Gaming Globe Reviews: Mario & Luigi.

[Super Smash Bros. Fan]

Note: Download & play Mario & Luigi online now on DOSGames.com: Mario & Luigi DOS Game

Here is my review of Mario and Luigi for the MS-DOS system:

Mario is an highly recognizable icon that almost every video game fan knows about. He's Nintendo's current mascot and has raked over 200 million games copies for Nintendo, resulting in billions of dollars flooding towards Nintendo. He has also made one of the most classic platforming games you'll ever see. How could a Mario platforming game go bad? Well, I apoligize for offending the creator of the game and I'm sure he really tried it, but he manage to suceed unintentionally.

Story: None, really, there's nothing.

Controls: Use the left and right arrow key to move Mario. Hold down the Ctrl button while using the left and right arrow key to go faster. Mario can jump with the Alt button and he can jump and run while doing so. He can also move while jumping. When you become Fire Mario, press the space button to fire flames. When you want to leave the game, just press the Esc. button to leave. The up and down button is used in the menu screen to access the main menu and the enter button in the main menu confirms your option.

The controls do work, but they are not perfect. For the most part, Mario can perform action easily in most cases, but sometimes, the controls can get very laggy and you wonder what's going on. If that happens, chances are that you just accidently flipped your computer screen, which is unecessary frustration and waste a lot of your time. just to fix. The lesson here is that you should never use Ctrl as one of the game controllers The controls gets an 5/10.

Gameplay: This is one of the first non-official Mario games I can recall, so it's quite simple.

You are Mario (Or Luigi, depending on the players used) and your goal is to get to the end of each stage. We have a few of the traditional enemies. They are Goombas, Koopas, and Piranah Plants. Mario can jump on the Goombas and Koopas, but not on Piranah Plants, but he can use Fire to extinguish them once as Fire Mario. Speaking of which, you have the Mushrooms and Fire Flowers. Mushrooms will turn you into Super Mario and Fire Flowers will turn you intro Fire Mario. With Fire Mario, you can use fire to knock out enemies. When you touch an enemy, you either revert from Fire Mario to Super Mario, Super Mario to normal Mario, or die if you're normal Mario. You start out with three lives and can earn lives with Green mushrooms, which add one life. When you die, you lose a life, which you can also lose by falling into an hole, spike, or lava. Lose all lives and it's Game Over. However, you have the option between having no saves and three save slots to use. There are only six levels in the game, so more advance Mario players like me should be able to complete this really quick. Quite litterally. Some pipes can lead you to different areas in the game and when you get to the end, you go down a pipe.

Graphics: For 1994, the fact that the creator had less then 25 MHz to work with, and being on an MS-DOS system, this is really impressive. The creator set out to make an game with paralax scrolling and he manage to do that flawlessly. It would also be solid on an SNES. Granted, it's not perfect. I believe the creator put too much efforts on the graphics to where other areas are ignored and the Paranah Plants only somewhat resemble there official counterpartners. Neverthless, this is well deserve an 8/10.

Sound. Ugh, it's absymal. If there was one thing that really took a hit, it was the sound department. I can't believe how poorly executed it was. My biggest gripe is that there is absolutely NO music. Quite litterally. I understand his computer was limited, but he could at least tried to squezze in some form of musics, had he limited his graphic focus. There are sound effects, but it's pitiful. It's like it was taken from Pong. I was massively disappointed by this, so I have no choice but to give it an 1/10. Yeah, it's that bad.

Bad aspects of gameplay: I do have some complaints about the gameplay. First of all, it's way too easy! I downloaded the game and I decided to test to see how long it would take me to complete the game. It took me under and hour to complete. UNDER AN HOUR! This is more suited for an flash game if he expects us to be satisfied with an game we can easily complete in an hour. It's also too short to classify as a game, it's more like an flash game, only back in 1994. I don't know why he manage to get people to actuallly play the game, but this is just sad how short the game is.

Good aspects of gameplay: There are some positives in this game. Obviously, it retains the same Mario game feel that we had over on the NES and SNES. The game is at least playable, if not unresponsive controls at times. It also has a save file, so people who are absolutely new to Mario games and don't know how to play it can start here. The gameplay gets an 5/10.

Overall: The game was an massive letdown for me, even for one person with an computer less then 25 MHz at the time. Now I don't blame you if you like the game and I do recognize that the creator did at least try to create an Mario game that we can enjoy. He had very good intentions. However, the game has aged very poorly and only the biggest of Mario fans would be able to actually download this game for free and say this is good. The game is not recommended to anyone else. So, I give it an 4/10. To the creator of the game, that was an nice try, but you fell short.

[dosraider]

Aha, a young creative writer, nice.

BTW, you really should better hold on to DGF's usual format, to know:
One game = One topic.
That's also the usual format on other sites ..... gets kinda messy and boring otherwise.

[Santhosh CHRiS]

That was a good honest well written review man. Btw the guy who made that game is Mike Wiering an old online friend of mine from Netherlands and that was his first game he ever made in 1994 when he was only 18 to practise Pascal programming. He never really intended it being published and all. I guess that's why it's a little rough around the edges. Still it brings back good memories whenever I play it.

He still makes games for both Dos and Windows but on a much more professional level WITH music in some of them and better sound effects, graphics, gameplay etc. so maybe you can make an interesting comparison with his first game with later ones

Check out all his games here.

http://www.wieringsoftware.nl

I personally recommend you try Charlie the duck 2. Happy gaming and keep reviewing

Oh and here's an interesting clip of Tiger Woods playing the Mario game you just reviewed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8RhCIvsjWc

[dosraider]

See SSB.Fan, Santhosh proves (once again) my point and makes a complete mess of your topic.

So I'll repeat:
Basics:
One game = one topic.
Edit this topic title and create a new topic for the (eventual) next reviews, and believe me: they are more then welcome here.
If you want you can add that blog link of yours on every first topic post.

[Santhosh CHRiS]

See SSB.Fan, Santhosh proves (once again) my point and makes a complete mess of your topic.

Wha... oooh.. what did I do now?

[Super Smash Bros. Fan]

@dosraider: I changed the title, there, happy? BTW, what do you mean by "If you want you can add that blog link of yours on every first topic post."?

@Santhosh CHRIS: Thank you very much for the compliment. I really do apperatice it.

The fact that you're a friend with an game developer is really something. Being that this is his first project, I can understand why it's relatively rough, so I have to keep him in mind while I'm making a game (Yes, I am making one, but it's currently is secret). I might also try some of his games in the near future.

[dosraider]

Why did you deleted that link....?

[Super Smash Bros. Fan]

@dosraider: You said that I should only do one game per thread, so I decided to get rid of all mentions of me saying my reviews will be on this thread.

[dosraider]

... If you want you can add that blog link of yours on every first topic post.

Not the same as 'delete that link' to your blog ....*sigh*.

Ah well, do as you wish.

[Santhosh CHRiS]

I can understand why it's relatively rough, so I have to keep him in mind while I'm making a game (Yes, I am making one, but it's currently is secret). I might also try some of his games in the near future.

Awesome! Can't wait for your game. Are you programming it into a dos game or are you making a flash game? Anywayz good luck and be sure to give us some updates and beta versions so we can test them for you as official game testers

Some links related to game making...

http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/coding

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker

http://flixel.org

[Super Smash Bros. Fan]

@Santhosh CHRiS: I'm using Gamemaker Lite Edition in Simple Mode right now, and considering that I don't work on the game every day and that I don't know everything (I'll learn eventually, so no need for help), progress will be very slow, but there will be progress.

Also, where can I make a thread about my game that I'm making?

[Santhosh CHRiS]

Also, where can I make a thread about my game that I'm making?

Here you go.

http://dosgames.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=5

I tried using Game Maker a while ago too. Couldn't finish any game except that boucning clown ball game in their tutorial lol