All right! let's start off with the original, for those who don't know, Mario bros was a game originally released on the NES soon after it's launch in the US/Canada, where in you are supposed to Princess Toadstool of the Mushroom kingdom from the evil King Koopa, now known as bowser. As Super Mario, you must travel through the 8 worlds whilst grabbing power ups from special question mark blocks like the Fire Flower and Super Mushroom to reach to bowser's castle, and defeat the evil king Koopa!

 basic plot right? wrong, this game is actually surprisingly dark going by the instruction book, as the original manual states that while the princess was kidnapped, the king Koopa had turned all the residents of the mushroom kingdom into brick blocks! Yeah, so those nice blocks that you've been smashing your fist into and breaking into pieces were the residents of the land, you, during the adventure kill off hundreds of citizens of the kingdom while killing off the enemies in your way.

all in all the story is quite simple as compared to modern day plots, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Sometimes the simple plot is all you needed, and with this game? It's really IS all you need, the iconic "save the princess" theme was pretty much introduced to gaming with the game.

First off, controls.  The original NES title's controls are quite simple, move with the D-pad, jump with A, run with B. But the way Mario controls in game is flawless, the controls are crazy responsive, and when you mess up, it actually feels like YOU messed up, not the controls, or the game itself.

Next is the actual gameplay, the objective in Mario is to travel your way across each stage in a world, collecting coins and using all of Mario's skills to reach a flagpole, or alternatively a face off with king koopa at the boss stages. As you complete each level, there is a time bonus depending on how long it takes to reach the end, but you shouldn't have to worry about that as the time that they give you for each stage is extremely lenient. 

  King Koopa's army is actually extremely diverse, ranging from the  Hammer bros (guess what! he throws hammers!) to the simple, but iconic Goomba who simply walks from side to side, but I assume you'd like to know what you're getting into if you decide to pick it up, so here's the cast of characters!

Goomba- Standard enemy, walks one way until it reaches either a wall or it's demise in a bottomless pit.
Koopa- Turtle like enemies. Two kinds, Green (Who move the same as a goomba) and Red (Who don't fall into pits) both enemies can be jumped on and go into their shells, which you can kick to kill on coming enemies
Paratroopa's and Paragoombas- They're Goombas and Koopas, but they have WINGS! which means they jump.
Hammer Bro- HE'S THROWIN HIS HAMMERS ERRYWHERE!
Piranha plant- Hides inside pipes and pops out, they can only be killed via fire flower, otherwise they're invincible
Lakitu- Flies in a clout and drops spinies      Spinies- spiked koopas, as invincible as the piranha
Blooper- Underwater goombas, able to freely move through the water like a squid
Bullet bill- fired from a cannon at your face, jump on the bullet to kill it, the cannon itself is invincible

The soundtrack is simple, but it brings out the best of the NES' soundcard, and the music itself is extremely memorable, and even people who have never played the game know what world 1-1's music, overall the Game's soundtrack is limited though, with only 9 tracks actually used with an alternative sountrack that you hear when the time is running low.

The NES and it's games are very limited as compared to most modern games, but in the very least, every single enemy and the player are distinct from the backgrounds that they're in, also the developers are quite creative with using other sprites, like how the clouds are just the bush graphics turned white.

7/10
The game is extremely simple, but the controls and the game itself is so tight, and the controls are so responsive that both the story and graphics are out shined by it. All in all I can fully reccommend a playthrough, and the game is available on both the Wii U and 3DS if you don't have an NES just laying around

In Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario is back for another adventure, but this time he's back with his brother Luigi, a Toad, and the Princess Toadstool to face the evil toad Wart whom is threatening the dream land of Subcon, and in the end this game never happens because it was all a dream from mario and therefore, if there was a canon to mario, Mario 2 isn't a part of it, despite it introducing iconic enemies such as the Bomb-omb and the Shy Guys. in all honesty, Mario 2's story after learning of the ending is Sonic 06 levels of bad, and I find it too detatched from all the other mario titles

Mario Bros 2 USA shakes the very foundation of the original game, making it so that Mario can't kill enemies by jumping on them, rather, he simply stands on them with the option to pick them up and throw them, they make this mechanic the core of gameplay, and honestly it's not that good as compared to the original game, this mechanic was introduced for only one reason, and that is that the original JP version was deemed too hard, so Nintendo of America took a game called Doki Doki Panic, where in this mechanic is key, then reskinned the game to mario.

Another change in gameplay is the introduction of the multiple characters, and their differences are as follows-
Mario- the vanilla experience, average jump and run speed
Luigi- Jumps higher, and is floaty in the air, he also moves faster
Princess Toadstool- She is the same as mario, except that her jump also sports a float if you press the button after jumping up and hold it, often seen as the easy mode
Toad- Faster run speed, and sports an extremely gimped jump, in most cases you need to super jump (crouch with D-pad for a bit then hit jump) to get anywhere

Wart's special forces involve 5 bosses, followed by more brand new enemies such as the Miniboss and new character Birdo, Shy Guys, Bomb Ombs, the Ninji, and some one off enemies that are never seen again like Phanto, Ostro, and Albatrosses.
I'll only name off the bosses this time, as most enemies function the exact same way

Tryclyde Fires 3 fireballs, just build a 3 high wall in front and throw the rest of your objects to win


Fry Guy- Throw stuff at it and it splits into four smaller forms that moves quicker, you can take em all out in one go if you play your cards right though

 
Mouser- Throws bombs at you, just throw em back to kill Mouser


ClawGlip (Clawgrip, was misnamed in credits) he throws rocks at you, throw 5 back and you win


Hawk Mouth- He's also the door normally, and this pulls a pleasant surprise, and is surprisingly hard to kill because he moves quickly, but he'll go down eventually


The main asshole himself, Wart. avoid his attacks and eventually vegetables will pop out of the machine, throw those into his mouth while it's open to damage him.

All in all its a colourful cast of characters that are honestly really interesting, it's a shame that half of them have never seen the light of day since though.

Overall, this game (While the game is a reskin) is actually quite pleasant, and I do go back to some of the songs if I have some time to kill and I remember the game. the soundtrack has a total of 14 tracks, all unique from each other, a vast improvement on the original's pitiful 8 songs

While this game also pails in comparison to most modern games in terms of graphics, this game has a large variety in it's worlds and environments that Mario 1 was lacking and utilizes a lot more of the NES' Potential for beautiful 8 bit graphics

6.5/10
The sound and graphics improvements were great, but the alienating and strange gameplay mechanics, and stupid story overpower it, the game isn't a great title, but it also isn't bad either. I can recommend it to those who are curious of the mario roots, but otherwise it really isn't worth picking up

King koopa's back! and he's fucking with the Mushroom kingdom again! yet another simple story, returning to the old formula! hooray? yes indeed, mario IS back to the original platforming for this iteration of the classic formula, all the old characters from Mario 1 return in this more challenging spin on the formula.

This game is harder, flat out, I've only ever fully beaten the game twice on my Mario All Stars cartridge. (Including the one i did for this review) it returns back to the 8 world formula, and as an added spin, there are 5 additional worlds (world 9, and worlds A through to D once you save the princess, EVERY SINGLE ONE KICKS LOGIC OUT FOR THE SAKE OF DIFFICULTY.
 "World 9-1? how about we take World 1-1, submerge it in water, add hammer bros, and bloopers?"
"Genus!" seriously though, the gameplay itself is tight, and with the introduction to Springboards, gusts of wind that speed you up and make you jump for longer and deadly poison mushrooms makes this one hell of a game

There is a "False" king Koopa, which can only be killed by fire in 2 levels, AI on the Hammer Bros is improved, some follow you, other than that, there is no change between this and the original game, which is disappointing, as they probably could've added something new to kill in the game.

as I am playing the All Stars version of this game, I can't accurately describe the differences between the two, but the upgrade to the 16 bit console makes the game look great!

The audio is literally the exact same as Mario 1 if youtube is accurate. lazy developers are lazy with their sequel.

6.9 out of 10
This game is just as great as the original, save the lazy music, and thee difficulty spike compared to the original. I would recommend this game to those whom want a challenge, and those who are competent at platformers, as the difficulty will make even the better players cry in frustration of that game over screen.

Mario is back! now with even more levels, more powerups, a new Map overworld system, new bosses, new worlds, new design concepts, New EVERYTHING! Mario Bros. 3 is a brand new adventure with the same old story, this time though, Bowser brought his koopalings along for the ride, and is taking over the whole world! Along with some brand new power ups mario goes onwards to save the seven lands from Bowser's iron grip and the Koopaling's magical spells

Mario 3 remains a platformer with the same tight controls, but this time we're throwing in some brand new power ups like the leaf, which allows mario to glide and fly with a maximum P-gauge (raised by running for a while) He also attacks with a new tail he gains. Next up we have the P- wing which is the same as the normal Leaf power up, but allows mario to fly for an unlimited time. After that we have the Frog Suit which allows free form swimming controls where you can swim in any direction. Finally, the Hammer Bros. Suit, which is extremely rare, but allows mario to throw the same hammers the hammer bros use.

Another new mechanic that this game adds is the overworld, where in mario travels to each individual stage, this expands the world exponentially, by giving us the ability to find secrets like using a hammer on the spot before world 3's castle to unlock a special toad house (which gives you a power up to use at your leisure) and a red Hammer Bro secret fight. this new overworld concept also allows the levels to both have a sense of connection, and makes a more expansive looking world in the game.

Alright, in this game, we have angry suns in the desert levels, boss bass who is king of the water levels,  homing bullet bills, goombas in giant shoes, Dry (dead) koopas and so many more enemies, this coupled with Boom-Boom in the fortresses, and the Koopalings commanding the skies in the air ships makes bowser's army so diverse and unique. it's a GIANT improvement on the original 2 games.

The sountrack in this game is amazing compared to the previous games, and can even duke it out with some modern soundtracks in terms of quality, the fortresses music makes immerses you into a foreboding feeling, and they made a new song for almost every world, and most stages!

The new look of Mario 3 is certainly interesting, and almost comic like appearance to it, and the stage motif makes the game feel more alive. overall the game's graphics are a vast improvement on the days of Mario 1&2

An 8.5/ 10
This game does exactly what a sequel is supposed to do and more, Mario 3 is a game that takes the old mario formula and refines it to near perfection. I can definitely recommend this to anyone who's looking for a platformer, and even those who haven't played a platformer there's so much to do in the game that it could be a solid 4-8 hours on your first run through if you try to 100% it