First of all, I'll confess, I didn't make it all the way through Super Mario Unlimited. However, what I did play felt very much like something Nintendo themselves could have produced. The levels were all quite smartly designed, and the flow never felt too forced, while still providing a satisfying level of challenge. For instance, making it to the first castle, the difficulty ramped up in a way that put the pressure on just enough to feel tense, without giving a stressful experience. The following worlds, for as long as I played, continued this trend of a gradual but steady progression of difficulty that was just what a Mario fan would expect.

There are definitely some new mechanics at play, as well. While the classic elements are most certainly still there, and you'll definitely be off to a fine start using just the platform jumping and fireball throwing skills taught in the classic N.E.S. original, I only had the chance on my first play-through to just start scratching the surface of what Super Mario Unlimited is really all about. There are a few spots that give you the option to get through an area multiple ways, usually requiring some up-front test of skill to avoid a challenging obstacle further on. It definitely made a nice break in the linearity of the stages. Also, there was some kind of collection system involving gathering rare coins scattered about with Mario's face on them. I may not have ever found out exactly what these were, or what they were for, but the game tracks how many you have managed to collect, and I found myself taking the extra risks and setbacks I needed to in order to collect as many as I could. This definitely makes things a little bit more interesting.

The music was, from what I heard, taken from official Mario sources, but this may not necessarily hold true in the later levels of the game. Graphics for the game look pretty good, though, especially for the limitations of the Nintendo Entertainment System. I gave a relatively low score to the game for story, but in truth that has to do with how little story the old style of Super Mario Brothers games have to begin with, and it may be undeserved. You appear to be hunting for Yoshi, rather than Princess Peach/Toadstool/Daisy/whichever-one-we-happen-to-be-going-with-today. That may or may not hold true for the entire game, of course, and I am willing to admit that if I played more of this game (which I most likely will do in the future), I might just end up having to amend that opinion. Ultimately, though, this is one aspect of the game where it simply falls victim to being exactly what it is supposed to be...that being a simple, retro-style platform game. It is most certainly not the sort of thing that I would hold against the game, and the lack of more story doesn't actually take away from the gameplay, nor does it really detract from any other aspect of the game. I certainly never found myself wondering what the Toads were up to while I was off stomping Goombas. This was only my first impressions, but the game is plenty of fun without that, and certainly worth giving a try, in my opinion.