Super Mario Bros Omega

Nintendo scored a home run with the Super Mario Bros. franchise, given the popularity it still enjoys all over the world, even decades after it was first released. Hence, while Nintendo continues to improve the series and put the beloved characters in new situations and environments, the indie scene tries very hard to reproduce the success of the early 8-bit platformers.

Super Mario Bros Omega is not a very original release, but it should play well with those who want to revisit one of the most well-known locations in video games: Mushroom Kingdom. Naturally, the game is rather rugged and buggy, so you may not be able to resist for more than a couple of minutes. However, it’s still a pretty good cure for nostalgia, if for some reason you cannot find the original Nintendo release.

As such, the levels are actually quite boring and lackluster in the challenge department, because at no point are you required to make a tricky jump, or avoid a certain trap. Instead, all you do is run around and avoid the occasional enemy, although you shouldn’t even bother with that, because there’s no game over screen anyway. The world map contains a handful of locations you can visit, but the stages are very small and unimpressive, so it doesn’t really matter which one you choose.

Although one may overlook the simple level design and maybe ignore the total lack of a background story, it is pretty difficult to turn a blind eye to all the bugs that plague the gameplay. Hence, you often find yourself stuck in the environment, or even unable to continue due to faulty stage design. The coins you collect do not provide you with anything in return, regardless of how many you gather.

Dying makes no difference either, because you still get to keep all of your lives intact. The only somewhat positive thing about the game is the nice graphics quality, although even that only works if you want to cool down your nostalgia. The music is rather nice as well, but it keeps changing every other minute or so, because the levels are so short.

All things considered, Super Mario Bros Omega does not bring anything new to the table, which makes it a simple clone that tries to enjoy the success of the original. Hence, unless you have gone through every other Mario game out there, this is not really worthy of anyone’s time.