Samus vs. Goomba – Super Mario Bros. Crossover

I don’t normally review Flash games.  While they undoubtedly have a place in the big gaming industry, I tend to group them together in that big category that includes Facebook games that I never play.

However, in this particular case, I’m making an exception.  Super Mario Bros. Crossover is a Flash-based game over on Newgrounds that scores big nostalgia points by accurately capturing some of our biggest 8-bit memories packaged into one little game.

Crossover, in its purest form, is the original NES classic Super Mario Bros.  8 worlds, 4 levels each, et cetera, et cetera.  The novelty comes in the form of using other Nintendo characters in place of Mario. After each level’s successful completion, you have the option of switching to a new character to play; besides choosing the classic Mario, you can select Link, Bill, Simon, Mega Man, and Samus Aran, from the original 8-bit games Legend of Zelda, Contra, CastleVania, Mega Man, and Metroid, respectively. 

This sounds silly, and usually a recipe for a disaster game, but the programmer Jay Pavlina did a spectacular job of capturing the experience of each gaming character.  Each character retains their original sprites and powers, so don’t think this is just a re-colored Mario.  Overworld and Underworld music match the respective characters’ home games.  The movement of each character is tailored to the way they were controlled in their original environments, down to the speed that they walked.  This comes to the advantage of Bill of Contra, who can run while shooting his gun, and to the detriment of Simon, who, just like in the original CastleVania, could not be controlled worth squat after he jumped.

Getting even more in-depth, the character powers react similarly to their origins.  Remember how a monster froze and made a thud sound when Link hit them with his sword?  Same thing here.  Simon’s got axes, and Samus has her spider bombs.  Mega Man can even charge up his blaster for big shots; tons of bricks go flying! 

The game includes a save feature, saving a small text file to your computer, allowing you to pick up where you left off. 

In itself, Super Mario Bros. Crossover is nothing creatively new.  However, the different characters each move and act in different ways, and some levels become tons of times harder using particular people (read: Simon).  The feel of the game using each character fits the original games and allows you to soak in the nostalgia while playing this time-proven classic in a whole new way.  Give it a try!