9th May 2013, 1:13 PM
I must disagree with your assessment of the graphics, but that's about it. The original NES graphics are a history lesson in how to make things stand apart from their background and look effective when the environment is moving. However, the Super Mario All-Stars game is lightyears ahead of the NES graphics. Personal preference means sometimes I'm in the mood for the classic look and sound, but this game's graphics can't be compared to the SNES game. They changed a FEW things, but not to the extent of Super Mario All-Stars. Had this game been released as an "Advance" game, they very likely would have reused the Super Mario All-Stars graphics as they did with the other Mario Advance releases. (This is outside of elements that the updated All Stars graphics "broke", such as the paralax version of the wall in world 8 which no longer partially "hides" a coin block.)
The gameplay is excellent here. A glitch in All Stars results in Mario ACCELERATING upwards when he breaks a brick instead of decelerating the same amount downwards. Fans have fixed the glitch (it's a case of a number missing a negative sign, simple as that), but that requires using an emulator to experience. Not ideal, and Nintendo never got around to fixing it when the All-Stars rom was dumped on a Wii disk a few years back. The glitch throws off the gameplay, as being forced upwards when a block is broken means you get stuck on any bricks right next to the one you broke and have to wait to fall back down, instead of immediately being forced down and maintaining your forward momentum. Super Mario Bros. Deluxe fixes this glitch, or rather never had it being based on the original NES code base (an older version of the code, yes, they actually reused the same game code base for the All Stars remake, porting it to the SNES hardware).
Lost Levels is the one sore point in this version. They simplified it heavily and left out some levels besides. It is a challenge still, but not to the extent it originally was. Also, it only has one save file, compared to Super Mario Bros. 1 DX which has 3. I say get either the Lost Levels on Nintendo's eShop or a copy of All Stars to experience the original difficulty. Remember though, as Lost Levels uses the original game's engine, its All Stars version suffers the same glitch that Mario 1 does.
As for the rest of the package, I love it. All those extra challenges are very well done. They even changed Luigi's coloring a bit to make his fire flower form stand out from his "big" form (previously, they looked identical). The fire ghosts and fire flowers seem to be pink now instead of red, but that's just an oddity. The ghost races are incredibly hard at higher levels, and maxing out the score meter is one heck of a challenge. The field of view is now smaller, but they had fun with it in the special coin and egg hunts by hiding things just outside that shrunk field of view in some spots. (If they brought these bonuses to a new handheld, the "item hunt" gameplay mode would need to have a border around it to replicate the same challenge).
The gameplay is excellent here. A glitch in All Stars results in Mario ACCELERATING upwards when he breaks a brick instead of decelerating the same amount downwards. Fans have fixed the glitch (it's a case of a number missing a negative sign, simple as that), but that requires using an emulator to experience. Not ideal, and Nintendo never got around to fixing it when the All-Stars rom was dumped on a Wii disk a few years back. The glitch throws off the gameplay, as being forced upwards when a block is broken means you get stuck on any bricks right next to the one you broke and have to wait to fall back down, instead of immediately being forced down and maintaining your forward momentum. Super Mario Bros. Deluxe fixes this glitch, or rather never had it being based on the original NES code base (an older version of the code, yes, they actually reused the same game code base for the All Stars remake, porting it to the SNES hardware).
Lost Levels is the one sore point in this version. They simplified it heavily and left out some levels besides. It is a challenge still, but not to the extent it originally was. Also, it only has one save file, compared to Super Mario Bros. 1 DX which has 3. I say get either the Lost Levels on Nintendo's eShop or a copy of All Stars to experience the original difficulty. Remember though, as Lost Levels uses the original game's engine, its All Stars version suffers the same glitch that Mario 1 does.
As for the rest of the package, I love it. All those extra challenges are very well done. They even changed Luigi's coloring a bit to make his fire flower form stand out from his "big" form (previously, they looked identical). The fire ghosts and fire flowers seem to be pink now instead of red, but that's just an oddity. The ghost races are incredibly hard at higher levels, and maxing out the score meter is one heck of a challenge. The field of view is now smaller, but they had fun with it in the special coin and egg hunts by hiding things just outside that shrunk field of view in some spots. (If they brought these bonuses to a new handheld, the "item hunt" gameplay mode would need to have a border around it to replicate the same challenge).
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)