VS. System
Official logo VS. Super Mario Bros. in a VS. Table cabinet
Release date	February 1984[1]
Discontinued	Late 1985[2][3] July 31, 1992[4][5]
Successor	Nintendo PlayChoice-10

TheVS. System is a collection of coin-operated VS. DualSystem or VS. UniSystem arcade systems, and the games were designed for competitive play. The VS. DualSystem comes with two screens and four sets of controls, meaning it had support for four simultaneous players, which only the launch title,VS. Tennis, takes advantage of, not any games of theSuper Mario franchise. The first model is the red sit-down type that lets players face each other and was later renamed VS. Table.^[6] The upright type looks like two machines conjoined at an angle. The VS. UniSystem is like a conventional upright arcade cabinet with two sets of controls and a single screen, and it can either come as a dedicated gray cabinet or be a conversion fromDonkey Kong,Donkey Kong Jr., orPopeye cabinets. It is not possible to convert the dedicated wide-bodyMario Bros. cabinets or thePunch-Out!! cabinets. In Japan, there are conversion kits for cocktail cabinets.^[7]

The VS. System was designed in response to thevideo game crash of 1983 and the collapse of a proposed deal withAtari, Inc. to distribute theFamily Computer in the United States. Knowing that arcade gaming was still commercially successful in North America,Nintendo presidentHiroshi Yamauchi conceived the VS. System as a way to gauge consumer interest in Nintendo's home console games.^[8][9] The precursor to the VS. System line is the Nintendo-Pak conversion kits.Mario Bros. was the first to be available as a Nintendo-Pak, in addition to selling the dedicated wide-body cabinets.^[10]Donkey Kong 3 was available only as a Nintendo-Pak, which spared operators from having to buy the cabinet.^[11]

The VS. System games were the last arcade games Nintendo of Japan released before leaving the business in late 1985. This was despite the high demand ofVS. Super Mario Bros., which never had a physical arcade release in the country.^[2][3] The system had a longer life in North America; new games were released for it as late as 1990, and it was successful enough to spur the development of theNintendo PlayChoice-10. By the time Nintendo of America announced it would stop producing arcade equipment on July 31, 1992,^[4][5] however, no new VS. games were coming out.

The VS. System games are mostly ports of Family Computer andNintendo Entertainment System games, although many have changes in their graphics, gameplay, and difficulty. One exception isVS. Wrecking Crew, released a year before its Family Computer counterpartWrecking Crew, from which it greatly differs.

List ofSuper Mario games[edit]

VS. Dr. Mario is the only arcade version unavailable onArcade Archives.

Gallery[edit]

Cabinets[edit]

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  VS. Super Mario Bros. in a dedicated VS. UniSystem cabinet

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  VS. Golf /VS. Super Mario Bros. in an upright VS. DualSystem cabinet

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  VS. Dr. Mario in a VS. Table cabinet

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  VS. Pinball in a VS. Table cabinet

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  VS. Wrecking Crew in a VS. Table cabinet

Screenshots[edit]

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  Stroke & Match Golf

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  VS. Dr. Mario

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  VS. Pinball

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  VS. Super Mario Bros.

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  VS. Wrecking Crew

Flyers[edit]

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  Library of VS. titles flyer

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  Another library of VS. titles flyer

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  VS. Golf /VS. Pinball flyer showing off the upright VS. DualSystem

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  Earlier Japanese flyer ofVS. Wrecking Crew

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  Earlier Japanese flyer ofVS. Wrecking Crew

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  Later Japanese flyer ofVS. Wrecking Crew

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  Later Japanese flyer ofVS. Wrecking Crew

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  Earlier flyer ofVS. Super Mario Bros. with the titleVS. Mario's Adventure

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  Later flyer ofVS. Super Mario Bros.

References[edit]

VS. System coverage on otherNIWA wikis:

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NintendoWiki

The Cutting Room Floor has an article onVS. System.

Wikipedia has an article onVS. System.

• Systems
• Enhanced ports