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 Apparently
this game was an arcade smash in 1984 but I was introduced to this game
on the NES. In the arcade Marble Madness featured a
trackball, one of those balls that you rolled with your palm, but on the
NES you are stuck using your regular old game pad.
The premise is quite simple: You are a marble who is trying to roll
his way from the start to the finish. You start the game with 60 seconds
and your time carries over to each race with varying amounts of time
getting added after each race. This means that if you do really badly on
the second or third race then you probably won't have enough time on the
6th race to be able to beat the game. This game is very fun
for about 10-15 minutes as the first few boards are really easy. Once you
get stuck though, the game gets really frustrating. But if you stick with
it for a while you should find this game no problem to solve. The game
consists of 6 boards including the practice board.
Positives:
 One
nice thing about Marble Madness is
that all six boards are included, making it a faithful port of the arcade
version. It is also a fun
two-player game since you and your partner have to race competitively
down each board. The winner gets
five bonus seconds while the loser gets nothing. Overall Marble Madness is a pretty original concept and while not
perfect the strange angle that you have to play on works pretty darn
well.
Glaring
Negatives:
Marble Madness is a
super-short game. Your game will
last less than ten minutes whether you beat it or not. There are only six stages and you
rarely get more than 80 seconds to beat any board. It can also get very frustrating on the
Ultimate board, leading to multiple throwings of your controller.
Graphics
and Sound: Average
I absolutely hate the sound on this game. Every time you fall off of a
cliff you get to hear this annoying effect that just about drives this
agent nuts. The graphics aren't terrible but they certainly aren't
anything to write home about. Things can get confusing at times as you
bounce of objects that aren't there.
Gameplay
and Controls: OK
Obviously the gameplay is going to suffer when an arcade game that
uses a trackball is translated to the NES but this one isn't too bad.
Usually your ball will do what you want it to do but there are definitely
times when you will be yelling at your ball. Sometimes the screen doesn't
follow your ball, which can be quite annoying.
Features:
Not much
Really the only feature is the cool two-player mode that allows you to
race against your opponent.
Fun?:
Sure
 This
game was very enjoyable until it was beaten. Unfortunately, once you beat
this game the replay factor goes down extensively as there is little else
to do.
Challenge:
A Bit Tough
The final stage can be pretty brutal.
If you don’t enter it with a ton of extra time you will be
toast. The other five stages are
not that bad though.
Replay:
Not much in one-player mode
Like I said above, once beaten this game will probably collect dust on
your shelf. But if you have a
friend to play against then this game may get as much replay as some of
the popular sports titles get.
2
Player: Yes!
This is the saving grace of the game. There is a simultaneous
two-player option that makes this game great and makes the replay value
much higher. If you have someone who you can play with, then this game
has a large replay value. In the two-player mode the two balls run at the
same time and can collide with each other and cause problems. The winner
of each race gets five bonus seconds that really help towards beating the
game. If you're like me, meaning competition brings out the best in you,
then this can be the easiest way to solve the game.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
You can find all the NES manuals
at Nintendo
Age.
Bottom Line: Decent fun one-player, Lots of
fun two-player
If you have another person to play with, then
this game is swell, otherwise expect a game that you are going to get
tired of relatively quickly.
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