Obviously a lot of effort went into this one, which is why I’m sad to say that I didn’t have that much fun with it past the first four worlds or so. It was simply too hard for me and I had to resort to save stating mid-level many times, despite the removal of 1-ups (hence the Unlimited in the title).

Pros and cons: + Great presentation with a couple of new sprites that blend in well + All assets are put to good use (only the vines felt somewhat underused, I think they were in only 3 levels total) + New physics allow for a ton of bouncing around on enemies, which is fun but has its problems (see below)

+/- No lives is a nice change of pace but at the same time removes the joy of finding hidden 1-ups (of which there aren’t any) +/- Some power ups like the stop watch are a must rather than an optional to finish the game +/- Unless I’m mistaken, there are no bonus levels/rooms, probably since the vines are used differently. But they were pretty lame in SMB1 anyway so I can overlook that.

• The momentum is still the same (or close) to SMB1 while the level design requires a ton of precise platforming on moving targets like flying koopas and bullet bills. You are also required to do this bouncing on enemies under frustrating conditions like short time limits or not knowing the enemy positions before you’re in mid-air over a pit and one small mistake will kill you. I felt like there was an overabundance of levels based on this kind of design and was sick of it long before the end of the hack.
• The change to level goals felt like change for its own sake. Jumping flag poles is simply more fun than pounding yet another block from below.
• The bosses are underwhelming for the most part and consist only of a regular enemy with a switch to stomp right behind them.
• Finally, the puzzle in 8-4 is unintuitive bullshit, and where I stopped playing the hack. This level is one of those loop mazes where you need to take the right path. The problem is that you need to do the last thing on your mind (*SPOILER* you have to kill yourself in a certain room) to progress, and there is no clue for it.

If you are a pro at SMB1, really enjoy bouncing from enemy to enemy under stressful conditions, and don’t mind some lost levels-style design choices, then this hack might still be for you. Otherwise I would skip it, unless you don’t mind using save states and looking up the solution for one of the puzzles.