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So far it's one of the best SMB hacks I've played.

As many have already stated, its title suits it well, this hack is full of quirks that make it actually fascinating to play, because it is full of surprises. I have yet to find the way to properly play through every level because I always accidentally stumble into some warp zone. This shows how the game is packed with secrets everywhere, warranting many playthroughs if you wanna see everything. It can have a buggy or "hacky" feeling because of how some secrets are laid out or the dead ends you can come across, but it's done in a way that adds many layers to the game.

The music is nicely tweaked and esthetically it has SMB3 downgraded assets, which is fine.

Be also warned this can be a tough game at spots. This single block jumping section of 6-2 gave me a hard time !

One of my playthroughs : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3gpl3hGwyY

It seemed like an ordinary hack, BUT the Author managed to bring his own "humor".

It seems that it is made badly, that I want to criticize... But no! This hack is a high-quality and well-made joke

In what other hack is it possible to pass the Boss in one act? In which hack are all the underground bonus secrets? Where is it possible, instead of defeating Bowser, to create a condition that you have a new act - BEGINS IN a NEW WORLD?

A strange hack, a Funny hack and a Completely Passable hack!

As a hack: I recommend it. As a joke: I recommend it twice!

This romhack sometimes feels like the creator was on prescription meds, but that just adds to the charm. Stuff like flagpoles after axes and 4-3 having 3 Bowsers. This hack is also a blast to TAS as well.

It needs to be stated that Strange Mario Bros is rom hack from another era at 22 years old. That's one of the reasons it is strange is that it actually is a quality hack with a good level design that is actually fairly balanced on par with the original game. Anyone who was around looking at rom hacks back in 99 will remember it was an era of file-sharing hosts trying to bundle every ROM hack under the sun they could score their hands-on per game and anyone who has scanned one of those bundles will know that this was not normal of rom hacks back then, yes there were stranger hacks (usually extremely racist) but most of them were barely playable and in some cases completely unplayable with more accurate emulators.

Another strange thing about Strange Mario Bros is when in a Zip filled with 100 of ROMs it still manages to stand out and set itself apart. Compared to the original game it's strange, but compared to some other hacks its strangeness is much less about sprite redesign and more about using things in game in unexpected ways.

It definitely is a product of a different time, but in many ways it makes it feel closer to Super Mario Bros, its different enough it isn't just a level hack, but it isn't so different that it feels uncomfortable to play as a SMB vetran. In the days of drugs, nudity, racism and other various forms of graffiti hacks, Strange Mario Bros was strange for being a quality hack when putting an expletive in the tiles or putting Mario in a Wheel Chair was considered a rom hack.

Story-

Not much to say that it is simply what you have played before in the original SMB1.

Music-

The music showed no signs of issues, and plays like it should, but it does slow down a bit if you have too many enemies on the screen, and also the gameplay slows down as well.

Gameplay-

Pros:

1.) It does some unique things that you would not expect in a Mario game such a pipes taking you sometimes to alternate world paths, and other times booby-trap warps, but it gives you enough time to avoid the traps.

2.) No one would notice this unless they failed the level or using savestates, but the enemies actually change almost each time in a few parts of a level, but I cannot confirm whether or not this is actually a feature or an actual bug.

3.) There is plenty of secrets in this game that will help you along a level such as carefully placed hidden power-ups, and hidden warp pipes that would help shorten the level

Cons:

1.) The game can get rather buggy, but not enough to be a showstopper. Particularly, the enemies would sometimes be held in place until after a couple of seconds, but other times they will not move at all. This can be beneficial for some levels, but horrible for others.-Bug Report

2.) One of the levels in world 2 has a springboard at the end that would on a rare occasion trap mario in place if the graphic itself disappears suddenly.-Bug Report

3.) The game relies a lot on pixel perfect jumps, and I found myself having to use the savestate a lot for some levels of the game, but not all levels would have this problem thankfully.-Gameplay Issue

4.) On a rare occasion there are booby trap warp pipes that would just make you lose a life, and I found this to be a rather cheap shot against the player.-Gameplay Issue

Graphics-

Nice use of other classic sprites from other Mario games, and edited to fit the theme I believe he was going for in this game. Some graphics do look original such the ground blocks, and other surprises. Occasionally I saw a few corrupted graphics, but it was rarely ever seen, and usually very minor.

Conclusion-

I would say this game is best suited for people who are moderately experienced, but newbies at Mario should not have too much of a problem playing this if they take the time to get used to the author's gimmicks.

The secrets are what made this hack special. they're not that hard to find, and they just made me smile. good hack, you should download this one