Although 2020 has been quite the endless hell of bad breaks, it does mark the 35th Anniversary of gaming’s most iconic character, Mario, and Nintendo created quite the celebration that they highlighted in a Nintendo Direct not too long ago. While they announced they were bringing some of Mario’s best 2-D and 3-D platformers onto the Switch through collections, the strangest, but most surprising announcement came in the form of Super Mario Bros. 35 – a battle royale game.
Ever since games like Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds made the game industry see the value in giving players a battle royale experience, it’s really been off to the races to see who can capture the same magic with some of their own franchises. Activision has tried it with Call of Duty. Ubisoft tried it with Hyper Scape. EA tried it with Apex Legends. There have even been new original games, like Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout and Darwin Project, that have put their own spin on the battle royale concept. However, the game that really inspired Nintendo’s newest addition to the Super Mario franchise is actually a battle royale game in the Tetris series, Tetris 99, and mixing its formula with the Mario that started it all is quite a sight to behold.
Honestly, just playing the original Super Mario Bros. again in Super Mario Bros. 35 is an incredible experience itself. Hearing the incredible music throughout each level, seeing the pixelated look of all these iconic characters, and playing through the levels just oozes nostalgia that’s perfect for the kind of celebration that this game is meant to be. Even the controls carry this reminiscence as jumping height and distance is varied based on running speed and how hard you hit the button and Mario not landing solid, but rather with a little bit of a slide. It’s old school platforming at its finest and that’s what makes it a special kind of celebration. However, Super Mario Bros. 35 wouldn’t be as special if it was just Super Mario Bros., but it ends up being more than just a nostalgic experience as the game’s battle royale mechanics put a new spin on a timeless classic.
The game’s inspirations from Tetris 99 become abundantly clear once you’re in the mix as it really becomes a fight to be the last one standing. For those that haven’t heard of Tetris 99, it’s the same game of Tetris that most people know, but allows players to mess with each other by sending them extra lines as you complete lines and create Tetris’ of your own. You can target your attacks, defend incoming attacks by completing lines, and fight to survive like never before. The experience was tense as hell and the music was equally incredible to the point where they play “Flight of the Bumblebee” when it got down to 10 players. While the number of players might be scaled down to 35 rather than 99, Super Mario Bros. 35 maintains the same level of intensity and fun as Tetris 99 with a style of its own.
Within its fight for first place, Super Bros. Mario 35 gives players the ability to hinder their opponents by sending them the enemies they defeat as they complete levels from the original Super Mario Bros. So, every Goomba you stomp on or Bowser you defeat goes to a targeted opposing player(s) creating both a unique new challenge to the original game and visuals that are absolutely wild. Players could easily find themselves having to deal with an army of Goombas and Koopa Troopas or even multiple Bowsers in an instance and it creates a whole new challenge to the game we all know.
It adds a whole new layer of fun to Mario and although it might seem smart to just find ways to side-step enemies, defeating enemies is an important part of surviving. While players are trying to complete levels and fend off enemies, they’re also in a race for survival against the clock that’s slowly ticking to zero. The only way that players can keep time from expiring is by reclaiming power-ups, reaching the end of the level, or taking out enemies along the way. It’s the perfect risk for reward scenario that makes this game such a multi-layered and intricate battle royale.
The targeting system is incredibly simple and effective as players can manually pick who they want to target or they can automatically pick to target the players randomly, whoever has the least amount of time left, whoever has collected the most coins, or players that are attacking them to dish out some sweet revenge. It adds in some great strategy for players to take advantage of and some endlessly fun battles as it’s hard not to find yourself sending enemies back and forth between rivals hoping that you last longer than they do. Add in the fact that players can collect coins along the way to get power ups that’ll help them survive as well as utilize infamous secrets from the original game in new ways and you have a battle royale experience with plenty of moving parts that are always upping the ante and maintains a balanced experience.
Even with all of these tools at your disposal, it’s not so easy to claim victory in Mario 35. While it might seem like the easy the strategy is to just stand in place and move slowly to last the longest, Mario 35 makes you have to take big risks to win. With the way that the game spawns in incoming enemies and gives players time back for defeating enemies it makes it so no one can get a “safe win.” It might even be tempting to think that just having the fire flower makes you unstoppable, I sure did at times, but it doesn’t as you don’t get as much time back for defeating enemies with shortcuts but rather through traditionally defeating them. For instance, taking out a Goomba with a fireball only gives back one second while stomping on them gives you back two seconds. Getting stomping combos or taking out multiple enemies with a Koopa shell also gives players more time back and it’s a perfect example as to how players need be a little riskier in order to make it to the end.
Normally, this experience would get stale after a while with just being the same old level, however, levels are randomized so you could end up going through the same level with a total different experience. Every game has everyone start on the iconic Course 1-1, but after that it’s pretty much up to chance with what level players will be on next. Perhaps you could just simply go to the next level in the Course or you could be in a Bowser level. It’s a great aspect that keeps the experience fresh as you could face unexpected challenges in the form of facing later level enemies on a repeat trip to the first level. However, the levels you get aren’t exactly random as you actually pick a level before the game starts and my hunch is that players pick a level they’ve done before and add it to the queue of the entire match where it’s randomized after that. Now, while this is a cool concept, it’s hard to say if you ever really feel the effects of it since you could be just picking the same level that ten other players. So, it’s hard for you to feel like your choice is important making it kind of pointless.
Also, it looks like the game is going to feature a rotating “Special Event mode” which will hopefully be cooler in the future since the one they had to start was kind of bland. It’s basically the same kind of 35-player mode with a giant randomizer and while it’s not bad by any stretch, it’s just not that creative or inventive for a special mode. There’re also times where it feels like knocking out players isn’t as satisfying as it should be. It’s definitely fun to see enemies that you defeat speedily head across to another person’s game and the rewards for knocking another player out are pretty impactful, but that sense of satisfaction that one typically feels in a battle royale game just isn’t there.
Honestly, there’re times where I don’t even realize that I knocked anyone out. Lastly, on my short list of grievances with Super Mario Bros. 35, especially as a Mario fan, is that there needed to be more included with this to feel like a stronger celebration. Obtaining player icons in the form of sprites of characters from the game is cool and all, but there’s definitely a missed opportunity for this game to take a page from Mario Maker in terms of playable characters and levels. While I get Mario 35 is an ode to the original, it’s disappointing that at least Luigi couldn’t come along or even other franchise characters and that levels from other games couldn’t be thrown into the mix.
Regardless of some of its shortcomings, Mario 35 is the definition of putting a fresh coat of paint on a classic. Not only is it one of the most intriguing battle royale games yet, but also an amazing ode to a classic that brings the original Super Mario Bros. into the modern era in a unique way. It’s a celebration of the game that started it all for Mario and is an endlessly fun and addicting experience that’s fitting for gaming’s most iconic franchise.
Editor’s Note: All images credit to Nintendo.
Super Mario Bros. 35 is now available on the Nintendo Store.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhnZiJHFwUE
