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Mario and Luigi are firm favourites in the arcades and have been seen in the Donkey Kong trilogy (Donkey Kong IV should be nearing completion around now), Wrecking Crew and the Mario Brothers series (not to mention guest appearances in such games as Punch Out!!). Well, this is one of the first times they appeared in together.

It's a classic ladders and ramps game with the player(s) chasing around a series of horizontal platforms trying to kill a load of very weird and wonderful creatures.

The game is very simple to play; you simply run left or right and jump to punch the platform above you. If a creature is walking along that platform, it is knocked over and stunned for a few seconds, allowing either Mario or Luigi to run over it and kill it. If either player touches a creature when it isn't stunned, one of three lives are lost. If the creature reaches the bottom of the screen, it disappears into a pipe and reappears at the top of the screen and runs along at an even greater speed!

Some of the creatures are very strange indeed, and include cute turtles, crabs (which need to be punched twice), hopping fighter flies and ice cold freezies to avoid.

Another dangers come in the form of fireballs which float around the screen and try and restrict movement. They're fatal to touch and can provide much hassle on later levels.

If you find the going particularly tough, you can always chicken out and use the POW bag at the bottom of the screen. Punching this causes the entire screen to shake, upsetting all the nasties. But be careful - if you've already turned over a creature, punching the POW bag will turn back on his feet!

Bonus points are earned by collecting gold coins that occasionally float on from the sides of the screen, and you can also get accumulative bonuses by punching or kicking two or more creatures.

There are also bonus rounds where you have to collect all the coins from a screen within the alloted time limit; get them all and a special "perfect" bonus is awarded.

What makes the game really enjoyable is the one or two-player option, which allows Mario and Luigi to play simultaneously, either as a team, or as enemies (it depends on your choice of tactics). For me, the competitive edge of two players battling together really makes the game - but the game is incredibly enjoyable when you play solo.

The graphics are simple and clean, but it's the gameplay which is superb; simple, yet incredibly addictive. Go for it!