Customer Reviews

The Original Mario Bros. (Arcade Classics Series)

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Mario Bros.
Two Stars - Important by making Mario a plumber, but that's about it

"Mario Bros." is far more important historically than it is fun to play. Developed and released in 1983, it introduces Mario the plumber to the world for the very first time

Nintendo developed "Mario Bros". as a followup to their 1981 smash "Donkey Kong". Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi were the main developers of the title. Miyamoto is probably the most famous of all video game developrs. Gunpie, who was killed in 1997 due to a car accident, developed the Gameboy, the disastrous Virtual Boy, "Super Mario Land", "Metroid" and "Kid Icarus".

It was only in "Mario Bros." that Mario became a plumber. During the "Donkey Kong" era, Mario had a different profession. Mario's chosen profession was carpentry in "Donkey Kong", which may explain all the scaffolding. For the follow up, Miyamoto and Yokio decided to make him a plumber. This was due to the subterranean setting as well as the enemies (turtles).

Originally the game mechanic was that when Mario hits the creatures that come out of the pipes they would die, but they found this too easy. Instead, Nintendo made it where after you hit the creature, you then had to kick them. Due to this, Miyamoto made the enemies turtles, which gave birth to the famous Koopa Troopas of "Super Mario" fame. Because Mario was now a plumber by profession, they made the setting subterranean, with the enemies crawling out of pipes rather than thin air as originally considered. "Mario Bros." is also the first time we are introduced to Luigi. Like "Super Mario Bros." and "The Lost Levels", Luigi is simply a palette swap of Mario.

"Mario Bros." has been released on over a dozen different gaming platforms as well as several non Nintendo consoles. The game would also make numerous appearance in other Nintendo titles, including "Super Mario Bros. 3", the "Super Mario Advance" series, the Gamecube "Animal Crossing" (though it required a of work to unlock), and even in the recent "Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga" for the Nintendo Gameboy Advanced DS.

This title and "Donkey Kong" are the only Mario titles released on non Nintendo platforms: starting with "Super Mario Bros.", Mario became exclusive to Nintendo consoles. The NES port is rather inferior to the arcade port. It is available on the Wii's Virtual Console for 500 points.

I personally remember playing "Mario Bros." on the Atari 2600. I remember growing up thinking "why would anyone want "Mario Bros." when they can get "Super Mario Bros.'"?

Overall, the title is more important for the concepts and influence it introduced to the Mario series rather than the gameplay itself. This is the first time Mario is a plumber (which that part of Mario's identity shaped the whole of "Super Mario Bros."), it introduced Koopa Troopas and Luigi, gave us POWs as a powerup, and set the stage for bigger and better things to come.

The video game website IGN rated this title as the 91th greatest game on their top 100 NES games of all time.

the next game al be read run on mario bros nes tips you have 2player in mario do it you know to help each oter out.