Super Mario Bros.
Description official descriptions
The Princess has been kidnapped by the evil Bowser, and it is up to Mario and brother Luigi to save the day.
The first-ever platform adventure for the Mario Brothers has the player exploring level after level, with Bowser to contend with as the end of level boss. Power-ups include the Super Mushroom, which increases Mario's size and power, the fire flower, allowing him to shoot fireballs at enemies, and the ever-important starman for a short burst of invincibility.
Each level includes a bonus section filled with coins plus a shortcut through the level, plenty of bad buys and obstacles to get past, and an end-of-level flag, in which the higher the player grabs it, the more points are awarded to them. Certain levels also include warp points, which take the player to higher levels.
Spellings
- スーパーマリオブラザーズ - Japanese spelling
- 超级马里奥兄弟 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
- 슈퍼 마리오브라더스 - Korean spelling
Groups +
- Classic NES / Famicom Mini / NES Classics releases
- Game Center CX challenge games
- Games made into books
- Games made into comics
- Games made into movies
- Games made into stage productions
- Games made into TV series
- Genre: Hop and Bop Platformer
- Mario games
- Nintendo's Action series
- Super Mario series
- Video games turned into board / card games
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Credits (NES version)
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 88% (based on 57 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 465 ratings with 18 reviews)
The Good
It's gameplay is fantastic, you can really enjoy it even now, I am playing SMB once per week and I know one thing, it's diamond of games. The simple idea make a real great gameplay experience that is really near to some highest level of purest gaming ever, this game don't have a graphics that will blind you, the mechanics of game are not big and fascinating but playing this game make you feel like playing REAL gaming masterpiece. When you are playing Metal Gear Solid you are enormously excited by it's storyline but Super Mario Bros make you feel that the game itself don't have to have even storyline (cause you can't say that Super Mario Bros have REALLY storyline) or fascinating graphics to be ONE OF THE GREATEST GAMES EVER.
The Bad
Maybe graphics are not 100% of NES, maybe there is not many sound effects (but music is really good) but I can't say that I didn't like it in this game because it's not making any difference, the gameplay is so perfect that all this things are marginal.
The Bottom Line
As I said in the title, the game that's changing my life, every time I play it I feel the same, great amount of pure gameplay.
NES · by Mejs (8) · 2007
The Good
It's addictive, you really want to beat it and it's the original Mario game. You get power-ups like the mushroom and fire flower and fight classic enemies. Each world had 4 levels, the fourth level being a castle. At the end of each castle you have to fight Bowser.
The Bad
Just one thing: When you get game over you must start back from level 1. I can see not starting on the level that you died on, that'd make it to easy, but at least at the beginning of the world you were on (say if you get game over at level 3-3 you go back to 3-1 or something) or as a minimum have a save point once after every 2 worlds!
The Bottom Line
Even though it;s the mother of all Mario games I wouldn't get it. It was a good game when it came out, but nothing compared to Super Mario World or Super Mario Bros. 3. However, I would suggest getting Super Mario All-Stars for SNES because that way you get an upgraded version of this game, Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3 and Super Mario the lost levels (which is similar to Super Mario Bros. 1 but with all new levels never before seen). For my rating I'm going to give this game a good rank since its probably the best game of it's time (mid-late 80's) but compared to even the games for SNES it's not very high quality.
NES · by darthsith19 (62) · 2006
Friday 18 October 1985: the Messiah of the console industry is born!
The Good
Where do I begin?
The game immediately hit with audiences, something impressive in 1985, with the video game crash of 1983-1984 still a raw wound for the business. The aforementioned crash was caused by an incredibly high rate of crappy games-- 90+% of games released in '83-'84 are EXTREMELY bad. This game's graphics, sounds and music are almost as good as contemporary Commodore 64 and other PC games. The game play is just awesome, the controls are very specific and friendly. B is jump, A fires weapons when tapped, if held, you can run, and the gameplay is simple but fun: You go from point A to point B on every stage, jump over koopas and goombas, hit coin boxes, and bash other obstacles that get in your way, and jump up the flag for points at the end. Quite often one of the coin boxes reveals a mushroom that allows you to grow to a big Mario, or a flower that makes you shoot fireballs. There are 8 worlds, each with four stages (the last stage has a boss on each world).
The music is just awesome and makes want to hum-along and keep you playing. Even the game-over music is amusing to hear. You won't feel any frustration or disappointments with this game.
The Bad
The level designs get a bit repetitive at times and gets incredibly hard towards the end, but other than that, I have no complaints.
The Bottom Line
Behold, this is the game that pulled the console video game industry out of life support in 1985 and eventually make an impressive recovery. No other game since the early Atari ones has made an enormous impact as this one!
One for your library, and is every cent's worth of your money!
NES · by Stsung (30) · 2008
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
It seemed like a weird idea for Star Wars also... | Pseudo_Intellectual (66423) | Jan 31, 2008 |
Trivia
1001 Video Games
The NES version of Super Mario Bros. appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Cereal
Super Mario Bros. was popular enough to have a breakfast cereal based on the game called the "Nintendo Cereal System", and was co-packaged with Legend of Zelda cereal. The sweetened corn bits were in the shape of Mario, Koopa Troopa, Goomba, Bowser, and a Super Mushroom.
NES supplement
For a time, Super Mario Brothers was the game packaged with a new NES system, along with the Zapper Light Gun and the game Duck Hunt.
Parody
Joe Dixon released a spoof version of Super Mario Bros. in late 2002. It replaces Mario, Toadstool, and the enemies with characters from South Park.
Sales
According to the Guiness Book Of Records, as of 2003 Super Mario Bros. is the best-selling video game of all time, with a total of 40.23 million units sold worldwide, as of 1999. The whole Mario Bros. series has 26 games and sold over 152 million copies since 1983, according to Guiness.
It is widely believed that the billionth game unit sold by Nintendo was Super Mario Bros..
TV series
Super Mario Bros. was popular enough to have a TV cartoon based on it in the late 1980's-early 1990's. It starred "Captain" Lou Albano as Mario, and Danny Wells as Luigi in the live-action segments, and animated Mario cartoons Monday-Thursday (Friday was for cartoons based on Legend of Zelda).
Awards
- EGM
- November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #2 (Titles That Revolutionized Console Gaming) (NES version)
- February 2006 - #1 out of 200 Games of their Time
- FLUX
- Issue #4 - #66 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
- Game Informer
- August 2001 (Issue 100) - #2 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time list"
- October 2005 (Issue 138) - one of the "Top 25 Most Influential Games of All Time"
- IGN
- #1 Game of All Time (or revolutionary graphics and gameplay at the time of its release)
- Official Nintendo Magazine
- Greatest Nintendo Game
- Power Play
- 1987 - Best NES Game '87
- Retro Gamer
- October 2004 (Issue #9) – #24 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)
- Issue 37 - #23 in the "Top 25 Platformers of All Time" poll
- The Strong National Museum of Play
- 2015 – Introduced into the World Video Game Hall of Fame
Information also contributed by Big John WV, Guy Chapman, Mat Neuteboom, Maw, Mumm-Ra, PCGamer77 and sgtcook
Analytics
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Related Sites +
-
Beat Super Mario Bros in 5 minutes!!!
YouTube video on completing the whole game in 5 minutes on the NES. -
Classic NES Series for the Game Boy Advance
Covers the line-up of the new Game Boy Advance series of NES Classics. -
Mario Mania
Nintendoland's shrine to Mario including his history and many interesting facts and files -
Mario's World
Has info on most of Mario's games. -
OC ReMix Game Profile
Fan remixes of music from Super Mario Bros. -
Super Mario Bros.
A great article about the history of this classic. Includes information on how to get through World 1. -
The Mushroom Kingdom
Everything you'd ever want to know about all of the Super Mario Brothers Games -
Video review of NES accessories (WARNING: Laguage)
The Angry Video Game Nerd, James Rolfe, reviews some NES accessories and some associated games, including the U-Force and Super Mario Bros. on NES.
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Kartanym.
Wii added by Corn Popper. Nintendo 3DS added by ResidentHazard. Wii U, Arcade added by Michael Cassidy. Game Boy Advance added by Guy Chapman. Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77.
Additional contributors: PCGamer77, Jeanne, Guy Chapman, chirinea, Alaka, Vaelor, gamewarrior, LepricahnsGold, Patrick Bregger, sgtcook, Thomas Thompson, FatherJack, lightlands, SoMuchChaotix.
Game added September 28, 2002. Last modified May 5, 2024.