Not so superSo, once SMB was released, it almost single-handedly revived the American gaming industry, and the game itself is still regarded as a classic even today. Wouldn't you want to be like Nintendo at this time? Sitting pretty with a new franchise and a newly revived market for your gaming system?
Well, Zemina decided to make a Mario clone for a South Korean MSX knockoff, though it works on a regular MSX as well. Given that this game is from South Korea, I shouldn't get my hopes up too high, but let's just see how this game stacks up.
Graphics:Mediocre at best...
The MSX has its limitations, but this is just barely mediocre even by the system's standards. Objects are missing details from the NES version, basically all objects either have two colors or are monochrome, and it just doesn't look especially good for an MSX game. The best part about the game is the scrolling, which is fast and smooth, unlike some other MSX games.
+Good scrolling
-Little detail
-Objects are either two-colored or monochrome
Music/Sound:Better than one might expect
While the music and sound isn't bad, it's watered down a lot for the MSX's standards. The music is taken from the original, but it's missing a song or two, and one of the songs has been very badly remixed. The sound isn't much better, and almost none of it is from SMB.
+At least the music is somewhat decent...
-but it's stolen.
-Sound effects aren't exactly excellent
Gameplay:They somehow managed to screw up SMB
While this game is basically the MSX version of SMB, it has many more problems. Let's see exactly what these problems are...
For one thing, the controls are way beyond just being slippery, to the point where you'll probably end up running off ledges accidentally if you try to run in most levels. Jumping is almost completely uncontrollable, and Mari-I mean, Super Boy runs extremely fast, and slides a LOT when stopping. This makes it a lot more difficult to platform and such than it should be.
For whatever reason, the hit detection is horrendously off, to the point where you can easily die from touching something harmful, even when there's an obvious gap between you and said harmful object. Example:I try to run under Bowser, and when he's about a foot above me, I die for no reason at all.
Another notable problem is the fact that items are randomized - and the chance of actually getting something useful is hopelessly low. About 80% of the time you just get coins. Also, all invisible blocks are gone, and, well, actually, all blocks at all that aren't question-mark blocks no longer produce items at all. This means that there's a massive shortage of items, which makes the game even harder for the wrong reasons, mainly due to the fact that it's completely luck-based, and unless you're lucky enough to bankrupt a casino, you probably won't get the items you need when you need them. One run through the game, I get multiple mushrooms, and on the next run, I get no powerups at all.
The game is quite glitchy, and glitches are easy to perform. The most notorious one - the Double Jump glitch. Just jump on an enemy, press the jump key(which is assigned to the Ctrl key, for some odd reason), and watch Super Boy soar up into the air again, without even having to touch solid ground again. Ah, glitchy Korean bootlegs.
Do you know what the biggest kicker is? All the missing content from the NES version! Floating platforms of every kind except the "drop quickly when you stand on them" are omitted, making the platforming even more of a chore, parts of levels seem to be cut out, some of the levels are poorly suited for Super Boy's game engine, and some of the levels had to be
completely redone so that they would actually be possible to complete. You'd think that'd be their first clue as to not port the game over to the MSX...
Then, the worst bits of missing content - to my knowledge, the warps are gone, along with all of the underwater levels, and then the absolute worst part...*drumroll*
HALF OF THE LEVELS ARE MISSING. No, I'm not kidding, worlds 5 through 8 are gone, never to be seen in Super Boy. I guess their budget ran out after programming worlds 1 through 4. Seriously, I didn't think it was possible to fail this hard at backwards-porting a game. I've seen Chinese bootlegs with more faithfulness to the original!
Oh, and the ending? You beat world 4-4, and then you go to where the princess should logically be, and you find...nothing? The game gives you the text "END", and sends you back to world 1-1. I've seen Atari games with more satisfying endings than that!
Overall, Super Boy isn't anywhere near being good, and it still confuses me exactly how this game got multiple sequels. After Super Boy II, you'd think that people would wise up and stop buying Super Boy games...or, better yet, stop buying games from Zemina at all. I think they kinda need to find a new line of work, if they programmed this.
-Really glitchy
-Randomized items
-Extremely poor controls
-Ridiculous amounts of missing content
-Terrible ending
-Ridiculous hit detection
Overall Score:F - It has some "So Bad It's Good" qualities, but they are overwhelmed by the flaws and such.
Wait...I think it's time for a skit! Of course, "professional" reviews need skits, right? Right??
(Nov) So, who would want to play this? It's so terrible...
Suddenly, Mario busts down the door and runs in.
(Mario) It's-a-me, Mario!
(Nov) It's Mario! In my own home! I never thought I'd see this day!
(Mario) I think-a I have something to-a discuss with you.
(Nov) ...like what?
(Mario) You were just-a playing Super-a Boy. That unlicensed-a clone of my game?
(Nov) Yeah, and?
(Mario) Why are you-a playing it? Why not play-a my game?
(Nov) I'm a reviewer, I have to play bad games and review them, and this game is a prime target.
(Mario) But you are-a drawing attention to-a this game!
Then, Super Boy walks right through the open door.
(Super Boy) What? What is this ripoff of me?
(Mario) No, YOU'RE-A the ripoff!
And then they began to fight with each other. SKIT END
As you can see, I have fulfilled my randomness and skit quotas in one bound. Nice, isn't it?
So, that's another review under my belt...I think you can guess what I'll review next.
Graphics
6 Sound
5 Addictive
1 Depth
1 Difficulty
10
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