Member the games you used to play? We member. The basement at the Hardcore Gamer office has a section known as the Crust Room, with an old grey couch and a big old CRT TV. All the classic systems are down there collecting dust, so in an effort to improve the cleanliness of our work space, we dust off these old consoles every so often and put an old game through its paces, just to make sure everything stays in working order. We even have a beige computer with a floppy disk drive.

As an adult the majority of newer games that cater to personal interest are rated M or T. This doesn't mean that there's a shortage of great games that cater to younger audiences, it's just that those seem less personally interesting. This was not always case. In more youthful and innocent times, the gorefests intended for mature audiences only would never be allowed near a Nintendo console. Nintendo consoles were generally more wholesome and there were tons of family-friendly games. Recent viewing of the new Mario movie was a reminder that once upon a time Super Mario Bros. were among my favorite games, and while tastes may shifted in adulthood, it can't be denied how great so many Mario games are.

Super Mario All Stars on Wii is a port of a SNES game which is a simple collection of four Mario games remade with a 16-bit facelift. The included games are Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3. Aside from the redone graphics and music, the gameplay remains true to the original games with just a couple exceptions. The difficulty in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was slightly reduced by adding more 1-Ups and checkpoints along with making the poison mushrooms easier to spot. The other major change was a quality-of-life improvement which was adding save slots to each game so players could continue their process across multiple play sessions.

Having four classic Mario games on a single Wii game seems like it would be a great thing, but this collection was met with negative critical and consumer reception when it was launched in 2010. People like to toss the term lazy cash grab around when any port/remake/remaster doesn't check every box they thing the remaster should, but this is a case where lazy cash grab applies. The games themselves are great, there's no question about that. This collection on the other hand is the exact same collection that was released on SNES back in 1993. With the space on the Wii disc they could have included the two Super Mario World games or other spin offs like Mario Kart or Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Or even some Gameboy, N64 or Gamecube Mario games. Even some videos like Shigeru Miyamoto talking about the games would have helped fill up the largely empty space on that Wii disc. What we got was simply a port of a 17 year old game containing remakes of even older games.

The numbered Super Mario Bros. titles seem straight forward, but the uninitiated might be wondering about The Lost Levels. Legend has it that the original Super Mario Bros. 2 was considered too difficult for western gamers. It was similar to the original Super Mario Bros. but greatly increased the difficulty, adding in poison mushrooms and wind effects on top of more difficult platforming challenges. This attitude is why the real game never saw a western release until it was remade for Super Mario All Stars. The viewpoint of games being too difficult for western gamers wasn't limited to this either. When Final Fantasy IV was released in America as Final Fantasy II on SNES it was significantly easier than the normal Japanese version.

What was released in America in 1988 as Super Mario Bros. 2 is really an altered version of a game with an Arabian setting called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. The four playable characters were remade into Mario, Luigi, Princess and Toad along with some other alterations to make things look more Mario-esque like the inclusion of mushrooms. The setting, enemy characters and general gameplay was a huge departure from Super Mario Bros. which probably had some players wondering who is Wart and what happened to Bowser and the goombas, but some just accepted it as the second entry being significantly different from the original and then returning to form in the third entry as was the case with Zelda and Castlevania. Despite being so different, and technically not even a real Mario game, Super Mario Bros. was still a commercial and critical success and an essential inclusion in this collection.

As is the case with just about any retro game, the classic Super Mario titles will seem on the simplistic side if viewed through a modern lens. Regardless of that they were the gold standard for platforming in their time which shouldn't be surprising considering how well received the modern Mario games are. Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and Super Mario Bros. 3 followed the same template and building on each other with each subsequent release. The Lost Levels added a couple new surprises and ramped up the difficulty but otherwise didn't stray too far from the original. Super Mario Bros. 3 added an overworld map between stages along with new powers for Mario such as the ability to fly with a racoon tail or swim with speed and agility in a frog suit. This entry also introduced the Koopalings, Bowser's seven mischievous underlings who were all given parodies of more famous names. Super Mario Bros. 2 is the odd game out for reasons mentioned above, but is still a beloved Mario title. The new cast of enemy creatures and the weaponization of turnips gave this entry a completely different feel, but despite the vast differences has enough Mario DNA to feel like an essential part of this collection.

One of the interesting aspects of these type of collections is being able to observe how a series evolves over time. Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 share the same core mechanics and general story of Bowser kidnapping the princess and sending his turtle troops and foul fungi out to stop Mario and Luigi from saving her. Beyond that Mario 3 has greatly expanded on the premise and making it a much more advanced game, setting the groundwork for the later Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Aside from gaining a historical perspective on Mario's roots, these games are timeless classics. Yes, the graphics look dated and the game mechanics are on the simpler side but they hold up incredibly well. Going on a turtle-stomping quest to rescue the princess is just as enjoyable as a bitter old man as it was at nine years old.

Super Mario All Stars on Wii is a bare bones collection of some great Mario games. Should they have thrown in some bonus features or additional games instead of just releasing a 17 year old SNES game on a Wii disc? Most reasonable people would say yes. But getting past that and just examining the games, there's a lot of fun to be found in this collection. These remade Mario games represent some of the best platforming from the 8-bit era which can be enjoyed by everyone. Super Mario All Stars hasn't been rereleased since the 2010 Wii version, but the SNES version is currently available with a Switch Online subscription.

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