Mario Bros.

For the title characters, see Mario and Luigi.

Mario Bros. is a classic arcade game made by Nintendo, released in 1983 as an arcade game and later ported to many home systems. It was a spin-off from the Donkey Kong series, and heavily influenced by Joust. It was the first game to feature Mario's name in the title. It was also the debut of Mario's brother, Luigi. Unlike in Donkey Kong, where he was a carpenter, in this game Mario became a plumber, exterminating pests who exit from pipes (including the soon-to-be trademark turtles). The game's popularity declined following the release of Super Mario Bros..

A remade version of the game is included with the original NES release of Super Mario Bros. 3 and in the remake Super Mario All-Stars. An enhanced remake of Mario Bros. is also included with all four games in the Super Mario Advance series and Superstar Saga, featuring enhanced graphics and sound with character voices, additional items and enemies, new bonuses, and 4-player, single-cartridge multiplayer using Game Boy Advance link cables.

Gameplay

Mario Bros. is a 2D side-view platform game. There is only one screen; the platforms have the same position for the entire game.

The goal for each phase is to "kick off all the pests". Mario or Luigi can run right and left, and jump. The players' main method of attack is bumping the platforms from below. Any pests standing on that section of floor are flipped over, temporarily stunned. After Mario/Luigi flips over a pest, he can walk into it to kick it off; if Mario does not kick off a flipped pest, it will eventually wake up and move faster than before.

The player can also use the POW, which is a block in the central gap of the second-level platform. By hitting the POW from below, all the platforms are hit in one jolt, so many pests can be overturned at once. There are only a limited number of hits in a POW, but it gets replenished after every coin phase. In addition, Mario can land on top of the POW.

In a multiplayer game, players must both cooperate and compete to rid the screen of pests. Alternatively, players can also choose to participate in a game of survival. This means that each player fights to be the longest survivor, by forcing the other player to be hit by the pest or fireball.

This article describes the arcade version. The console versions tend to not implement all the features present in the arcade version.

Enemies

There are three types of pests: Shell Creepers, Side Steppers, and Fighter Flies.

Shell Creepers: (possible inspiration for the later Koopa Troopas) look like turtles. They move slowly, though it will move the same speed as Mario or Luigi when it is hit three times and not kicked and it only takes one hit to flip them over. Later replaced with spinys in the Super Mario Advance series.
Side Steppers: (later renamed Crabs) resemble crabs. They move the fastest of all the pests, and it takes two hits to flip them over. After taking one hit, sidesteppers move even faster than Mario and Luigi.
Fighter Flies: They move by taking short hops, and can only be hit when touching the ground.

There are other enemies and obstacles that do not need to be killed to clear the phase.

Slipice: (later renamed Freezie). They move slowly. A hit instantly kills them. A new one is respawned in a few seconds if the previous one is killed. They can freeze a platform, turning it into ice, making it harder to maneuver Mario. If a platform is iced, it is returned to normal at the start of the next phase. If all three ice-eligible platforms are iced, no more slipices spawn for that phase.
Icicles: They start appearing on Phase 16, after the third coin phase.
Red fireballs: They bounce diagonally. Mario can kill a fireball by hitting the ground as the fireball bounces; killing a fireball is unwise, as one soon respawns and moves faster. If the red fireball makes a complete circuit of the screen, it disappears and then respawns moving faster, effectively limiting the amount of time Mario can safely take to complete a phase. Normally, only one fireball is present; after the fifth coin phase, Phase 29, two fireballs are present simultaneously.
White fireballs: (sometimes called Hurricanes) They move horizontally, spawning on one end of the screen and travelling to the other. They bounce at irregular intervals, making it risky to jump over one.

Phases

Phase 1-2. Shellcreepers
Phase 3. First coin phase; POW not replenished
Phase 4. Side Steppers
Phase 5. Side Steppers and Shell Creepers; this is the only phase in the game that has both Side Steppers and Shell Creepers.
Phase 6. Fighter Flies
Phase 7. Fighter Flies and Side Steppers
Phase 8. Second coin phase; POW replenished
Phase 9. Slipice are now present on every phase; Fighter Flies and Shell Creepers.
Phase 10, 11. Fighter Flies and Side Steppers
Phase 12-14. Same as 9-11, but the Fireballs are more frequent
Phase 15. Third coin phase; floors turn invisible; POW replenished
Phase 16-21. Icicles are now present on every phase; otherwise same as 9-14. Fireball frequency is decreased on phases 16-18.
Phase 22. Fourth coin phase; POW replenished
Phase 23-28. Same as 16-21, but fireball frequency is maximum and Icicles are more common.
Phase 25. Phase counter replaced with a red "KO".
Phase 29. Fifth coin phase; POW replenished
Phase 30-35. Same as 23-28, but now two red fireballs appear on each phase.
The same pattern of six phases repeats for the remainder of the game.

Scoring

Kicking off a pest: 800 points. If you can kick off multiple pests at one time, the value increases to 1600, 2400.
Each coin is worth 800 points.
Killing a Slipice is worth 500 points.
Killing a White Fireball (Hurricane) is worth 200 points. It is possible to kill it by hitting the floor just after it bounces.
Killing a Red Fireball is worth 1000 points. This is usually a bad idea, as it immediately respawns and then moves faster.
You can kill an Icicle as it is forming, but this is not worth any points. If you touch an Icicle after it has formed, but not dropped, Mario or Luigi dies.
Getting all 10 coins on the coin phase is worth 5000 the first time and 8000 later times.
Flipping a pest over is worth 10 points.

Comparison of versions

The Japanese arcade version of Mario Bros. features an extra life every 30000 points, compared with only one free life per game in the English version.
The NES has all game features except Icicles, but the animation of the original has been simplified; for instance, the turtles can not be seen without their shells. It is more stingy with time on the coin phase. The NES does not have the invisible coin phase.
The Atari 7800 version is similar to the NES version, but with worse graphics.
The Atari 5200 version has far fewer colors than the Atari 7800, but the animation is almost as detailed as the arcade version.
The Atari 2600 version is the least faithful of all versions. Due to 2600 limitations, there is only one pest per floor at a time, and blocky graphics. You can kick off the Slipice as it is icing a floor. Iced floors only heal at the coin phase.
The Atari 8-bit version by Sculptured Software included intermissions, invisible coin phase and Icicles. This version is notable for its fast software-sprite engine capable of drawing lots of large moving objects, which is uncommon for Atari 8-bit games.
The Apple II version included the invisible coin phase and Icicles. However, the game is slow due to system limitations. This version was programmed but never released; it is commonly seen as a hacked version.
The Commodore 64 version, published and ported by Atari in 1984, is extremely playable but includes the following bugs in two player mode: player two cannot jump player one; a player occasionally sticks on the top level when trying to bounce the other player; player two cannot knock player one from the wraparound side platform from beneath. In addition, the Fireball animation has a graphical glitch, and there are several problems with the sound.
The Mattel Intellivision version, published and ported by Coleco 1983, has graphics similar to the Atari 2600 version.
In all of the Super Mario Advance games and Superstar Saga, a new version was released. This version had smoother controls and new music. However, Shell Creepers had their appearance changed: they now look more like Spinies than Koopa Troopas (perhaps to keep players out of trying to jump on them). This version also features both single-cart and multi-cart (all five games are compatible) multiplayer abilities.
A cut-down version of Mario Bros. is used as a mini-game in Super Mario Bros. 3
Another mini-game version is used in Twisted! for the Game Boy Advance. In this version, the player plays as a Koopa who must rotate itself back upright before Mario comes and knocks it out.

In all of the Super Mario Advance games, a new version was released. This version had smoother controls and new music. However, Shell Creepers had their appearance changed: they now look more like Spinies than Koopa Troopas.
A cut-down version of Mario Bros. is used as a mini-game in Super Mario Bros. 3

Trivia

The musical introduction at the beginning of the game is the beginning of first movement of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik
In July 2002 (issue 158), Nintendo Power magazine held an Arena Challenge for readers to compete for the highest score in Mario Bros. In October 2002 (issue 161), the winners were announced, and six players managed to max out the score counter at 999,990 points.
The original arcade game and a majority of its console ports are the only Mario games to feature the character with a blue hat, rather than his trademark red one. The blue suspenders and red shirt from this game, however, would reappear starting with the in-game graphics for Super Mario Bros. 2, and all artwork for Super Mario Bros. 3.
Mario Bros. was the last Nintendo game to be officially released for a non-Nintendo console (Atari 7800; 1988).

External links

Mario Bros. entry on the Killer List of Videogames
Category at ODP
Mario Bros. Numa Numa dance - A Numa Numa parody featuring Mario and Luigi.