Mario Bros.
Mario Bros. | |
---|---|
Sculptured Software (Atari 8-bit) | |
Publisher(s) |
|
Release | 1983[note 1]
|
Platform | |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Mario Bros.
The arcade and Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System versions were received positively by critics. Elements introduced in Mario Bros., such as spinning bonus coins, turtles that can be flipped onto their backs, and Luigi, were carried over to Super Mario Bros. (1985) and became staples of the series.
An updated version, titled Mario Bros. Classic, is included as a minigame in all of the Super Mario Advance series and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Mario Bros. has been re-released through Nintendo's online stores for later systems.
Gameplay
Mario Bros. features two plumbers,[6] Italian brothers Mario and Luigi, having to investigate the sewers after strange creatures have been appearing down there.[7] The objective of the game is to defeat all of the enemies in each phase. The mechanics of Mario Bros. involve only running and jumping.[8] Unlike future Mario games, players cannot jump on enemies and squash them, unless they were already turned on their back.[9] Each phase is a series of platforms with pipes at each corner of the screen, along with an object called a "POW" block in the center.[8] Phases use wraparound, meaning that enemies and players that go off to one side will reappear on the opposite side.[10] The game has a point system,[11] and continues until the player loses all lives.
Enemies are defeated by kicking them over once they have been flipped on their back.[12] This is accomplished by hitting the platform the enemy is on directly beneath them.[13] If the player allows too much time to pass after doing this the enemy will flip itself back over and recover.[12]
There are four enemies which emerge from the pipes: the Shellcreeper;[14] the Sidestepper;[8] the Fighter Fly,[13] which moves by jumping and can only be flipped when it is touching a platform; and the Slipice which turns platforms into slippery ice.[15] A fifth enemy, fireballs, floats around the screen instead of sticking to platforms.[16] "POW" blocks, which flips all enemies touching a platform or the floor when a player hits it from below, are also included.[15] The game additionally contains bonus rounds.[12]
Development
Mario Bros. was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi, two of the lead developers for the video game
A popular story of how Mario went from Jumpman to Mario is that an Italian-American landlord, Mario Segale, had barged in on Nintendo of America's staff to demand rent, and they decided to name Jumpman after him.[20] Miyamoto also felt that the best setting for this game was New York because of its labyrinthine subterranean network of sewage pipes.[7] The pipes were inspired by several manga, which Miyamoto states feature waste grounds with pipes lying around. In this game, they were used in a way to allow the enemies to enter and exit the stage through them to avoid getting enemies piled up on the bottom of the stage. The green coloring of the pipes, which Nintendo late president Satoru Iwata called an uncommon color, came from Miyamoto having a limited color palette and wanting to keep things colorful. He added that green was the best because it worked well when two shades of it were combined.[17]
Mario Bros. introduced Mario's brother, Luigi, who was created for the multiplayer mode by doing a palette swap of Mario.
Release
The arcade game was released in 1983, but there are conflicting release dates. Game Machine magazine reported that the game made its North American debut at the AMOA show during March 25–27 and entered mass-production in Japan on June 21.[25] The book Arcade TV Game List (2006), authored by Masumi Akagi and published by the Amusement News Agency, lists the release dates as March 1983 in North America and June 1983 in Japan.[1] Former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said in a 2013 Nintendo Direct presentation that the game was first released in Japan on July 14, 1983.[26][27]
Upon release, Mario Bros. was initially labeled as being the third game in the Donkey Kong series. For home video game conversions, Nintendo held the rights to the game in Japan, while licensing the overseas rights to Atari, Inc.[28]
Ports and other versions
Mario Bros. was ported by other companies to the
A port by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released in North America on June 23, 1986.[33] Another NES port was released in August 1993 exclusively in Germany as part of the Classic Series.[34]
In Taiwan and Mainland China, the game is sometimes nicknamed as Pipeline (管道) or Mr. Mary (瑪莉) due to the fact that pirated copies of this game were distributed very widely, and pirate companies could not use the real name of the game and characters to bypass copyright.
The NES version of Mario Bros. was ported via the Virtual Console service in North America, Australia, Europe and Japan for the Wii,[35] Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U.[36][37] The original arcade version of Mario Bros. was released in September 2017 for the Nintendo Switch as part of the Arcade Archives series.[38] The NES version was a launch title for Nintendo Switch Online.[39]
Nintendo included Mario Bros. as a bonus in a number of releases, including Super Mario Bros. 3[40] and the Game Boy Advance's Super Mario Advance series[41] as well as Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga,[42] The NES version is included as a piece of furniture in Animal Crossing for the GameCube, along with many other NES games, though this one requires the use of a Nintendo e-Reader and a North America-exclusive Animal Crossing e-Card.[43]
In 2004, Namco released an arcade cabinet containing Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Mario Bros. Mario Bros. was altered for the vertical screen used by the other games, with the visible play area cropped on the sides.[44]
Reception
Publication | Score | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Computer and Video Games | 82%[13] | 83%[13] | ||
GameSpot | 4.9/10[45] | |||
IGN | 6/10 (e-Reader)[46] | 4.5/10[12] | ||
Mean Machines | 80%[47] | |||
Power Unlimited | 80%[49] |
Mario Bros. was initially a modest success in arcades,
The NES and Atari versions of Mario Bros. received positive reviews from
The 2009 Virtual Console re-release of the NES version later received mixed reviews, but received positive reviews from gamers.[12] In a review of the Virtual Console release, GameSpot criticized the NES version for being a poor port of the arcade version and that retains all of the technical flaws found in this version.[45] IGN complimented the Virtual Console version's gameplay, even though it was critical of Nintendo's decision to release an "inferior" NES port on the Virtual Console.[12] IGN also agreed on the issue of the number of ports. They said that since most people have Mario Bros. on one of the Super Mario Advance games, this version is not worth 500 Wii Points.[12] The Nintendo e-Reader version of Mario Bros. was slightly more well received by IGN, who praised the gameplay, but criticized it for lack of multiplayer and for not being worth the purchase because of the Super Mario Advance versions.[46]
The Super Mario Advance releases and
Legacy
Related games
In 1984, Hudson Soft made two different games based on Mario Bros. Mario Bros. Special,[b] is a reimagining with new phases and gameplay. Punch Ball Mario Bros.[c] includes a new gameplay mechanic: punching small balls to stun enemies.[66] Both games were released for the NEC PC-8801, FM-7, and Sharp X1.[66]
A version of the game was announced alongside the
Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U contains a version of Mario Bros. starring Luigi: Luigi Bros.[72][73]
High score
On October 16, 2015, Steve Kleisath obtained the world record for the arcade version at 5,424,920 points verified by Twin Galaxies.[74]
Notes
- ^ Sources for the release dates are conflicting. Sources list it as somewhere between March and July 1983.
Japanese titles
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The NES version of Mario Bros. can be fun for a little while with two players, but it doesn't measure up to the seminal arcade hit it's based on.
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{{cite web}}
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External links
- Official website (in Japanese)
- Official Nintendo Famicom Mini Minisite (in Japanese)
- Official Nintendo Wii Virtual Console Minisite (in Japanese)
- Official Nintendo 3DS eshop Minisite (in Japanese)
- Official Nintendo Wii U eshop Minisite (in Japanese)
- Official Nintendo Wii Minisite (in English)
- Official Nintendo 3DS Minisite (in English)
- Official Nintendo Wii Minisite (in English)
- Mario Bros. can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive (ZX Spectrum version)
- Mario Bros. at the Killer List of Videogames