Mario
Super Mario Bros.[a] is a platform video gamedeveloped and published by Nintendo. Released as a successor to the 1983 gameMario Bros., it was first released in Japan in 1985 for the Famicom Disk System, and was released in North America later on that year, and in Europe and Australia two years later, for the Nintendo Entertainment System. In North America, the game was often bundled with the NES, and came on a single cartridge along with other games, namely Duck Huntand World Class Track Meet. In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario and his brother, Luigi, as they travel through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescuePrincess Toadstool from the antagonist,Bowser. The game features 2D side-scrolling gameplay, and has the player traverse the Mushroom Kingdom by running and jumping through 8 worlds of levels, while defeating enemies and collecting coins and distinct power-ups which aid Mario on his quest, including the Super Mushroom, the Fire Flower and the Starman.
Initially intended as a farewell to the Famicomin Japan before the release of the Famicom Disk System, Super Mario Bros. was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, and began development as a shooting game before the team decided to instead make it aside-scrolling platformer, and choosing to feature Mario, Nintendo's mascot who had previously featured in Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., as the playable main character. The development team tried to keep it the game simple so it could be released by the end-of-year shopping season, and it was designed with ease of access in mind, with the game's first level, world 1-1, meant to immediately introduce the player to the game's core mechanics. The game's music, which is often considered an integral factor in making music a larger aspect of video games, was composed by Koji Kondo.
Super Mario Bros. experienced immense commercial success and has received critical acclaim, with many crediting it alongside the NES as one of the key factors in reviving the video game industry after it had experienced a market crash in 1983. The game's mid-1980s release served to further popularize the side-scrolling subgenre of the already popularplatform video game genre of the early 1980s. It was the best-selling game of all time for a single platform for over three decades until it was surpassed in the late 2000s by Nintendo's Wii Sports, selling over 40 million units and becoming one of the defining titles of the NES. The commercial success of Super Mario Bros. prompted the creation of two direct sequels both for the NES, and ultimately led to the creation of an expansive franchise, spawning a successful video game seriesconsisting of several sequels and spin-off titles, as well as an animated television series, an anime film, and a full-length feature film. Ports and remakes of the game were later developed for other Nintendo systems including the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance, and the original version of the game has been rereleased for the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U as part of the Virtual Console line of retro video game releases. Alongside Mario himself, the game has become a prominent figure of American popular culture.
Gameplay
Screenshot of Super Mario Bros.where Mario adventures throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, revealing aninvincibility star and shooting fireballs after having picked up a Fire Flower.
In Super Mario Bros., the player takes on the role of the main protagonist of the series,Mario. Mario's younger brother, Luigi, is controlled by the second player in the game'smultiplayer mode and assumes the same plot role and functionality as Mario. The objective is to race through the Mushroom Kingdom, survive the main antagonist Bowser's forces, and save Princess Toadstool.[6]:7 The game is a side-scrolling platformer; the player moves from the left side of the screen to the right side in order to reach the flag pole at the end of each level.
The game world has coins scattered around it for Mario to collect, and special bricks marked with a question mark (?), which when hit from below by Mario, may reveal more coins or a special item. Other "secret", often invisible, bricks may contain more coins or rare items. If the player gains a red and yellow Super Mushroom, Mario grows to double his size and can take one extra hit from most enemies and obstacles, in addition to being able to break bricks above him.[6]:12 Players are given a certain number of lives, and may gainadditional lives by picking up green and orange 1-Up mushrooms which are hidden in bricks, or by collecting 100 coins, defeating several enemies in a row with a Koopa shell, or bouncing on enemies successively without touching the ground. Mario loses a life if he takes damage while small, falls in a bottomless pit, or runs out of time. The game ends when all lives are lost, although a button input can be used on the game's game over to continue from the first level of the world that the player is currently.
Mario's primary attack is jumping on top of enemies, though many enemies have differing responses to this. For example, a Goomba will flatten and be defeated,[6]:12 while a Koopa Troopa will temporarily retract into its shell, allowing Mario to use it as a projectile. [6]:11These shells may be deflected off a wall to destroy other enemies, though they can also bounce back against Mario, which will hurt or kill him.[6]:19 Other enemies, such as underwater ones and enemies with spiked tops, cannot be jumped on, causing the player to become damaged. Another attack, for enemies standing overhead, is to jump up and hit beneath the brick that the enemy is standing on. Another is the Fire Flower; when picked up, this item changes the color of Super Mario's outfit and allows him to throw fireballs, or only upgrades Mario to Super Mario if he has not already. A less common item is the Starman, which often appears when Mario hits certain concealed or otherwise invisible blocks. This item makes Mario temporarily invincible to most hazards and capable of defeating enemies on contact.[6]:10
The game consists of eight worlds with four sub-levels called "stages" in each world.[6]:7The final stage of each world takes place in a castle where Bowser or one of his decoys are fought. The game also includes some stages taking place underwater, which contain different enemies. In addition, there are bonuses and secret areas in the game. Most secret areas contain more coins for Mario to collect, but some contain "warp pipes" that allow Mario to advance to later worlds in the game, skipping over earlier ones.
Plot and setting
In the fantasy setting of the Mushroom Kingdom, a tribe of turtle-like creatures known as the Koopa Troopas invade the kingdom and uses the magic of its king, Bowser, to turn its inhabitants, known as the Mushroom People, into inanimate objects such as bricks, stones and horsehair plants. Bowser and his army also kidnap Princess Toadstool, the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom and the only one with the ability to reverse Bowser's spell. After hearing the news, Mario sets out to save the princess and free the kingdom from Bowser.[6]:2 After traveling through various parts of the kingdom and fighting Bowser's forces along the way, Mario reaches Bowser's final stronghold, where he is able to defeat him by striking an axe on the bridge suspended over lava he is standing on, breaking the bridge, defeating Bowser, and allowing for the princess to be freed and saving the Mushroom Kingdom.[7]
Development
Super Mario Bros., the successor to the 1983arcade title Mario Bros., was designed byShigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, both of whom belonged to Nintendo's formerEntertainment Analysis and Developmentdivision at the time.[8][9][10] Though not originally using any particular character, the very deliberate creative process of what would become their next game was motivated by their technical knowledge from previous games like Excitebike and Kung Fu, by a desire to give the ROM cartridge format "a final exclamation point" in light of the forthcomingFamicom Disk System which was expected to become the dominant new game delivery medium, and by continuing their legacy of "athletic games" with a character running and jumping with many obstacles. Miyamoto explained, "We felt strongly about how we were the first to come up with that genre, and it was a goal of ours to keep pushing it."[11]Development was aimed at simplicity, in order to have a new game available for the end-of-year shopping season.[12]
According to Tezuka, the prototype initially was not a side-scrolling game, and the player controlled a 16 by 32 pixel square. Tezuka only suggested the use of Mario after seeing the sales figures of Mario Bros., which was still selling well throughout the previous year since its release.[13] The prototype was based around a shooting mechanic with very different controls.[14] The sky-based bonus stages are a remnant of a level design where Mario jumped onto a cloud and fired at enemies.[11][15] They changed the game's focus to jumping action and they thus remapped the A button from shooting to jumping. After releasing Mario Bros., the team had reflected that it had been an illogical gameplay decision for Mario to be hurt by stomping upon the walking turtles, so they decided any future Mario game would "definitely have it so that you could jump on turtles all you want."[11]
The development of Super Mario Bros. is an early example of specialization in the video game industry, made possible and necessary by the capabilities of the Famicom. Miyamoto designed the game world and led a team of seven programmers and artists who turned his ideas into code, sprites, music and sound effects.[16]
The team based the level design around a small Mario, intending to later make his size bigger in the final version. Then they decided it would be fun to let Mario change his size via a power-up. The early level design was focused on teaching players that mushrooms were distinct from Goombas and would be beneficial to them, so in the first level of the game, the first mushroom is difficult to avoid if it is released.[17] The use of mushrooms to change size was influenced by common Japanese folktales in which people wander into forests and eat magical mushrooms; this also resulted in the game world being named the "Mushroom Kingdom". Miyamoto said the shell-kicking 1-up trick was intentionally designed and carefully tested, but "people turned out to be a lot better at pulling the trick off for ages on end than we thought".[11]
World 1-1
During the third generation of video game consoles, tutorials that explain the mechanics of the game were rare, and instead, players had to learn how a video game worked by being guided by level design. The opening sectionSuper Mario Bros. was specifically designed in such a way that players would be forced to explore the mechanics of the game in order to be able to advance. Super Mario Bros. is the first side-scrolling video game featuring Mario, and one of the first video games directed and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Rather than confront the newly oriented player with obstacles, the first level of Super Mario Bros. lays down the variety of in-game hazards by means of repetition, iteration, and escalation.[18] In an interview with Eurogamer, Miyamoto explained that he created "World 1-1" to contain everything a player needs to "gradually and naturally understand what they’re doing", so that they can quickly understand how the game works. According to Miyamoto, once the player understands the mechanics of the game, the player will be able to play more freely and it becomes "their game."[19][20]
Minus World
The "Minus World" (also referred to as "World Negative One") is the name given to an unbeatable glitch level present in the original release of Super Mario Bros. World 1-2 contains a hidden warp zone, with warp pipes that transport the player to worlds 2, 3, and 4, accessed by running over a wall near the exit. If the player is able to exploit a bug that allows Mario to pass through bricks, the player can enter the warp zone by passing through the wall and the pipe to World 2-1 and 4-1 may instead transport the player to a stage labeled "World -1". This stage's map is identical to worlds 2-2 and 7-2 and upon entering the warp pipe at the end, the player is taken back to the start of the level, thus trapping the player in the level until all lives have been lost. Although the level name is shown as " -1" with a leading space on theheads-up display, it is actually World 36-1, with the tile for 36 being shown as a blank space.[21]
The Minus World bug in the Japanese Famicom Disk System version of the game behaves differently and creates multiple, completable stages. "World -1" is an underwater version of World 1-3 with an alternate color palette, and contains sprites of Princess Toadstool, Bowser, and Hammer Bros. "World -2" is an identical copy of World 7-3, and "World -3" is a copy of World 4-4, also with an alternate color palette. After completing these levels, the player returns to the title screen as if the game were completed.[22][23] There are actually hundreds of glitch levels beyond the Minus World, and can be accessed in a multitude of ways.[24][25]
Music
Nintendo sound designer Koji Kondo wrote the six-song musical score for Super Mario Bros., as well as designing all of the game's sound effects.[26][27] At the time he was composing, video game music was mostly meant to attract attention, not necessarily to enhance or conform to the game. Kondo's work on Super Mario Bros. was one of the major forces in the shift towards music becoming an integral and participatory part of video games.[28]
Kondo had two specific goals for his music: "to convey an unambiguous sonic image of the game world", and "to enhance the emotional and physical experience of the gamer".[28] The music of Super Mario Bros. is coordinated with the onscreen animations of the various sprites, which was one way he created a sense of greater immersion. He wasn't the first to do this, for example, Space Invaders has a simple song that gets faster and faster as the aliens speed up, eliciting a sense of stress and impending doom that matches the increasing challenge of the game.[29] However, he took the idea further than that, saying that, "the guiding question which decides whether to accept or reject his own (and, more recently, others’) musical tracks is: do the game and music fit one another?"[30]
This shift in ideals and results was, in part, born of a method of design that was unusual at the time: instead of being hired later in the process to add music to a nearly finished game, Kondo was there almost from the beginning, working in tandem with the rest of the team. As he said, "the [Super Mario Bros.] music is inspired by the game controls, and its purpose is to heighten the feeling of how the game controls".[31] Before compositionbegan, a prototype was presented to Kondo for the game so that he could get an idea of Mario's general environment. Kondo wrote the score with the help of small pianos for an appropriate melody of this scene. After the development of the game showed progress, he realized that his music did not quite fit the pace of the game, so he changed it a bit by increasing the tempo.[32] The music was further adjusted based on the expectations of Nintendo's play-testers.[33]
Release
Super Mario Bros. was first released in Japan on September 13, 1985 for the Famicom Disk System, Nintendo's proprietary floppy diskdrive for the Famicom.[34] The game was released in North America later that year for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Alongside the game’s separate release, the game was also released along with the shooting range game Duck Hunt as part of a single ROM cartridge that came packaged with the NES as a pack-in title. This version of the game is extremely common in North America, with several copies of it having been manufactured and sold in the United States. Another cartridge, touting the two games as well as World Class Track Meet, was also manufactured.[35]
The game's concrete North American release date is frequently debated; despite generally being cited as having been released alongside the NES in October of 1985 as a launch title, several other sources conflict with this statement, suggesting that the game may have released in other varying time frames ranging from November of 1985 to early 1986.[3]
Alternate versions
As one of Nintendo's most popular games,Super Mario Bros. has been re-released and remade numerous times, with every single major Nintendo console up to the Wii Udawning its own port or remake of the game with the exception of the Nintendo 64.[36]
Ports
Super Mario Bros. has been ported several times since its release. A version of the game titled Super Mario Bros. Special developed byHudson Soft was released in Japan in 1986 for the NEC PC-8801 and Sharp X1 personal computers. Despite featuring similar controls and graphics, the game has different level designs and new items, as well as brand new enemies based on enemies from Mario Bros.and 'Donkey Kong'.[36] A handheld LCD game titled Super Mario Bros was released as a part of Nintendo’s Game & Watch line of LCD games.[37]
Vs. Super Mario Bros.
Vs. Super Mario Bros. is an arcade adaptation of the original version of Super Mario Bros, released through Nintendo's NES-based arcade cabinet, the Nintendo Vs. Unisystem (and its variant, Nintendo Vs. Dualsystem). Several of the game’s levels are changed, containing narrower platforms, more dangerous enemies, and omitting several hidden secrets such as 1-ups, making the game more difficult than the original Super Mario Bros. Entirely new stages are also present, with several of them reappearing from the game’s Japanese sequel, Super Mario Bros 2.[36] The game was featured in an official contest during the 1986 ACME convention in Chicago.[38] An emulated version of the title was released for the Nintendo Switch via the Arcade Archives collection on December 22, 2017.[39][40]
Remakes
A remade version of Super Mario Bros. was included as a part of Super Mario All-Stars, a compilation game released in 1993 for theSuper Nintendo Entertainment System, alongside remakes of several of the otherSuper Mario games released for the NES.[41]The version of Super Mario Bros. included in this compilation has improved graphics and sound to match the SNES's 16-bit capabilities, as well as minor alterations to some of the game’s collision mechanics. The game also features the ability for a player to save their progress midway through the game, and changes the game’s multiplayer mode so that the two players switch off after every level in addition to whenever a player died, rather than only the latter. Several glitches from the original NES version of the game were also fixed.[42] Super Mario All-Stars was also rereleased for the Wii as a re-packaged, 25th anniversary version, featuring the same version of the game.[citation needed]
In 2013, an open-source HTML5 conversion of the game, entitled Full Screen Mario, was released online. This online version of the game featured new aspects, such as a level editor and the option to play on a randomly generated map. The game's website gained nearly 2.7 million unique visitors before the game was eventually taken down in response to a DMCA takedown notice sent to the creator by Nintendo.[43]
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, sometimes referred to as Super Mario Bros. DX, was released on the Game Boy Color in 1999 in North America and Europe[44] and in 2000 in Japan. Based on the original Super Mario Bros., it features anoverworld level map, simultaneous multiplayer, a Challenge mode in which the player finds hidden objects and achieves a certain score in addition to normally completing the level, and eight additional worlds based on the main worlds of the Japanese 1986 game Super Mario Bros. 2. It is compatible with the Game Boy Printer. Compared to Super Mario Bros., the game features a few minor visual upgrades such as water and lava now being animated rather than static, and a smaller screen due to the lower resolution of the Game Boy Color. Players can alternate between Mario and Luigi by pressing select on the map screen.[45]
IGN's Craig Harris gave it a perfect score, praising it as a perfect translation of the NES game. He hoped that it would be the example for other NES games to follow when being ported to the Game Boy Color.[46] GameSpotgave the game a 9.9, hailing it as the "killer app" for the Game Boy Color and praising the controls and the visuals (it was also the highest rated game in the series, later surpassed by Super Mario Galaxy 2 which holds a perfect 10).[47] Both gave it their Editors' Choice Award.[48][49] Allgame's Colin Williamson praised the porting of the game as well as the extras, noting the only flaw of the game being that sometimes the camera goes with Mario as he jumps up.[50] Nintendo World Report's Jon Lindemann, in 2009, called it their "(Likely) 1999 NWR Handheld Game of the Year," calling the quality of its porting and offerings undeniable.[51] Nintendo Life gave it a perfect score, noting that it retains the qualities of the original game and the extras.[52] St. Petersburg Times′ Robb Guido commented that in this form, Super Mario Bros. "never looked better."[53] The Lakeland Ledger′s Nick S. agreed, praising the visuals and the controls.[54] In 2004, a Game Boy Advance port of Super Mario Bros. (part of theClassic NES Series) was released, which had none of the extras or unlockables available inSuper Mario Bros. Deluxe. Of that version, IGNnoted that the version did not "offer nearly as much as what was already given on the Game Boy Color" and gave it an 8.0 out of 10.[55]Super Mario Bros. Deluxe ranked third in the best-selling handheld game charts in the U.S. between June 6 and 12, 1999[56] and sold over 2.8 million copies in the U.S.[57] It was included on Singapore Airlines flights in 2006.[58] Lindermann noted Deluxe as a notable handheld release in 1999.[59]
It was released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2014. In Japan, users who registered a Nintendo Network ID on their Nintendo 3DS system between December 10, 2013 and January 10, 2014 received a free download code, with emails with download codes being sent out starting January 27, 2014.[60] In Europe and Australia, users who registered a Nintendo Network ID on their Nintendo 3DS system between December 10, 2013 and January 31, 2014 received a free download code, with emails with download codes being sent out from February 13 to 28, 2014.[61][62] It was released for purchase on the Nintendo 3DS eShop in Europe on February 27, 2014,[63] in Australia on February 28, 2014,[64] and in North America on December 25, 2014.[65]
Rereleases
In early 2003, Super Mario Bros. was rereleased for the Game Boy Advance as a part of the Famicom Minis collection in Japan and as a part of the NES Series in the US. This version of the game is entirely emulated, making it completely identical to the original game. Super Mario Bros. is one of the best-selling of these re-releases; according to the NPD Group (which tracks game sales in North America), this re-released version of Super Mario Bros. was the best-selling Game Boy Advance game from June 2004 to December 2004.[66] In 2005, Nintendo rereleased this port of the game as a part of the game’s 20th Anniversary; this special edition of the game went on to sell approximately 876,000 units.[67]
The game is one of the 19 unlockable NES games included in the GameCube gameAnimal Crossing. The game was distributed byFamitsu as a prize for owners of Dobutsu no Mori+; outside of this, the game can’t be unlocked through in-game conventional means, and the only way for it to be accessed is through the use of a third-party cheat device such as a Game Shark or Action Replay.[68]
Virtual Console
Super Mario Bros. has been released to several of Nintendo’s game systems as a part of their Virtual Console line for classic video game rereleases. It was first released for theWii on December 2, 2006 in Japan, December 25, 2006 in North America and January 5, 2007 in PAL regions. The release is a complete emulation of the original game, meaning that nothing is changed from the its original NES release.[69][70] This version of the game is also one of the “trial games” made available in the "Masterpieces" section inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, where it can be demoed for a limited amount of time.[71] ANintendo 3DS version of the game was initially distributed exclusively to members of Nintendo’s 3DS Ambassador Program in September 2011. A general release of the title came through in Japan on January 5, 2012, in North America on February 16, 2012 and in Europe on March 1, 2012. The game was released for the Wii U’s Virtual Console in Japan on June 5, 2012, followed by Europe on September 12, 2012 and North America on September 19, 2012.[72]
Modified versions
Several modified variants of the game have been released, many of which are ROM hacksof the original NES game. A promotional, graphically-modified version of the game titled All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. was officially released only in Japan in December 1986 for the Famicom Disk System as a promotional item given away by the popular Japanese radio show All Night Nippon and published by Fuji TV, the same company which later went on to publish Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (which was released outside of Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2). (and in turn is extremely rare). The game features graphics based upon the show, with sprites of the enemies, mushroom retainers, and other characters being changed to look like famous Japanese music idols, recording artists, and DJs as well as other people related to All-Night Nippon.[73] The game also makes use of the same slightly upgraded graphics and alternate physics featured in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. This version of the game is considered extremely rare, with copies going online for upwards of nearly $500.[74] On November 11, 2010, a special red variant of the Wii containing a pre-downloaded version of the game was released in Japan to celebrate Super Mario Bros.'s 25th anniversary. This version of the game features several graphical changes, such as "?" blocks instead having the number "25" on them to symbolize the game's anniversary.[74]
Super Luigi Bros., a redux of the game featuring Luigi, was included as a feature within NES Remix 2, based on a mission featured in the first NES Remix featuring Luigi in a backwards version of World 1-2. The player now controls Luigi instead of Mario, who now jumps higher and slides more when running on the ground similar to his appearance in the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 (if the game's two-player mode is selected, both players control as Luigi), and the game's level designs are exactly the same as they are in the original Super Mario Brosbut completely mirrored (i.e. the game scrolls from left-to-right rather than vice versa).[75][76]
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