Pinside rating
This game received 123 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 7.107 /10
Score breakdown
Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:
Game Design: 6.745
Artwork: 7.565
Sounds/Music: 6.919
Other Aspects: 7.202
Pinside staff rating
This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 5 of us have rated this game.
Found 61 ratings (with comment) on this game
There are 61 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 1 of 3.
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9.453/10
79 days ago
Marion, IN
Got this for my kids and I ended up falling in love with it. Game play, artwork, sound, and flow are all good imo. This is a keeper for sure.
5.970/10
4 months ago
Definitely not the worst game out there, but far from being even one of Gottliebs better games.
Pro’s:
Artwork is nice and colorful, and fits the theme.
Animations, while dodgy, I can’t give much flack towards, as this is Gottliebs first DMD game.
Some aspects of playfield design aren’t that bad, such as the castle shot being a bit difficult and rewarding.
The video mode, while janky and confusing, I will give credit for as it’s trying something new that other games haven’t ever really attempted to pull off.
Could have been a lot worse.
Con’s:
Scoring logic is terrible in my opinion, you just have to hit the two ramps over and over again to get your quick shots and Super letters (which are both the only things you want/need to get in the game). The ramps are also both easy to hit exemplifying this problem.
You can trap up with the upper left flipper, which definitely was not intended.
Occasionally, the pipe shot on the upper side playfield will be lit for 20 million, which is also a score breaker.
Call outs and music can get grating.
Luigi cave count up is overpowered as when it’s timed right, you can get hundreds of millions of points from a single shot.
Related to some of the above complaints, the game is far too easy (though to be expected considering the game is made to be kid friendly). The game ends up becoming boring because of this.
Overall, this game just isn’t great. If you like it, I can see why but it just is not for me. I can see Gottliebs effort put into this game, but this is one of their many misses from this DMD era.
Pro’s:
Artwork is nice and colorful, and fits the theme.
Animations, while dodgy, I can’t give much flack towards, as this is Gottliebs first DMD game.
Some aspects of playfield design aren’t that bad, such as the castle shot being a bit difficult and rewarding.
The video mode, while janky and confusing, I will give credit for as it’s trying something new that other games haven’t ever really attempted to pull off.
Could have been a lot worse.
Con’s:
Scoring logic is terrible in my opinion, you just have to hit the two ramps over and over again to get your quick shots and Super letters (which are both the only things you want/need to get in the game). The ramps are also both easy to hit exemplifying this problem.
You can trap up with the upper left flipper, which definitely was not intended.
Occasionally, the pipe shot on the upper side playfield will be lit for 20 million, which is also a score breaker.
Call outs and music can get grating.
Luigi cave count up is overpowered as when it’s timed right, you can get hundreds of millions of points from a single shot.
Related to some of the above complaints, the game is far too easy (though to be expected considering the game is made to be kid friendly). The game ends up becoming boring because of this.
Overall, this game just isn’t great. If you like it, I can see why but it just is not for me. I can see Gottliebs effort put into this game, but this is one of their many misses from this DMD era.
8.329/10
4 months ago
This is a great beginner game. If you want a deep, hard game, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a great game for new players, casual players, or kids, this is just about perfect. I am sure they designed it with those players in mind, so I rated it accordingly.
The audio is excellent. Callouts are fine, they are a bit repetitive, but they do tell the player what to do. The sound quality is clean and crisp with adequate of bass and clear treble. Lighting is excellent on this game, and the colors are nice and bright. It has about 10 bulbs above the back of the playfield, so the rear of the game is clearly lit, and the flipper area has 8 bulbs around it too. Replace everything with modern LEDs and its very easy to see and looks wonderful. The cabinet artwork is excellent and it is painted/screen printed on, so it looks very high quality and is colorful and eye popping.
The game is on the easy side (by design). There are some ways to make it harder and more balanced, which may help if you find you need to have it setup more challenging. On my machine, i replaced the upper flipper with a 2" flipper, making that upper playfield more difficult. You can still hit all the shots, but its harder to do with the smaller flipper. Makes me think they could have designed the game that way, but changed it at the last min. Disabling the "quick shot" helps make it harder. Setting the game on full hard in the settings does improve the difficulty. Mine came with longer (williams 28.5") legs in the rear, and so raising the pitch probably makes it more challenging too. I have debated on adding a post near the left ramp, to make the ramp shot much harder. If I decide to keep the game a long time, I may do that, however it would result in a screw-hole in the playfield if anyone ever wants to put it back to stock. Lastly, rebuilding the flippers using system 80 coil stops (longer) limits flipper travel and would make the game more difficult as well by limiting the ability to easily catch so many balls. Setting the adjustable out-lane post wider (or removal) all together, along with limiting the kick back settings or turning it off entirely also would increase difficultly. I guess the point is, with a few small changes the game can be setup to go from "way too easy" to something more like a medium hardness setting for any other pinball machine from the era. Something to keep in mind if you own one.
I am very happy with the game, friends and family love it. If you are an average player like me, have a few other hard games in your collection, and want a fun game to play against your kids/wife or non-pinhead friends with, then SMB is highly recommended!
The audio is excellent. Callouts are fine, they are a bit repetitive, but they do tell the player what to do. The sound quality is clean and crisp with adequate of bass and clear treble. Lighting is excellent on this game, and the colors are nice and bright. It has about 10 bulbs above the back of the playfield, so the rear of the game is clearly lit, and the flipper area has 8 bulbs around it too. Replace everything with modern LEDs and its very easy to see and looks wonderful. The cabinet artwork is excellent and it is painted/screen printed on, so it looks very high quality and is colorful and eye popping.
The game is on the easy side (by design). There are some ways to make it harder and more balanced, which may help if you find you need to have it setup more challenging. On my machine, i replaced the upper flipper with a 2" flipper, making that upper playfield more difficult. You can still hit all the shots, but its harder to do with the smaller flipper. Makes me think they could have designed the game that way, but changed it at the last min. Disabling the "quick shot" helps make it harder. Setting the game on full hard in the settings does improve the difficulty. Mine came with longer (williams 28.5") legs in the rear, and so raising the pitch probably makes it more challenging too. I have debated on adding a post near the left ramp, to make the ramp shot much harder. If I decide to keep the game a long time, I may do that, however it would result in a screw-hole in the playfield if anyone ever wants to put it back to stock. Lastly, rebuilding the flippers using system 80 coil stops (longer) limits flipper travel and would make the game more difficult as well by limiting the ability to easily catch so many balls. Setting the adjustable out-lane post wider (or removal) all together, along with limiting the kick back settings or turning it off entirely also would increase difficultly. I guess the point is, with a few small changes the game can be setup to go from "way too easy" to something more like a medium hardness setting for any other pinball machine from the era. Something to keep in mind if you own one.
I am very happy with the game, friends and family love it. If you are an average player like me, have a few other hard games in your collection, and want a fun game to play against your kids/wife or non-pinhead friends with, then SMB is highly recommended!
6.360/10
1 year ago
This one left me flat. I wasn't crazed about the layout and it quickly became repetitive. This might be a good one for beginners but it just doesn't have the depth that would keep me interested. I did think that the theme was well integrated though.
5.108/10
1 year ago
I brought one of these back from the dead and boy did it feel like a waste of time. I love the theme of SMB, having grown up right in that sweet spot of Nintendo during my formative years; unfortunately, the gameplay on this machine lacks. The extremely long ramp slows the game down, giant holes gobble up the ball willy nilly and score a random number of points. The callouts get old and the gameplay is flat.
Maybe if I had kids I would put this in my gameroom, but I couldn't get rid of it fast enough.
Maybe if I had kids I would put this in my gameroom, but I couldn't get rid of it fast enough.
Auckland
Waterloo, ON
6.149/10
1 year ago
I am a huge super Mario fan. Huge. This game, however, is very disappointing. It it just FAR too easy. No depth or challenging shots. It has no longevity whatsoever.
This is easily in my top 3 pins that have an amazing theme to poor gameplay ratio.
This is easily in my top 3 pins that have an amazing theme to poor gameplay ratio.
8.876/10
2 years ago
Super Mario Bros. - AWESOME theme! This title as you would guess, includes a lot music/sounds from Mario (Super Mario World to be exact). The sound and music quality is really good, and super nostalgic.
Game play is fairly simple. To fit with the Mario theme, the main goal is to destroy all 7 castles. You basically do this by lighting SUPER, and hitting the castle. Spelling SUPER is easy - Hit the left ramp, use the upper flipper to hit that ramp and get a letter. Hit one of the two (giant) scoops on the sides for the "R". Then hit the castle by shooting between the pop bumpers.
There are other modes that incorporate some different shots for points, of course. There is also a video mode which is pretty cool where you use the flipper buttons to run or jump - basically playing a Mario game.
Overall, this is a really fun game. The "Hit the ramp over and over and then the castle" can and will get boring probably - but again, there are some other modes to mix it up. This is a great game for location, kids, Mario fans, and casual/new pinball players in general.
Game play is fairly simple. To fit with the Mario theme, the main goal is to destroy all 7 castles. You basically do this by lighting SUPER, and hitting the castle. Spelling SUPER is easy - Hit the left ramp, use the upper flipper to hit that ramp and get a letter. Hit one of the two (giant) scoops on the sides for the "R". Then hit the castle by shooting between the pop bumpers.
There are other modes that incorporate some different shots for points, of course. There is also a video mode which is pretty cool where you use the flipper buttons to run or jump - basically playing a Mario game.
Overall, this is a really fun game. The "Hit the ramp over and over and then the castle" can and will get boring probably - but again, there are some other modes to mix it up. This is a great game for location, kids, Mario fans, and casual/new pinball players in general.
Bologna
7.265/10
3 years ago
Brisbane
All my reviews are going to follow a simple formula for those reading.
Number of shots to make - Pro's - Con's - Must Have Mods - What To Look For When Buying
Number of shots - 6 - average
Pro's:
* Video Mode is fun and fits the theme well
* Love that the call outs are a bit offbeat before Nintendo controlled it too much
* The "Super" feature where the target pops up between the flippers is good
* Jackpot shot is a fun shot between the pops
Cons:
* The scoops are so big you can drive a truck through them
* It can get boring hitting the left ramp over and over
* It does tend to lean towards more being a childrens game than seasoned players
Must Have Mods: (Note I will not include things like LED's, Color DMD, Invisiglass or Speaker Upgrades unless it's really badly needed)
* Cliffy protector set
* Tunnel replacement mod
What To Look For When Buying
* Wear on the parts not covered in mylar is common in particular above the pops and around & below the flippers
* Green ramp isn't broken
* Pop bumper covers aren't broken as they are hard to find
* Tunnel isn't missing or has significant paint loss
Number of shots to make - Pro's - Con's - Must Have Mods - What To Look For When Buying
Number of shots - 6 - average
Pro's:
* Video Mode is fun and fits the theme well
* Love that the call outs are a bit offbeat before Nintendo controlled it too much
* The "Super" feature where the target pops up between the flippers is good
* Jackpot shot is a fun shot between the pops
Cons:
* The scoops are so big you can drive a truck through them
* It can get boring hitting the left ramp over and over
* It does tend to lean towards more being a childrens game than seasoned players
Must Have Mods: (Note I will not include things like LED's, Color DMD, Invisiglass or Speaker Upgrades unless it's really badly needed)
* Cliffy protector set
* Tunnel replacement mod
What To Look For When Buying
* Wear on the parts not covered in mylar is common in particular above the pops and around & below the flippers
* Green ramp isn't broken
* Pop bumper covers aren't broken as they are hard to find
* Tunnel isn't missing or has significant paint loss
8.055/10
3 years ago
As a huge fan of the Mario franchise, I wanted to give this game a fair amount of time before committing to writing a review.
Pros: A surprisingly good balance of shots in the game. Gottliebs are notorious for being horrifically unbalanced, but this game set in tournament mode is actually not a bad game. The left ramp is definitely the dominant shot, however, the game does a really good job incentivising the player to make the different shots to light multiball and play through the various modes.
Music is good, and there's a really nice level of attention to detail. Each island on the backglass lights up as you complete each "world" and destroy each castle. Nice touch. Each player also gets their own background animation on the DMD--another nice detail considering this was Gottlieb's first use of the DMD on a pinball machine. Luigi's got a spooky cave, complete with a ghost, which had to be a lucky guess, since Luigi's Mansion wouldn't come out for at least a decade longer.
Downsides:
The game lacks fundamental strategy that most B/W games had at the time. Really, it boils down to start the mode, play the mode, move on. You can stack some modes with each other or with being "super," but it's not really a strategic opportunity.
The speech is grating. It's cool that this was Charles Martinet's first public portrayal of Mario, but the speech is repetitive and difficult to understand at times.
Stopping to watch the roulette wheel spin is fun exactly one time. After that, it just bogs down the game with unnecessary stop and go.
Bottom line:
This game is a ton of pure fun. Fighting your way through the castles really is a good time. It never takes itself seriously, it's absolutely loaded with a ton of features, with a ton of things to shoot for, and has a great theme. Maybe not the best choice in a small collection, but if you're a Nintendo fan, or want to have something that really stands out, this game is a great choice.
Pros: A surprisingly good balance of shots in the game. Gottliebs are notorious for being horrifically unbalanced, but this game set in tournament mode is actually not a bad game. The left ramp is definitely the dominant shot, however, the game does a really good job incentivising the player to make the different shots to light multiball and play through the various modes.
Music is good, and there's a really nice level of attention to detail. Each island on the backglass lights up as you complete each "world" and destroy each castle. Nice touch. Each player also gets their own background animation on the DMD--another nice detail considering this was Gottlieb's first use of the DMD on a pinball machine. Luigi's got a spooky cave, complete with a ghost, which had to be a lucky guess, since Luigi's Mansion wouldn't come out for at least a decade longer.
Downsides:
The game lacks fundamental strategy that most B/W games had at the time. Really, it boils down to start the mode, play the mode, move on. You can stack some modes with each other or with being "super," but it's not really a strategic opportunity.
The speech is grating. It's cool that this was Charles Martinet's first public portrayal of Mario, but the speech is repetitive and difficult to understand at times.
Stopping to watch the roulette wheel spin is fun exactly one time. After that, it just bogs down the game with unnecessary stop and go.
Bottom line:
This game is a ton of pure fun. Fighting your way through the castles really is a good time. It never takes itself seriously, it's absolutely loaded with a ton of features, with a ton of things to shoot for, and has a great theme. Maybe not the best choice in a small collection, but if you're a Nintendo fan, or want to have something that really stands out, this game is a great choice.
9.136/10
3 years ago
Stangely enough, a lot of people love this game, always more WTB than FS, but its rating is far for being representative...
Maybe because it's Gotlieb, maybe because it's Kawai or maybe because of the crappy scoring rules.
For me, the only week point with this pin is the music. Not bad, but you reall want to ear the classic Mario's scores, and you won't.
Theme is great, playfield and side art are great. It's hard to find one with a neat playfield because the SMB were played to death, and still are by the way. I'm not a big fan of the backbox, it looks like a chinese bootleg of a Mario's cartridge game, but it's far from being "Stern ugly". If you're fine with the kawai Nintendo style, it's certainly one of the most beautiful themed machine ever.
Now the scoring: it sucks, this pin should never been used in competition. Because SMB is not about scoring, it's about obtaining replays. And choosing the best strategy to obtain a replay: score, or completing all the modes or destroying the 7th castle. Score and castle depend of previous players.
The gameplay should seem simple today, and the playfield lakes toys, but remember it was the 1st true Gotlieb dmd, and as this time it came out, we were all amazed how crazy was this pin compared to anything else existing before it.
As a conclusion: I love it, everybody loves it, it's completly underestimated, grab one before the Nintendo factor makes it a crazy collector priced item!
Maybe because it's Gotlieb, maybe because it's Kawai or maybe because of the crappy scoring rules.
For me, the only week point with this pin is the music. Not bad, but you reall want to ear the classic Mario's scores, and you won't.
Theme is great, playfield and side art are great. It's hard to find one with a neat playfield because the SMB were played to death, and still are by the way. I'm not a big fan of the backbox, it looks like a chinese bootleg of a Mario's cartridge game, but it's far from being "Stern ugly". If you're fine with the kawai Nintendo style, it's certainly one of the most beautiful themed machine ever.
Now the scoring: it sucks, this pin should never been used in competition. Because SMB is not about scoring, it's about obtaining replays. And choosing the best strategy to obtain a replay: score, or completing all the modes or destroying the 7th castle. Score and castle depend of previous players.
The gameplay should seem simple today, and the playfield lakes toys, but remember it was the 1st true Gotlieb dmd, and as this time it came out, we were all amazed how crazy was this pin compared to anything else existing before it.
As a conclusion: I love it, everybody loves it, it's completly underestimated, grab one before the Nintendo factor makes it a crazy collector priced item!
7.118/10
4 years ago
Super Mario is like a dream theme for me as a huge nintendo fan but sadly this game is not too great. I'm personally not a fan of gottliebs of this era and so already its down for me. The rules are pretty simple with a few basic modes started by collecting the green shells. The multiball is easy to get, but the jackpot shot through the pops and into the castle is actually quite tough and fun to go for. It's one of the better gottliebs of the era, but still falls a bit flat. The theme really saves this one.
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