Super Boy
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 Mamma-mia! That's not how you do your own version of Mario!
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Super Boy is a series of bootleg games developed and published by Zemina from 1989 to 1992 for the MSX and the Sega Master System. The first two games are clones of Super Mario Bros., while the third and fourth games are more original, but still have some stuff from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World
List of games
| Game | Release Date | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Super Boy I | 1989 | MSX Sega Master System |
| Super Boy II | ||
| Super Boy 3 | 1991 | |
| Super Boy 4 | December 20, 1992 | Sega Master System |
Why It's Not Super
Super Boy I and II
- Even for MSX and the Master System standards, the graphics are horrible and look like some sort of an alpha build of Super Mario Bros., which in turn would look better than this game. The colors are atrocious, everything looks unpolished, and when "Mario"/Boy jumps, his face pretty much falls apart.
- Awful hit detection that feels like a brother of Action 52; for example, during the boss fight with Bowser, you can be hit by him even if you're not close enough to him.
- Terrible controls, with Boy being stiff to control and jumps being floaty, which is uncomfortable for a platformer.
- Poorly remixed soundtrack that sounds as if the composer was drunk; the music sounds like it was depressed, with the overworld theme sounding unfinished as it doesn't sound that faithful to the original theme. And for some reason, the castle uses underground music, even though the castles in the original Super Mario Bros. had unique music.
- God-awful scrolling that's probably worse than Doom on the SNES; the screen scrolls like a piece of paper on a typing machine from the 1940s, giving a janky look as a result.
- Horrible level design for the most part which can be compared to Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, which can sometimes lead to cheap deaths.
- Super Boy II had an even worse level design than the first as the platforming sections are not only even worse but even the enemy placement is at its worst here, in fact, it is so bad that the game is even more unplayable.
- The hidden 1-UP mushrooms, the beanstalks, the warp zones, the 10-coin blocks, the starman, and some enemies like Green Koopas, Hammer Bros, and the Bloopers as well as underwater levels are absent in this game.
- Only 4 worlds with 16 levels which is the half amount of worlds and levels from the original game. As a result, if you're good at the game, it is very short, being possible to beat in less than 15 minutes.
- There's no axe in castles and due to this, the bridge doesn't break even when Bowser is still here.
- While the logo of the first Super Boy is passable, the Super Boy II logo is extremely poor as it is only white with generic text that has no style like the first game, in addition, it just looks like a bad SG-1000 logo, even though the MSX had the same power as that console, but even then for a Master System game, it is unacceptable.
- When you defeat Bowser in worlds 1-3, what appears is a message saying "SORRY NOTHING", which feels like complete mockery. At least in Super Mario Bros., in worlds 1-7, you at least rescue a Toad.
- Lack of ending. Beating the final level (World 4-4), Peach (Princess Toadstool) does not appear and it says "TO BE CONTINUED" and the game immediately starts to the world 1-1.
- Instead of appearing the Super Mushroom or the Fire Flower in the "?" blocks that are supposed to appear, they're randomized which can be confusing for most of the players who mostly play the original game. Said randomizer shows no mercy and mostly gives you coins instead of power-ups.
- The physics is incredibly poor. Stomping in Koopas and Buzzy Beetles kills them instantly instead of leaving a shell and Lakitu drops Spinies immediately instead of appearing as Spiny Eggs.
- The sequel is just a reskin of the first game only with changed dialogue. Completing the first world says "GO, NEXT STAGE" and beating the game just says "END". Also, some parts of levels are recycled from Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.
Super Boy 3
- While the graphics are better, they're still unimpressive to look like for a 1991 MSX game, with Boy's colors not being that good to look at and some enemies not looking that good. The title screen is also ugly, with "Mario"'s mustache being blue for whatever reason.
- There's still a randomizer for items, making it impossible to tell if you're gonna get a power-up or not. Fortunately, it's less random here.
- The Starman makes a product placement of Pepsi. While Starman's icon was likely to resemble a South Korean flag, it failed and it pretty much created a product placement.
- The final boss is just the Sledge Bro throwing fire which is an ordinary enemy in the Mario franchise instead of fighting Bowser who is the main villain of the franchise.
- The bosses themselves are boring, and there's no strategy to beat them, as you just need to hit them several times until they're dead so you can move onto the next level.
- Slow gameplay, with the scrolling being hardly any better in comparison to Super Boy I and II and jumping feeling pretty slow, especially when jumping up. It is not known if it is because of the MSX and the Master System's limitations, but it can be unacceptable for the latter, as the Master System is more powerful.
- The controls are just as bad if not even worse than the first two games since they are very clunky and unresponsive, especially the jumps as they are so poorly programmed that they have constant lag, which are the worst controls for a platformer game.
Super Boy 4
- The controls are probably the worst in the whole series, even worse than in Super Boy 3; the Boy moves like a tank on ice, and jumps fail to register, which are the controls that should never be seen in a platformer.
- While okay to listen to, the soundtrack is not as good as Super Boy 3's and sounds a bit quiet at times.
- Super Boy 4 does not have a final boss. Instead, the final level is just the forest rather than the Bowser's Castle which is the main final level of the franchise. Completing it automatically leads to the ending sequence.
- Almost lack of originality. Most of the stuff in the game looks like something more from a Mario game that you would see on the NES. Even Super Boy 3 had more originality.
- The projectiles Boy shoots are worthless; they just go down through the ground and then disappear after a very short while.
- The game pretty much doesn't understand how holes work; certain holes make the enemies stand on them, while others make you fall, which is inconsistent. Even the previous games didn't do it.
- The hidden power-ups are pathetically easy to find, as you need to stand on their blocks that are invisible and you have an easy find. It is not known if it was an oversight or something intended, but an invisible block shouldn't even be able to be stood on while it is not even visible in the first place.
- Generic level design that is a big rip off from Super Mario World, and while the level design is not so bad and better than in Super Boy III, it is still way too similar to Mario and could even be seen as the Sega version of Super Mario World.
- The infamous glove power that turn Boy into black with yellow clothing, which could be seen as racist for some.
Redeeming Qualities That Are Super
Super Boy 3
- The soundtrack is decent to listen to.
- As mentioned before, the power-ups are less random, which is an improvement over Super Boy I and I.
- The game is arguably the most original of all games in the series, as despite having graphics recycled from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, there are some differences, such as a boss at the end of every stage, and the levels being more original.
- The physics are an improvement in comparison to the previous games, now being less buggy.
- While the title screen looks ugly, it does not follow the style of the Super Mario Bros. title screen, which itself is a plus for an otherwise ugly title screen.
Super Boy 4
- The graphics are pretty good here; the enemies have good colors and the objects are still nice to look at, which is impressive considering the Master System is an 8-bit system compared to the SNES, which is a 16-bit one.
- Unlike the previous games, Boy's design is original, despite still feeling like a sprite edit.
- The power-ups are no longer randomized, finally eliminating an issue from the previous games.
- The soundtrack, despite being inferior in comparison to 3's, is still okay to listen to.
- The scrolling has been finally improved, with it being much smoother now, making this game more playable, this is because this game is an actual Master System game and not a MSX game ported without change to the Master System.
- While still a mediocre game, it's way better than the first three games and is more playable, despite the terrible controls.
Trivia
- Super Boy 4 is the only game in the series that wasn't released on the MSX.
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