<center> Hello everyone, hope you're doing well, and thanks for joining me today for my Mario review! In honer of the new Mario Odyssey game released on the Nintendo Switch, and all the success it's having, I wanted to go back to where it all started 32 years ago. Three Mario games came out for the original Nintendo Entertainment System and anyone who grew up playing these will probably have fond memories of all three. Each of them are well done, classic games, that somehow manage to be completely different from each other, while still feeling the same in a lot of ways. But which one is the best? Well I suppose that's going to be different for everyone, based on your time spent playing them. One thing's for sure though, they're all fantastic games in their own way, and gaming wouldn't be as big as it is now without them. </center>
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<center> Super Mario Bros. 1 was released for the NES way back in 1985 and it was a huge success. This title defined platform games, and countless other titles have taken inspiration from it's simplistic, yet addicting and fun gameplay style. At the time of it's release nobody had ever seen anything like it, especially not in their homes. Before this came around all people had were Atari consoles and the graphics on those games were terrible, and in my opinion they're pretty much unplayable today. </center>
<center> But Mario 1 still holds up and is incredibly fun, even for someone like me who's played it countless times since I was a kid. I let my 5 year old nephew play it with me last week and he loved it. Not only was it simple enough for him to grasp the controls and concept, but he had such a good time playing it he didn't want to put the controller down. I think that's a testament to how good this original Mario is, it's not just nostalgia, it's just as good for someone who's never played it before. </center>
<center> Mario 1 also gets credit for saving the gaming industry altogether. Back in the early 1980's the gaming market crashed and everyone thought that it was the end for video games. Then Nintendo came along and not only saved it from becoming extinct, but sparked a revolution of games that took off like a rocket, and still continues to thrive today thirty plus years later. Even though this does deserve all the credit in the world, it isn't a perfect game, and by today's standards it's very simple and limited when it comes to game mechanics. Basically the entire game is knowing when and where to jump. Even it's two sequels are far more complex than this original game, and in my opinion they're also much better. </center>
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<center> Super Mario Bros. 2 was released on the NES a few years later in 1988, and it was drastically different from it's predecessor. It still received mostly positive reviews when it came out, despite being almost nothing like the original. In this game you get to choose from one of four characters at the beginning of each level, Mario, Luigi, Toad, or the Princess. Each one has their own unique attributes that would make you favor one over the other. Mario is more well rounded, Luigi can jump really high, Toad moves quickly, and the Princess can hover for a few seconds. My favorite was usually always the Princess, but I'd make sure to give each one a try. </center>
<center> The game mechanics are totally different in Mario 2 as well. Now you can pick up items and throw them at enemies. There are potions you can find that create a doorway, and if you place it in the right spot you can find a mushroom that extends your life bar. At the end of each level you get to play what is essentially a slot machine to try and win more lives. But the thing I enjoy most of all about this game, is that at the end of each set of levels, or stage, there is a unique boss that you must defeat. In Mario 1 it's always a castle at the end of the stage, and it's always Bowser you must defeat, in Mario 2 it's different every time and some of the bosses are really cool and interesting. </center>
<center> A lot of people don't realize that the reason this game stands out from the rest of the Mario games on the NES, is because technically it isn't a Mario game at all. After the success of the first one, Nintendo got straight to work on a sequel. They made it look and play almost exactly like the original, but ramped up the difficulty times ten. This was released only in Japan and was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews. Nintendo panicked and never brought the game out anywhere else. Instead they took a game that was already being made called, Doki Doki Panic, and replaced the four characters with Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess, and that is what we all know as Mario 2. That's why it's so completely different, and I think that's why I like it so much. </center>
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<center> Lastly Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in 1988 and was the last Mario game to come out for the NES. At the time this was met with a hugely positive reception, with some even calling it, "the Mona Lisa of gaming." For the third installment in the series Nintendo took the gameplay style of the original and added a ton of new features. Where in the first game you were pretty much limited to jumping, this time you had a slew of new mechanics to play around with. You could slide down hills, pick up and throw special blocks, and freely climb up and down vines. But the biggest, and my favorite additions, are all the new power-ups. You can find so many different power-ups that turn Mario into things like, a raccoon that can fly short distances, a frog that can jump high and swim efficiently, even one that turns you into a hammer brother. These are what makes this game so special, and what sets it apart from the other two. </center>
<center> Level design this time around has been changed quite a bit too. Instead of three small levels that make up a stage, now each one has an overworld map consisting of several levels and branching paths to take. In each stage there are Mushroom Houses where you can play mini-games to try and win extra lives or power-ups. Each stage has it's own theme such as a desert, an ice world, even a world where everything is giant sized which was always my favorite one. At the end of each stage instead of entering a castle to fight Bowser, this time you had to enter an airship level, and the boss was one of Bowsers kids. </center>
<center> Mario 3 did a lot to add to what made the original so great, and it was done in a way that made the game much more fun. The size of each kingdom was a huge step up from the normal three level design, and all the new powers you could collect gave each player a choice in how they wanted to go about beating the game. On top of everything else there's a ton of secrets to find in Mario 3. If you knew where to fly in certain levels, you might find a hidden doorway or chest that contained something special. There are hidden flutes to find that can warp you to later parts of the game, but they're not easy to find unless you're very familiar with the games layout. </center>
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<center> All three of these games have stood the test of time and are the very definition of classics. Each one is still a lot of fun to play through and will provide people of all ages with hours of enjoyment. The first one is so simple, but the design is so well done that even today I go back and play it quite a bit, trying to beat my time. The second one is so drastically different in almost every way from the other two that I can see why some people aren't too big on it. But for me the ability to choose who you want to play as, and the addition of all the awesome bosses is still something that keeps me coming back to play it again. It's so unique, and the story behind it is fascinating to me, not to mention the fact that it's been very influential to other games in the series, with a lot of it's enemies carrying over to later titles. </center>
<center> The third Mario game feels more like Mario than the second one, and in a lot of ways it's pretty much the same style as the first, just better looking and with more mechanics added to it. I think if you asked people what their favorite one was, most people would say that the third one was the best, and it's hard to argue with that. They're all exceptional games that forever changed the video game landscape and trying to pick one that's the best is not an easy task at all. </center>
<center> But after going back and playing each one again recently, I have to say that my personal favorite is definitely, Super Mario 2. It's just so strange in comparison to the others and I find it to be the most fun to play. The levels are well done and unique, the new abilities are great to use, and the memorable boss fights stand out from the rest. So for me, the answer to what is the best Mario game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, has to be, Mario 2. </center>
<center> Thank you for checking out my classic Mario post, I hope you enjoyed it! What's your favorite one? </center>