This will undoubtedly be a two-part entry, mostly due to the fact that it pertains to arguably the most celebrated game of all time. That’s right, it’s Super Mario Bros. Instead of doing the predictable, however, let’s start with the 1999 remake for the Game Boy Color – Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.
1999 - Game Boy Color (Nintendo)
I played the heck out of that old brick with the lime green and blue screen, but I never quite got that satisfaction like I did while playing on the NES. Maybe it was just the size of the screen… maybe I needed my games to be bigger. When the Game Boy Color rolled around, I was only vaguely interested.
A fellow student at my high school named Antoine happened to own one not long after it came out in ’99. Antoine had gone to my school for a few years, moved away, and in Grade 10, he was back. He wasn’t exactly a friend, per se, but we had a lot of common friends between us. The ladies just loved him, for some reason. One of those ladies just so happened to be a lady I was interested in, so naturally, I kinda held it against him. That bastard!
When he brought that tiny purple GBC to school, though, I was intrigued. All of a sudden, this guy was alright enough to hang out with before class in the mornings. As it turns out, Antoine was actually a pretty nice guy, and a pretty big geek, to boot! He let me play his copy The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, as well as Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.
Aside from being a remake of the original classic, Deluxe included Super Mario Bros. 2 (the difficult Japanese version) as an unlockable bonus, a Challenge Mode, as well as some multi-player content. When playing the game, it’s more “zoomed in” than the NES version, meaning there are times when you have to duck, or press up to see parts of the screen.
Aside from that, however, it’s your standard Mario adventure! Nothing wrong with that!
The reason I chose to tell the story of Super Mario Bros. using Deluxe was pretty simple. There’s more to it! A land map, some images… I guess if I were to tell the story of Mario and his quest to rescue the Princess, I’d need more than just footage of Mario capturing the flag, moving onto the next level, etc.
There are more medals to win at the end of the game, and I’m not sure they yield different victory screens, but oh well! The story is told.
