Super Mario Bros. turns 35 and celebrates it with a battle royale video game for Nintendo Switch that is well worth trying. It will surprise you.
This year we have, among others, two important birthdays; the 40th anniversary of Pac-Man and the 35th anniversary of the NES Super Mario Bros. video game, the legendary 8-bit cartridge. On the occasion of this anniversary, the great N has set its imagination in motion to offer the consumer a ton of products to commemorate such a significant date.
One of them is Super Mario Bros. 35, a battle royale of the mustached plumber created by Arika, the same developer who brought us another hidden gem called Tetris 99. And the surprising thing is that it works as well as the game of tetriminos does without lose the characteristic essence of the platform on which it is based. A little gem for Nintendo Switch that we reveal here.
Fun with expiration
As you can imagine, Super Mario Bros. 35 is an online video game available only for subscribers of Nintendo Switch Online, as is the case with Tetris 99. However, in this title the maximum number of participants per game is reduced to 35 , the number that refers to the birthday of the original title. Another notorious difference with respect to the block video game is that Super Mario Bros. 35 has an expiration date; Specifically, it will no longer be available on the last day of March 2021, the same date as the availability of Super Mario 3D All-Stars in the Nintendo digital store. There is still another difference to review although this is even more palpable, and that is that Super Mario Bros. 35 is a platform video game with what this entails.
Now, are both Arika products so different? The truth is that not too much because both are battle royale —all against all— where the time and the actions of our competitors are vital for the future of our games. And the formula of the creators of Tetris 99 applied to this title works of scandal.
The program, which has two main game modes, invites us to participate in a pitched battle against 34 other players while we play the original Super Mario Bros. from the NES with slightly modified screens for the occasion. And how do you eat that? Easy. As we eliminate enemies from the screen we can send their “ghosts” to our rivals using various game strategies. For example, you can add enemies to the players with less time available, the one with the most coins, or counterattack those who keep sending you their enemies.
Along the way and as a mark of the saga, we collect coins that we can exchange for special objects such as fire flowers, mushrooms or the invincibility star, which will make our relentless fight much less traumatic. Collecting coins is almost as or more important than eliminating enemies since any external help is vital to keep us the last ones standing. Especially when the game is somewhat advanced —they tend to be very long—, it is possible that on our screen Goombas, Koopa Troops, Bowsers and even Hammer Brothers are everywhere.
If you die, you are disqualified from the fight, although you receive experience with which you can level up our profile. At the same time and at that moment, the video game will count the actions you have done during the last game in order to check if we have advanced in the daily missions that the title asks of us.
The second game mode is called Special Battle and in it we are offered temporary events where the premise is the same but with changes in the game. For example, that all screens are the same or have the same theme. Beyond these two modes there is another called Training in which you can practice the different levels of Super Mario Bros. without the pressure of more players or time against you. Of course, you can only use the levels that you have unlocked in the main mode. That is, if you have reached world 2-2, you can practice up to that screen.
The old with the new
Little can be asked of a free title, so fun and as a tribute to a classic in the history of video games. The screens are not only the originals —with certain changes— but they respect the graphics 100%. Only new and current material has been used for the interface itself and the gameplay is the same as 35 years ago, that of Super Mario Bros.. The only downside, and this is almost a thought aloud, is that the JoyCon is not ready for this type of video game. There is no common crosshead like the one required by this type of 2D game and analog is not very comfortable for the situation. The need for another type of control knob with a good crosshead becomes apparent after a short time of play, for example, the Hori Joycon.
With music it happens as with the visual section, nothing to object. The classic melodies of the original, some remixes for the occasion and all sorts of iconic effects from the saga that will make you smile.
It is translated into Spanish although there is little material to cut and what there is is perfectly understood. It does not have a story mode or much more than both game modes practically the same but still fun is a while.
CONCLUSION
Super Mario Bros. 35 should have come to stay but, for now, it seems that it will not be like that, at least we can enjoy it until the end of March 2021. It is surprising how a genre called battle royale or all against all is so good taken to a saga of platforms such as Super Mario Bros. and how addictive it is. No matter how many times you have passed the original, this is another world that is worth trying. One more turn of the screw to the genre that Mario stars in, which makes him feel that neither painted, although, since we are here, it would not hurt if they had added some more game mode …
THE BEST
- Addictive like few others.
- A tribute to the height.
- A great twist on the original rig.
WORST
- Two game modes and both are very similar to each other.
- With an expiration date … and fairly close to launch.
Good
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, has quality and does not present serious flaws, although it is missing elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
