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Mario is arguably the most famous plumber in the world - and that's pretty impressive considering he's never really done much actual plumbing. Since his first appearance as the little bloke who had to jump Donkey Kong's burning barrels way back in the mists of videogame history he's appeared in dozens of videogames and become a household name.

When Super Mario Bros came out on the NES back in 1985 it was an immense hit and it's probably fair to say that it played a huge contribution to the console's success. Since then we've had the SNES, the Game Boy and the N64 - Mario, with and without his brother Luigi, has popped up on all of them. He's already made an appearance on Nintendo's Game Boy Color but now he's going back to his roots for some classic platforming action.

Super Mario Bros Deluxe is a souped up version of the NES original which promises to do for the Game Boy Color what the old game did for the NES. One or two players, using two Game Boy Colors and a Game Link cable, get to take control of Mario and Luigi for some serious platform fun.

All 32 levels from the original game are included in this version plus eight new ones designed specifically for the Game Boy Color. All the levels can be played in original 1985 classic mode plus Nintendo have added a special challenge mode where the object is to collect five coins and uncover the hidden Yoshi egg from every level.

To hinder the flat-capped heroes are there all sorts of hidden obstacles and opponents like Boo and Bowser who are almost as well-known as Mario these days. Help for our heroes comes in the form of mushrooms, fire flowers and invicibility stars. When playing against a friend, there are also special barrier blocks on the stages which you can use to change the other player's course or to make the ground vanish from under their very feet!

Like a lot of new Game Boy Color games Super Mario Bros Deluxe makes use of the Game Boy printer. As you play through the game you are awarded pictures from the game's 'photo album'. These pictures can then be printed out at your leisure or used to create your own custom banners.

If you feel like a break from the hectic platform action Super Mario Bros Deluxe offers you can take time to explore the toy box mode. This contains various options ranging from a calendar which runs up to the year 3000 and lets you store all your important appointments to a rather bizarre fortune telling mode which challenges you to 'discover your destiny' by choosing cards. Does Mario really know the future?

The gameplay in Super Mario Bros Deluxe simply can't be faulted. The original game really broke new ground and showed gamers a whole new style of play, being the first game to include a plethora of hidden entrances and bonuses throughout each stage and the same has been done with this version giving you lots of things to search for, even if you've managed to play all the way though and finish the game.

Graphically the Game Boy Color version is almost identical to the original and they've even managed to get the music to sound the same too. While it probably isn't good practice to convert every old videogame that's ever been produced (there were some pretty lousy ones after all!) games of the calibre of Super Mario Bros are well worth bringing up-to-date because they still have playability that far out-strips the majority of most modern titles. Quite simply, Super Mario Bros Deluxe is a top game and one that no Game Boy Color owner should miss out on. Get out and buy yourself a little piece of videogame history!