Super Mario Bros. Special: Difference between revisions

|publisher=Hudson Soft (Japan)<br>Static Soft (South Korea)<ref name=Lost/>

|release={{release|Japan|1986}}{{release|South Korea|c. 1987<ref name=Lost/>}}

|genre=[[Genre#Platform games|Platformer]]

|modes=Single player

|platforms=[[NEC PC-88|PC-8801]]<br>{{wp|Sharp X1}}<br>Samsung SPC-1500<ref name=Lost/>

'''''Super Mario Bros. Special''''' (Japanese: スーパーマリオブラザーズ スペシャル, ''Sūpā Mario Burazāzu Supesharu'') is a platform game that was developed by [[Hudson Soft]] and released in 1986 for the [[NEC PC-88|PC-8801]] and Sharp X1 series of Japanese computers, and later for the Samsung SPC-1500<ref name=Lost>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200409192745/hg101.proboards.com/thread/6968/hudson-mario-trilogy?page=2&scrollTo=173288 Hardcore Gaming 101 ProBoards - Hudson Mario Trilogy]</ref> in South Korea. ''Super Mario Bros. Special'' was the second [[Nintendo]]-licensed follow-up to ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', released around two months after ''[[Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels]]''.<ref>http://nintendoera.com/discussing-hudsons-mario-games-with-native-japanese-speaker-bando/</ref> Two years prior, Hudson Soft had released ''[[Punch Ball Mario Bros.]]'' and ''[[Mario Bros. Special]]'', which were both based on the original ''[[Mario Bros. (game)|Mario Bros.]]''

While superficially very similar to the original ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', the game features original new [[level]]s and has a screen-by-screen scrolling mechanism. The latter is implemented more smoothly in the X1 version, which features ''Zelda''-style scrolling, where the screen visually slides to the next lock point (with some overlap between screens), whereas the PC-8801 version simply turns black for a moment while loading the next screen.

[[Jump]]ing and [[dash]]ing physics also differ from the original [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]], providing a more challenging experience than ''Super Mario Bros.'' Adding difficulty is the fact that the [[Time Limit|stage time]] is slightly faster than in the original NES game. [[Mario]]'s [[Hammer]] from ''[[Donkey Kong (game)|Donkey Kong]]'' makes a reappearance as a rare item, alongside a variety of past foes from earlier arcade ''[[Super Mario (franchise)|Super Mario]]'' titles and new exclusive [[List of items|items]].

Due to the PC-8801 and X1's technology being inferior to that of the NES/[[Family Computer|Famicom]], the graphics and audio differ slightly from the original game as well, although they are closely replicated. Additionally, the game does not include [[Luigi]], nor does it contain a multiplayer mode. The X1 version contains partial scrolling and slightly more colorful graphics, featuring all eight colors possible with 100% and 0% RGB, including lime-green, cyan, magenta and white. While the PC-88 is able to produce eight colors, ''Super Mario Bros. Special'' only uses half of the PC-88's hardware palette, restricted to only black, red, yellow, and blue, including dithered results with those four colors. Further, sprites exclude the use of blue to allow transparency in the sprites. This leads to yellow being used as a stand-in for white and swapping with red for recolored enemies, notably causing the "green" enemies to appear with red eyes.

==Enemies==

Hudson Soft's staff took enemies from ''Super Mario Bros.'' as well as earlier ''Super Mario'' games. All are named and ordered per their listing in the cast and credits:

{|style="text-align: center; width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; border-collapse: collapse;"border="1"cellpadding="2"cellspacing="0"

!align="center"|[[Goomba|Kuribou]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBS-Goomba-SharpX1.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBS Goomba NEC PC-8801.png|16x16px]]

!align="center"|''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''

|The most basic enemy, they can be defeated with a jump on top of them, bumping them from below, hitting them with a fireball, hammer, or shell, or running into them while invincible. Found in Worlds 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-1, 2-3, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 5-1, 5-2, and 8-1.

!align="center"|[[Koopa Troopa|Nokonoko]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBS-KoopaTroopa-SharpX1.png]] [[File:SMBS-KoopaTroopaRed-SharpX1.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBS Yellow Koopa Troopa.png|16x32px]] [[File:SMBS Red Koopa Troopa.png|16x32px]]

!align="center"|''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''

|Walking turtles, the green of which walk off ledges and the red of which turn at ledges. Jumps and bumps cause them to hide into their shells (which can be knocked around), and fire, a hammer, a shell, and invincibility defeats them instantly. Green found in Worlds 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-1, 2-3, 3-2, 4-1, 4-2, 5-1, 5-2, 6-3, and 7-3. Red found in Worlds 1-2, 1-3, 3-3, 4-3, 5-2, 6-3, and 8-1.

!align="center"|[[Koopa Paratroopa|Patapata]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBS Green Paratroopa Sharp X1.png]] [[File:SMBS-KoopaParatroopaRed-SharpX1.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBS Yellow Koopa Paratroopa.png|16x32px]] [[File:SMBS Red Koopa Paratroopa.png|16x32px]]

!align="center"|''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''

|Winged Nokonoko, the green of which jump and the red of which fly up and down. Stomping on them makes them lose their wings, and fire, a hammer, a shell, or invincibility defeats them instantly. Green found in Worlds 3-1, 3-2, 4-1, 5-1, 5-2, 7-1, 7-3, and 8-1. Red found in Worlds 1-3, 5-3, 7-3, 8-1, 8-3, and 8-4.

!align="center"|[[Buzzy Beetle|Met]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBS Buzzy Beetle Sharp X1.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBS Buzzy Beetle NEC PC-8801.png|16x15px]]

!align="center"|''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''

|Hard-shelled turtles that act similar to Nokonoko. They can be knocked into their shells with a jump or bump, and can be defeated with invincibility or a hammer or shell. Found in Worlds 4-2, 5-2, 6-2, 7-1, 8-1, and 8-4.

!align="center"|[[Barrel|Tarusar]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:Barrel SMBS.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBS Barrel NEC PC-8801.png|14x16px]]

!align="center"|''[[Donkey Kong (game)|Donkey Kong]]''

|These barrels roll down ledges and can be defeated with a hammer or a bump. Found in Worlds 3-4, 4-3, 6-2, 6-4, 7-1, and 8-2.

|The villain, he appears in every castle level (as in, the ones ending in -4). For the first five worlds, he breaths fire, and for the next two, he throws hammers, and for the final, he does both. He can be defeated by touching the nearby [[axe]] or by hitting him with five fireballs.

{|style="text-align: center; width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; border-collapse: collapse;"border="1"cellpadding="2"cellspacing="0"class="sortable"

!align="center"|[[Super Mushroom|Magic Mushroom]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-SuperMushroom-SharpX1.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-SuperMushroom-PC88.png|16x16px]]

!align="center"|[[Fire Flower]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-FireFlower-SharpX1.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-FireFlower-PC88.png|16x16px]]

!align="center"|[[Super Star|Starman]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:StarmanWithAFaceSMBS.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-Star-PC88.png|14x16px]]

!align="center"|[[Hammer|Hummer]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:HammerSMBS.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-Hummer-PC88.png|14x16px]]

!align="center"|[[Wing (Super Mario Bros. Special)|Wing]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:Smbswing.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-Wing-PC88.png|16x16px]]

{|style="text-align: center; width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; border-collapse: collapse;"border="1"cellpadding="2"cellspacing="0"class="sortable"

!align="center"|[[1-Up Mushroom|1 up Mushroom]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-1UpMushroom-SharpX1.png|16x16px]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-1UpMushroom-PC88.png|16x16px]]

!align="center"|[[Coin]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-Coin.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-Coin.png|10x14px]]

!align="center"|[[Hachisuke]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:HudsonBeeSMBS.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-Hachisuke-PC88.png|16x16px]]

!align="center"|[[+ Clock|Clock]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMB Special Clock sprite.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-Clock-PC88.png|14x15px]]

!align="center"|[[Lucky Star (Super Mario Bros. Special)|Lucky Star]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-LuckyStarItem.png]]

|align="center"style="background:#00f"|[[File:SMBSpecial-LuckyStarItem-PC88.png|16x12px]]

Like in the original ''Super Mario Bros.'', jumping on a [[Koopa Troopa]] or a [[Buzzy Beetle]] when it is about three pixels away from an edge or wall makes Mario jump on it continously, thus allowing the player to gain infinite 1-Ups. Unlike the original, the trick is much easier to perform due to the game's different collision physics launching the player higher after a stomp, and can be done in virtually any area with both a Koopa Troopa and an edge or wall.

The player can accumulate a maximum of 255 lives, with the number of current lives remaining represented in hexadecimal numbers (such as "85" for 133 lives and "DE" for 222 lives). Collecting any more loops the counter back to 0 lives.

Sometimes, touching the edge of a Fire-Bar does not deliver any damage, likely because of the game's limits in hardware and registering hitboxes with moving obstacles.

The [[Warp Zone]]s from the original were changed in such a way that ''Super Mario Bros. Special'' has no true Warp Zone. In [[World 1-2 (Super Mario Bros. Special)|World 1-2]], reaching the area over the [[Warp Pipe|pipe]] instead leads to the single bonus room that could be accessed normally in the stage, but with a pipe that still leads to the overworld, thus to the end of the level. In World 4-2, a room that more resembles a true Warp Zone can be found, however the only pipe it holds does not have any destinations defined. The pipe can still be entered, but the player remains stuck there indefinitely, forcing the player to be killed by the timer.

In World 4-3, there is a [[beanstalk]] that leads to a [[Coin Heaven]]. When trying to leave, sometimes Mario is unable to enter the exit pipe. It is assumed to be an overlooked program error, as the entrance back to the main level from this bonus area is present underneath the mushroom stairs leading to the [[Goal Pole|flagpole]].

Compared to the original ''Super Mario Bros.'', the jumping board present in World 2-1 is much more difficult to perform a higher jump off of due to poor collision detection, sometimes being stuck in its animation frames when Mario jumps off. Sometimes holding the jump key while landing on the board guarantees success in jumping off, and in the event that a player would have trouble, the set of [[Hidden Block|invisible blocks]] placed around the board allows players to bypass it.

===Disk error (PC-88)===  

[[File:SMBS9.png|thumb|Disk Error]]

If the system encounters an error while trying to read and load data from the disk, the screen displays the message: "''DISK ERROR! PLEASE RESTART GAME PUSH IPL SWITCH''" (the IPL switch being a reset button present on PC-8801 family machines). The error is caused by corrupted data, which may be a result of a damaged disk or a improperly performed ROM dump, the most notable example being a ROM in which 8-4 is corrupted.<ref>MrPodoboo. (August 22, 2009). [https://youtu.be/i8i3soQcUbU?si=50N8uESjA_Fn38Lm&t=290 Let's Play Super Mario Bros. Special - World 8]. ''YouTube - Timestamped''. Retrieved June 30, 2018.</ref> This error, being a disk read error, is likely to exist in other versions of the game, but it has not been confirmed, and it is improbable that the error is identical across all systems.

Due to bad pipe entering detection, if Mario gets too close to a horizontal pipe that can be entered and quickly turn around, the pipe-entering sound plays and the music stops until Mario actually enters the pipe. The player can do this multiple times in the same room which repeats the pipe-entering sound.

|title1=[[Ground Theme (Super Mario Bros.)|Ground Theme]]

|title2=[[Underwater Theme]]

|title3=[[Super Star (theme)|Starman]]

|file4=SMBS Castle.oga

|title4=[[Shiro BGM|Castle Theme]]

|length4=0:20

|file5=SMBS Lost a Life.oga

|title5=Lost a Life

|length5=0:03

*[https://www.uvlist.net/game-159777-Mario+Bros.+Special Universal Game List entry for ''Super Mario Bros. Special'']

*[https://themushroomkingdom.net/games/smbs-x1 More information on the X1 version]

{{Super Mario games}}