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The Story Behind Super Mario Bros.

Millions of copies of this version of the game were manufactured and sold in the United States. The development team initially designed the levels around a small Mario, intending to scale up his sprite in the final release, however, they ultimately decided it would be more engaging to allow players to alter the character's size dynamically via a power-up. It is the first version of Super Mario Bros. to receive a wide international release, and many outside of Japan were introduced to the game through the arcade version.

The original Mario Bros., released in 1983, is an arcade platformer that takes place on a single screen with a black background. It was released later that year in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The side-scrolling gameplay of the racing game Excitebike and the beat 'em up game Kung-Fu Master, the latter ported by Miyamoto's team to the NES as Kung Fu, were key steps towards Miyamoto's vision of an expansive side-scrolling platformer; in turn, Kung-Fu Master was an adaptation of the Jackie Chan film Wheels on Meals (1984).

How Super Mario Bros. Plays

Players start with a certain number of lives and may gain extra lives by picking up green spotted 1-Up Mushrooms hidden in bricks, collecting 100 coins, defeating several enemies in a row with a Koopa shell, or bouncing on enemies successively without touching the ground. The final stage of each world is in a fiery underground castle where Bowser is fought on a suspension bridge above lava; the first seven of these Bowsers are actually minions disguised as him, and the real Bowser is in the eighth world. Super Mario Bros. is a platform game in which the player controls the titular protagonist Mario, who is tasked with exploring the Mushroom Kingdom to defeat Bowser and rescue Princess Toadstool.

The item protects Mario from a single instance of damage inflicted by an enemy or hazard, though falling off the map will always kill Mario. For example, a Goomba will flatten and be defeated, while a Koopa Troopa will temporarily retract into its shell, allowing Mario to use it as a projectile. The game takes place through a side-scrolling perspective where the player moves to the right to reach the flagpole at the end of each level.

Why Players Still Load It Up

By 1987, copies of the game had been sold for the Famicom. She predicted that the game would be a major success. In 2015, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted Super Mario Bros. to its World Video Game Hall of Fame.

In 2012, G4 ranked Super Mario Bros. the best video game of all time, citing its revolutionary gameplay and its role in helping recover the North American gaming industry from the video game crash of 1983. It helped popularize the side-scrolling platform game genre, and served as a killer app for the NES. The arcade game received the award for the "Best Video Game of 1986" at the Amusement Players Association's Players Choice Awards, held during their first US national competition in January 1987 where the game was popular among arcade players.

Super Mario Bros. — Frequently Asked Questions