Mario Bros. (game)

This article details a subject that is considered canon.

Mario Bros.
Production information
Developer(s)	Nintendo Research & Development 1 Intelligent Systems (NES port) Nintendo Research & Development 2 (Famicom/NES port) Atari, Inc. (Atari 2600 and Atari 5200 ports) MISA (PS-8001 port) Choice Software (Amstrad CPC and ZC Spectrum ports) Ocean Software (Commodore 64 port) ITDC (Atari 7800 port) Sculptured Software (Atari 8-bit port)
Publisher(s)	Nintendo Atari, Inc. (Atari 2600 and Atari 5200 ports) Westside Soft House (PC-8001 port) Ocean Software (Amstrad CPC, ZC Spectrum, and Commodore 64 ports) Atari Corporation (Atari 7800 and Atari 8-bit ports)
Release Date	Arcade: June 21, 1983 (Japan) July 20, 1983 (U.S.) Famicom/NES: September 9, 1983 (Japan) June 20, 1986 (U.S.) September 1, 1986 (Europe) Atari 2600: December 1983 (U.S.) Atari 5200: February 1984 (U.S.) PC-8001: February 1984 (Japan) Nintendo PlayChoice-10: August 1986 (U.S.) Amstrad CPC: June 19, 1987 (Europe) Commodore 64: 1987 (Europe) ZX Spectrum: 1987 (Europe) Atari 8-bit: November 22, 1988 (U.S.) Atari 7800: December 1988 (U.S.)
Media	Arcade: Built-in NES: Game Pak
Genre	Platformer
Rating(s)	ESRB-Everyone PEGI-Three years and older CERO-All ages ACB-General
Platform(s)	Arcade, NES, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, NEC PC-8001, Nintendo PlayChoice-10, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit
Imput	Arcade: Joystick NES: NES Controller
Chronological information
Era(s)	Imperial Koopa Era Imperial Koopa Period

Mario Bros. is an arcade game made by Nintendo and released on July 20, 1983. It was also released on the NES under the Arcades Classics Series of games (a version itself later ported to other systems). The game is often stated to be the first appearance of Luigi in a game. However, this is incorrect as Luigi actually had previously appeared in the Game & Watch game of the same name. Beyond featuring the Mario Brothers, the Game & Watch game bears no similarity to the arcade game. This was the first game to introduce coins, pipes, and POW Blocks

Although Donkey Kong was the first official game to feature Mario, Mario Bros. is often considered the first "real" Mario game, as it is the first game to actually use Mario's name.

Story

The story of this game revolves around two Plumbers, Mario Mario III and Luigi Mario III, who are working in the sewers of New York City (their house according to the Atari). The sewers are overrun by waves of enemies, and the Mario brothers have to defeat the enemies and get coins to receive their pay.

Gameplay

The game features a simple stage in which the player plays in an endless game. Much of the gameplay appears to have been inspired by an arcade game named Joist. Enemies come from the pipes on the top and head downwards, where they may enter the pipes again to return to the top. The game features 22 unique phases (although Phase 2 was removed from non-Japanese versions of the game), and after the last phase has been completed, it merely loops the phase order from then on; the screen will still read "Phase 23" onward up to "Phase 98" (99 in Japan). After reaching Phase 98/99, screen text will stop incrementing, though the order of unique phases still loops. The phase counter at the bottom of the screen reads "KO" from Phase 25 onward.

The goal in each phase is to defeat all enemies, which is done by jumping and hitting the floor below enemies. This flips them, giving the player the chance to kick them away, which is rewarded with 800 points. Enemies that are kicked over in succession quickly enough after the first will award 800 more points, up to 3,200 points. The highest score possible that the game can display is 999,990, and scoring any more will overflow the display and make it start counting from 0 again. The POW Block can also be used to flip enemies; however, it can be used only three times. After an enemy is knocked away, a coin (a "Wafer" in the Atari 2600 version of the game) appears from one of the pipes and gives 800 points when collected. When all enemies are defeated, the player continues to the next phase. In later levels, different types of enemies and harming fireballs appear. From time to time, in Phases 4, 9, and every seventh phase after that (Phase 3 and every fifth phase after that in the NES version), a bonus level appears where all the coins have to be collected in order to get an extra 3,000-5,000 points (during the first bonus level) or 8,000 points (during the second bonus level onwards). The time limit of the bonus level at first is 20 seconds, but starting from the second bonus level (third in the NES version), it is reduced to 15 seconds. Excluding the first bonus level, all bonus levels have floors of ice. The POW Block regenerates after the second bonus level and every subsequent bonus level. Unlike the arcade original, upon reaching Phase 100 in the NES version, the screen reads "Phase 0", and completing it will start incrementing the phase counter again as normal.

Reception

The arcade game was given a preview at the Amusement Operators Expo held at the O'Hare Exposition Center in Chicago from March 25-27, 1983 The reviews were mixed. Steve Arrants of Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games considered it his favorite among the ten games showcased while William Michael Brown of Electronic Fun with Computer Games thought it was a dud with difficulty being the the main issue. John Holmstrom of Video Games criticized the slippery controls. However, the version they reviewed was a prototype. Michael Brown noted that the released game was much easier than the version he played at the expo. The promo photo that Nintendo handed out showed a standing red Shellcreeper as the stand-in for the "P" in the phase counter. It also shows Shellcreepers and Sidesteppers together in Phase 4 which is not the case in either the Japanese or international arcade releases.

Ports

Mario Bros. received one port for the Famicom/NES/FDS consoles:

• The first port was released in Japan in 1983 for the Famicom and abroad as part of the NES's Arcade Classic Series in 1986. It follows the international arcade phases up to Phase 11. This version introduced two difficulty settings: game A (beginner) and game B (expert). Due to hardware limitations, cutscenes have been removed, enemies have much simpler animations, fireballs are made smaller, and icicles do not appear. The bonus rounds appear on different stages, and none of them have invisible platforms. Mario and Luigi's clothes are colored differently.
• The second port was released in 1988 for the Family Computer Disk System, a Japan-exclusive accessory to the Famicom, under the title Kaettrkita Mario Bros.. It is based on the previously released Famicom/NES version, but adds several elements to make the game more arcade-accurate such as icicles. It follows the Japanese arcade phases. In addition, a new mode titled "Nagatanien World" has been added, and the player can now change direction in mid-air.

Previously, Nintendo split the rights for Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. between Coleco and Atari, Inc. with the former publishing for home consoles and the latter for home computers outside of Japan. Coleco's demonstration of Donkey Kong on their upcoming Coleco Adam computer at the June 1983 Consumer Electronic Show scuttled a deal between Nintendo and Atari, Inc. to distribute a localized version of the Famicom to North America. One week after the incident, Nintendo awarded rights to Atari, Inc. to publish Mario Bros. for both consoles and computers outside of Japan, which they did for the Atari 2600 for the Christmas '83 season. A port for the Atari 8-bit computers was planned to be released in April 1984 as a straight port of the Atari 5200 version, but was canceled for unknown reasons. Atarisoft, the division which handled ports to competing computers, completed but did not release ports for the Apple II and Commodore 64 but they were leaked anyway.

For the Japanese home computer market, Westside Soft House published a port for the PC-8001 in 1984. It is noted to be extremely loud with screeching sound effects, along with low-quality visuals and animation. This may have been the result of a poorly done conversation. However, it does include icicles which are missing from most ports.

After the partition of Atari, Inc., Ocean Software published home computer ports for the European market on the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, and Commodore 64 in 1987. The latter is unrelated to the unreleased port by Atarisoft and is noted for strange visuals and music.

In 1988, Atari Corporation published ports for the Atari 7800 and Atari 8-bit computers. The latter is completely unrelated to the unreleased port and is noted to be very arcade-accurate.

Appearances

By type 

Characters	Creatures and Enemies	Items	Events	Locations
Organizations and titles	Sentient species	Vehicles and vessels	Objects and technology	Miscellanea

Characters

Luigi Mario III Mario Mario III

Creatures and Enemies

Fighter Fly (First appearance) Fireball (First appearance) Icicle (First appearance) Shellcreeper (First appearance) Sidestepper (First appearance) Slipice (First appearance)

Items

Coin (First appearance) POW Block (First appearance)

Events

Imperial Koopa Era Imperial Koopa Period Skirmish in the New York City Sewers (First appearance)

Locations

New York City (First appearance) (Indirect appearance only) New York City Sewers (First appearance)

Organizations and titles

Mario Family Plumber (First appearance)

Sentient species

Fighter Fly (First appearance) Human Shellcreeper (First appearance) Sidestepper (First appearance)

Objects and technology

Warp Pipe (First appearance)

References in later games

• Super Mario Bros. 3: The "Battle Mode" is very similar to Mario Bros. 's gameplay.