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Ah Mario, a flagship title for Nintendo and one of the most iconic gaming mascots; copied by many but perfected by none. Nintendo is renowned for vehemently defending its intellectual property. Look at the last time we almost had a perfect clone for the Commodore: Great Giana Sisters caused such an uproar that Nintendo's strong influence convinced the makers to withdraw the game's release as it broached upon copyright infringement.

Fast forward a few decades and the same thing happened when this port was released for the C64. Luckily for us at Blast Towers, we got our little gaming mitts on it before the Cease and Desist was issued.

Mario has had a long and illustrious career, starting with his origins in Donkey Kong and featuring in well over 100 games to date (including cameos). This irrepressible plumber is going nowhere anytime soon. He remains one of the most popular veterans of Nintendo's long video gaming history. Super Mario Bros, released in 1985 on the NES took the simple idea from the '83 arcade version and ran with it creating the foundations for which every main Mario game has followed since. This original version still proves to be both challenging and charming to this day and it was with delight to see it being released for the Commodore 64.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, this section will be like telling one's grandmother how to suck eggs. Just in case anyone is a Mario virgin, here it is... Hard times have befallen The Mushroom Kingdom. Black magic has cursed the land and the only person who can thwart it is Princess Toadstool. Sadly, she has been kidnapped by King Bowser and this is where Mario comes in to play – he must get through all the zones in the Mushroom Kingdom, evade all of the evil minions and jump onto the flagpole at the end of each level.

Easier said than done, as there are many perils along the way. Fortunately, Mario has some tricks up his sleeves. He is rather fond of the potent mushrooms in the land and, when consumed, they double him in size (acting as an extra life).

There are also plants scattered around the levels which give him the ability to shoot fireballs towards his numerous foes. The game is broken into overground, underground and castle sections, the latter having end of level boss fights. The game is divided into eight worlds with four levels on each. They progressively get harder and provide an excellent platforming challenge for the willing player.

Being a huge fan of the NES original, and a loyal fan since, I went into this version skeptical. Oh my, how surprised I was – this is one very faithful conversion and it plays like a dream. The controls are just as tight – it actually handles like a Mario game should.

The graphics, although duller with the C64's chalky palette are outstanding – they pretty much match the original. The music is great too with the SID tune replicating the merry melodies as best as the 3 channels allow. I half expected the game not to be full length either, but in discovery that it was the "full package", I can only acknowledge that this is one hell of a triumph. It shows the staying power of the C64 and in the right hands, a programmer can do some really miraculous stuff on this aging system.

There is very little to dislike. Yes, it's a conversion and not something original. Some may ask what is the point in playing this on the C64 when the original is readily available? I would normally be inclined to agree, but this is exceptional and worthy of playing.

But that's me erring on positivity in a dislike section. The only thing I don't like is when playing this on real hardware - you are playing with the joystick and "up" for jump is one of my pet hates. Clearly, there is nothing you can do about that as that's how the joystick is set up on the Commodore. The only other thing I noticed was some slight slowdown at times, but this is minimal.

Absolute proof of the power of the C64. This is one marvelous conversion that really deserves to be played. It's just a shame Nintendo forced the withdrawal of it.