Super Mario ZZT: A Side Scrolling Adventure!
When I saw this game in the archives, I thought, "Wow, a Mario platformer for ZZT. I shall check this out." Then i saw the game. Many ZZT games have great soundtracks, even for PC speaker. This game had hardly any music except the title screen's, which is just fine, but the sound effects whisper to you, "Press the B button... press the B button...". And the engine in general sucked. Whenever you would do anything in midjump, you start falling. I know many platformers do this, and I totally hate it. The only time this kind of engine should be used is when it is a base for a much better jumper. And the shooting system? Pffff. Using a text box to ask the direction is the WORST way to do shooting in a jumper. Oh yes, I forgot, the plot. What plot? I couldn't even find the plot. To the rating:
GAMEPLAY: 1/5 It was effective, but nowhere near effective enough. The crappy engine made the difficulty ridiculously hard, along with trying to time the shooting.
PLOT: 0/5 What plot?
MUSIC: 2/5 The only thing that I could find that was good, and there wasn't much of it. And the sound effects made by DJ were quite annoying by ZZT standards.
OVERALL: 1/5 Don't get this unless you like those horrible jumper engines, and are obsessed with Mario.