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Classic Game of the Week  Super Mario Bros.
- By Eric Tajchman
Before the NES, the gaming market had just experienced the first collapse of the industry. Atari had spent large sums of money to procure blockbuster movie and game licenses for their system. Atari VCS games such as E.T. and Pac-Man were expected to sell tens of millions of cartridges. However, the games turned out to be tedious and unentertaining, and because of a long trend of bad games, bad decisions, and bad finances, consumers rejected the Atari VCS and Atari experienced a lengthy internal power struggle that ultimately divided the company.
Enter the NES. Nintendo’s new system was in many aspects an underdog. Nobody in the gaming industry thought the new Nintendo console would be able to sell at all following the damaging Atari debacle. After undergoing many name and physical alterations, the NES was launched in a few major cities around the U.S. The launch was a hit, though not uproariously successful. Many games were simple arcade translations, and many could be found on the defunct Atari VCS.
Enter Super Mario Bros. The game starred Mario, the mustachioed Italian plumber, who must cross the pretty but perilous lands of the Mushroom Kingdom and traverse through green warp pipes to underground worlds inhabited by Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Paratroopas, and Piranha Plants, swim through treacherous oceans full of menacing Bloopers and Cheep Cheeps (with only one breath of air!), and finally make your way through ominous castles and battle the evil Bowser to save the fair Princess Toadstool.
Shigeru Miyamoto first developed Super Mario Bros. as a Japanese arcade game that drew off of the characters from the Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. arcade games, Mario and Luigi. However, the plump plumber and his skinny brethren were in for much more than simply bopping precocious sewer-infesting creatures. Miyamoto wanted to create a large, fantasy world where the creativity and artistry of cartoons came to life. He reprised the damsel in distress role of the game, though instead of rescuing Jumpman’s girlfriend, Pauline, you had to save the fair Princess Toadstool. Though not many reasons are known for the change of the female lead, it’s possible that Miyamoto did not want to mingle the worlds of Mario with the worlds of Jumpman and Donkey Kong.
The worlds of Mario were the most vibrant and complex levels a video game had ever seen. The graphics were sharp and clear, and featured a fluid side-scrolling type of gameplay. The NES had the power to push video games beyond what was previously thought with the Atari VCS, and Super Mario Bros. proved that, as the game was the cornerstone of the NES launch. The game also had the luxury of being a simple game. The NES controller only used two action buttons and a directional pad. The gameplay was basic and easy to understand, so anybody could pick up a controller and play.
Mario was innovative and technologically impressive, but most importantly, it was fun. Kids begged their parents to buy an NES simply for Mario. Parents waited for their kids to fall asleep so they could play. Nintendo realized the appeal of Super Mario Bros. and began packing the cart into a bundle with the NES. Nintendo also bundled Super Mario Bros. with other games, such as Duck Hunt and World Class Track Meet, onto the same cart.
If you happen to be one of the very few who have not yet played Super Mario Bros., then you need to slap yourself, hard. Then rush out and pick up a copy in whatever form you can. Nintendo recently released Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for the Game Boy Color, a revised edition of the classic featuring the original and some extra features. Super Mario Bros. was not only fun for its time, it’s fun for all time. Mario’s first major title for the NES secured Nintendo in the gaming market and proved to all the doubters that Nintendo had what it takes to be innovative and successful.
- 8.7.2001 |
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