Ahh, Brutal Mario. One of the first hacks I ever played. I first played the original Japanese version of this hack when it was still on Vizzed, yet the story and controls mentioned in-game were difficult to understand, due to them being in Japanese. Now, when the English translation was released, it was quite the sigh or relief. Fans of the hack could now enjoy the game and the story without having to go off and learn Japanese.

This hack is one of Super Mario World and it takes on a slightly twisted but funny story, where Mario is hungry and goes out to look for dragon eggs to eat. Along the way, he will battle foes old and new, including a variety of bosses from outside the Mario world.

I originally started playing this hack in 2012, have since finished it, gone back and forth playing snippets of it and 3 years down the line I'm going to give it a review!

Graphics - 9
If you've played the original Super Mario World, you will notice that the game graphics are exactly the same. Beautiful, innovative and detailed for it's time and console, especially for a 2D platformer. When it comes to renders of bosses from other games, they blend in quite nicely. Most as if they were in the original Super Mario World themselves. Some are lower quality, but it adds an extra retro touch to the hack.

 Sound - 9
Brutal Mario features all of your favourite tracks and in-game music from the original Super Mario World. The majority of which are catchy and no doubt will have you humming along as you play!

Addictiveness - 8
If you're a player like me, no doubt you will have missed some secret levels during your first playthrough. If not, you are a wizard. But exploring the entire map and getting to as many secret levels as possible is always rewarding. Who knows, you might even meet some new bosses to battle!

Story - 6
Most of the story is explained during the very first scene. Mario is hungry and goes out looking for dragon eggs to eat. There is a few dialouge slots in the beginning levels too, but it doesn't add to the story hugely. After you beat a koopaling, Mario will exit the castle, demolish the castle in several comedic ways (for example, wiping it away with a mop or sending it shooting off towards a hillside in the background, hitting the hill giving him a little band-aid) and display a few lines of text about Mario getting a dragon egg from the Koopaling you have just battled. A few humorous touches here and there, adding a little zest to the story. Other than that, there is a story but it isn't too deep. Simple to understand but with a funny twist on the original Mario story.

Depth - 9
If you're looking for a Mario game with a unique twist and a lot of variety, Brutal Mario is the ideal hack. With a variety of features from other games, such as MegaMan's Leaf Shield, and a box load of crossover bosses, this game is a bottomless bag.
If you want to battle Ultima from Final Fantasy, no problem! She's here! Or the Mammon Machine (Majinki in-game) from Chrono Trigger? Got you covered! That's here too! How about Doom's Wall from Secret of Mana? Or Marx from Kirby Super Star? Ring Man from Mega Man? Whatever takes your fancy! There's a boss for everyone to love, and for everyone to hate.
A personal favourite of mine is Zable Fahr from Seiken Densetsu 3. It's not too difficult compared to some bosses, but features structure compared some that have random patterns. Each head has specific attacks that are easy to figure out and memorize. Anyway, enough about Zable Fahr! This game has great depth and a pretty big map, so try and explore everywhere to the best you can, so you don't miss out on any cool features!

Difficulty - 8
This game is not for you players looking for something easy to play in a short space of time. You will, and I repeat, WILL, die at some point. Whether it be by falling down a pit or getting struck by a bullet bill, there is very little chance you will beat this game first time around without making some sort of slip-up, unless you cheat and look up a walkthrough .
However, I would like to point out this hack is much easier than Kaizo Mario, a hack known for its insane difficulty.
This game is still not for the faint of heart who think Mario is an easy game. Brutal Mario is as its name states, brutal. Bosses may take several attempts to beat. And always conserve your items until you really need to use them. Using the save states is very handy indeed when you are playing longer levels. If you can memorize a boss pattern, I would save at the end of every pattern loop or after you hit them with a projectile, Trust me, it helps!

Overall - 9
Brutal Mario IS a brutal game. A good recipe for a game hack. Start of with the vanilla game (Super Mario World), add a few tablespoons of difficulty, a generous serving of variety, a sprinkling of crossovers and a light dash of frustration at taking several attempts to pass a level. Slap it in the oven and you've got Brutal Mario! Harder than Super Mario World, but easier than Kaizo Mario, Brutal Mario is a game ideal for someone looking for that little extra zest from a vanilla Mario game. I have no regrets playing this game, so give this great hack a try! You won't be disappointed!

BVBAngel06 : Excellent review! You even convinced me on trying Brutal Mario anytime soon! Harder than Super Mario World, but easier than Kaizo Mario, huh? Well, I love challenging games, and I'll do my best on that game! Keep up the good work when it comes to reviews!

greenluigi : Thank you so much! I really enjoy writing reviews, but a lot of retro games are kinda difficult to write reviews for due to their simplicity and lack of depth, such as ice climber or pac man (not like all retro games are like this). I'm still looking for more to review, though. Thanks again! I really appreciate that you liked my review ^.^

Nice work on the review, you were really descriptive and detailed all throughout your review and you articulated all the main points quite well. As far as organization goes, you have good spacing as well as the category heading for each section of the review which looks professional in my opinion. 

Altogether, you did a good job of conveying to the reader the idea that this is a very challenging game and it is worth your time to try it. This is perhaps one of the most crucial aspects of creating a well written review, and you managed to do it correctly. 

Overall, this is very informative and provides plenty of insight on the game and what to expect when playing it. Hopefully you continue to find new material to review, keep up the splendid work!

Razor-987 : Thank you so much! I'm glad my review was up to expected high standards ^-^

WOW! That review is definitely worthy of a 5 (once I can reset my daily quota to 0 ). The structure is perfect, the descriptions are perfect and you even give it comparisons to the original game. You also gave it so much (NOT too much) details that I absolutely want to play it!

janus : Thank you so much ^-^ I didn't want to give too much detail as not to ruin the game for anyone planning on playing it!