Back when Hudson Soft had a partnership with Nintendo, Hudson Soft had entitlement to use Nintendo’s IP. The success of Super Mario Bros made it understandable that Hudson Soft would use it, and so a ‘Super Mario Bros. Special’ was released for PC88 and SharpX1. However the games were awful, clunky, ugly and painful to play or even look at due to hardware restrictions. Despite the new things that Special brought to the table, it was ultimately a victim of ambitious porting. Naturally, the game is alot more enjoyable on the NES, and Frantik did an incredible job of truly making it feel Special by including the custom power-ups, levels, and even some modified graphics that were available at the time to make it feel more unique and polished.
3337ec46
MD5:
811b027eaf99c2def7b933c5208636de
SHA-1:
ea343f4e445a9050d4b4fbac2c77d0693b1d0922
This hack as a whole makes it a far easier and reliable way to play this spinoff. It even retains all the original easter eggs present in the PC release, such as the level designers initials, and the complex level design as a whole. Hudson Soft really reconsidered a lot of features/mechanics in this game, which makes the gameplay experience radically different when you compare it to Super mario bros. I would definitely play this again if I somehow stumble upon it.