Mario Bros.
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| I'm sure you can help them sort it out, Dunban. ― Fiora, Xenoblade Chronicles |
This article is about 1983 video game. You may be looking for the 1985 successor. |
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Before there was the Super, there was the Mario.
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Mario Bros is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo, it is the first Mario game to feature Luigi, and is the first game in the Mario franchise (if not counting Donkey Kong. The game has players controlling Mario and Luigi (AKA The Mario Brothers) to defeat various types of creatures that come out of pipes.
Development
The game was developed by two team members of the 1981 video game Donkey Kong, named Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunner Yokoi, Yokoi suggested Miyamoto to make a game where Mario doesn't fall due to being rather unfair, Miyamoto then agreed Gunpei's statement that Mario should be able to fall from any height, which Miyamoto was not sure of, thinking that it would make it "not much of a game." Miyamoto then made a prototype which features Mario jumping around the entire area, which satisfied Yokoi, who then suggested to add elements of combating enemies from below the platforms, which was later then added, unfortunately, it was changed to requiring players to touch the enemies after they've been flipped to defeat them due to being considered to be easy from the developers, Miyamoto then later wanted Mario to be a plumber rather than being a carpenter from Donkey Kong because of the overalls, hat and mustache, because of this, the game's setting was then changed to large tunnels of gigantic green pipes.
The decision to rename Jumpman to Mario came when Italian-American landlord Mario Segale entered Nintendo of America's staff to demand rent for him while the setting was due to Miyamoto finding New York City, which the game takes place in, a "labyrinthine subterranean network of sewage pipes", several mangas were responsible for the design of the pipes that feature "waste grounds with pipes lying around", according to Miyamoto, the pipes were used for the enemies to teleport from a platform to another to avoid getting enemies piled up on the bottom of the stage, due to Miyamoto wanting the game to look colorful, the pipes were then added to be green due to the limited color palettes Miyamoto used and that two shades of it combined which then worked.
Many things in the game, such as the 2 player mode, and various parts of the gameplay, were inspired by the video game Joust, who also inspired Nintendo's Balloon Fight, the game was also notable for introducing Luigi, who was added for the multiplayer mode, the game was also then ported to other platforms with companies such as Atari and Ocean Software, being allows to port with permission from Nintendo due to the success of Donkey Kong’s different ports. The game was composed by the then-composer for F-Zero Yukio Kaneoka, who added a snippet of the first movement of Wolfgang Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik to start the first phase of the game, which was later then used in other games notably such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix.
Gameplay
Players control as Italian twin plumber brothers Mario and Luigi as they investigate the sewers of New York City when strange creatures appear out of nowhere, as usual, players can jump on platform-to-platform or jump below them to hit the enemy that is above them, but unfortunately cannot jump onto the enemies, as doing so would kill the player, if repeated, then the game is over, during the game, players will enter a "bonus phase" where they must collect all coins to increase points, which would occur after three phases are over.
Starting from the beginning of the game, there is a POW block which the player can hit on in order to shake the entire place, which would cause enemies to trip, which would give the players extra time to hit them, unfortunately, hitting the block a lot would result in the block being squished, thus, preventing any player to hit it.
There are five enemies in the game, such as the Shellcreeper, an enemy that resembles the Koopa Troopa from later games, the Sidestepper, a crab enemy that needs two hits to flip, the Fighter Fly, a fly that only moves by jumping and must be flipped if the fly is on the platform itself, the splice that freezes the platform and will disappear if hit rather than flipping and the final one being an unknown enemy named Fireballs, that will come out randomly in each pipe and will hit the player if on that same platform, there are two versions of the enemy, which are the red and green ones, like the previous ones, the red one bounces and can be hit below, while the green one is much faster and disappears rather than being hit, there are also icicles which the player must avoid as they can appear under the platforms and on the pipes themselves.
Why It Rocks
- To start with, the graphics look very amazing and are nicely detailed, as the characters make facial expressions such as Mario and Luigi making a shocked face when hit by one and the enemies giving emotions when flipped over, in fact, the graphics also look pretty good for a first installment of a beloved franchise from Nintendo.
- Nice and catchy soundtrack from Yukio Kanoeka, who was his first time at composing a game, such as the main theme, which was pretty good and the first movement of Eine kleine Nachtmusik as the starting point of the game, and although the levels don't contain any music aside from the game over theme and the main theme, and the phase intro themes, it's still very good to this day.
- The controls for the game are really cool, especially since it's the first game to introduce the Mario Bros. and that the controls are somewhat fluid as the characters have really fluid movement and can jump perfectly to another platform similarly to Donkey Kong.
- While somewhat inferior to the original arcade game, like Donkey Kong, it is the only NES port of that game that manages to look exactly and feel like the game, as it has similar graphics and better somewhat decent controls for the characters, adds much better sound effects, such as the footsteps, and was even the first Nintendo Entertainment System game to actually have multiplayer with two controllers on the same screen, as the NES port of Donkey Kong just lets the other player to try beat the game after the other one dies.
- It was the first ever game to introduce one of the most iconic Mario characters ever, Luigi, although his design is just a recolor of Mario, he actually became much more decent, which his timid behavior and his useful abilities, which are hovering after jumping and even jumping higher when holding the jump button.
- Not to mention, it also introduced turtles to the series for the first time and while they're not the iconic Koopa Troopas, it's still cool to see the origins of turtle in the series.
- It had a new version of the game called Luigi Bros., which was made to celebrate the Year of Luigi alongside Dr. Luigi, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon & New Super Luigi U, and was included in Super Mario 3D World, not to mention, the game surprisingly does a good job at trying to be like the original game, despite being obviously an emulated version of the original NES game with Mario being removed and Luigi being a playable character.
- It's one of the most iconic 80s arcade games of all time due to it's fun nature and the fact that it has the stepping stone for Nintendo's status as an iconic video game manufacturer, and would make the Mario series what it is today with both the introduction of Luigi and Turtles in the series, and even setting some standards for later games as a whole such as animal enemies and 2 main playable characters, which later appeared in the next game in the series "Super Mario Bros" as it too also had the same things as this game did, but expanded more to a level of degree.
- The gameplay is very enjoyable and has aged very well by today's standards, especially for a game that was released back in 1983 at the arcades.
- The 2 player multiplayer with both Mario and Luigi never gets old and is an absolute blast to play, with it giving the game a bit of competitive for friends who wanna beat each other in a round of Mario Bros, which makes the game feel very fun for it's time.
- It has a nice bonus level where you need to collect all the 10 coins in order to gain more points, and it's surprisingly well-executed, even for an early game, and while the level is rather difficult to the time limit, which starts at 30 seconds, it's still a good bonus level nonetheless.
Bad Qualities
- The Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game, while good and is a lot closer to the original game, is rather inferior, as it removes some phases of the original game and also has terrible controls, for example, Mario's jumping is rather stiff when compared to the original, also the graphics in the Nintendo Entertainment System version looks primitive and has aged badly, as it looks like a Atari game with more pixels.
- Not to mention, other versions of the game, especially the Atari versions, aren't that good either, as the graphics look a lot primitive and instead of starting from the first place, the game instead lets you pick a different phase, most likely due to limitations with the consoles as they were a lot cheaper when compared to the Nintendo Entertainment System.
- While the music is good, the main problem is that the game is mostly silent, outside of the main theme. the phase starting theme and the game over theme, not helping matters is that prior to the original game, Donkey Kong even had music and while it is not the best, it at least is an attempt to sound like one and is decent, while this game doesn't even try to make music outside some snippets here and there, though thankfully this is fixed with the Game Boy Advance version, which is packed with the Super Mario Advance series, and also increases the graphics to match the Super Mario Advance series graphics.
- The sound effects, while innovative and cool for their time, has aged very badly, as the Arcade version of Mario's footsteps sound very annoying compared to today's standards and somewhat sounds like garbled sounds of someone stepping on sponges with bricks stapled onto the feet, although thankfully, the NES versions replaces it with a much more pleasant sound and it's less annoying than the arcade version.
Reception
Ratings
| Media | Score |
|---|---|
| Computers and Video Games | Atari 2600: 82% NES: 83% |
| Mean Machines | NES: 80% |
| Nintendo Life | NES: 6/10 |
| Video Chums | Arcade Archives: 6.3/10 |
| RetroGame Man | NES: 6/10 |
Critical Reception
Mario Bros. received positive reviews from critics and gamers with the Nintendo Entertainment System version being praised for it's faithfulness to the arcade version and it's simplistic but detailed graphics, other versions, however, received rather mixed reviews, the Ocean versions in particular were praised for the graphics and replay value, but criticized the controls and higher difficulty in contrast to the arcade and Nintendo Entertainment System versions' difficulty, which was a lot lower than the Ocean versions's difficulty. Corbie Dillard of Nintendo Life gave the Nintendo Entertainment System version a 6/10, stating that "It's no secret that the original Mario Bros. game is beginning to look a bit dated, but it's difficult to ignore the fun factor of the game. As a single player experience it might prove to be a bit too redundant for anyone other than diehard fans of the original, but if you can round up a second player, you're likely to get far more out of the experience. It might not be the mega hit that Donkey Kong was, but it's still a great game and one worth checking out for fans of the early arcade games."
The Atari versions were however met with average reviews, HonestGamers gave the Atari 2600 version a positive review with a 9/10 rating, praising the port's graphics, replay value, sound and controls, Freezenet gave the Atari 7800 version a mixed review of 56%, praising the gameplay and replay value but criticized it's graphics and audio, 8-bit Central gave the Atari 5200 port a 3/5 rating.
Reviews for the Virtual Console versions were also mixed, with critics giving them harsh reviews, despite this, the versions were however praised by gamers and fans to this day, which even got to the point that Nintendo re-released the game onto the Nintendo Switch Online membership.
Other versions of the game didn't get that much reviews however, as they were mostly forgotten for being rather mediocre than the original arcade game and the Nintendo Entertainent System port, as they were criticized for the limited graphics and controls.
Legacy
This game is often believed and remembered for introducing one of the most iconic siblings in gaming history, which would be Luigi, who was being added as a staple for the Super Mario series and a playable character during multiplayer in games such as Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. However, in actuality, his first appearance was the Game & Watch version of Mario Bros., where it has no similartiy to the arcade and all of the ports of Mario Bros. despite it having the same names.
In 2013, Nintendo created The Year of Luigi celebration, which was made to commemorate Luigi's appearance in this very game by releasing Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, New Super Luigi U, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Dr. Luigi, New Super Luigi U Luigi Bros., which is an alternate version of this very game as it replaces Mario with Luigi, the game is included in the Wii U exclusive Super Mario 3D World where players can play the game if beaten that very game, it is also playable in the Nintendo Switch version named Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury with upscaled graphics and more tighter controls, and Super Luigi Bros. in NES Remix and NES Remix Pack, which was the only The Year of Luigi game released in 2014, the year where it ended.
Trivia
- This was the very first game to feature Mario's timid twin brother, Luigi, who would become a staple to the series.
- The game is playable as a hidden easter egg in Super Mario 3D World as Luigi Bros., where the game replaces Mario with Luigi due to the game being released on the 30th anniversary of this game.
- There was different version of the NES port that was developed for the Family Computer Disk System called Kaette Kita Mario Bros., which was a more enhanced version of the game as it features cutscenes, newer graphics and features advertisements for Nagatanien, the game is only available as a Disk Writer promotion.
- For the Virtual Boy, Nintendo remade the game as Mario Clash, where Mario defeats enemies in similar fashion to later games except the game is played in a 3D environment and Mario can also enter pipes as usual, Mario can also now defeat enemies by using shellcreeper shells similarly to the Koopa Troopas.
Videos
Gameplay
Reviews
References
- ↑ NES version developed by Intelligent Systems alongside Nintendo R&D 2, Commodore 64 version developed by Ocean, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum ports developed by Choice Software, Atari 2600 and 5200 versions developed by Atari Inc., Atari 7800 port developed by ITDC, Atari 8-bit port developed by Sculptured Software and PC-8001 port developed by MISA.
- ↑ Different ports developed and published by Hudson Soft (PC-88), Atari Inc. (2600, 5200) and Atari Corp. (7800, 8-bit), Ocean (computers) and Westside Soft House (PC-8001).
- ↑ Arcade Archives version published by HAMSTER.
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