by Burn Victim! on Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Though it was a hit in the arcades when it debuted there, being Mario's first top-billing in a video game and following his success as hero & villian in the blockbuster Donkey Kong series, today this early Mario game is known best through it's remakes: the "battle mode" it became in Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES; and the slightly tweaked, graphically enhanced edition tacked on the Gameboy Advance Mario games. The Mario 3 version was quite fun and the Advance version is a decent tribute, but it's true - the real thing is better and quite an entertaining 2-player game on it's own. It's even okay as a one-player challenge. Classic, single-screen Arcade fun. I think the main reason it's not recalled as an arcade classic on the level of Pac-Man or Centipede is because of the sudden success of the similarly titled (but extremely different) Super Mario Bros. series not long after.
-Burn Victim!
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