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Super Mario Bros. (JP) (also called SMB) is a Nintendo Entertainment System video game released in 1985 by Nintendo. The game, designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, has become one of the most important, influential, and successful video games of all time.
The ninth best selling video game, Super Mario Bros. has found its way in the homes of over 58 million consumers. It was introduced to many Americans as an arcade title, though the home console version generated more sales.
A successor to the 1983 arcade video game Mario Bros., the game was perhaps as popular as it was due to the increasing fanbase of gamers who immensely enjoyed titles like Donkey Kong and, naturally, Mario Bros. The Nintendo Entertainment System's success in America can arguably be attributed to the video game, and certainly it helped increase the sales of the Famicom in Japan.
In Super Mario Bros., the character Mario sets off on an adventure to save the beautiful Princess Peach Toadstool from King Bowser Koopa. She is capable of reversing the black magic of King Koopa, which explains his motives for kidnapping her. King Koopa uses his magic on the Mushroom Kingdom and transforms the Toads of the land into mushrooms and stones. In the multiplayer mode, the second player will take control of Mario's brother Luigi when the first player loses a life.
The game is recognized worldwide for its significant contributions to the gaming industry, particularly in America where it brought the country out of the video game decline of the eighties. Journalists' acknowledgment of its importance is evident today with the game appearing on a myriad of "best games of all time lists", gracing the top spot of Electronic Gaming Monthly and IGN's lists on numerous occasions.
Its success led to the creation of several sequels, two of which are known as Super Mario Bros. 2. The Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 is known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in America and Europe, due to its nonappearance on the NES in those territories. Westerners, on the other hand, received their own version of Super Mario Bros. 2, which was a remake of a game titled Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic in Japan but with Mario characters. As well as kicking off an entire series of Super Mario platformer games, the wild success of Super Mario Bros. popularized the genre as a whole, helped revive the North American gaming industry after the 1983 video game crash, and was largely responsible for the initial success of the NES, with which it was bundled a launch title. Until it was eventually surpassed by several games, Super Mario Bros. was the best-selling video game of all time for nearly three decades, with over 58 million copies sold worldwide.
The exact day of the North American release of Super Mario Bros. is heavily disputed, with different sources giving different dates with no way to verify them. Regardless, Nintendo officially pinpoints the release date as October 18, 1985.
There was also a pinball machine that's based on the game created by Gottlieb in 1992.
Plot[]
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Do you have what it takes to save the Mushroom Princess? You'll have to think fast and move even faster to complete this quest! The Mushroom Princess is being held captive by the evil Koopa tribe of turtles. It's up to you to rescue her from the clutches of the Koopa King before time runs out. But it won't be easy. To get to the Princess, you'll have to climb mountains, cross seas, avoid bottomless pits, fight off turtle soldiers and host of black magic traps that only a Koopa King can devise. It's another non-stop adventure from the SUPER MARIO BROS.! |
| — Official game description |
Artwork used as the cover art for the game's Japanese and European releases.
One day, the Mushroom Kingdom was invaded by the Koopa, a tribe of turtles capable of using powerful dark magic. Their magic was used to transform all the Mushroom People into inanimate objects such as rocks, bricks, and even horsehair plants, thus spelling the kingdom's downfall. Only Princess Toadstool can undo the spell and restore her people back to life, but she is being held captive by King Koopa himself. Mario hears of the princess's plight, and sets out on a quest through 32 stages to topple the Turtle Tribe and save the once-peaceful kingdom [1]
Gameplay[]
The first stage of Super Mario Bros.
In Super Mario Bros., the player takes control of Mario and is tasked with sending him through various trials that ultimately lead to saving Princess Toadstool. In the two player mode, player one will play for as long as possible until his character dies, after which the second player will take his place and control Luigi (who is only playable in the two player mode).
The two characters have negligible differences, with the only noticeable dissimilarities are a change in clothing (Mario has red and brown clothes while Luigi has green and white (while in Super Mario Bros. DX, his colors are green and brown).
The objective of the game is to simply move right and reach the end of each stage. The player is able to move left to an extent, though once they start to move left the camera will stay in place. When moving right, the camera centers on the player. If the player goes as far left as possible and then starts to go to the right once again, then the camera won't remain centered on them until they reach the center. In Super Mario Bros., the player is unable to reach the far right of the stage.
There are various obstacles littered throughout each stage, some working against Mario or Luigi and others acting as simple traps set by Bowser. Some obstacles don't immediately seem to pose a threat such as blocks jutting out of the ground or stationed above the player, though they can prevent the progress of them largely depending on where they're placed.
When the player first encounters an obstacle such as this, they are required to maneuver around it, usually by jumping. Besides walking and running, jumping is the most frequently performed action in the game. Jumping is used to overcome obstacles, kill enemies, and receive power-ups.
Jumping is what makes Super Mario Bros. a platforming game. This action was first introduced in Donkey Kong, and due to its success consequently found its way into subsequent entries in the series. In Super Mario Bros., the player can alter their position while airborne so that they will be able to land in the desired location. For example, if there are numerous gaps in the ground and the player wishes to land on a particular platform, then they can jump and quickly alter where they are by pressing the d-pad either left or right.
If done properly, they will land on the platform and avoid disaster whereas if they didn't take direct control in the air they would have likely fallen in the gap. The height and the distance the character will go depends mostly on the speed of him. If Mario or Luigi is running, then they'll be able to reach a height of five blocks and length of 8 1/2 blocks. Conversely, if he is walking then he will only get to a height of 4 blocks and a length of 5.
There are various ways a character can lose his life. This can happen by taking damage, falling into a gap or getting hit by an element such as fire. Falling into a gap can be done with a jump not being calculated or a player with a lack of concentration clumsily falling into a gap. Some players tend to try and avoid an enemy by jumping, only to fall into a gap by failing to realize it was there in the first place. Enemies pose the biggest threat since they're mobile and in rare cases unpredictable. Most players can correctly conjecture the pattern in which the most of the enemies will move. The player can also lose a life by not completing the level within four hundred seconds.
In the game, there are two types of challenges including ones enforced by enemies and ones enforced by the environment. Typically both can be very easy or very hard to overcome. Challenges in the second group can include any obstruction in the game that is non-sentient. As previously mentioned, failing to leap over a gap can lead to Mario's untimely death.
A simple block or two on the ground can be considered an obstacle since Mario is required to jump over them, though (if there are no enemies) it poses no actual threat of losing a life. Some stages include platforms that move upwards and downwards, and if the player stays on these platforms for too long it'll send them too far off the screen and will cause them to lose a life.
The very fact that the platforms are moving will cause the player to rethink what they have to do in order to reach the other side. The Podoboo, due to their inability to permanently dispatch them, aren't considered enemies. They pop out of the lava and touching them can result in death if the player is not Super Mario or Fire Mario. The long lines of fire that are usually present in the same stages as Podoboo rotate and thus cause a more challenging threat to get past.
Enemies are the major threat of the game, though despite this fact the player is always able to kill them, even if doing so requires a certain item. Enemies all have the common goal of taking down Mario, though they're not all the brightest of creatures. For the most part they act differently from one another though they can all be categorized based on their movement and attack pattern, and in what way the player is capable of taking them out.
Mario can dispatch enemies in a variety of ways including hitting them from above, below and attacking them with a fireball after coming in possession of a Fire Flower or crashing into them after collecting a Starman. The act of hitting an enemy who is on a set of blocks from below originates from Mario Bros.
The Piranha Plant is a type of enemy that is often times considered a trap due to its inability to move, remaining stationary for the most part save for coming out of a pipe when the character comes near it. The Piranha Plant can be killed via a Fire Flower, though one variation of a Piranha Plant will spew fireballs from its mouth, which do just as much damage as an enemy attack. There are some enemies that don't respond directly to the player and just move either to the left or to the right.
These enemies pose a threat since touching them will result in a lost life unless the player jumps on them (or if they have a powerup). These enemies include the likes of Goombas and Koopa Troopas. When the player jumps on the shell of a Koopa Troopa, it retracts into its shell and the player can kick it, using it as a weapon that acts as a double edged sword when it launches back at the player after hitting a wall. The Hammer Bros. and Lakitu are among the few enemies that act haphazardly and unpredictably, and require more thinking in how to dispatch if the player doesn't have a Fire Flower or Starman in possession.
Mario and Luigi will be able to more easily take out the enemies by finding special items contained within boxes with a question mark on them, indicating that what is found within is random, which in actuality the item will for the most part be the same each time depending on whether the player is little or super Mario or Luigi or Super Mario.
The item within can be "opened" by jumping underneath it. After hitting it, one of various different types of items will come out, including a Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, Starman, 1-Up Mushroom, or a simple coin which, after collecting one hundred of them, will net the player an extra life.
Collecting a single Coin gives the player 200 points. A Super Mushroom is the most basic power-up in the game and the first one they'll encounter if they hit the? blocks in the order in which they're supposed to be hit. A Super Mushroom will enlarge the player, turning them into Super Mario or Super Luigi. This grants Mario and Luigi an extra bit of health, meaning they won't die automatically after being attacked by an enemy (though will still lose a life when they fall in a gap or into lava).
Super Mario can break through blocks though is unable to fit in places that are the size of little Mario unless he gets a running start and ducks, after which he'll slide through the blocks due to the momentum of the run. Fire Mario will allow Mario to shoot fire balls form his hands, easily allowing him to take out various enemies. The Starman in an invincibility item that, for a short time, allows Mario to plow through enemies without worrying about them hurting the player, though like the other items if the player falls in a gap or into fire it'll cause the character to die and lose a life.
Characters[]
Many of the characters from the Mario series were introduced in this game, though two of the characters went under different names then what they are known as today. Princess Toadstool, now known as Princess Peach (as she always was in Japan), King Koopa, now known as Bowser, and the Mushroom People/Retainers, now known as Toads, were all introduced in Super Mario Bros.
Various famous enemies were also first found in this game, such as the Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Piranha Plants, Bullet Bill]]s, Cheep-Cheep, and others. Mario and Luigi, who were introduced in Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., respectively, were both introduced in this game.
- Mario - Mario is the main hero of the game. He's a plumber who was initially introduced in Donkey Kong for the arcades. In this game, his appearance has been slightly changed and he has gained various new powers. He is a playable character.
- Luigi - Luigi is player 2 in Super Mario Bros. He only becomes available in the multiplayer portion of the game, which has players alternating between them, trying to finish the game that way. The only difference between Mario and Luigi are a change in the color of their clothes. There are no gameplay differences between the two. He is practically neglected as he does not appear in game art or the manual.
- Princess Toadstool: Now known as Princess Peach (she was named Toadstool up until Yoshi's Safari on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System). She is the beautiful daughter of the Mushroom King (never seen in the game) and is the only one capable of turning the Mushroom People back into their normal selves. King Koopa has kidnapped her in hopes that she will be unable to do this.
- King (Bowser) Koopa - He is the villain of the game who invades the Mushroom Kingdom and kidnaps Princess Toadstool. He is often referred to as the Koopa King in the game, him being the lord of the Koopa Troopas. He acts as the final boss in Super Mario Bros. Various enemies dress up as a Fake Bowser in Worlds 1-7, though the one and true Bowser appears at the end of the game.
- Mushroom People - Now known as Toads, the Mushroom People/Retainers appear at the end of Worlds 1-7, telling Mario or Luigi that the "Princess is in another castle". When Bowser invaded the Mushroom Kingdom, he turned all of the Mushroom People into blocks that are scattered throughout the stages.
Enemies[]
- Koopa Troopa - A turtle-like enemy that can be a projectile if jumped on first. There are two types of them, a green one and a red one. The green ones will run off the edge while the red will stay put on the platform he is on. If you jump on them and then leave them like that, they will come back out of their shell.
- Koopa Paratroopa - A flying Koopa Troopa that will jump up and down. Like the regular Koopas, these are either red or green. The green ones will jump off the edge while the red ones will jump back and forth on the platform he's on.
- Goomba - Formerly citizens of The Mushroom Kingdom before joining the Koopas. The most common enemy that will only try to run into you. They are beaten by jumping on them and squishing them. They will sometimes attack in groups, where you will be able to kill them all while jumping once.
- Lakitu - Lakitus are Koopas that sit atop clouds throwing Spinies at you. In later games, such as Super Mario World, if you manage to kill one, you can ride the cloud.
- Spiny - Spinies are the enemy that Lakitus throw at you. They are red Koopas that have spines on their back, meaning that you can't kill them by jumping on them. In fact, they'll harm you if you jump on them! They can be defeated by a Koopa or Buzzy Beetle shell, fireball, or running into them while invincible.
- Buzzy Beetle - A beetle that is like a Koopa Troopa, except the only way to kill it is to knock it off an edge, hit it with a shell, or to ram into it while in possession of a Starman.
- Piranha Plant - A carnivorous plant that will pop out of pipes trying to bite you.
- Bullet Bill - A bullet that will be shot out of a cannon toward you.
- Hammer Bros. - A pair of Koopa brothers that will throw hammers. Even though you will usually find them in pairs, they will also sometimes fight solo.
- Cheep Cheep - A fish that will try to swim into you, or just swim on a certain path. It will leap out of the water at you in some land-based stages.
- Blooper - A squid that will try to swim into you.
- Podoboo - A fire ball that will pop out of lava. It is impossible to kill unless using a Star.
- Firebar - A bar of fire that's completely invincible.
Stages[]
| World | Level | Setting | Map |
|---|---|---|---|
World 1
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World 1-1 | Overworld | 
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| World 1-2 | Underground | 
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| World 1-3 | Athletic | 
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| World 1-4 | Castle | 
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World 2
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World 2-1 | Overworld | 
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| World 2-2 | Underwater | 
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| World 2-3 | Athletic | 
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| World 2-4 | Castle | 
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World 3
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World 3-1 | Dark Overworld | 
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| World 3-2 | Dark Overworld | 
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| World 3-3 | Dark Athletic | 
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| World 3-4 | Castle | 
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World 4
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World 4-1 | Overworld | 
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| World 4-2 | Underground | 
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| World 4-3 | Athletic | 
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| World 4-4 | Castle | 
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World 5
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World 5-1 | Overworld | 
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| World 5-2 | Overworld | 
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| World 5-3 | Athletic | 
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| World 5-4 | Castle | 
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World 6
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World 6-1 | Dark Overworld | 
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| World 6-2 | Dark Overworld | 
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| World 6-3 | Dark Athletic | 
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| World 6-4 | Castle | 
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World 7
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World 7-1 | Overworld | 
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| World 7-2 | Underwater | 
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| World 7-3 | Athletic | 
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| World 7-4 | Castle | 
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World 8
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World 8-1 | Overworld | 
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| World 8-2 | Overworld | 
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| World 8-3 | Overworld | 
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| World 8-4 | Castle | 
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Types of Levels[]
Mario fighting Bowser in the World 8 Castle.
Note: These are the types of levels that were in the original game, and not the remakes. Some of the remakes include a snow world, and others.
- Overworld/Grassy - The main types of levels are the grassy ones, or overworld. The sky is blue, the main platform are brick blocks and grass, and there are trees. The common enemies here are Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros., Lakitus, Spinies, Bullet Bills, Piranha Plants, Buzzy Beetles, and Koopa Paratroopas.
- Underground - Underground areas are dark, and feature many secrets such as getting above the ceiling, and the warp zones. Every sprite in here has a blue or other darker color, including Mario. There are tons of blocks, which means it's a good idea to be Super Mario in here. Common enemies include Buzzy Beetles, Koopa Troopas, Goombas, Spinies, and Piranha Plants.
- Underwater - Underwater areas are very blue, and have a lot of coral and water plants. This is the only area where the gameplay increasingly changes. Instead of running and jumping, Mario will now swim. Common enemies are Bloopers and Cheep Cheeps.
- Lava/Castle - Castles, or lava areas, will be the last type of level in each world. In these areas, there will be many lava pits, and castle bricks surrounding you. Common enemies include Podoboos, Bowser, and Fake Bowsers.
- Bridge - The bridge levels feature a huge outside bridge, with occasional grassy platforms. Common enemies include Cheep Cheeps, Koopas, and Goombas.
- Mushroom Platforms - These types of levels take place on many different types of huge mushrooms. The common enemies include Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros., Lakitus, Spinys, Bullet Bills and Koopa Paratroopas.
- Dark Overworld - Sometimes, the grassy/overworld will be nighttime. This does not effect the gameplay in any way. The common enemies include Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros, Lakitus, Spinies, Bullet Bills, Piranha Plants, Buzzy Beetles, and Koopa Paratroopas.
- Clouds - Sometimes, you will be able to go to a cloud area, which is on clouds. Here, there are many coins, and absolutely no enemies whatsoever.
Warp Zone[]
One of the popular things you can do in the game is the Warp Zone. If you find a Warp Zone, it takes Mario to an area with a certain amount of pipes, each pipe is numbered, depending on the number on the pipe, it will take you to the world number when you enter it. To get to the Warp Zone, you usually must find it by jumping above certain Blocks, or finding vines to climb up. There are only 3 Warp Zones, one in world 1, and 2 in world 4. The Warp Zones are all found within underground levels, though the Level 4-2 Warp Zone takes you to an area above ground, and onto mushroom platforms. The Warp Zone is usually located behind the Exit Pipe.
Warp Zone locations[]
- World 1-2 - Found by going above the ceiling near the end of the level. (warps to worlds 2, 3 and 4)
- World 4-2 - Found by jumping under a block to reveal a vine. (warps to Worlds 6, 7, and 8)
- World 4-2 (number 2) - Found by going above the ceiling. (warps to World 5 only)
Glitches[]
Very few people worked on Super Mario Bros., and thus it is riddled with glitches. Gamers have spent countless hours traversing the many stages of Super Mario Bros. attempting to find new glitches. Some of them, such as the Minus World and the infinite 1-Up trick are famous among gamers, while others are hardly known.
Minus World[]
The Minus World is one of the most famous glitches in any video game. It is actually world 7-2 infinitely looped, but the number is 36-1. Since the number 36 in the game is represented as a blank space, it looks like the level is world -1. This is where the level's name (World Minus One, or The Minus World) comes from.
To enter the Minus World, one must reach World 1-2 as Super Mario, and continue to the end of the level. The player must not enter the pipe that leads to the flagpole. Instead, the player must jump on top of the pipe and break the second and third blocks from the right on the ceiling. Then, the player must maneuver Mario to the edge of the pipe so that one of his feet is hanging off. Then, making sure not to smash the block that is farthest to the right, the player must jump backwards into the left side of the block.
This will cause the camera to scroll to the right. Continuing to do this will eventually cause Super Mario to be sucked into the wall. Now, the player must enter the leftmost pipe before the camera finishes scrolling. Entering the middle pipe will warp the player to World 5, while entering the leftmost pipe will allow the player to enter the Minus World.
In the NES version, the Minus World is an underwater level that never ends. There are Coins and Bloopers in the level, and so it seems to be perfectly normal. However, entering what would appear to be the exit pipe causes the player to respawn at the beginning of the level. The player will continue to go through this looping level until the time runs out, at which point, if he or she has any lives left, the level will start again. The player will not be able to exit the Minus World until he or she either gets a Game Over or turns the console off.
When the Minus World is played on the Famicom Disk System, it instead consist of three levels, levels that actually end. Completing these returns the player to the title screen, as if the game had been beaten. Goombas are subsequently replaced with Buzzy Beetles in the following game. The three levels are more or less identical versions of other levels in the game, though world -1 functions as if it was an underwater level and includes weird elements such as floating Princess Peaches.
The Minus World was removed in the many remakes of Super Mario Bros, though in recent emulations for the Game Boy Advance and Virtual Console the developers kept it, and various other glitches from the game, in. In fact, in Super Paper Mario, there is even a regular section called World -1 which is a location where characters who are neither good nor bad supposedly go when they get a game over.
Other glitches[]
- Double Jump: A double jump can be performed when little Mario drops from above to grab a mushroom. When little Mario is transforming, the player must press down the A button. After the transformation is complete Mario will perform a second jump. This glitch was removed in Super Mario Bros. DX though was retained in Super Mario All-Stars. This can also be performed by dropping down on a Fire Flower.
- Small Fire Mario: A hard to perform glitch that turns small Mario into Fire Mario without super sizing him. This can only be done in the last levels of each world excluding 8-4. To do this, the player must get behind Bowser and jump on both Bowser and the axe while Super Mario or Fire Mario. The next stage the player enters, Mario will still be super sized, though when he obtains a Mushroom, he'll shrink instead of enlarge. Collecting a Fire Flower after this will turn Mario into fire Mario though he'll still be small. This glitch was removed in both DX and All-Stars.
- Multiple 1-Ups: Another one of the more famous glitches, this is often times mistakenly labeled as a cheat since it significantly aids the player. Shigeru Miyamoto and programmer Kazuaki Morita have both confirmed that they had no clue that this glitch was present in the game. To perform it, the player must go to World 3-1 and go to a stack of blocks where a Koopa Troopa is going down. Jump on the Koopa Troopa before it reaches the bottom and continue to jump on its shell without touching the ground. If done correctly, the player will receive an unlimited amount of 1-Ups. It's recommended that the player quits before they acquire 128 1-Ups, because once this number is reached, the player will receive a game over the next time they lose a life.
Game descriptions[]
Game Manual[]
'Do you have what it takes to save the Mushroom Princess?
"You'll have to think fast and move even faster to complete this quest! The Mushroom Princess is being held captive by the evil Koopa tribe of turtles. It's up to you to rescue her from the clutches of the Koopa King before time runs out. But it won't be easy. To get to the Princess, you'll have to climb mountains, cross seas, avoid bottomless pits, fight off turtle soldiers and host of black magic traps that only a Koopa King can devise. It's another non-stop adventure from the SUPER MARIO BROS.!"
Virtual Console (Wii)[]
"One day, the Mushroom Kingdom was invaded by the Koopas, a tribe of turtles famous for their black magic. The quiet, peace-loving Mushroom People were turned into stones, bricks, and even plants, and the kingdom fell into ruin. The only one who can undo the magic spell on the Mushroom People and return them to their normal selves is Princess Peach Toadstool, the daughter of the Mushroom King. Unfortunately, she is in the hands of evil King Koopa. Mario, the famous plumber, learns of the Mushroom People's plight and sets out to free the Mushroom Princess from the Koopas and restore the fallen kingdom of the Mushroom People. Jump, kick shells, and throw fireballs through eight action-packed worlds in this iconic NES classic!"
Development[]
Development for Super Mario Bros. began after Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka finished two other games together beforehand: Excitebike and Devil World. When designing Super Mario Bros., they wanted to use the scrolling screens of Excitebike and the large character sprites from Devil World, in order to make Super Mario Bros. stand out from other titles. Miyamoto and Tezuka wanted to fit various technologies into the game, comparing it to a puzzle. The name "Super Mario Bros." also came from Mario's new Super form.[2]
Super Mario Bros. was developed at the same time as The Legend of Zelda, and both shared numerous staff members: Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Toshihiko Nakago, Koji Kondo, Kazuaki Morita, Yasunari Nishida, and Hiroshi Yamauchi. According to the developers, some aspects in Super Mario Bros. were taken from The Legend of Zelda; Fire-Bars were one example, as they were present in the dungeons in The Legend of Zelda. Miyamoto implemented Fire-Bars into Super Mario Bros. as an obstacle.
The main goal of Super Mario Bros. was to have a character travel through many lands with all different themes to each other and it would feature a diverse terrain, such as land, water, and sky. They also intended for the main character to be twice the size of the final one. In the beginning of developing the game, the placeholder playable character was a 16×32 pixel square[3]. The square couldn't even jump and as a result, Tezuka suggested making Mario the playable character instead of the square due to the popularity of Mario Bros., which Miyamoto accepted.[4]
Nakago and his team, Systems Research and Development (SRD), colored the background blue in some levels[5]. This was unusual, because video games released during this time period usually had a black background, to avoid eye-strain and to avoid getting distracted by the bright colors. After coloring the background blue in some levels, Nakago then started designing maps for this game. Miyamoto wanted the levels to be around a minute long and he told SRD to do so. He then realized that it usually takes about a second to travel across a screen, and that numerous screens would have been implemented in one stage. SRD first thought that Miyamoto had requested them to make 60 screens per stage, but Miyamoto then explained that obstacles in each screen would slow down the player's progress, which resulted in an average of about 12 screens per level. The stage with the most screens has only 32, which is about half of what SRD had originally expected.
When designing the stages themselves, because a level creating tool wasn't available to them at the time, Miyamoto and Tezuka would draw the levels on graph paper, and then Nakago and his team would design and program it into the game; if edits were to be made to the original drawings, a sheet of clear paper was placed over the original drawings[6]. Nakago has stated that a lot of documents were sent to his team everyday to change some aspects of stages. Every day, the group would do all they could do of what was stated in the documents, and would work until 10 at night.
Reception and legacy[]
Super Mario Bros. received critical acclaim and is considered one of the best games of all time. One of the most-praised aspects of the game is the precise controls, which allow players to control how far and high the characters jump and how fast they can run. The game popularized side-scrolling video games, and the game has since received several sequels and spin-offs, and many different ports and alternative versions. All characters, enemies, and items found in the game have become core elements of the Mario franchise, and the plot of Bowser kidnapping the princess has continued to be used throughout the core Super Mario series.
The game was placed 14th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997.[7] It ranked the first spot in Electronic Gaming Monthly's "Greatest 200 Games of Their Time", named in IGN's top 100 games of all time lists in 2005 and 2007, and declared the second-best Mario game of all time. IGN also placed it 3rd in their Top 100 NES Games list[8].
Super Mario Bros. sold 58 million units, being the best-selling Mario game and among the best-selling video games of all time. It has received several other works such as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and the Super Mario Bros. film.
The game's impact on popular culture was so big that during 2010, a street in Zaragoza, Aragón (Spain), was named after it, with a ceremony being held in celebration.[9]
Alternate versions and re-releases[]
- 1985 - Original Nintendo Entertainment System release (US/Japan)
- 1985 - Ported into the American arcade machine Nintendo PlayChoice-10.
- 1986 - Re-released on the Family Computer Disk System in Japan.
- 1986 - A Game & Watch titled Super Mario Bros. is released, but it is a completely different game.
- 1986 - Released in arcades as VS. Super Mario Bros..
- 1986 - Released on the Family Computer Disk System as All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros..
- 1988 - Re-released on the NES in the US as part of the 2-in-1 Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt compilation, packaged with the NES Action Set.
- 1988 - Re-released on the NES in Europe as part of the Super Mario Bros./Tetris/Nintendo World Cup compilation, sold alone or with the Top Loader.
- 1990 - Re-released on the NES in the US as part of the 3-in-1 Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt/World Class Track Meet compilation, packaged with the NES Power Set.
- 1990 - Re-released on the NES as part of Nintendo World Championships 1990.
- 1993 - Remake available on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as part of the Super Mario All-Stars compilation (known as Super Mario Collection in Japan). Graphics and sound were updated, and many glitches were removed.
- 1994 - Remake available on the SNES in the US as part of the Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World compilation, packaged with the SNES Mario Set.
- 1997 - A special version is released as a Satellaview broadcast titled BS Super Mario Collection - Dai-1-Shuu, which is based on the Super Mario All-Stars version.
- 1999 - Remake released on the Game Boy Color as Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. The game featured the original game's graphics but loads of additional content.
- 2002 - The original game is available as an unlockable NES game in Animal Crossing. However, it can only be unlocked by using a cheating device. It was likely going to be released as an e-Reader card (as were Ice Climber and Mario Bros.), but a Super Mario Bros. card was never released.
- 2004 - The original game was re-released on the Game Boy Advance as part of the NES Classics/Famicom Mini collection, celebrating 20 years of the Famicom in Japan. It was also re-released on September 13, 2005 in Japan to celebrate 20 years of the original NES game.
- 2006 - Available on the Wii as part of the Virtual Console.
- 2008 - Available in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a playable demo.
- 2010 - Remake released with Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition.
- 2010 - Virtual Console remake with the question marks on the ? Blocks replaced with "25", exclusively bundled with a special, red Wii.
- 2011 - Released on the 3DS as part of the Virtual Console. It is a free download for those who have purchased a 3DS prior to the August 12th price drop. The full release version was released on January 5, 2012 in Japan, on February 16, 2012 in North America and on March 1, 2012 in Europe and Australia.
- 2013 - Released on the Wii U as part of the Virtual Console service via the Wii U eShop in Japan on June 5 and in Europe, Australia and North America on September. The game was also featured in the Wii U eShop game NES Remix.
- 2014 - Re-released in NES Remix 2 as Super Luigi Bros. The game was also featured in Ultimate NES Remix along with the port of Super Mario Bros., Speed Mario Bros.
- 2014 - Available in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as a playable demo.
- 2015 - Available as a "highlight" in amiibo tap: Nintendo's Greatest Bits.
- 2016 - Released as one of the 30 games included in the NES Classic Edition and Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer.
- 2018 - Available as one of the 20 NES titles at the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service's launch in September 2018, and for the first time can be played with other players online.[10]
Credits[]
Gallery[]
| Main article: Super Mario Bros./gallery |
Cheats[]
Soundtrack[]
Trivia[]
- Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to jump over the flag in certain levels. When this happens, the level will go on indefinitely, only stopping when the timer runs out.
- The third and sixth worlds take place at night, and all the other worlds take place during the day.
- The Super Mario Bros. Stamps set was released in Japan at the end of May, 2007. The stamps feature sprites of characters and items from this game.
- Despite being unmentioned in the Japanese manual, the Mushroom King appears in Asian-drawn strategy guide illustrations.
- The Guinness Book of World Records 2011: Gamer's Edition stated that this game was also remade on the Nintendo 64, which is incorrect.
- In North America, Mario's sprite on the cover is recolored and reused on the covers for the Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. NES releases.
- The ending theme in the Famicom Disk System version of The Lost Levels was first composed as the ending theme of Super Mario Bros., before being shortened due to storage limitations.[11]
- There was some controversy to Mario as well as the NES version of Super Mario Bros., with Mario in particular being noted as having a slight physical similarity to the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin as well as replacing the Koopa flag (which resembled the Peace sign) with a flag that resembled the Soviet Red Star. Nintendo Power addressed this issue by trying to put Mario's moustache on Ivan Drago from Rocky IV and denying there was any intentional resemblance.
- The official artwork of the fire flower is extremely similar to the fire flowers in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3.
- This is the first Mario platformer game, as well as the first Mario game to use the V sign. While this sign has been observed since the sixties as being a sign for "peace" due to a misconception of a cover photo of Time Magazine, its use in the Mario series of games is actually the old fashioned sign for "victory".
- Level 4-1 from Super Scribblenauts shows some resembling to this game. It comes with a Piranha Plant and two Koopas. It also has the original level ending ( the Fort and the Flagpole. You have to hit ? Blocks to find the Starite. The hint of the level is Starite Get! like the phrase in Super Mario Sunshine Shine Get!.
- The Hurry Up theme, original and remixed, is used in many other Mario games and spin-offs such as the Mario Kart series (to indicate the final lap).
- When Mario or Luigi are powered up by the Starman in the original game, one of the sprites that can be seen resembles the sprite for Fire Mario and Fire Luigi from the NES version of Super Mario Bros. 3, except that its hat is red rather than orange. This sprite is also seen when Mario or Luigi power up after obtaining a Fire Flower.
- The Japanese word for Fire Flower is "hi-bana." The Japanese word for the fireworks that occasionally appear when Mario/Luigi beats a level is "hana-bi", an anagram of the above.
- This is the only game where Luigi uses a green shirt and white overalls with a white hat.
References[]
- ↑ Legends of Localization comparing the Japanese and North American storylines of Super Mario Bros. (Retrieved April 30, 2014)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/super-mario-bros-and-super-mario-bros-3-developer-interview
- ↑ "Super Mario Bros. main character originally started out as...a huge square"
- ↑ Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros. Wii: It Started With A Square Object Moving
- ↑ Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros Wii
- ↑ Nintendo (Nintendo of America) (June 16, 2015). Nintendo Digital Event @ E3 2015. YouTube. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
- ↑ http://www.gamekult.com/communaute/forum/voirmessage.html?foid=13000909, retrieved 6/4/2009
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Gigazine (November 9, 2019). "Super Mario Brothers Street" is born in Spain, pictures of Mario pleased at the commemoration ceremony. Gigazine. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
- ↑ Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Switch Online. Nintendo. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
- ↑ shmuplations, "Koji Kondo – 2001 Composer Interview". Retrieved November 29, 2016
External links[]
- Super Mario Bros. at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Super Mario Bros. at TV Tropes
Resources[]
- Super Mario Bros. at GameFAQs
- Super Mario Bros. at MobyGames
- Super Mario Bros. at Nintendo.com
- Super Mario Bros. at Nintendo Life
- StrategyWiki.org Super Mario Bros. strategy guide.
- Super Mario Bros. Headquarters
- Page at the Mushroom Kingdom site
- Gamestat's Page
Wikis[]
- The article for Super Mario Bros. on the NES Wiki
- The article for Super Mario Bros. on the MarioWiki.
- Super Mario Bros. at Super Mario Wiki, the Super Mario wiki.
- The article for Super Mario Bros. on The Cutting Room Floor.
- Super Mario Bros. on Wikipedia