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Sunday, August 3, 2008

Mario Wages War!


War. What is it good for? Well when it comes to our economy, not a dumb thing, but when it concerns Mario and a ton of other video game characters hashing it out, its good for everything. Super Mario War is without question one of the best fan-made/home brew games ever made. Oh who am I kidding? This one of the best games ever made. Period. There's no princess to rescue, no epic fight to the finish with Bowser. Super Mario War is all about eradicating the competition. Think of it as a death match mode but with Super Mario style gameplay. All of the levels are only the size of a screen, and taking out the opposition requires a good old-fashioned stomp on the head. The game is a tribute to Nintendo and Samuele Poletto, who came up with the concept behind Super Mario War in his DOS game, Mario War.


Aside from stomping on your opponent's dome, you can also collect power-ups to flatten them. There's the fire flower, starman, the POW block, bom-ombs, and my personal favorite, the hammer, which lets you revel in the Hammer Bros. favorite pass time.

The graphics are taken straight from Super Mario All-Stars and a game like this really doesn't need fancy visuals, but they get the job done. The game may look simple but it is an absolute blast to play and it has a ton and I mean a TON of options and gameplay modes. There's the classic death match, frag limit, tag, capture the flag, king of the kill, race, coin collection, survival and more.


As I already mentioned, the levels are only a single screen, but they are pretty creative and you're given a plethora of them to do battle on. If you get tired of playing with the stages the game has given you, you can make your own with the game's level editor. The fun factor on this baby is already through the roof and this just helps Super Mario War ooze with replay value.


Mario's name may be in the title, but he isn't the only character you can choose from. The sprites are all the same size, but you can play as Mega Man, Kirby, the heroes from Bubble Bobble, Character classes from the Final Fantasy games, the list goes on and on. You can even download skins from the Super Mario War website, along with music, backgrounds, and custom designed levels. If you're a Mega Man fan, the Rockman skin pack is a must!

The version I've been playing is 1.7, but the beta for 1.8 has already been released. I've got 1.8 downloaded but I've yet to try it out because 1.7 has really kept me busy. From what I've read, though, 1.8, even in the beta stage the game is pretty tight.

Bottom line, you MUST play this game. Even if you're just playing against bots, the game is a riot. If you're into having fun, you'll enjoy Super Mario War.

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