Super Mario Bros.
| Super Mario Bros. | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Nintendo |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | |
| Designer(s) | Shigeru Miyamoto |
| Composer(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Famicom/NES |
| Release | September 13, 1985 (Japan) October 1, 1985 (U.S.) 1997 (Europe) |
| Genre(s) | Platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Super Mario Bros. is a video game produced by Nintendo in 1985. Universally considered a classic of the medium, Super Mario Bros. was one of the first side-scrolling platform games of its kind, introducing players to huge, bright, expansive worlds that changed the way video games were created. It is sometimes referred to as Super Mario Bros. 1 when there is need to differentiate it from one of its sequels.
Game mechanics
The player takes the role of Mario, or in the case of a second player, Mario's brother Luigi. The ultimate object is to race through the Mushroom Kingdom, evade or eliminate King Bowser's forces, and save the Princess.
Mario's primary attack is simply jumping on top of his enemies, which kills the mushroom traitors, Goombas, and sends the turtle soldiers known as Koopa Troopas into their shells. Mario can then kick these shells into other enemies, which conveniently dispatch them; but conversely, can also bounce back and hit him. Jumping on enough enemies in succession, or kicking a shell into enough enemies in succession (combos), double points earned with each enemy killed, eventually earning Mario a 1-up, an extra life and another chance to pass the level.
Aiding him in his quest are several power-ups, including the Super Mushroom, which would turn Mario into Super Mario, doubling his size; the Fire Flower, which turns Super Mario into Fiery Mario, allowing him to throw fireballs; Starman, which gives him temporary invincibility; and the 1-up Mushroom.
Mario can be hurt if he touches an enemy. If he takes a hit from an enemy as Super Mario or Fiery Mario, he simply reverts back to regular Mario and the game continues. However, if he takes a hit as regular Mario, falls down a pit (regardless of status), or if the time clock runs out, he loses a life, and starts again. The point where Mario continues depends on how far he ran through the level before dying; either from the very beginning, or a set location approximately halfway through the level.
The game consists of eight worlds with four sub-worlds, or levels, in each. Though there are some differences as the game progresses, typically the first sub-world is a generic above-ground (overworld) level, the second takes place below ground (within a dungeon or underwater), the third is a sky level, and the fourth is a castle. At the end of each castle level, Mario fights "Bowser" (actually a lesser enemy disguised as Bowser until the final level) across a bridge over a pool of lava. Bowser may be defeated in one of two ways; either by touching the axe at the edge of the bridge (thereby dropping Bowser into the lava), or, as Fiery Mario, throwing fireballs at him to defeat him directly.
The third and sixth worlds take place at night, and all other worlds take place during the day.
After beating the game, the player is given the option to start the game again in "'Hard' Mode," where all Goombas are replaced by Buzzy Beetles (Koopa Troopa-like enemies who cannot be killed by fireballs), and all enemies walk faster. In addition, some of the elevator-style lifts are about 60% their original size. When the game is beat in "'Hard' Mode", you are presented with the same screen as when beat in original mode, and are told that you are being presented with a new quest. This "quest", however, is just "'Hard' Mode", again. The cycle goes on forever.
Popularity
The game sold approximately 40 million copies in North America alone, which still stands as a Guinness World Record. It has been estimated that this game, next to Tetris, is the bestselling game of all time [1]. Although the game was popular enough on its own, this is more attributable to the popularity of the NES itself, as Super Mario Bros. was most often packaged along with the console (usually in a dual cartridge with the shooting game Duck Hunt), just as Tetris was packaged with the Game Boy. Super Mario Bros. 3 is often cited as the best selling game of all time, which, as far as stand-alone releases go, is likely true.
The game's popularity eventually led to dozens of sequels and spinoffs. There are three direct sequels to this game on the NES platform:
- Super Mario Bros. 2 (this adaptation of Doki Doki Panic, an unrelated Japanese game, was originally released in the U.S. instead of the original Super Mario Bros. 2, sometimes referred to as Super Mario Bros. 2: Japanese, because the Japanese version was deemed to be too hard for North Americans. SMB2 was later released in Japan as "Super Mario USA"),
- Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (originally released only in Japan as "Super Mario Bros. 2" but later released worldwide as "The Lost Levels"), and
- Super Mario Bros. 3.
There was even a TV series and a movie based on the Mario series. Mario has since been known as Nintendo's mascot and is one of the most popular and recognizable video game characters of all time.
Alternate versions
As one of Nintendo's most popular games, Super Mario Bros. has been rereleased and remade numerous times, ranging from an arcade version released at approximately the same time as the original NES release, to its inclusion as an unlockable game in in the GameCube game Animal Crossing.
Vs. Super Mario Bros.
The first of these alternate versions, Vs. Super Mario Bros., is nearly a separate game in its own right. This game, one of several games made for Nintendo's NES-based arcade cabinet, the Nintendo Vs. Unisystem (and its variant, the Nintendo Vs. Dualsystem), is based loosely on Super Mario Bros., and has identical gameplay. The stages are different, however; the first stages are subtly different, with small differences like the omission of 1-up mushrooms or other hidden items, but later stages are changed entirely. (Many of these later, changed stages later appeared in the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2.) These changes have a net effect of making Vs. Super Mario Bros. much more difficult than the original Super Mario Bros.
As with many older arcade games, it isn't clear when this game was released; while the arcade boards themselves are stamped 1985[2], the Killer List of Video Games and the MAME game listing[3] list the game as having been released in 1986.
All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.
All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. is a version of Super Mario Bros. with graphics based upon a radio show, called 'All Night Nippon', that was very popular in Japan in 1986. It was released for the Famicom Disk System.
The game, which was only released in Japan, was a special promotional version that was given away by the Japanese radio station 'All Night Nippon' in raffles in 1986. The game borrows levels from Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japanese version), and Vs. Super Mario Bros. The enemies and the mushroom retainers at the end of Bowser's forts are replaced with Japanese music idols, famous recording artists, and DJs, as well as other people related to 'All Night Nippon.' It was published by Fuji TV, the same company that published Doki Doki Panic (which was later remade into Super Mario USA, a.k.a. Super Mario Bros. 2).
Super Mario All-Stars
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n 1993, Super Mario Bros. was released with enhanced graphics for the Super Famicom and Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Super Mario Collection and Super Mario All-Stars.
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
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It was later released with additional features (but not enhanced graphics) for the Game Boy Color as Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.
Classic NES rerelease
In early 2004, Nintendo rereleased the game on the Game Boy Advance in Japan as part of their Famicom Minis collection and in the U.S. as part of the Classic NES Series. Unlike previous re-releases, these versions contain no graphical updates. Differences between this and the original are that the screen images appear a bit squashed, due to the smaller GBA screen, and the high score is saved to the cartridge. In 2005, Nintendo released this game again for the GBA as part of its 20th Anniversary with a special edition, selling approximately 876,000 units [4].
Other versions
Super Mario Bros. is one of the NES games featured in the Gamecube game Animal Crossing. However, Nintendo has yet to release an official means of unlocking it and most likely never will. Currently the only known way to unlock the game is by using the Action Replay.
Bugs
For a more complete list of bugs and glitches in Super Mario Bros., see Bisqwit's "Super Mario Bros. tricks" page or The Mario Bros Page from Classic Gaming.
World 36 (or "Minus World")
There exists a method to reach World 36 (commonly known as the Minus World). This level is sometimes claimed to be a myth but it does exist, although it can be difficult to reach. World 36 is an infinite water level, only accessible through World 1-2, and was not an intentionally designed level but the result of a coding glitch. Once World 36 is reached, it is impossible to escape, and Mario is destined to die by running out of time (assuming he survives the standard water-level obstacles as well). The reason for this is because the pipe at the end of the level leads to the very beginning, instead of dry land, and therefore, the level loops, or repeats itself. The name was created by a glitch, and since it is not a normal level, the name is literally (nothing)-1, creating the effect of -1.
World 36 can be reached if Super Mario uses another glitch to pass through the bricks to the left of the warp zone area, and then enters the first or third warp pipe without the game depicting the "Welcome to Warp Zone" message. The second "glitch" warp pipe yeilds teleporting Mario to level 5-1; which is normally accessed at the warp zone in level 4-2. More "glitch" levels are available, but only through special memory-modifying tools such as the Game Genie.
World 36 in the Japanese Famicom Disk System version of the game is considerably different and has three levels, after which the player is returned to the title screen as though he or she completed the game. This glitch has been fixed in the Super Mario All-Stars remake.
Jumping the flag
Dating from the time of the original Super Mario Bros. release, urban legend claimed that in levels 3-3 and 7-2 it is possible to jump over the flag at the end of the level by exploiting pulleys. The claim was for the most part unsubstantiated until 1999 when a NESticle movie demonstrating the capability was publicly released. [5] When the engine was redone for the SNES game Super Mario All-Stars, this ability was retained while found less difficult to perform (and, interestingly, the -1 bug was removed). Creators of tool-assisted console videos have also demonstrated (in the original NES game) that the flagpole can be surmounted on several other levels including 1-1. This is done by exploiting a glitch to induce a Koopa Troopa to walk across the bottom edge of the screen and then using it for an extra bounce over the pole. However, jumping the flag is not very useful as the level goes on forever and is completely empty after this. There is nothing to do but to keep running forward until Mario dies from Time Over. There are also many levels in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in which jumping over the flag is possible.
Little Fiery Mario
Internal to the game, Mario's powerup state is recorded in two independent variables; one describes size (0=regular; 1=super) and the other tracks the 'upgrade state' (0=need mushroom; 1=need flower; 2=has flower). The 'size' decides the sprite (small on 0; big on 1) used for Mario; the 'upgrade state' decides what powerup will come out of a block (mushroom on 0; flower on 1 or 2) and what will happen when Mario is hit (die on 0; switch 'size' and clear 'upgrade state' on 1).
These states can be knocked out of synchronization. The game checks for all sprite collisions, knocks the 'upgrade state' to 0 if it hits, and switches size only when all checks are done. If Mario's sprite strikes the King Koopa sprite and the bridge release sprite in one frame, the game will register the collision between Mario and Koopa, knock the 'upgrade state' to 0, register the collision between Mario and the bridge release, and jump into the level complete loop that causes Mario to walk to the right -- and never switches the 'size' variable.
If Mario was naturally large (state 1 or 2, size 1) when he hit the switch he will stay large (state 0, size 1). If he strikes an enemy he will die (because his 'upgrade state' is 0), but he can break blocks. If he gets a mushroom, he will shrink and be unable to hit blocks; if he is hit now, he will grow again. If he gets a fire flower, his pallette will be changed and he will be able to shoot (but the game will use the large image for shooting; it will, however, keep Mario's small feet if Mario is moving.) Mario will now be Little Fiery Mario.
If Mario was naturally small (state 0, size 0) when he hit the switch he will appear to die but the level will still be beat and he will not lose a life. If Mario was unnaturally small (state 1 or 2, size 0) when he hit the switch (that is, if he does this trick twice), he will revert to his normal form. When Mario dies his size is set small and his state is set unupgraded, no matter how he died or what his state was before.
Using the third part only of a 3-code Game Genie code for "Always Stay Big" will produce similar results (the code is SZLIVO). As long as Mario has gained a power-up, he will become small when hit, then grow when hit a second time. This is a much simpler way to view the "Little Fiery Mario" quirk.
This glitch, originally discovered by gamers Grady Haynes and Tom Shoemake, appears to have been fixed in the Super Mario All-Stars version, though you can still see it with a cheating device.
Trivia
Current World Record
The current world record time for this game has been set by Trevor Seguin and Andrew Gardikis with times of 5 minutes and 9 seconds. These claims have been confirmed by Twin Galaxies, and a video is available at SDA. These are both only a few seconds slower than the fastest known tool-assisted speedrun, which currently measures at just under 5 minutes.
Great Giana Sisters
For a very brief period Rainbow Arts published Great Giana Sisters for the Commodore 64 and Commodore Amiga (with a ZX Spectrum version complete and due imminently), a clone of Super Mario Bros so similar to the original that Nintendo halted its production with legal action.
See also
- List of Mario games
- Super Mario All-Stars, an enhanced remake for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System released in 1993
- List of Famicom games
- List of NES games
- Great Giana Sisters, an Amiga and Commodore 64 game that was withdrawn due to its similarities with Super Mario Bros.
- NESticle
External links
- Super Mario Bros. Headquarters
- Super Mario Bros at The NES Files
- toadscastle.net
- The Mushroom Kingdom
- Secret Maryo Chronicles, a GPL'ed clone using similar characters and built with Simple DirectMedia Layer and C++
- Mega Mario, a GPL'ed clone using similar characters and built with C++
- SuperTux, a GPL'ed SDL-based game with similar game-play starring Tux the Linux penguin (Wikipedia entry for SuperTux)
- Super Maryo World, full clone of Super Mario Brothers in Javascript
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