Tuper Tario Tros

Tuper Tario Tros is, at it's core, a Super Mario Brothers clone, but with an interesting twist. At any point during a level you can switch into a "building" mode whose mechanics are borrowed from Tetris. When in "Mario" mode, the game plays nearly identically to Super Mario Brothers, which makes for a very short learning curve for anyone who has played a Mario game. However, the integration of the "Tetris" mode completely changes the game, both literally and figuratively. When in "Tetris" mode, instead of controlling the character, you control a tetromino made up of bricks and/or question mark blocks. These pieces can be rotated and moved around the screen while slowly falling. Once they are placed, they become part of the level, and character is able to use them. The character is still vulnerable to enemies while the player is in "Tetris" mode, so the player must pay close attention, lest he get run over by a Goomba!

Tuper Tario Tros does a good job of integrating the two game play mechanics, though sometimes, even early, the game can be viciously hard at times. The graphics and audio are pulled directly from Super Mario Brothers.When in the "Tetris" mode, the screen changes colors and the background music switches to the original Tetris theme music. Both of these touches greatly increase the nostalgia factor. Fans of either Super Mario Brothers or Tetris should definitely give Tuper Tario Tros a try.