- For the series with the same name, see Super Mario Bros. (series).
Super Mario Bros. is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo that was released for the Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. This game began the shift from single-screen gameplay to side-scrolling platformer levels. Despite not being the first game in the Mario franchise, it is the most iconic and introduced a variety of series staples such as power-ups, classic enemies and the usual task of the player having to rescue Princess Peach from King Koopa.
The creation of Super Mario Bros. kicked off an entire series of Super Mario platformer titles. Its success is what made the whole genre popular and helped the North American gaming industry revive after the 1983 video game crash. In addition, it was largely responsible for the initial success of the NES console, with which it was bundled a launch title. With over 40000000 copies sold worldwide, Super Mario Bros. remained the best selling title for near three decades, till it was surpassed by Wii Sports. A successor named Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan (later renamed Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in North America) was released on June 3, 1986. Another successor sharing its English name with its predecessor's Japanese name was released on October 9, 1988. A third successor named Super Mario Bros. 3 was released on October 23, 1988.
Super Mario Bros. has been ported to many consoles. It was one of the NES games that could be played on the Nintendo PlayChoice-10 and NES Classic Edition, and it was released on the Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console and on Nintendo Switch's Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online.
There is a heavy dispute over the North American release date for the game, as different sources providing different dates with no room for verification. Despite this complication, Nintendo officially states the release as October 18, 1985.[1]
Plot
One day the kingdom of the peaceful mushroom people was invaded by the Koopa, a tribe of turtles famous for their black magic. The quiet, peace-loving Mushroom People were turned into mere stones, bricks and even field horse-hair plants, and the Mushroom 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 the Princess Toadstool, the daughter of the Mushroom King. However, she is presently in the hands of the great Koopa turtle king.
Mario, the hero of this story heard about the Mushroom People's plight and sets out on a quest to free the Mushroom Princess from the evil Koopa and restore the fallen kingdom of the Mushroom People. You are Mario! It's up to you to save the Mushroom People from the black magic of the Koopa![2]
Gameplay
The player takes control of Mario, or Luigi in the case of the second player, and must reach the end of the level, defeating enemies and collecting power-ups along the way. The player can jump on enemies to defeat them. Goombas will die after being stomped on once, but Koopas will hide in their shells, forcing the player to hit them once more. This sends their shells speeding off along the ground. This can be used to kill other enemies if launched in the right direction but can harm or kill the player as well.
Powerups in the game are hidden inside coin boxes, which require the player to hit the box to acquire its contents, A Super Mushroom will make Mario grow in size and allow him to take an extra hit from enemies. A Fire Flower will change the color of Mario's attire to white and grant him the ability to shoot fireballs, which bounce on the ground and kill all enemies in 1 hit, except for Buzzy Beetles and Bowser. Bowser takes multiple fireballs to kill, and fireballs cannot harm Buzzy Beetles.
The goal is to reach the end of the level and take down Bowser's flag risen above the castle. In the Zone 4 stages, the player must reach the bridge at the end and fight Bowser. Mario and Luigi ordinarily have no way to hurt the fake Bowsers or the actual Bowser and have to either use the ax to destroy the bridge, causing either the false or real one to fall into the lava, or pelt him with many fireballs, which produces the same result and reveals the true forms of the fakes. The Bowsers that the player fights from World 1 to 7 are Fake Bowsers. The real Bowser is encountered only at World 8-4, the final level in the game.
After defeating a Fake Bowser at the end of a World, the player will proceed to the back of the castle, where a Toad is found being held captive. He will thank the player for saving him and inform the player that the princess is in another castle. The player will then advance to the next world.
After defeating Bowser at the end of World 8, the player will find Princess Toadstool at the back of the castle, who thanks Mario for saving her. The game ends and the player is given the choice to replay the game in a higher difficulty.
Characters
Main and Supporting
Enemies
- Blooper
- Bill Blaster
- Bullet Bill
- Buzzy Beetle
- Cheep-Cheep
- Firebar
- Goomba
- Hammer Bro.
- Koopa Paratroopa
- Koopa Troopa
- Lakitu
- Piranha Plant
- Podoboo
- Spiny
- Spiny Egg
Bosses
- Fake Bowser (Worlds 1 through 7)
- King Bowser Koopa final boss (World 8)
List of levels
| World | Level | Setting | Enemies found (characters in bold making their debut) |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
World 1 | Overworld | Goomba, Koopa Troopa |
| World 1 | Underground | Goomba, Koopa Troopa | |
| World 1 | Athletic | Goomba, Koopa Troopa | |
| World 1 | Castle | Goomba | |
 |
World 2 | Overworld | Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant |
| World 2 | Underwater | ||
| World 2 | Athletic | Jumping Cheep-Cheep | |
| World 2 | Castle | Firebar, Podoboo Fake Bowser (Koopa Troopa) | |
 |
World 3 | Overworld | Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant. |
| World 3 | Overworld | Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant | |
| World 3 | Athletic | Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa | |
| World 3 | Castle | Firebar, Podoboo, Fake Bowser (Buzzy Beetle) | |
 |
World 4 | Overworld | Piranha Plant |
| World 4 | Underground | Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Piranha Plant | |
| World 4 | Athletic | Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa | |
| World 4 | Castle | Piranha Plant, Podoboo, Firebar, Fake Bowser (Spiny) | |
 |
World 5 | Overworld | Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant |
| World 5 | Overworld | Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle, Bullet Bill, Hammer Bro. (Blooper, Cheep-Cheep) | |
| World 5 | Athletic | Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Bullet Bill | |
| World 5 | Castle | Podoboo, Firebar, Fake Bowser (Lakitu) | |
 |
World 6 | Overworld | Piranha Plant, Lakitu, Spiny |
| World 6 | Overworld | Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle (Blooper, Cheep-Cheep) | |
| World 6 | Athletic | Bullet Bill | |
| World 6 | Castle | Podoboo, Firebar, Fake Bowser (Blooper) | |
 |
World 7 | Overworld | Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle, Hammer Bro., Bullet Bill |
| World 7 | Underwater | Bloober, Cheep-Cheep, Piranha Plant | |
| World 7 | Athletic | Jumping Cheep-Cheep, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa | |
| World 7 | Castle | Podoboo, Firebar, Fake Bowser (Hammer Bro) | |
 |
World 8 | Overworld | Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle |
| World 8 | Overworld | Goomba, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle, Lakitu, Spiny, Bullet Bill | |
| World 8 | Overworld | Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Bullet Bill, Hammer Bro. | |
| World 8 | Castle | Goomba, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Firebar, Podoboo, Buzzy Beetle, Hammer Bro., Bloober, Cheep-Cheep |
Challenge Mode
After Mario or Luigi completes the game, a harder version of the game is unlocked with the following major changes:
- The level names will be changed to a "Star 1-1" in contrast to the regular "1-1."
- All Goombas will turn into Buzzy Beetles.
- All of the enemies walk faster.
- Firebars can be in any possible location.
- All "harder" versions of each level will be played instead (World 5-3 is a harder version of World 1-3; in the harder version, 1-3 and 5-3 are the same level).
Music
The music in Super Mario Bros. is played on a synthesizer, much like most NES games. The game is known for its overworld theme, which has become a staple of the series.
Development
Limitations
In 1991, Shigeru Miyamoto explained the limitations in creating Mario: "We had to work under technical constraints including the number of pixels and number of colors the Famicom can display. There are many reasons why we drew him the way we did. We gave him a mustache rather than a mouth because that showed up better. We gave him a hat rather than hair because that looked better, too. Mario wears overalls because that shows the movement of his arms, and he's wearing white gloves because of the white contrasts were better with the colored backgrounds. These are the technical reasons we made him look the way he does."
Due to the limitations of memory, Luigi is a palette swap of the Mario sprite. This means that there was not any need for all those new frames of animation.
Trivia
- This was the most best-selling game on the NES.
- It is also the best-selling video game of all time, in the Super Mario series as a whole.
- The following enemies/species do not appear in this game:
- Paragoombas (appear on the SMB1 styled version of Super Mario Maker 1 & 2)
- Dry Bones (appear on the SMB1 styled version of Super Mario Maker 1 & 2)
- Boos (appear on the SMB1 styled version of Super Mario Maker 1 & 2)
- Yoshis
- Baby Yoshis
- Tail Goombas (only appear in Super Mario 3D Land)
- Tail Boos (only appear in Super Mario 3D Land)
- Cat Goombas (only appear in Super Mario 3D World and its remake)
- Cat Koopa Troopas (only appear in Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury)
- Troopeas
- Paratroopeas
- Elite Troopeas
- Scaratroopeas
- Magikoopas (appear on the SMB1 styled version of Super Mario Maker 1 & 2)
- Parabones (appear on the SMB1 styled version of Super Mario Maker 1 & 2)
- The folllwing notable members do not appear in this game:
- Koopalings (appear in the SMB1 styled version of Super Mario Maker 2)
- Baby Mario
- Baby Luigi
- Baby Peach
- Baby Daisy
- Baby Rosalina
- Broodals
- Cappy
- Tiara
- Toadette
- Wario
- Waluigi
- Princess Daisy
- Rosalina
- Pauline
- Luma
- Yoshi (appears on the Game Boy Color remake)
- Donkey Kong
- Diddy Kong
Gallery
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To view Super Mario Bros.'s image gallery, click here
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References
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| ||
|---|---|---|
| NES games | ||
| Dr. Mario • Donkey Kong • Donkey Kong 3 • Donkey Kong Classics • Donkey Kong Jr. • Donkey Kong Jr. + Jr. Math Lesson • Donkey Kong Jr. Math • Golf • Mario Bros. • Mario is Missing! • Mario's Time Machine • NES Open Tournament Golf • Nintendo World Championships 1990 • Pinball • Super Mario Bros. • Super Mario Bros. 2 • Super Mario Bros. 3 • Wario's Woods • Wrecking Crew • Yoshi • Yoshi's Cookie | ||
| Family Computer games | ||
| All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. • Famicom Grand Prix: F-1 Race • Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally • Family Computer Golf: Japan Course • Family Computer Golf: U.S. Course • I Am a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater • Kaettekita Mario Bros. • Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels • Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic | ||
