R
Rösti
Unconfirmed Member
Released: 1986
Developed by: Hudson Soft Company, Ltd., Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Published by: Hudson Soft Company, Ltd.
Platforms: PC-88, Sharp X1
Genre: Platformer
World 1-1, click to enlarge.
I've always found obscure home computers and unfamiliar handheld consoles a source of great fascination and wonder. Most especially, esoteric systems that house (official) ports of very popular games. The home computer connected to this LTTP, NEC PC-8801, is not necessarily that great in terms of peculiarity (it was quite popular in Japan), but it's not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you hear Super Mario Bros. The system did however receive an official port (it's actually not a port, it's an entirely new game) of Super Mario Bros, it was developed by Hudson Soft and released in 1986 under the name Super Mario Bros. Special.
Now, I do not have access to an actual PC-8801 so I have had to rely on an emulator while playing this game. The speed wasn't quite up there, but the game is handled well otherwise. Before we begin, I want to highlight the biggest differences from the NES version:
- The game lacks a screen-scrolling mechanism. When you reach the end of a screen, the screen turns blank for a few seconds and thereafter loads the next part of the level.
- The level timer runs much faster than in the NES version, so it's very often a race against the clock.
- Due to very different hardware in comparison to NES, the PC-8801 version looks rather odd. Special only uses half of the PC88's hardware palette, restricted to only black, red, yellow, and blue, including dithered results with those four colors.
- The game features no Warp Zones (and thus no minus world as far as I know).
Apart from all new levels, the game also features some new enemies and items:
Enemies
- Chokichoki (Sidestepper) - A crab originally from Mario Bros. Can be defeated with a fireball or a bump.
- Nakaji (Fighter Fly) - Originally from Mario Bros. Can be defeated with a fireball or a bump.
- Tsurara (Icicle) - Originally from Mario Bros. Can be defeated with a fireball.
- Sigebou (Fire) - Originally from Donkey Kong.
- Tarusar (Barrel) - Originally from Donkey Kong. Can be defeated with a hammer or a bump from below.
Items
- Hachisuke - The bee from the Hudson Soft logo. Awards 8000 points. Found in World 1-1. Some sites falsely report this gives access to a continue feature.
- Hammer - The hammer power-up from Donkey Kong, which spawns a hammer in front of Mario that rapidly swings. Found in Worlds 3-4 and 5-1.
- Clock - Awards an additional 100 seconds added to the timer. Found in World 8-3.
- Wing - Works like a Super Leaf, but without any cool animation (Mario swims through the air). Found in Worlds 3-2 and 4-1.
- Lucky Star - Defeats all enemies on-screen, awards their normal point values. Found in World 4-1.
The new levels then, what to say about them? Well, worlds 1-1 and 1-2 should be no problem for most people but when one gets to 1-3, you begin to really feel the brutality of the game. The biggest problem is the lack of scrolling which forces very daring jumps here and there. In 1-3, there is in one section a horizontally moving platform in mid-air. You must be very precise to hit it as you jump from a ledge and even if you make it you gotta think about Mario's momentum for that can basically make the platform move but Mario not follow.
As you progress through the worlds, the difficulty increases as one might anticipate. Bowser's different castles provide quite a challenge, where fire pillars are your greatest foe. Pinpoint accuracy and timing is key. Bowser himself is not that difficult, if you have the Fire Flower you can take him down quickly and even if you are Small Mario his movement pattern is rather predictable.
Ironically, I have found all water levels to be the easiest in the game, apart from World 7-2 though (blooper overload), whereas in Super Mario Bros. I dreaded those levels. Of most frustration are the levels where you have to take a leap of faith into the the wild blue yonder due to nonexistent scrolling, or levels with the mentioned fire pillars.
The challenge is accelerated by some technical reasons, for example sometimes poor jumping controls (getting atop single blocks can be a nightmare), Mario's momentum, slowdowns and of course the faster clock (the X1 version is more accurate to the NES version). So you can expect a lot of frustration, The Lost Levels has got little against Special. But once you clear a level you have been failing on over and over, it's a sweet victory.
As mentioned, I have played this on an emulator (called M88) so I have had the luxury of save states. I initially tried completing the game without such, but that became a mission I had little interest in. How the game is to control on actual hardware I don't know, I'd like to see someone (Rolfe/Matei maybe, or perhaps CosmoWright) try and beat it. Anyway, I like this game despite its flaws. First I thought, based on YouTube videos, that it would be absolute bullshit, but it turns out you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. So if you've got a few hours to spare, give it a go. If only for 8-4, the final showdown with Bowser, which is one hell of a trip.
YouTube links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0HQOKmAPRA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONLLWp1QIXI (X1 version)
Credits
