Well, the NES version of Mario Bros. isn't bad, but it sure does look weird. Some enemies are very disproportionate, especially Shellcreepers with their oversized heads, and Slipice, which may as well be named Slim-Ice. Small and large fireballs are the same size in this version, with only their color to separate them at first glance. Sidesteppers and Fighterflies appear better off, but each one has a bit of flicker, meaning only part of each Sidestepper or Fighterfly is drawn at any one time. It seems odd that the NES would need to shrink down or trick out these graphics, when other games like Super Mario Bros. have much better detail. Then again, the NES is notorious for its flickery graphics, so maybe this was the compromise necessary to get enough characters on screen with as little flicker as possible.
Beyond the graphics, the NES version isn't bad at all. Game play is maybe a little on the easy side compared to the arcade game and other home ports. The audio is good, maybe even better than the arcade game's, with crisp effects and music compared to the arcade game's rather muffled presentation. Some of the character animations could have used a little more work, especially for Mario and Luigi, who run like their magic mushrooms were spiked with a heavy dose of caffeine. Like most home versions of Mario Bros., the NES release doesn't feature the icicles of later levels. But even with little shortcomings like that, the NES version remains decent and does not disappoint.
That's more than I can say for the Atari 7800 version. Like the Atari's other Nintendo offerings, Mario Bros. for some reason seems to be more a port of the NES version than the arcade game. And like those other games, this makes Mario Bros. suffer unnecessarily on the 7800. As noted earlier, the NES has some strange character designs that seem to be the result of a compromise with the console's hardware. The 7800, built to handle lots of on-screen characters all moving around with minimal flicker, doesn't need these compromises. The Sidesteppers and Fighterflies show absolutely no flicker, and yet the Shellcreepers and Slipice still have those same warped designs, and the "large" fireballs are still puny! Worse is the audio. Let's face it, the 7800 was not designed to play good music. This is made painfully obvious by the 7800's pitiful attempt to recreate the Mario Bros. title theme, heard elsewhere only on the NES. Other musical riffs fare no better, and even sound effects the 7800 should be more capable of come off as annoying. Worse still are the game mechanics. A little more development effort could have made the game play just like its NES cousin. Instead the 7800 version comes off as a lot harder, without offering any good reason to be.
and notReally that's the problem with the 7800 release in a nutshell: It apes the wrong version, and even where it could convincingly mimic that other game, it doesn't. Still, it's not a total loss, and with a little patience, the 7800 actually can offer a decent game of Mario Bros. Just don't expect a really great game, and be prepared to scream, "Oh, come on!" once in a while.