Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario War, by Thunder Dragon
Review Author Q-Nova
Created Feb 1 2020, 4:09 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview
In some of these games, you just wonder how did Mario get into the mess. Take Super Mario War, for instance. Maybe Mario got so bored one day, he asked -- oh, I don't know -- a godly dragon if he knows what can he do to kill the boredom, and the dragon responded by giving Mario those yellow spiky balls from SMW, saying "Here, blow up these.. uh... mines. I'm overloaded with them!"

Huh? That's not Super Mario War, you say? Oh, you must be thinking about that fighting fangame from 2006. *clears throat* I'm talking about the ORIGINAL Super Mario War, made by Thunder Dragon, and no, he has nothing to do with the other Super Mario War!
 
Pros +Customization!
+Cool logo
 
Cons -So much luck involved
-Imbalanced difficulty
-Large numbers of mines lead to most of them blowing up
-Sounds cannot be disabled
 
Impressions
Gameplay
3 / 10
Super Mario War is very simple; all you have to do is blow up the bouncing mines. Mario can only walk and shoot, but he can go from one side of the screen to the other, like in Pac-Man. One cool feature that's very underused in fangames is the customization! Before starting a game, you can change a few of the mines' properties, including how many, how fast, and how much HP.

While simple gameplay and customization are nice, fun is the most important aspect. Dodging lots of mines can be fun, but sadly, that gets blown up by some major issues. Since the mines move in random directions, you'll often find yourselves trapped (especially in a mine storm). In fact, it happens to me at the start in like, half of the time! Another issue is that as you take down mines in-game, it gets much and much easier. I think the mines should get faster whenever you blow one up, and there could even be an option to change how much of a boost they get!
 
Graphics
7 / 10
Looks like TD just took a bunch of SNES Mario graphics and mashed them together, like in so many fangames back then. They don't clash very much, though, and the logo and orange background are neat. The characters that are running across the screen (one of whom is Donkey Kong Jr. on a go-kart!) don't look like they are alerted by those mines. Hm, maybe the mines are all Mario's imagination? I suppose that can happen if you're that bored.
 
Sound
5 / 10
The main theme is some SMB1 underground remix from who knows what. A few seconds of it fits, but that's it; the rest doesn't make me think I'm really in a warzone. Yet, the title screen theme sounds like I'm about to enter one! Sound effects exist, but they're nothing new, and the one you hear when a mine gets shot is unfitting.

Speaking of sounds, there's no option to turn them off! This proves to be a problem many years later, as old Clickteam games tend to have slowdowns and audio glitches in newer Windows systems when there's too much noise. It's even available by default, so something must've gotten into TD's head.
 
Final Words
3 / 10
It's a war alright, against either dullness or object overload, that is.

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