Super Mario Run is Nintendo's successful attempt to take the tried-and-true Super Mario series and blend it with the popular endless runner genre for Android and iOS devices.
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Free-to-Play Endless Runner Video Game Review: Super Mario Run
Super Mario Run is Nintendo's successful attempt to take the tried-and-true Super Mario series and blend it with the popular endless runner genre for Android and iOS devices.
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Platform and Shooting Game Multicart Compilation Review: Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt
Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt was a Nintendo Entertainment System pack-in multicart that compiled two games together, making good use of both the NES gamepad controller and the Zapper light gun.
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Platform Game Review: Super Mario Sunshine

| Super Mario 64 Review | Super Mario Galaxy Review coming soon |
Friday, March 10, 2023
Discontinued Free Battle Royal Platform Game Review: Super Mario Bros. 35
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Turn-Based Role-playing Game Review: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
In the early 1990s, Square and Nintendo had a good working relationship. Most of Square's games were on Nintendo consoles, from the Rad Racer series to Square's bread and butter, the Final Fantasy series of turn-based role-playing games.
It's the latter that served as the inspiration for one of the most surprising team-ups at the time of its release. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars plays like a Final Fantasy game. It is played in a turn-based style with a party of three selectable from a total of five characters. The character's traits can be leveled up in a manner that should be familiar to Final Fantasy players. HP, or heart points, are represented by a bar that displays the number of hits that a character can take before they pass out. S stands for star and represents the amount of energy any character has to do a skill or perform magic, similar to the MP magic points or mana points in Final Fantasy games. POW, represented by a hammer, is the amount of total power a character is capable of using against enemies. These statistics can also be influenced by weapons and armor that can be purchased from shops in the game's towns. The Final Fantasy series similarities don't stop at the gameplay style, as there is an optional boss fight with remixed music straight from those games as well as a design inspired by them as well.
The story is about an evil force in the guise of a sentient sword named Exor who crashes into Star Road and then takes over the castle of Bowser, King of the Koopa. Star Road is the place where wishes turn into wish stars to grant the wishes of the people of the world. When Exor crashed down, Star Road was shattered into seven pieces.
Smithy's minions stole all of the star pieces so Mario teams up with Princess Peach, Mallow, a fluffy being that was raised by frogs, and a sentient doll named Geno. He also reluctantly teams up with his arch-enemy, Bowser, King of the Koopa, because he wants to get his castle back from Exor.
As this was released on the Super NES, the characters only speak through text, with one exception. Mario doesn't speak at all, instead communicating via pantomime. However, it works surprisingly well. This is helped by some spectacular character animation.
The game is presented in an isometric world with pre-rendered three-dimensional graphics converted into sprites. The process and appearance of the sprites are reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country. Super Mario RPG was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1996, the same year the Nintendo 64 was released, so the choice of art style made sense since gaming was well into the three-dimensional era by that point.
The backgrounds are beautiful and fit in perfectly with the pre-rendered sprites. They also match the cheerful aesthetic of Super Mario games. The worlds Mario visits with his team really do feel right at home in Mario's universe. The new characters also fit in perfectly as well, as they have over-the-top personalities. The enemies range from characters that are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mixed with the Power Rangers, to the delightfully insane Booster. I really hope that Nintendo and Square work out a deal to bring Booster back into the world of Super Mario someday.
Super Mario RPG is an excellent game that merges Super Mario with Final Fantasy-style turn-based role-playing games surprisingly well. The music is spectacular and really memorable and the art is as cheerful as Super Mario games should be. The characters, both old and new, are really entertaining. On top of all of this, the game, from the tone to the storyline, sets up two different series of Super Mario RPGs and does it remarkably well. This is a game that should be played by all fans of Super Mario and role-playing games.
Final Verdict:5 out of 5
Monday, February 20, 2023
Platform Game Review: Super Mario 64
In the mid-1990s, video games turned toward polygonal three-dimensional experiences in contrast with the sprite-based games of the previous console generations. Super Mario 64 was a seminal game that inspired countless others.
Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance Games Now on Nintendo Switch Online
Sunday, February 19, 2023
Platform Game Review: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins is a bigger game that is more aligned with the mainline Super Mario games than its predecessor.
In this game, Mario's nemesis Wario appears for the first time. Wario is an evil doppelganger of Mario who stole the latter's castle. Mario has to complete many levels in order to collect the six golden coins that are needed to confront Wario and take back his castle.
Mario's sprite is aligned with the Nintendo Entertainment System sprites and the flowers once again are fire flowers that grant the ability to throw fireballs rather than bouncy superballs. This removes the ability to collect coins in small places, but the levels are designed in a way that wouldn't need them anyway. As in Super Mario Land, the rest of the power-ups from the main series are here including the super mushroom that makes Mario large and starmen that grant temporary invincibility. Due to the monochrome graphics of the Game Boy, the 1-Up that grants an extra life is a heart rather than a green mushroom.
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Platform Game Mega Review: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Unlike the Super Mario series proper, Yoshi's Island has a unique story that doesn't involve saving Princess Peach. A stork is crossing over Yoshi's Island on the way to drop off two babies, Mario and Luigi, to their parents in Brooklyn, New York. Kamek, a powerful Magikoopa and a high-ranking member of the Koopa Troop, looks into the future. Kamek foresees that when the two babies grow up they will repeatedly thwart the plans of Bowser, King of the Koopa. Kamek tries to steal the babies before they can reach their home, but only succeeds in kidnapping baby Luigi. Baby Mario drops down to the island below where he is rescued by a yoshi.
The yoshi carries baby Mario on his back through many worlds to reach Koopa's Castle and rescue his twin brother. If Yoshi is hit, baby Mario floats in a bubble, crying, and a timer counts down until he is picked up by the yoshi or when the counter reaches zero. The latter causes Kamek's cronies to swoop in and carry the baby away.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island has a look that is really a joy to experience on the original game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as its emulated re-releases. The remake, Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, retains the wonderful aspects of the original albeit with a lighter palette due to the original Game Boy Advance lacking a backlight. Super Mario World The pastel backgrounds and hand-drawn aspects really evoke a feeling of childhood. That is a really nice experience, even, or to be even more accurate, especially, as an adult. As with all games in the Super Mario series, the music is pleasing and fits the game even if none of the tunes are as memorable as the standard Super Mario platform games.
There is only one drawback, and it is, unfortunately, one that might turn people off from the game. The crying sound effect can become grating as it is most likely going to be repeated a lot while playing. If you can play the game without being too annoyed by Mario’s crying, it is a fun game.
Final Verdict:
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Platform Game Review: Super Mario World
Super Mario World was the first Super Mario platform game released on a 16-bit console when it was released on the Super Famicom, known in the west as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, in 1990.| Dr. Mario (Game Boy) Review | Super Mario Kart Review |
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Platform Game Compilation Review: Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Super Mario 3D All-Stars, like its two-dimensional counterpart, is a compilation of Super Mario games. However, due to the advancements in technology, this compilation contains the original games which have been emulated, although sometimes enhanced, for the Nintendo Switch.
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Platform Game Compilation Mega Review: Super Mario All-Stars
| Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins Review | Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Review |
Thursday, January 5, 2023
Platform Game Review: Super Mario Bros. 3
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
Platform Game Mega Review: Super Mario Bros. - The Lost Levels
| VS. Super Mario Bros. Review | All-Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. Review |
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
Platform Game Review: VS. Super Mario Bros.
| Super Mario Bros. Review | Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels Review |
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Platform Game Review: All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.
Friday, December 9, 2022
Platform Game Mega Review: Super Mario Bros.
5 out of 5
| Mario Bros. Special Review | VS. Super Mario Bros. Review |
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Platform Game Review: Super Mario Land
Super Mario Land was a platform game for the original monochrome Nintendo Game Boy portable video game console. It was the first game in the Super Mario Land subseries as well as the first game in the Super Mario series to be developed by Gunpei Yokoi’s Research & Development 1 rather than Shigeru Miyamoto’s Research & Development 4. The result was a Super Mario game different than any that had come before, as well as everything that came after.
In the game, Mario travels to Sarasaland where he rescues Princess Daisy from an alien known as Taranga. Even though the formula is pretty much the same with Peach switched with Daisy and Bowser switched for Taranga, some of the play mechanics are very different. This makes the game feel fresh, even thirty-three years after it was first released.
Most of the power-ups are familiar to Super Mario fans. There are mushrooms that cause Mario to grow if he is small. 1-Up mushrooms, which grant an extra life, have been replaced with 1-Up hearts due to the fact that the monochrome graphics would make it hard to distinguish between different mushrooms. The power-up change that changes the way the game plays is the power of the flower. In this game, flowers give the power of superballs rather than fire. They can be used in the usual way, to kill enemies. However, they can also be used to collect coins. Mario can shoot them into areas that he can't reach, allowing him to collect coins in passages that only small Mario would normally be able to reach.
Another change in the gameplay comes in the water level. Instead of swimming, there is a Mario-sized submarine named the Marine Pop that's used instead. The submarine can shoot missiles as well as collect coins, which gives the level the feel of a horizontal shooter rather than a platformer. The horizontal shooter aspect is only used again in the last stage, with an airplane known as the Sky Pop. I really wish that they'd use the vehicles again, as I really enjoyed the two shooter levels. I do not mind the traditional underwater levels, but I actually found it more fun to power a submarine through them rather than swim.
The game was only officially released in monochrome for the Game Boy, however, there is a fan patch named Super Mario Land DX that turns the game into a full-color Game Boy Color game. This patch adds color to the game and changes the sprite graphics to more closely match other games in the series. It is very well done.
Super Mario Land is an excellent game that deserves to be played. If you are able to play the game using the Super Mario Land DX fan patch, such as playing the cartridge on the RetroN 5 with the patch loaded from an SD card, I highly recommend playing the game this way. However, if you are only able to play it with monochrome graphics on the Game Boy cartridge or on the Virtual Console for Nintendo 3DS, the game is still worth playing. The gameplay mechanics that are unique among Super Mario games, as well as fun music, tight platform mechanics, and great level design, make this one a must-play.
Final Verdict:





4½ out of 5










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