Wrecking Crew

Action/Platformer, Puzzle

October 1985 (Nintendo)

Wrecking Crew features Mario and Luigi. That’s where the similarities between this and Super Mario Bros. end. Mario Brothers too for that matter, but the US hasn’t seen that game yet for the NES.

I might be going out on a limb for this, but I would think that if I were actually playing this in 1985¹ the biggest surprise for me would be the new set of enemies. In the US the thought might consist of something along the lines of “Why is Mario suddenly fighting against robots instead of crabs and turtles?” I don’t know why either, so I’m going to stop worrying about it.

This game seems to get a bit lost in the Mario sequence. US gamers had been seeing Mario Brothers in the arcade since 1983, and Super Mario Bros. is a much better game. It’s really not fair to compare Wrecking Crew to either of those games because the only similarity is that Mario is the main character. If that’s a good enough reason for you, you might as well throw Golf into the mix since Mario is the main character there as well. Maybe even Tennis since Mario is the ref.

Enough about that, let’s get onto the game itself. Wrecking Crew is the first genre crossing game for the NES. There are enemies running around that will make you cartwheel to your death straight down, passing through any structure that may get in your way. There’s a certain path you need to take in the levels, or at least a way you can screw yourself over if you make the wrong move.

There’s also a bonus game where you race against some guy who looks like a mutated turtle with a spike coming out of his head to find a coin. Kind of lame, but it’s a break from running away from robots and fireballs.

In short Wrecking Crew has Mario as the main character, but is not a Mario game. Keep that in mind, and I promise you won’t be disappointed. Or at least think about it in the same line as Mario Brothers and not Super Mario Bros.