Arcade Archives VS. Super Mario Bros.

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1-2 (Local Alternating), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

The classic family-friendly Platformer, Super Mario Bros. (not to be confused with Mario Bros.), was originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, and would later go on to be ported to almost every major Nintendo platform in some form or another. The game received a port to Arcades as well in 1986, though this wasn’t exactly the same game that we received on home consoles. Rather, VS. Super Mario Bros. was a slightly-altered version of the classic game, with changes made to the game to add in greater difficulty.

These changes are fairly minor – a few power-up blocks have been changed or removed, some stages have been swapped around, and more challenging versions of stages appear in place of the earlier ones. I won’t go into a detailed list. Suffice it to say that this is almost exactly the same game as the classic Super Mario Bros. we all have seen countless times before, save for a few differences sprinkled throughout the game.

For those who have somehow missed the original Super Mario Bros., that is one impressive rock you’ve been hiding under. However, for the sake of being comprehensive, this game is a classic of the Platforming genre, and one that virtually all Platformers since owe much of their existence to. Without this game, there very likely would be no Sonic, no Crash Bandicoot, no Spyro, no Castlevania, no Mega Man… in fact, there may very well be no Nintendo, at least as we know it today. What’s more, after the Atari Crash of 1983, the videogame industry as a whole simply would not exist as it does now if not for the rejuvenating effect that this game had on the entire medium. Super Mario Bros. is, without question, one of the most important videogames ever made, if not the most important videogame ever made.

This is not just due to being one of the first games in the genre, nor for being a quality game at a time when the videogame industry really needed a winner to revive the market, nor for innovating design in countless areas from screen scrolling to power-up systems. The original Super Mario Bros. still holds up surprisingly well even today, though of course it pales next to more modern entries in the series. The game design here is superb, the physics are excellent (though still rough compared to later Mario games), the pixel art visuals are iconic, the game’s chiptune themes are some of the most memorable tunes ever seen in a videogame. Even to this day, Super Mario Bros. is still one of the greatest videogames ever made, even if it has been eclipsed by its later sequels.

This release of the game, as a part of Hamster Corporation’s Arcade Archives series, gives players a decent array of options, including various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards. There is also a new “Hi-Score Mode” (for the aforementioned leaderboards), that challenges players to make as many points as they can on one life. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes rather than one life.

So there are only two remaining elephants in the room to discuss. First: Is this game worth its $8 price tag? And second, is it worth buying if you already subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, which includes a version of this game on its Nintendo Entertainment System app. To be perfectly honest… no, I don’t think so, at least not for most people. The changes to the “VS” version of the game aren’t enough to really set this game apart and make it feel like a different game, but they are enough to frustrate the muscle memory of players who are used to the NES version of the game. What’s more, in prior Virtual Console releases of this game, the price was set at $5, making the $8 price tag here seem like gouging. Finally, with the NES version of the game already on Nintendo Switch Online, the only reason to buy this game is if you aren’t subscribed to that service, or prefer to own outright the classic games on your Switch, and don’t mind that this isn’t quite the version of the game you may be familiar with… or if you’re a collector or completionist who only wants this game as a fun little curiosity rather than an actual game.

Either way, despite being mostly the same game as one of the greatest videogames of all time, it’s hard for me to give this release a full-hearted recommendation. Arcade Archives VS Super Mario Bros. is a decent enough port of the Arcade game it’s based on, but that game is a frustratingly-altered port of the classic Platformer it is based on, and the combination of a high price tag and the original version of the game being available on Nintendo Switch Online remove most of the reason anyone would buy this.

tl;dr – Super Mario Bros. is an absolute classic Platformer, and VS. Super Mario Bros. is a version of the game that’s altered just enough to be frustrating without changing enough to make it feel truly new. On top of this, the price seems too steep, especially with the NES version of Super Mario Bros. being easily accessible on Nintendo Switch Online’s NES app. As a result, while this is still a great game, it’s a game that almost no one will find worth buying.

Grade: B-

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