Mario (character)

Template:TOC-right Super Mario Bros. is a video game developed and published by Nintendo in late 1985 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Featuring bright, expansive worlds and smoothly scrolling gameplay, Super Mario Bros. made a huge impact on home entertainment and is now considered a classic of the medium.

Super Mario Bros. is a landmark in game design and changed the way video games were created.

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The game stars Nintendo's iconic mascot, the Italian plumber Mario. Mario runs through a landscape filled with peril and opportunity. He leaps over sewer pipes, smashes through brick walls, avoids enemy turtles, collects magic coins that will earn him a new life, eats magic mushrooms that cause him to grow bigger and collects flaming flowers that let him throw fireballs at the bad guys.

As the best selling home console game of all time, Super Mario Bros. is largely responsible for the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System and ended the two year slump of video game sales in North America after the video game crash of 1983. It has inspired countless imitators and was one of Shigeru Miyamoto's most influential early successes (it cemented Miyamoto's status as a premier game developer). The theme music, by Koji Kondo, is recognized worldwide, even by those who have not played the game, and has been considered a representation for video game music in general. "At the heart of the game's appeal lies ease of operation, eye-catching graphics and a seemingly endless potential for new discoveries." The game appeals to an extraordinarily wide age range. The game's universal appeal...It revitalized the flagging North American market...

...and helped establish Mario as the de facto mascot of video games, cemented Shigeru Miyamoto's status as a premier game developer, helped sell Nintendo's system, and helped revitalize the North American video game industry following the Crash of 1983. Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka.

"At the heart of the game's appeal lies ease of operation, eye-catching graphics and a seemingly endless potential for new discoveries."

The game was succeeded by a direct sequel in Japan (later retitled Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels outside Japan), and by Super Mario Bros. 2, a slight revision of Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic with playable Mario characters, elsewhere in the world.

Fortune magazine writer Susan Moffat predicted: "Just as Mickey Mouse helped pioneer the animated picture in the 1930s, so might Mario help establish a new medium called interactive entertainment." (p. 70 in kent)

Creating a cultural icon

Mario first appeared as the hero in the arcade smash hit Donkey Kong under the moniker "Jumpman." Graphical limitations forced his design: a mouth wasn't visible enough, so the character got a mustache; the programmers couldn't animate hair, so he wore a cap; and to make his arm movements visible, he needed white gloves and colored overalls. "Mario's image just came to me from a mass of fantasy and romance stories I enjoy, but he had to have bold features to show up on his tiny frame," Miyamoto explained. The character was dubbed Mario by colleagues who said the nose, mustache, and overalls resembled the Italian caretaker at the small New York hotel where Nintendo employees stayed in the United States. (NOTE: Steven Kent's book claims that Minoru Arakawa named him Mario for DK Junior)

The 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. was the first to feature Mario as the title character and introduced his brother Luigi. It also gave Mario a new occupation: Mario and Luigi became plumbers, whose jobs are to exterminate the various pests that come out of pipes -- pipes that would become a staple method of travel in subsequent Mario titles. The game is a cooperative or competitive two player affair. "To make it a game we had to have two similar characters to compete and 'Ruiji' is Japanese for the word 'similar'," Miyamoto said.

Later that year Nintendo released their first home console in Japan: the Family Computer, or Famicom. Evaluating Famicom operations, company president Hiroshi Yamauchi realized the immense importance of compelling software. In 1984, Yamauchi assigned Shigeru Miyamoto to lead Research & Development 4, a new development group within Nintendo, whose goal was to create compelling games. Their first title would take Donkey Kong's plucky hero and place him in a new world.

Game design

Super Mario Bros. began with a simple idea: Miyamoto wondered what it would be like to have a character bouncing around under the background of a clear, blue sky. He took that idea to a programmer, and they started working on it. Kazuaki Morita, one of the game's three main programmers, described the working relationship between its designers and programmers: "In the NES era, the designer and programmer would sit side by side, constantly discussing what the game design should be, and the programmer would actually try to program the design right there on the spot while the designer watched."

The game's two-dimensional, sidescrolling design would come to epitomize the modern platformer, a video game genre characterized by jumping to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles. Players control Mario or Luigi in their quest across the Mushroom Kingdom to save its missing monarch, Princess Toadstool. The game's rules are relatively simple/objective is to: complete all four levels (linear, self-contained courses) of all eight worlds (collections of levels) within the time limit given for each level. The fourth level of each world is a castle, and at the end of every castle is Mario's nemesis and Princess Toadstool's kidnapper, Bowser, a fire-breathing dragon reminiscent of Godzilla.

The game's breadth and scope were unprecedented. Pong, one of the earliest commercial video games, is set on a single screen or playing field; Super Mario Bros. has the equivalent of more than two hundred screens (although the smoothly scrolling transition between "screens" belies this fact). Its progression is linear, but the game's hidden items, rooms, and shortcuts encourage exploration and experimentation. In each level, Mario faces an array of quirky enemies, including marching mushrooms known as "Goombas," walking and flying turtles called "Koopa Troopas," man-eating "Piranha Plants," and projectile "Bullet Bills." Mario can defeat most enemies by jumping on them or headbutting blocks directly underneath them. SHOULD BE CONNECTED TO SECRETS AND EASTER EGGS.

Mario ended up being too big, so we shrank him. Then we thought, "What if he can grow and shrink? How would he do that? It would have to be a magic mushroom! Where would a mushroom grow? In a forest." We thought of giving Mario a girlfriend, and then we started talking about Alice in Wonderland. The team developed programming techniques allowing them to create a larger character than they originally thought possible. They initially planned to make the game so that the player was always "Super" Mario but eventually conceived the Super Mushroom to double the character's size, an idea Miyamoto attributed to Alice in Wonderland. Other "power-ups" were added to aid Mario in his quest: a flower allows him to shoot fireballs, a flashing star imparts invincibility, and a green "1-UP" mushroom rewards the player with an extra continue.

The game's controls are relatively simple: Mario's momentum is controlled by the directional pad on the NES controller; pressing button "A" causes him to jump, and holding button "B" causes him to accelerate—-the faster Mario is moving, the higher he can jump. Today, even Mario's boinging jump is enough to trigger Pavlovian thumb twitching. "I don't think there are many games that we can identify immediately by a simple sound effect," says Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami.

NEED some mention fo the secrets and easter eggs deviating from normal play. "Progression would be linear, but a little exploration and experimentation would reveal hidden items, rooms, and shortcuts. If you saw a blocked-off chamber, it was always somehow accessible once the right blocks were smashed." http://games.ign.com/articles/833/833615p1.html

Synchronizing game music with game control

Composer Koji Kondo said, "Mario’s an action game, so it’s vital that the music sync up directly with game control."

EGM: What's your favorite music of yours if you've done? If you'd have to say a game or a song that you're most proud of, what would it be?

KK: It's very hard because I like every single piece of music that I compose myself, but in terms of popularity, I have to admit it would be the ground level music of Super Mario Bros. That was literally a smash hit. But once again, I like every single bit of music that I compose myself.

(http://www.unlimitedgamer.net/coverage/loz/loz_kk_interview.php)

The background music is a children's favorite too.

Jerky, quirky but tuneful ditties composed by Nintendo staff will be released on a long playing record this summer, says Takehito Kimura of Dentsu, Japan's largest advertising agency which handles the Nintendo account.

GameSpot aptly describes it: Considered by many to be composer Koji Kondo's first true masterpiece, the music and sound design of Super Mario Bros. sets a new high-water mark. Constantly shifting tone to match the action onscreen, Kondo's sound design achieves a new kind of synthesis with the gameplay. Try playing the game with the sound off, and you'll quickly miss those music and sound cues--for example, the exact timing of your immunity power-up wearing off. With the Super Mario Bros. soundtrack, video game sound design begins to move in a new direction, away from cinematic conventions and toward something altogether new. (http://www.gamespot.com/features/6092391/p-4.html)

Reception

Super Mario Bros. debuted in Japan in September 1985; by the end of December, Nintendo had produced 2 million units of the game. The game's phenomenal sales helped Nintendo command over 90% of the Japanese video game market.

Akihabara, the Tokyo district jammed with nearly 1,000 electronic-discount shops, has enjoyed the skyrocketing sales of TV games in general. Every morning a long line of children wait on the sidewalk for the Yamagiwa discount-electronics shop to open. Once the door opens, they rush for the sales counter selling Super Mario Brothers. Our stock runs out in a day, said Yamagiwa employee Keiko Maezawa.

Soon after the game was used in a test pilot case in NYC with newly established NoA to market the Japanese Family Computer, rebranded in North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System. The console was a smash hit, and soon Nintendo distributed it country-wide. The NES, along with Super Mario Bros., is credited with reviving the flatlined North American video game industry after the crash of 1983, a crash blamed on oversupply and poor quality control. "The business reached a high of $ 3 billion in sales late in 1982. In 1985 the industry dropped to only abut $ 100 million. the business reached a high of $ 3 billion in sales late in 1982. Last year sales were back at the $ 1 billion level. Nintendo has led the comeback." (Nintendo exported around 200,000

Super Mario games to New York state earlier this year to test at its American subsidiary, Nintendo Entertainment Systems. The results of consumer tests have not been released but the company is confident Super Mario will be snapped up from American toy store shelves by Christmas. Mario's face also adorns children's T-shirts, shoes, stationery, noodles, chocolate, ice cream - the items of 80 different companies.) Nintendo is also looking to exploit the American market, and delivered 550,000 consoles for sale in the New York area last Christmas. The American version uses the same custom processor and 52-colour video display system, but the physical design is different - it looks much smarter, and requires a game cartridge with different dimensions. Along with the dollars 160 console you get two games, a light gun (which look like a hand-gun) called Zapper and a small robot which takes its instructions from the television screen.

In 1987, readers of the newsletter Computer Entertainer voted on their three best games of all time; Super Mario Bros. topped a list of over three hundred mentions.

The game's popularity is ubiquitous, universal, eternal. The game placed prominently in Nintendo Power magazine's "Top 30" charts for years. Super Mario Bros. retains its popularity today thanks to a thriving "speedrun" community (a speedrun is a playthrough of a given title as fast as possible). is very popular with secrets, glitches, and speedruns: ``There is a bug in the program,

Alternate versions

Super Mario Bros. was remade multiple times.

All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. is a version of the game based on the popular Japanese radio show "All Night Nippon." Enemy sprites are replaced with caricatures of the DJs.

Influence on game design

Super Mario Bros. did more than sell Nintendo's new box -- it established the most lucrative video game franchise today.

The ditties that comprise Super Mario Bros.' soundtrack are the most recognizable of any video game today and have entered mainstream culture (they're popular as ringtones for mobile phones).

In December 2002, the notoriously critical editors of Edge magazine awarded a retroactive "ten out of ten" rating to Super Mario Bros. In a review of Super Mario Bros. for the Wii's Virtual Console [FOOTNOTE HERE], GameSpot editor Jeff Gerstmann scored the game 8.3 out of 10, citing the game's memorable graphics and timeless gameplay.

In their "The Greatest 200 Videogames of Their Time" editorial, game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly placed Super Mario Bros. #1; and in their "IGN's Top 100 Games" listing, multimedia news website

IGN listed Super Mario Bros. as #1.

Super Mario Bros. influenced many future game developers: "I encountered Super Mario Bros. back when I was a student," Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima said. "It really changed my life. If I had somehow missed playing this game, the Hideo Kojima I am now would not exist."

Super Mario Bros. retains its popularity today thanks to a thriving "speedrun" community (a speedrun is a playthrough of a given title as fast as possible). is very popular with secrets, glitches, and speedruns: ``There is a bug in the program,

Phillips said. That programming error allows players who know exactly the right technique to enter World Minus One, a world that was never intended by the game's creator. Phillips, himself an expert Mario player, has noticed that youngsters are asking increasingly sophisticated questions about the game. No longer are they content to simply play by the rules. They want to squeeze between the cracks in the program, to find ways of doing tricks that never were intended by the designer. That has added an unexpected dimension to the game.

Andrew Gardikis a five minute speedrun.

The game is also very popular for modding.

Secret "warp zones" can be used to skip whole worlds. After completing the game, the player can replay the game in "'Hard' Mode."

The game created a generation of Nintendo fans: Anguilla said there are unquestionably more copies of Super Mario Brothers than any other video game in American homes. Nintendo's game system has captured the home video market, and has created a generation of ``Tendorks, youngsters who have a fanatical devotion to Mario and other Nintendo games.

LIST RERELEASES HERE:

Super Mario Bros. was remade and rereleased multiple times.

The game was also "remade" into New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS.

External links

• From Nintendo's official website is

a video demonstrating the gameplay of Super Mario Bros. and a screenshot gallery. Viewing the video requires Adobe Flash.

• Speed Demos Archive offers video downloads of speedruns of Super Mario Bros.
• GameFAQs offers user-submitted guides to Super Mario Bros.
• The Original Nintendo MIDI Music Page offers MIDI-based music files from Super Mario Bros.
• Gprime.net offers music sheets for Super Mario Bros.