Just when gamers think they have seen every possible port and remake of Super Mario Bros., someone has created the trippiest game yet with Jelly Mario Bros. for online browsers.
Any avid gamer has their own fond memories of Super Mario Bros. and there is a reason it is held as one of the best games ever. Since its arrival on the NES, Mario has gone on to become one of Nintendo’s biggest names and constantly reinvent the adventure game genre with his increasingly imaginative games. While it isn’t quite Super Mario Odyssey, Jelly Mario Bros. is just as clever.
The brainchild of developer Stefan Hedman, Jelly Mario Bros. can be found at jellymar.io as a bouncing nightmare that is just as much fun as it is frustrating. Still in its alpha stages, only the first few levels are currently available, but Hedman plans on expanding to the rest of the game. If those snapping Piranha Plants were bad enough all those decades ago, check them out now:
The clue is in the name as absolutely everything the red-overalled plumber touches turns to jelly. This would be confusing enough, but the titular hero is also a rubbery mass of pixels that makes those familiar levels even harder. Even Koji Kondo’s legendary music is given the Jelly treatment as it speeds up and slows down alongside Mario himself.
The skill of the 1985 game was always the precisely-timed jumps and doges to avoid losing a life; however, flipping that concept completely on its head, Jelly Mario is anything but precise. Instead of a smooth warp down the pipes of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario now slithers down into new areas like a snake. Jelly Mario is disturbing to say the least, and it isn’t out of the ordinary to see his head fly off in a different direction to his body. The arrow keys are here to help you move, but to be honest, they don’t really do much as you hurtle through the scenic backdrop of Goombas and Koopas.
While it may look like just a fun way to spend a few minutes, Jelly Mario Bros. is actually a lot more addictive than first thought. Coins and power-ups to nothing, while touching enemies sees Mario explode. The main challenge is simply getting from one side of the level to the next without being obliterated into millions of flying pixels.
Hedman is keeping fans up to speed with how the development of the game is going, and it isn’t hard to imagine a small sect of cult gamers showing off their speed-runs on Twitch. The best thing about Jelly Mario Bros. is that it is completely free to play. So, instead of stumping up for a Nintendo Classic Mini for the original game, why not check out Jelly Mario Bros. for free online?
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Source: jellymar.io
