Super Mario Bros. 35

Developed by Arika, and released by Nintendo on October 1, 2020, Super Mario Bros. 35 brings competitive, baton royale gameplay to 1985's venerable Super Mario Bros.

After the success of 2019's Nintendo Switch online freebie, Tetris 99, Nintendo's brightest minds must have surely been thinking what other classic games can we make competitive? The answer? The NES' original breakout hit, the game that put Nintendo on the console map, and just in time for its 35th birthday, Super Mario Bros.

Little known fact: Super Mario Bros. 35 is sponsored by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

You'd be forgiven for wondering just how Super Mario Bros. could be made competitive. The original is the proto and uber-platform game. You control Mario, move left to right (you can't go backward once the screen has scrolled), jump on enemies to kill them (unless they've got a spiky top), jump over bottomless pits, and try to reach the flag at the end of each level before the level timer runs out. You collect coins along the way. Bricks hide additional coins, as well as power-ups. Power-ups include a mushroom, which makes you grow larger and one-hit tougher, a fire flower, which allows you to throw fireballs at your enemies, and an invincible star, which not only make you impervious to enemies, but deadly upon contact, for a limited amount of time. And that's the game.

 

Home, sweet home

I've got as much nostalgia for Super Mario Bros. as anyone. It is the game that made me beg my parents for an NES in the 80's. I couldn't get past level 8-3 back then, but I pulled my NES back out in high school in the late 90's, and finally beat it then. I mention this because any messing with Super Mario Bros. near-perfect formula has a high percentage chance of rankling my plumber's cap.

Wait, GREY GOOMBAS?!?! This is all wrong!!!

With that said, I love Super Mario Bros. 35. Developer, Arika (who also created Tetris 99), has found a pretty ingenious way to make this old classic competitive. 35 players (go figure) connect and square off against one another through Nintendo Online. Everyone starts on level 1-1, the stage identical to the way it looked 35 years before...except now, when you kill an enemy, it gets sent to one of your competitors screens. You can choose to send your defeated enemies to either the player with the most coins, the player with the least amount of time remaining on their timer, the player who's attacking you, or a random player.

Looks like somebody's about to get some Cheep Cheeps!

Picking up as many coins as possible is quite useful, as you can spend 20 at any moment to use an item box that randomly either gives you a mushroom, a fire flower, an invincible star, or a POW block (which automatically kills every enemy on screen). As for the timer, it increases every time you kill an enemy. This is where strategy starts to come in. If you kill enemies with a fireball, you only get a second added to the timer. You get two for jumping, but if you bounce off an enemy's head(by hitting the jump button at just the right time) and land directly on another one, you get three, then four, etc. Keep it going, and you can pile on the seconds. Even better if you can knock a Koopa shell into a long row of enemies--the seconds stack there, as well. 

I can hear the music just looking at this picture--by the way, all the classic music is intact here.

You lose Super Mario Bros. 35 by either running out of time, or dying a natural Mario death (getting killed by an enemy, or falling in a pit). You win by being the last Mario standing.

Let me tell you--this game is tough to win. There are some great players out there. I got second place for what felt like dozens of games in a row before I finally pulled out a victory...and I enjoyed every second of it. The mechanics here work. They might be simple, and the level selection might get a little repetitive, but overall, I had a lot of fun.

YEAH! I'M THE BEST! EAT IT, SUCKERS!!! THE OTHER 34 OF YOU SUUUUUCK!!!

"Level selection might get a little repetitive" is in regard to the way Super Mario Bros. 35 randomly selects stages for players. While you start at 1-1, then generally move on to 1-2, everything from there on out is randomized. Levels are randomly selected from a pool that is pre-chosen by players before each match. Each player can only gain a new level in their pool if they've encountered it while playing. Early on, as most players only had 1-1 and 1-2 unlocked, most matches mostly cycled through those two levels. That problem has started to abate recently, as more and more players have earned more and more levels...but unfortunately, Nintendo is about to pull this game from Nintendo Online. Super Mario Bros. 35's existence ends on March 31st...and I'm not sure why. Nintendo says the game was only intended to celebrate the anniversary, but it's so fun. I wish they'd keep it around. If you want to play it, you better play it now!

 

They can't get rid of this game...I haven't unlocked all the stages yet!!!

The game also contains a special mode, with pre-selected courses to navigate and compete in, and a practice mode, which lets you roam through any level you've earned at your leisure. My younger self would have surely appreciated this mode for the way it lets you plumb out every secret from Super Mario Bros. levels--without a ticking clock, or the threat of a game over hanging over your head. I almost hope Nintendo brings this game back one day for this feature alone. Whatever the case, I'm glad to have had this experience with Super Mario Bros. 35...however ephemeral it ended up being.

 

Always wanted to wander around 3-1 to my heart's content. Thanks, Super Mario Bros. 35. Nintendo, please don't get rid of this game!!

SCORE: 8.5/10