Ario Bros

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Published on December 11, 2021 1:50:42 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMa2X1zsZGw

Duration: 10:30

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The first few levels of David Tretter's Ario Bros, released in 1983 for DOS PCs.

The game is a competent 80-column ASCII interpretation of the original Mario Bros arcade game, where the objective is to keep the plumbing clear of pests. Pests can be stunned by hitting the platform below them, or by hitting the large "POW" between the two lowest platforms. Run over a stunned pest to kick it from the screen and your payment in the form of a gold coin will appear for collection. Pests disappearing through one of the bottom pipes reappear from one of the top pipes. Later pests require multiple hits before they will become stunned, and there are other enemies such as a fireball to avoid as well.

The readme provided by the author states that the "the first levels are very slow, but it gets faster" and indeed at IBM XT speeds (~220-250 cycles), the game is almost painfully slow. I'm running with 390 cycles here, similar to an 8MHz "Turbo XT".

Related links:
https://archive.org/details/msdos_Ario_Bros_1983
https://archive.org/details/ARIOBROS
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/ario-bros
https://www.uvlist.net/game-181645
http://www.pixelatedarcade.com/games/ario-bros