Super Mario Allstars Review by Dyse
SNES Reviews
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Super Mario Allstars Review

This game in my opinion, was just fabulous, not only do you get 3 of the NES classics you get 4, the original SMB2 that was never before released in the United States!

I that is more than worth the price tag on this fabulous game plus everything was updated, and the graphics look spectacular now. Some games didn't even need too much of an update, like in SMB3 but they got one.

My first impression on this was wow, this game looks great, it also had great and improved sound, everything took a serious step in the right direction this was easily one of the coolest games around at the time. Well I'll break this down into 4 separate parts for each game.

Story 10/10
 

SMB1

Once there were two plumber bros. Their names were Mario Mario, and Luigi Mario. They went to a strange house in queens and while fixing the tub and some pipes they got sucked down them. Some Toad People had mistaken them for the men who were suppose to rescue their Princess from the evil Bowser. You also have to rescue 7 other Toad High Priests. You two young men set out on your quest to rescue the princess, and to put a end to Bowser also known as King Koopa. Well this story is very old and dated and it goes through absolutely no plot twist or changes. You travel mindlessly through 32 stages to find the princess. Even so I still enjoyed this game and think it is one of the better games any kid could own.

SMB the lost Levels

To be perfectly honest since I don't have an instruction manual so I have no idea what this game was even about so I can give you what I gathered. Basically you're out against Bowser yet again. And some how Luigi is not with you. You must do it alone Mario through a lot of worlds this time to save the princess, and put a stop to the evil Bowser.

SMB2

I liked this story in this game a lot, and it was different that am why I think I liked it so much. There is an entirely different world, different from the one you were in the original Super Mario Brothers. There was this evil Toad who would not let the town people sleep, or have dreams. He was a nightmare Frog I believe. Anyway he has been brought forth, close to the way he has been brought there in the original to put a stop to this. This time him and Luigi are not alone, they have their newfound friends with them. Toad and the Princess, they are helping Mario put a stop to the evil nightmare Toad. Maybe not the best story in the world, but it was pretty good to say the least and went along perfectly with the cutesy atmosphere of the game.

SMB3

The story was pretty much like the first installment. Bowser kidnapped Princess toadstool again. Mario and Luigi must battle through 8 beautiful worlds to get her back. Even though this story has been used in the first installment, it still is good. I like the save the girl theme and it really isn't like most games that have the theme. Even though it was used it really didn't seem like it when I was young. Overall this is still a great story.


Graphics

SMB1 7.5/10

Both Mario & Luigi shared the same face and body nothing real different about either of them, except there color palettes. Mario is Red and black and Luigi is Green and white so you can tell them apart easier. Most of the stages are pretty colorful and all the enemies are colorful as well. Bowser looked the same at the end of every world though not too many changes with him. The backgrounds were pretty lifeless wit ha few hills and mountains in the background other than that not much else went on. There was fire works during certain stages after you enter one of those mini castle dungeon things. A few things however do look a lot better, as you notice the clouds in the background, and even the look of the brothers, is overall rounder, with fewer pixels.

SMB The Lost Levels 7.5/10

The graphics here were very much well exactly the same as those on the original Super Mario Brothers. Without really any noticeable difference, this contributed to the fact as why this game never made it across Seas. Anyway, even though, this is still a great looking game and I never played the one for Super Famicon so I can't compare the two. Well, the background and the game looks overall very good, and a treat for the eyes. I like the overall more rounded look of Mario, and how he moved better and jumped. He was a well-detailed character in this game. I liked how the enemies looked, as well and the bosses. These were some overall good graphics.
 

Mario Madness in SMB2


SMB2 8.0/10

These graphics were great, and were already better in my opinion than most of the things on the market quite frankly. Anyway each character was a different size and all four of them were highly detailed and showed a lot of detail in their faces and bodies. They were how you would aspect them to look and not how Mario & Luigi looked in SMB1. Mario was short and kind of plump, while Luigi was taller and thin. Toad was short, and the Princess wore a long dress, and she was around Luigi's height. The backgrounds on this game looked great.

Although I would have preferred more colors, because it seems like everything back there was the same color, they could have expanded here more I believe. Also the enemy graphics looked great, they were all different shapes and sizes and were really nice to look at. Although after a while some of them were just Pilate swaps. Some of the bosses in the earlier levels appeared as regular enemies in the later, levels this contributed to it I guess. They looked even better here than they looked on the NES version. I liked how they added last second details to the backgrounds, and to the characters. The enemies moved better and so did the playable characters. Overall though the graphics did an outstanding job and I really couldn't complain at all.

SMB3 10/10

The graphics here were superb. They were very close to what was seen on the SNES Super Mario World. On the SNES they looked even better than the almost SNES like version. They didn't really need too much improvement to start with in my opinion. Although I would have preferred to be left alone. Mario & Luigi really got a makeover in this version, and they both were a nice good size, and were very detailed to start with.

I really couldn't complain at all here. I really enjoyed some of the backgrounds, on the various theme-based level, the coolest would have to be giant world. Some of the other levels were cool to look at as well, and really weren't anything to sneeze at. The graphics on the bosses, which Bowser's children looked great and I really enjoyed their nice sizes, and the look that Nintendo added to this game.

Sound

SMB1 8.5/10

There was some very unforgettable music in this game. The music got a bit of a faced lift on the SNES, version and sounded better and more authentic than ever. Especially the main theme which almost all older players remember and enjoyed, and mostly everyone knows of the entire midi song. The sound FX were unforgettable too, who could forget the boing when Mario jumped? Not me that's for sure, or the sound effect Mario made when he shot fireballs that was great too.

I always enjoyed the music that played every time you beat a stage, which was great. Although after failing to beat a few stages when you first play this music tends to get annoying it sounds almost like its mocking in you in a strange way. The entire music department was great though and I don't have too many complaints here either.

SMB The Lost Levels 8.5/10

The music here sounded, very much like the music on the original SMB1. The only real difference was the main tune, got a little bit of an adjustment, and it sounded darker. All the old sound effects were here and they all were in full effect like the boing and the sound of fireballs. Some new sounds made the cut like, the sound of dying was a little bit new other than that it was quite the same as SMB1.

SMB2 9.0/10

The music in this game was outstanding and it was some of the best I heard from Nintendo at the time it came out, it sounded even better here on the SNES version. I really enjoyed some of the opening themes and on some of the many stages you playing, although at times it will have you missing some of the classics. Because the original theme, that was in Super Mario Brothers 1 was not included which I think was a huge mistake, and some of the other popular themes from the original are missing as well.

I really can't complain though, because there was other music in this game that more than made up for that music. I particularly liked some of the music that was in the end of the game especially the final boss music and some of the other final boss music. The sound effects in my opinion were good as well, and you heard some pretty good ones, like the sound of fire, and the enemy's projectiles, and the POW sound. As a whole though I would have to say the music and sound department did an excellent job in creating the game's atmosphere. The music worked well with the graphics to make this one exceptionally good game.

SMB3 10/10

Some of the songs heard in the original SMB are back and they sound more pristine than when you originally heard them. The music is great throughout the game and very remarkable. My favorite song is on the Giant World, that song is still stuck in my head. The new songs became classics after this game reached it's peak, the sound FX are back and even the old ones sound just as good. You still have the same sound of Mario jumping on monsters, and the unforgettable fireball sound.

They sound even better now, new sounds have been added like the sound of flying and a new death theme, which is just the original with a few new beats added. Not too many games could even hold a candle to the music in this one. Overall the sound department in this game is quite flawless, no one or I could ask for better than what we hear here.


Game Play 10/10

SMB1

This game was for one or two players not simultaneously. You had the two characters to select from Mario or Luigi. Neither one of them were better so it really didn't make a different which one you picked actually. You got power ups throughout the game like flowers mushrooms and stars and coins. Mushrooms made you grow, so that you would be a regular size and be way more detailed. Flowers turned you red no matter either if you were Mario or Luigi, or you could shoot fire out of your mouth. This was a very useful technique and most enemies just couldn't stand up to this.

Then you had stars these stars turned you invincible for a short period of time and you can power your way through tons of enemies. Then the coins you collected were used for when you got one hundred of them you would get an extra life. There were also green mushrooms, which also granted you an extra life. You also had super secret warp zones. These warp zones allowed you to pick a stage to go to, like World 4 6, so on. I really consider abusing the Warp Zones as cheating and the real way to beat the game is work your way up from World 1-1 to 8-4. Besides the regular side scrolling forest like stages you had two other different types of stages. You had the under water stages and the castle dungeon stages. The underwater stages were mega fun and you got to swim around, but you could run around on the bottom of the ocean as well. There was the castle type stages, these were usually harder than your usual stages. Some of the later ones you have to watch out for fireballs courtesy of Bowser. The difficulty in this game is easy, There was a save feature for the SNES version.

SMB Lost Levels

The game play here was exactly like that of SMB1. The only difference is this had one player, and way more worlds, so I will spare you another paragraph on the game play here =)

SMB2

This game was for one player only, I'm not 100% sure because it was a very long time ago since the last time I played, so I really don't remember =). Anyway like I said before you had 4 characters to chose from in the beginning of the game, all 4 characters were fun and had their own abilities. For instance Luigi was able to jump really high, Mario was strong, Princess Toad Stoll could almost fly, and Toad could run real fast. So it was really a matter of preference on which one you would chose, they were all fun and worth a try.

You had to go through each stage and get to the end usually a mini boss were standing in your path you had to defeat him each time to make it. Usually it was a Yoshi looking dinosaur that spit eggs, and later stage fire that stood in your way. You also had these Pow boxes which were used to hit enemies with. That was your main form of attack, unlike the other Mario brothers where you would jump on enemies. You could pick up vegetables usually to attack enemies with, or pick up other enemies and hurdle them at each other. The difficulty was hard, and there was a save feature on this SNES version.

Super Mario Bros 3 artwork of Racoon Mario and Luigi with the Princess and Toad


SMB3

This is for 1 or 2 players. Turn based as usual, the same moves and ideas have been carried over from the first one. Such as mushrooms flowers and stars as power ups. New power ups have been added, the most remarkable would be the leaf. Which turned Mario into Raccoon Mario. Raccoon Mario could fly after you held down the B button and jump flying was limited as Raccoon Mario. There was over ones like, Frog Mario, which allowed Mario to swim faster and better, he could also jump higher. There was sledgehammer Mario, Mario could throw sledgehammers like a Hammer Brother.

There was also an invisible Mario, which allowed Mario to be invisible for 5 seconds. This game didn't have warps like the first one instead you found whistles. Whistles take you to another part of the map right in front of a New World. There was one way which could make you fly longer, an ultra rare item called a p wing you can fly as long as you want. Each world had a different theme, there was a world where you were on a ship, Pipe World, a world where you had to work your way through different pipes. My all time favorite World Giant World. Everything was huge!!! When Mario picked up a huge Turtle Shell this looked extremely funny.

There was also bonus games you could play like match it, which was a memory game, where you get certain items and power ups. There was a World Map, which showed you where to go. There was Hammer Brothers all over this map, and if you beat them you would get a bonus item like a P Wing or something else. There were plenty of different things to do in this game. Another unique thing was that Bowser had children. Each one ran a particular world through out the game. There was always away to beat each one. The difficulty in this game is intermediate.

The replay value is through the roof because of the tons of secrets like the whistles and all the fun worlds, and suits Mario got. There was also a 2 player versus game that resembled the original Mario Brothers from the arcade. This game was mega fun, and it was always great to go back to. For the secrets or just for the sheer enjoyment of this game. The difficulty was intermediate and there was a save feature for this version.

 

Overall 10/10

All 4 of these games were top notch, and the lost levels were icing on the cake, well considering it was much like SMB1. The graphics on all 4 games took a huge improvement so did the sound, and the game play remained the same. If you have this version or the version that has Super Mario World, you got a good deal.

This in my opinion was one of the best compellations ever in a video game, and this was truly worth the money back, then and is a steal now. You don't get or see, games like this much any more, and this is one of the coolest games ever. Even to this day I still play this one a lot, and it is well worth it. This is a definite classic now a day, and is worth every thing you can get from it.Mario coming out of a door from Super Mario Advance

If you can find this game anywhere, now I highly suggest you pick this one up, you will never regret it, even if you have the games already for NES. That's a Dy$e Guarantee.

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