Mario Bros. retrospective: The overlooked evolutionary link | NES Works
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
- Mario recovers from his brief descent into villainy and lays down the groundwork for the platforming concepts that would make him (and his green sibling) long-term fixture of video gaming. But the difference in timing between the game's arrival in Japan and the west created a tremendous gulf in public perception of this arcade classic...
- Ігри
When I got SMB3 I was shocked it had a version of Mario Bros. in the cart. Spent a whole bunch of times with friends fighting against each other in that mode when we weren't playing actual SMB3.
Jon Jon Even better is the Super Mario Bros 3 Battle Mode that's on Super Mario All Stars (SNES). I played it with my cousin so much that I can't really play anyone else now, because I just crush them... 😅 It's such a good adaptation and game design!!
Watching this on a device that only plays UA-cam videos back at 30fps, the flickering half-sprites of the NES version look like a trip.
I had this game on the Commodore 64. my friends and I played it a lot. it was great fun. In fact, by the time I saw SMB on NES, I was already familiar with Mario because of this game.
Mario Bros. was also the coin debut. I got this game as a kid after playing Super Mario 3. At first I thought it was old and boring but, oh boy was I wrong. It became better with age, and now it's one of my favourite pick-up-and-play games for the NES.
It's kind of interesting how Nintendo took the basic gameplay of Mario Bros. in a radically different direction (Jumping and hitting things from below) while Taito took the basic game rules - single screen, stun and kill all enemies - and expanded on it with Fairyland Story and Bubble Bobble.
in my opinion, the most addictive arcade game Nintendo ever made, Balloon Fight being second which is like a mix of this game and Joust
I always called this game "Regular Mario Bros." as a kid. Decent enough arcade-style game. I mean, it's more fun than Ice Climber.
Mario Bros is one of my most-played games in the arcade. Such a great arcade game.
I guess I had a different experience from the norm: I came to the NES (and SMB) late in its life after playing a ton of Mario Bros on the Atari 7800. Always loved this game!
Technically Luigi made a cameo appearance at the beginning of Donkey Kong Junior, although he was wearing the same outfit as Mario...this was changed in Donkey Kong Junior Remix...Luigi is wearing his green outfit
Can you imagine, if they did a Mario Brothers 2 instead of Super Mario Brothers?
I still have good memories of playing the C64 port of this.
I see the Mario franchise's long, long history of infuriating multiplayer modes that test friendships was there from nearly the beginning.
I played hours upon hours of Mario Bros on my Atari 5200 long before the NES. It was a good port.
And then the controller (joystick) breaks, right?
I remember playing this a lot on the Atari 5200 my friend had. It looked good, and played good. Always enjoyed this game as a kid. This was before I even had played an NES.
I forget which one right now, but a company has been making little Amiibo-like figures of Mario characters, and I had to pick up the versions of Mario and Luigi based on the arcade cabinet renditions from Mario Bros. I love those early 80's designs, which have so much in common with vintage 30's cartoon characters. Oh yeah, I love the game too! It's fascinating to track the evolution of the Mario franchise in the early years and how it accrued its tropes. I'm actually kind of surprised that Mario's steel trap minions from Donkey Kong Jr. have never surfaced again as a weapon.
The platforms that bring Mario & Luigi to the game after they die is used in the Super Smash Bros games
I love Mario Bros. I sometimes think I like it more than Super Mario Bros.
As a kid I always assumed this was just some weird early version of super mario bros. What a mythology.
Our family had an unofficial DOS port designed to utilize VGA graphics. It was the first video game I ever felt I really got good at.
Mario Bros VGA was a shareware classic.
It is amazing how often Mario Bros. has been packed in with other games. Hell it started on the NES with Super Mario Bros. 3 (and by that fact the SNES All Stars remake) and then the GBA ports of Super Mario games including it as a side game in a remake. I should really look at how close some of those are to the arcade or NES versions (especially SMB3)
I like this game. Now it's the most played one (with Balloon fight) on my Classic Mini NES.
Mario Bros has a very generous learning curve. I'm a pretty average player on most classic arcade games, but I can get a pretty high score on Mario Bros.
I owned this game on GBA. It was one of my favorites, alongside both Metroid games
All I want is the arcade version of this game on VC. Is that too much to ask? I know there's some legal reason but it's a shame. The NES port is okay, but for someone who played the ever loving crap out of the coin-op it just doesn't feel or look & sound right...anyway, keep doing what you're doing. I appreciate your work.
You got your wish :) It's on switch
I agree, the NES version is good. But the arcade one just seemed to have better colors, sprites, and animations.
There is also Mario Bros. Classic which came out in Europe only back in 1993. It has the missing intermission scenes and improved animation also. I only found out about this last year. It's really good.
@@marccaselle8108 Mario Bros. Classic also makes some graphical changes, and most importantly it alters the jump mechanics to give you a lot more air control. I'm torn on whether this is an improvement or not, as it changes the gameplay significantly, but it definitely makes the game more fluid.
This was the slowest burn of what I considered the Mario arcade trilogy (DK, DK Jr., and Mario Bros.). I didn't really start appreciating Mario Bros. until Super Mario All-Stars came along, and it definitely had to do with being able to get other people to play it. Unlike Donkey Kong, the strength of Mario Bros is the two-player competitive game.
It's no wonder that this competitive aspect is what was most emphasized in later iterations of the game, on both Super Mario All-Stars and the Super Mario Advance series.
I know my life is too busy when I wait until THURSDAY to watch the new GBW/Good NIntentions video.
I remember the first time I saw Super Mario Bros was the same day I first saw Mario Bros. The latter was the 2600 port, and I remember going back and forth between the rooms where each game was running, mind blown at how much better and more sophisticated the NES game looked. Took a while to realize the one was a sequel.
I'm still personally the most familiar with the Atari 7800's Mario Bros. port, and since it has tighter physics the NES game has always felt a little "sloppier" to play. Still love the game regardless of platform, though. And hey, you recruited a player 2 for the video!
Great video as always. I always loved this game, I still have the 2600,7800, and nes versions.
Just a simple great game, I remember wasting hours on the GBA ports of Mario's 2-4 on this one after I was fed up dying on his main adventures. Definitely nice to get back to his humble roots every once in a while.
I remember being so confused as a kid--we had the Atari 5200 version (which was as great as any other version, sincerely) but i couldnt understand why a Nintendo game was on a competitor's system.
I remember being young and going to a friend of the families with my brother. We went into the room with the nintendo and they had this Mario Brothers game. I was super confused that it was so much different from Super Mario Bros.
Surprised to see so much love for this ..not that I hate it, but I was not that into it
I was thinking most sales were disappointments for unknowing buyers hoping for more similarities to Smb
My favorite, and first, Mario game. Played it on Apple, Atari 2600 and then NES.
I played a lot of Mario Bros. on Commodore 64 as a kid. Every day when I would come home from school. It was Mario Bros on C64.
When I later got an NES and played Super Mario Bros. I thought it was strange they character was red and not blue as I was used to. When I later played the NES version of Mario Bros......I just didn't like it as much. Funny how your first experience influences your tastes.
Of course my favorite version is Kaettekita Mario Bros which is massively improved thanks to the controls, but the C64 version still holds a special place for me. The NES version is pretty low tier.
Car 54, where are you?
Anyway, as a (college) kid playing Mario Bros. for the first time as part of Super Mario Advance 2, I always thought the Sidesteppers that had taken one hit looked like they wearing underwear, though looking at them now it seems obvious that intention is that they get angry grimaces.
Some people don't think this game is all that, but I think it is quite fun.
Especially the SMB3 version of this game.
I remember playing the VGA bootleg version of this on my family's 386 when I was a child. It was probably my first actual exposure to Mario, since we never had an NES (to this day I've never owned one). Thankfully we got an SNES shortly thereafter (Christmas of '92).
Mario Bros VGA was one of those shareware games that seemed to be on every other PC back in the day.
In the NES screen shots half of the crabs and fireflies are missing
The late Satoru Iwata said this game was first released in the arcades on July 14, 1983. I have always found this quite confusing, because the Game & Watch version was released in March 1983, and early information also said the arcade game came out in March.
No doubt this game ruined friendships before the days of Mario Kart and Mario Party. ;)
Balloon Fight is far more notorious for this.
Great game, but can't ignore that it has some similarities to Joust.
interesting comparison
I've always wondered why Mario's clothes were the wrong colors on the nes box art for this game, Pinball, and Donkey Kong.
It's actually Chris Pratt
I've always loved the arcade game, but remember being really disappointed in this NES conversion as a kid. It's a lot uglier, and it's missing details like the cool character-introduction screens. The NES version always looked more like a Colecovision game than an NES game to me (which makes sense, given that the port really came from 1983, not 1986).
Also, I don't agree that Mario Bros. improved on Joust's multiplayer. Joust is the end-all-be-all of two-player 80s arcade games.
Great video, of course!
Matt I was stuck with playing the Atari 2600 port of Mario Bros, so count your blessings! Having said that it's amazing how well they ported it to the 2600 given the extreme limitations!
I think I used to play ZSNES online with you back in the day.
Seems unlikely given that I've never used ZSNES, online or off.
The Year of Luigi. Wow! That is a pretty bold statement. I have my eye on you.
I regret nothing.
Great game. I think of this as part of the main series. Donkey Kong > Mario Bros > Super Mario Bros etc...
In my opinion Donkey Kong is part of the main series, but not this game since it's basically a Game & Watch game with better graphics. And Donkey Kong Junior is the beginning of the Donkey Kong Country series. And Donkey Kong '94 is the start of the 3D Mario series.
Glad to see Joust in there somewhere, as Mario is pretty obviously based on it.
I'd also say that Mario Bros's floor hit turned into Super Mario Bros's brick hit.
It's hard to even think of this as a full game anymore. It's more like a mini-game that spawned a franchise.
I remember this game in the arcade. It was out in 83. I remember having the shitty Atari 2600 port. Started play Super Mario in the arcade back in 84, 85.
I thought as an 1983 arcade port release for the Atari 2600 is quite decent.
Super Mario Bros. 1 came out before Mario Bros. In the west?
Twice I thought it was 3 times were allowed with the pow block not just 2
We had it in the US on the Atari in 83.
Great job
I consider Donkey Kong to be part of the main Mario series, but not Mario Bros. Donkey Kong tells the story of when Mario entered a deadly construction site to save Pauline from an escaped gorilla, but Mario Bros tells the story of Mario and Luigi killing endlessly spawning sewer creatures for high scores, like if you include that then what's to stop you from calling Super Mario Strikers part of the main series of Mario games?
I remember spending hours playing this with dad when I was a kid. The other player an ally? Yo my young self his character was something to remove from play ASAP.
Great work, as usual.
cool video bro
I should check this game out for fun. 😀👍🎮
In Ukraine this game was on many bootleg multicarts.
Why does the box have the sprite from Super Mario Bros. with completely different colors?
All the Black Box games took tremendous liberties with representing in-game visuals. I think the "sprite art" was actually made of paper cutouts.
Why Nintendo has never re-released the original arcade version after so many years?
It’s on Switch now as part of the Arcade Archives.
Why are the enemies clipped?
The design "prosesses" things, huh??
Wow. Mario Bros AFTER Super Mario Bros. Just no way you could ever go back.
6:17 HOLY PALETTE CHANGE, BATMAN!!
Yeah, I was alternating between the Nt Mini's analog and HDMI output recording for this episode. I like the slight softness of analog output, but prefer the vibrant colors of HDMI. A conundrum!
6:04 Surely, you mean "thrice," my good man?
I own this game
When I was a kid I had this game and I thought it was not fun and I didn't enjoy playing it, out of all my games it was the worst NES game I had. I ended up giving it away to another kid.
I've been enjoying your videos lately 😀 I got one of those Chinese clone NES on Amazon. Just to let people know it's not bad for $20 . If you're poor like me yeah it could be better but it's got alot of these games and works good enough.
I'd argue that Mario was a villain in Mario Land 2.
What? How?
I'm wondering that as well. He comes home to find his childhood rival has seized control of his home out of greed and fights back. How is this villainous?
Hit detection with mediocre controls makes MB rather tedious. Shoutout for koopas, coins, & pipes.
Not as good as donkey kong or punchout