Mario Jump RomLimitations can be considered simple challenges to those with great minds: indeed, anyone who sees something limiting would wish to prove it wrong, and overcome it. Perhaps that is a direct effect of the human nature of desiring more, but regardless this will push people to make new and greater things with what is accessible, if not spawning the concept of innovation. Innovation is also what advances humanity (or pushes it back) so it is an immense irony that limitations are the key to advancement.
Nintendo is often considered to have seen the limitations of previous consoles, and to have pushed the industry into creating new concepts. To a degree, these people are correct, and at the forefront of this movement was the Super Mario Brothers. This game is often considered the industry standard for platformers, but it still has limitations (like you can't properly run and shoot fire flowers at the same time). Now, with the relative access to this game now, people look at its limitations and pushes the game forward in as many ways possible, and one of the results was Mario Jump.
Mario Jump is odd in that almost nothing is changed from the original, while adding some innovation. Mario jump's audio and video is, in most if not all manners, identical to the 1985 NES game. The logic of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" likely applies, but there was a single sprite change: Mario. Mario's original color scheme was a primarily red tone, but this hack changes it to a dark blue/light blue configuration. The audio harbors no changes that are noticeable, but again don't fix what isn't broken. If the player liked the original audio and graphics/animations, then they should find these suitable. The level changes some minor aspects, such as altering certain squares, removing/adding a few blocks, but this is hardly noticeable. The story-line is exactly the same as the original: the Princess has been captured, and the player got to rescue them. All in all, a lot of the regular Mario elements remains unchanged and do not require much description.
Indeed, the game is almost entirely unaltered except for how the jump control responds, hence its title of Mario Jump. The game essentially changes this one key aspect and, in the words of iron Maiden, "Say goodbye to gravity, and say goodbye to death. Hello to eternity and live for every breath." Essentially the player can go to infinite heights by holding down the jump button, and can bypass the entire level, or only hold it for a second and jump over the Koopa army. How the player decides to utilize this key difference will change the entire game; opting to simply hold the level and fly over the level will make it essentially impossible to lose, though there are a few pitfalls that could render the level unbeatable, such as overshooting the flag or arriving over where the player fights/dodges Bowser. Nonetheless, it can be more fun playing with Mario's jumping capacity than actually trying to beat the level, and this alone makes the game rise in the ranks. However, this ship does not hold up well in water in one important regard: build quality.
This is a very important aspect of any video game, or indeed any product or item that is used. This game suffers from several issues, but a lot depends how the player uses the altered jump control. Some of these are fairly minor, such as freezing time. If the player jumps in the air, and simply holds the A button, the time will actually freeze as Mario's gravity defying long lost brother soars high above the screen. The player would have to wait for Mario's blue coverall-clad companion to fall, but it is straightforward on the most part. Sometimes the character may be a little hard to control where they lands, but it isn't a problem that can't be fixed with some practice. The jump control do have some real issues, but the biggest would have to be that after an extended jump, the player can't jump again for a brief second. This can, again, be remedied with practice but is extremely frustrating to players just getting into the game, as it can cause a lot of very cheap deaths. The game also crashes under a large number of circumstances, particularly jumping on certain enemies or collecting certain power ups. This can also be frustrating, but in a way it is like an old science experiment where the participant would respond to pain, and change their path of action.
That brief description of the changes and how they alters the game play sounds primarily negative, and it is. Nonetheless, this is a hack that has potential, and could easily provide a lot of fun to someone willing to put up with the initial frustrations and could easily turn this into a very fun game. This depends entirely on the player's patience and what they are willing to put up with. This is definitely a game worth checking out, but be warned that the limitations can cause frustration, but after all...limitations are the goals we seek to achieve, and beating this game is exactly that.
Graphics
7 Sound
7 Addictive
2 Difficulty
7