Oh boy, it’s Super Boy (this should be the game’s description). It’s basically just Super Mario Bros. for the Sega Master System with a different name. This game was originally on the MSX only, but it was put onto the SMS by Zemina. I really like playing this game for some reason, but it is frustrating and disappointing. I’ll describe the reasons why throughout this review, but for now we’re still in the introduction. OK, now we’re done. Let’s get to the review!

Graphics (looks of objects): 7.5/10

I can say without a doubt that the graphics are this game’s biggest strength. They have their flaws, but for the most part they resemble the original Super Mario Bros. One thing I don’t get about the graphics is that there are some glitchy ones in World 1-2. They seem to be inanimate objects and all you can do is stand on them. But that isn’t any fun. Ignore them and just play the game!

Another strange (and hilarious) thing about this game is what happens when you pause! The graphics and the game itself stop working and the game pretty much poops itself. This doesn’t seem to ever happen on the title screen when it’s standing still though. It just freezes the game. But that isn’t any fun. Don’t pause and just play the game!

Other than those strange flaws with the graphics, they’re pretty good but not perfect. The sky is a dark blue when it’s supposed to be a light blue, but it still fits in with the game. I just assume it’s always nighttime in this game. Mario is just a basic red and white instead of his original colors, and that doesn’t change when you grab a fire flower. The blocks and question-mark blocks look great. The enemies look right for the most part, but in underground levels the Goombas are still brown when they should be blue. Even Bowser looks great! Don’t tell him I said that, he’ll come and steal the princess again and tell her she looks great. Well, maybe he will anyway. Apparently the creators of this game were able to resist making Bowser ugly on purpose.

Graphics (animations): 5/10

I was impressed with some of the animations. The best animation in my opinion is the animation when Mario gets a coin from a question-mark block. It looks so similar to the one from Super Mario Bros! Other good animations include stomping a Goomba or Koopa, entering a castle after letting go of the flagpole, Cheep-Cheeps flying, and enemies dying from a fire flower to the face. I don’t want to go on and on but basically some animations are well done, but some could be improved a lot. Some are just funny. Some are missing!

When Mario jumps in his normal, short form, part of his head is slightly misaligned. But not enough to where it’s creepy so it isn’t that bothersome. When Mario slides down the flagpole, he doesn’t even grab it, he just floats down! Mario, if you can float, why couldn’t you just do that every time you jump? Then this game wouldn’t be so hard.
Mario has no crouching animation. I tried to crouch and I discovered something amazing. After stomping on an enemy, if you hold down to crouch and keep holding it while jumping, you can see a Goomba in the middle of Mario. Very weird! Mario shrinking happens in an instant instead of there being an animation for it. There’s no animation for Mario falling into an underground level. He just appears at the bottom. Bowser doesn’t shoot any flames at you, he just walks and jumps.

When Mario approaches a pipe, there’s no Piranha Plant there. I don’t think it would have been too hard to animate it, but oh well. The most amusing animation is the cutscene before World 1-2. Mario is running faster than I can make him run, but he’s moving so slow! The music is sped up also. I don’t like the animation where Mario beats a castle and goes to see Toad, because the axe Mario can touch is missing so he just suddenly moves automatically. Also, Toad is missing! We have no idea who’s talking to Mario and whoever is talking to Mario doesn’t have much to say. He just says “Sorry nothing”. That can be misleading. Is he apologizing for Toad’s absence? Is he sorry that the princess is in another castle? Is he sorry that he has nothing to say to me for all my hard work, jumping and banging my head on blocks all day?

Finally, the transition from world to world and level to level is very rushed. The second Mario walks in a castle or beats a castle, it displays the screen that tells you what world and level you’re in. You barely even have time to read the “Sorry nothing” message! Whoever that dude is should apologize for that too.

Sound (effects): 3/10

The sound effects are pretty bad except for short Mario jumping and Mario getting a coin. When Super Mario bangs his head on a block that doesn’t contain a coin, it just makes a beeping sound. Super Mario jumping doesn’t sound good either. The sound the game makes, when enemies die from a fireball to the face, reminds me of a sound effect from Burger Time Deluxe (when you run out of pepper spray). I don’t think that was an intentional reference, but it’s still cool.

Sound (music): 6.5/10

I like the outside level music. It sounds a lot like the Super Mario Bros. music, and it’s upbeat yet not too loud and pretty calm-sounding. However, the underground level music (which is also the castle music for some reason) isn’t very consistent. At certain parts, it goes slower or faster. It still sounds nice and calm though. There’s no castle music in this game because it plays the underground music in each castle. That definitely isn’t fitting since the castle levels are supposed to have music that makes you take the level more seriously, and get nervous and intimidated.

Like I mentioned earlier, the music is sped up in the cutscene before World 1-2. I don’t think they should have sped it up even though Mario is speedwalking to the pipe. It’s supposed to only play the first few notes from the song and then stop, but it keeps going until Mario reaches the inside of the pipe. At least the music speeds up when you reach 100 on your time limit. You can still get that rushed feel from that time limit like Super Mario Bros had.

Addictiveness: 8/10

I know I said earlier that the graphics are this game’s biggest strength, but most people wouldn’t become addicted to this game like I have. I even became addicted to Super Mario World NES for a while! Why must I become addicted to all the “off-brand” versions of Mario games?!
Anyway, for me this game is addictive and I have no idea why. It might be because it’s very challenging and I find Super Mario Bros easy. It might be because I enjoy listening to the music.

Story: What story?/10

There is no story to this game. I’m assuming it’s supposed to be the same as Super Mario Bros. But I don’t know since when you beat a castle you get that silly “Sorry nothing” message and you get a “To be continued” message when you beat the game. At least Bowser is in the game so there’s a main antagonist. I think it’s interesting that the creators of this game decided to make it a different kind of series where you beat one game and you have to play the next to continue the… story? instead of getting a happy ending in each game. But that isn’t any fun. Ignore that… whoever the text-talking guy is and just play the game!

Depth: 4.5/10

Well, half the game is missing. I say that because I’ve already gotten started with Super Boy II (uh-oh) and it is basically Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels. The levels in this game only go up to 4-4 instead of 8-4. It’s just the first 4 worlds of Super Mario Bros. and then it takes you back to the beginning in an endless loop until you lose all your lives. However, I can almost guarantee it will take quite some time for you to beat the game.

Difficulty: 8.5/10

This is the highest rated category, but it isn’t the game’s biggest strength. The difficulty is mostly flawed due to unnecessarily tricky jump mechanics and bad enemy mechanics. It’s like Super Mario World NES’s jump mechanics but worse! You have to press hard on the jump button for Mario to jump high enough to get anywhere. If you just tap the button like you would normally, Mario does a jump so short it’s funny. If you’re next to an enemy and he does that, you can’t even stomp on the enemy. Mario will die instantly because he’s a lazy jumper!

Most levels aren’t extremely hard once you adjust to the weird mechanics of Mario and the enemies. However, some levels are absolutely brutal! All the castle levels (except 4-4) as well as 2-2 and 2-3 gave me so much trouble. The funny thing is, the easiest castle level by far is 4-4. The last level in the game! 2-2 and 2-3 are such a pain because the Cheep-Cheeps have cheep-cheep mechanics. They seem to be kind of random. The worst part of their mechanics is that they can turn back and hit me! There’s so many of them and they’re so random that I have to use savestates extensively to get past both levels. Also, instead of flying fast, they fly slow. But I’m thankful for that part because I don’t know if I ever would have gotten past 2-2 and 2-3 if they were faster!

Bowser is supposed to be the most difficult enemy to get past, but instead, he’s the easiest. I had less trouble jumping over him and surviving than I did with some of the Goombas! Power-ups can pop out of random question-mark blocks. One time I got a mushroom right at the beginning of World 1-1, but another time I got a mushroom in the middle of the level. This can add to the difficulty and make things a bit unfair. Also, the fire flower can be picky. It will let me shoot a couple fireballs in the span of a few seconds, and then it won’t let me shoot any more until I run some more. It’s like the fire flower is re-charging while I run, which is a clever concept. But that isn’t any fun. Use your fireballs wisely and just play the game!

Overall: 5.5/10

This game wouldn’t be that bad to play, or even speedrun, if it wasn’t for the unbalanced difficulty curve. The graphics could be a little better, and the sound could be improved to sound more like Super Mario Bros. It could have better physics to make it more addictive and fun to play, it could have a story, and it could include all 8 worlds of Super Mario Bros. Other than all that, this game isn’t so bad! That wraps it up for this review. Thank you for taking the time to check it out, I hope you enjoyed reading it! Or maybe you just skimmed through it. But that isn’t any fun. Read the review and just play the game!

This looks like a hack game of super Mario. Not a bad hack. I might play it myself it depends. Anyways this is a good review pac its been a while since you have done one. And its great to see you do one. I don't really have much to say but I will look forward to when you make your next review or when you have the time to do another.

Eniitan : Yeah it's kind of a hack of Super Mario Bros. for the NES, but this game is on the Sega Master System. Thank you, I'm hoping to make reviews more often I have made another review recently that I'll be posting today.

PacmanandMariofan : Good to hear! I'll post in that one too when you have it up. Its a rather unusual hack game to play that's why I might check it out and see if I like it or not. ^-^