the new propeller hat to help them go through levels with a new and simultaneously familiar design. Where the counter-operative element comes into play is the fact that you cant just “run through” one another…you will bump into, jump off of, and be the victim of friendly turtle shell fire time and time again. It’s one of those experiences where 80% of the time, it is annoying in that funny endearing kind of way, but there is that 20% of the time when peoples’ playing styles will interfere with one another. You will get speed players (like myself) trying to fly through a level as fast as possible bumping heads with players who are more explorative (Like Jenn). As long as you can both agree to a speed to going through a level, it is a ball and really takes me back to my childhood in a number of ways.
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