| Mario Bros. | |
|---|---|
 North American arcade flyer | |
| Developer | Nintendo R&D1[a] |
| Publishers |
|
| Director | Shigeru Miyamoto |
| Producer | Gunpei Yokoi |
| Designers |
|
| Composer | Yukio Kaneoka |
| Series | Mario |
| Platform | |
| Release | March 1983 |
| Genre | Platform |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
Mario Bros.[b] is a 1983platform game developed and published byNintendo forarcades. It was designed byShigeru Miyamoto andGunpei Yokoi, Nintendo's chief engineer. Players control Italian twin brother plumbersMario andLuigi as they exterminateturtle-like creatures, giant flies, and crabs emerging from the sewers ofNew York City by knocking them upside-down and kicking them away. TheFamicom/NES version was the first game to be developed byIntelligent Systems. It is part of theMario franchise and the first spin-off of theDonkey Kong series.
The arcade and Famicom/NES versions were received positively by critics. Elements introduced inMario Bros., such as floating coins, enemy turtles, and Luigi, were carried over toSuper Mario Bros. (1985) and became staples of theMario series.[not verified in body]
An updated version, titledMario Bros. Classic, is included as aminigame in all of theSuper Mario Advance series andMario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003). The NES version ofMario Bros. was re-released through theWii andWii U'sVirtual Console, as well as theNintendo Classics service for theNintendo Switch. The original arcade version was released byHamster Corporation as part of theArcade Archives series for the Switch in 2017.[9]
Mario Bros. features two plumbers,[10]Italian brothersMario andLuigi, having to investigate the sewers ofNew York after strange creatures have been appearing down there.[11][12][13] The objective of the game is to defeat all of the enemies in eachphase, using only running and jumping.[14] Unlike subsequentMario games, players cannot jump on enemies to squash them, until they are already flipped on their back.[15] Each phase consists of a series of platforms with pipes at each corner of the screen, along with an object called a "POW" block in the center.[14] The screen useswraparound, so characters that go off to one side reappear on the opposite side.[16] Points are scored for defeating enemies and collecting the bonus coins that emerge from the pipes afterward.[17]
Enemies are defeated by kicking them over once they have been flipped on their back.[18] This is accomplished by hitting the platform the enemy is on directly beneath them.[19] If the player allows too much time to pass after doing this the enemy will flip itself back over and recover.[18]
Four types of enemies emerge from the pipes:Shellcreeper;[20] Sidestepper;[14] Fighter Fly,[19] which moves by jumping and can only be flipped when it is touching a platform; and Slipice, which turns platforms into slippery ice.[21]
Fireballs are a fifth enemy, floating around the screen instead of sticking to platforms.[22] The "POW" block flips all enemies touching a platform or the floor when activated, but can only be used three times before disappearing.[21] The game containsbonus stages.[18] In later rounds, icicles begin to form on the underside of the platforms and fall off.[citation needed]
Onelife is lost whenever the player touches an un-flipped enemy, fireball, or fully formed icicle. Thegame ends when all lives are lost.[citation needed]
Mario Bros. was created byShigeru Miyamoto andGunpei Yokoi, two of the lead developers forDonkey Kong (1981). InDonkey Kong, Mario dies if he falls too far. ForMario Bros., Yokoi suggested to Miyamoto that Mario should be able to fall from any height, which Miyamoto hesitantly thought would make it "not much of a game". He eventually agreed on some superhuman abilities. He designed a prototype that had Mario "jumping and bouncing around", which he was satisfied with. Yokoi suggested combating enemies from below, observing that it would work because there are multiple floors, but this proved too easy in gameplay, which the developers fixed by requiring the enemies to be touched after flipping. This was also how they introduced the turtle as an enemy that could only be hit from below.[23] Because of Mario's appearance inDonkey Kong with overalls, a hat, and a thick moustache,[24] and becauseMario Bros. has a large network of giant pipes, Miyamoto changed Mario's occupation from carpenter to plumber.[11] The game's music was composed by Yukio Kaneoka.[25]
A popular story of how Mario went from Jumpman to Mario is that anItalian American landlord,Mario Segale, had barged in onNintendo of America (NoA)'s staff to demand rent, and they decided to rename Jumpman after him.[26] This story is contradicted by former NoA warehouse managerDon James, who has stated that he and NoA presidentMinoru Arakawa named the character after Segale as a joke because Segale was so reclusive that none of the employees had ever met him.[27][28] Miyamoto set the game insubterranean New York City due to its labyrinthine network of sewage pipes.[11] The pipes were inspired by severalmanga, which he said feature waste grounds with pipes lying around. In this game, they are used to allow the enemies to enter and exit the stage neatly, to avoid them piling up on the bottom of the stage. The green coloring of the pipes, which Nintendo's late presidentSatoru Iwata called an uncommon color, came from Miyamoto having a limited color palette and wanting to keep things colorful. He added that two shades of green combine well.[23]
Mario Bros. introduced Mario's brother, Luigi, who was created for the multiplayer mode by doing a palette swap of Mario.[24] The two-player mode and several aspects of gameplay were inspired byJoust.[29] To date,Mario Bros. has been released for more than a dozen platforms.[30] The first movement fromMozart'sEine kleine Nachtmusik is used at the start of the game.[31] This song has been used in later video games, includingDance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix[31] andSuper Smash Bros. Brawl.[32]
Game Machine magazine reported that the game made its North American debut at theAmusement & Music Operators Association show during March 25–27, 1983, and entered mass production in Japan on June 21.[33] The bookArcade 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.[34] However, Nintendo presidentSatoru Iwata said in a 2013Nintendo Direct presentation that the game was released in Japan on July 14, 1983.[35][36]
Upon release,Mario Bros. was initially labeled as being the third game in theDonkey Kong series. For home video game conversions, Nintendo held the rights to the game in Japan, while licensing the overseas rights toAtari, Inc.[37]
Mario Bros. was ported by other companies to theAtari 2600,Atari 5200,Atari 8-bit computers,Atari 7800,[38]Amstrad CPC, andZX Spectrum. The two versions forCommodore 64 are an unreleasedAtarisoft version,[39] and a 1986 version byOcean Software. The Atari 8-bit computer version bySculptured Software is the only home port which includes the falling icicles. AnApple II version was never commercially released.[40]
A version by Nintendo andIntelligent Systems for theFamicom/Nintendo Entertainment System was released in Japan on September 9, 1983,[41] followed by North America in June 1986.[42] Another NES version was released exclusively in Germany in August 1993 as part of theClassic Series.[43]
A version forNEC'sPC-8001, unrelated to theHudson Soft-developedMario Bros. Special andPunch Ball Mario Bros., was developed by MISA and published by Westside Soft House in 1984.[44]
A modified version for theFamicom Disk System, titledKaettekita Mario Bros.,[c][45] was released only in Japan on November 30, 1988, through the Disk Writer service.[46] This version featured product placement from Japanese food companyNagatanien [ja], withcutscenes advertising various food products.[45]
In Taiwan and Mainland China, the game is sometimes nicknamed asPipeline (管道) orMr. Mary (瑪莉) due to the fact that counterfeits were distributed widely.[citation needed]
The NES version ofMario Bros. was ported via theVirtual Console service in North America, Australia, Europe, and Japan for theWii,[47]Nintendo 3DS, andWii U.[48][49] The original arcade version ofMario Bros. was released in September 2017 for theNintendo Switch as part of theArcade Archives series.[50] The NES version is one of the first games to have been added to theNintendo Classics service on the Switch.[51]
Nintendo includedMario Bros. as a bonus in several releases, includingSuper Mario Bros. 3 in the form of a two-playerminigame,[52] as asingle-player mode in theGame Boy Advance'sSuper Mario Advance series,[53] and inMario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.[54] The NES version is in a piece of furniture inAnimal Crossing for theGameCube, along with many other NES games, though this one requires the use of aNintendo e-Reader and a North America-exclusive e-Card.[55]
In 2004,Namco released an arcade cabinet containingDonkey Kong,Donkey Kong Jr., andMario Bros. under license from Nintendo. The latter was altered for the vertical screen used by the other games, with the visible play area cropped on the sides.[56]
| Publication | Score | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atari 2600 | GBA | NES | Wii | |
| AllGame | 4.5/5[60] | |||
| Computer and Video Games | 82%[19] | 83%[19] | ||
| GameSpot | 4.9/10[57] | |||
| IGN | 6/10(e-Reader)[58] | 4.5/10[18] | ||
| Mean Machines | 80%[59] | |||
| Power Unlimited | 80%[61] | |||
Mario Bros. was initially a modest success in arcades,[62] with an estimated 2,000 arcade cabinets sold in the United States by July 1983.[63] It became highly successful in American arcades.[64][65] In Japan,Game Machine listedMario Bros. as the third most successful new table arcade unit of July 1983.[66] In the United States,Nintendo sold 3,800Mario Bros.arcade cabinets.[67] The arcade cabinets have since become mildly rare.[68] The arcade game was not affected by its release during thevideo game crash of 1983. Video game author Dave Ellis considers it one of the more memorable classic games.[69] In Japan, more than 1.63 million copies of the Famicom version ofMario Bros. have been sold, and more than 90,000 copies of theFamicom Mini re-release.[70][71] TheNintendo Entertainment System (NES) version had 2.28 million cartridges sold worldwide.[72] The Atari 2600 version's sales of 1.59 million cartridges made it one of the bestsellinggames of 1983.[73] This brings total Atari 2600, NES, andFamicom Mini cartridge sales to3.96 million units sold worldwide.
The NES and Atari versions ofMario Bros. received positive reviews fromComputer and Video Games in 1989. They said the NES version is "incredibly good fun" especially in two-player mode, theAtari VCS version is "just as much fun" but with graphical restrictions, and the Atari 7800 version is slightly better.[19]
The 2009Virtual Console re-release of the NES version later received mixed reviews, but received positive reviews from gamers.[18] In a review of the Virtual Console release,GameSpot criticized the NES version for being a poor arcade conversion that retains all of the technical flaws found in this version.[57]IGN complimented the Virtual Console version's gameplay, even though it was critical of Nintendo's decision to release an "inferior" NES version on the Virtual Console.[18]IGN also agreed on the issue of the number of ports. They said that since most people haveMario Bros. on one of theSuper Mario Advance games, this version is not worth 500 Wii Points.[18] TheNintendo e-Reader version ofMario Bros. was slightly better received byIGN, who praised the gameplay, but criticized it for lack of multiplayer and for not being worth the purchase because of theSuper Mario Advance versions.[58]
TheSuper Mario Advance releases andMario & Luigi: Superstar Saga all featured the same version ofMario Bros. (titledMario Bros. Classic). The mode was first included inSuper Mario Advance, and was praised for its simplicity and entertainment value.[74]IGN called this mode fun in its review ofSuper Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2, but complained that it would have been nice if the developers had come up with a new game to replace it.[75] Their review ofYoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 criticizes it more than in the review ofSuper Mario Advance 2 because Nintendo chose not to add multiplayer to any of the mini-games found in that game, sticking instead with an identical version of theMario Bros. game found in previous versions.[76]GameSpot's review ofSuper Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 calls it a throwaway feature that could have simply been removed.[53] Other reviewers were not as negative on the feature's use in laterSuper Mario Advance games. Though it was criticized in mostSuper Mario Advance games, aGameSpy review praised the version withinSuper Mario Advance 2 in multi-player because it only requires at least twoGame Boy Advances, one copy of the game, and a link cable.[77]
In 1984,Hudson Soft made two different games based onMario Bros.Mario Bros. Special[d] is a reimagining with new phases and gameplay.Punch Ball Mario Bros.[e] includes a new gameplay mechanic: punching small balls to stun enemies.[78] Both games were released for thePC-6001mkII,[79]PC-8001mkII,[80]PC-8801,FM-7, andSharp X1.[78]
A version was announced alongside theVirtual Boy console atNintendo Space World 1994. Footage showed a faithful recreation, though with the Virtual Boy's signature graphical qualities ofmonochrome red and black graphics and a slightstereoscopic 3D effect. Its demonstration was generally poorly received by video game publications, which lamented the selection of a decade-old game to demonstrate the technology of the new Virtual Boy hardware.Mario Bros. VB was never released, but some gameplay concepts were utilized in the much more creative reimagining,Mario Clash (1995).[81][82][83][84][85]
Super Mario 3D World for theWii U containsLuigi Bros., starring Luigi. This version, based on the NES version and included as a part of 2013'sYear of Luigi celebrations, replaces Mario with Luigi in his modern color scheme; the second player's sprite retains the original Luigi colors.[86][87]
On October 16, 2015,Steve Kleisath obtained the world record for the arcade version at 5,424,920 points verified byTwin Galaxies.[88]
もともと『マリオブラザーズ』は、土管がいっぱいあるニューヨークの地下で活躍する兄弟、ニューヨークのなかでもたぶんブルックリン、というところまで勝手に決めていて。『ドンキーコング』は舞台がニューヨークですし。その土管が不思議な森（キノコ王国）につながったのが、『スーパーマリオブラザーズ』なんです。[Miyamoto: Originally,Mario Bros. was arbitrarily decided as brothers who are active in the underground of New York, where there are many clay pipes, and probably Brooklyn in New York.Donkey Kong is set in New York. That clay pipe led to the mysterious forest (Mushroom Kingdom), which isSuper Mario Bros.]
And so we thought, 'This guy [Segale] is a recluse. No one's ever actually met him.' So we thought, 'Wouldn't it be a great joke if we named this character Mario?' And so we said, 'That's great,' and we sent a telex to Japan, and that's how Mario got his name.Interview with Don James starts at 51:16. Quotation occurs at 52:00.
Mr. Arakawa, who was the president, and myself looked at the character, and we had a landlord that happened to be named Mario as well, and we'd never met the guy, so we thought it'd be funny to name this main character Mario after our landlord in Southcenter. And that's actually how Mario got his name.
The NES version ofMario 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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