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Biggest selling video game of all time (over 40 million copies); The game that singlehandedly saved the videogaming industry

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 34 / 34
Date: October 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The game that singlehandedly saved the videogaming industry

Arguably the single most important videogame in history, SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, along with the Nintendo Entertainment System (hereafter referred to as the NES) singlehandedly resurrected the video game industry after the historic crash of 1983-1984. Rather than reviewing the game itself, which has been done many times, I think many people may find the history how of this revolutionary title came to the videogame industry's rescue very interesting; I know I do. I draw much of this information from various websites, one very good one in particular; unfortunately, I can't really plug them due to Amazon's policies. Email me if you want the websites.

By 1983, the gaming industry, in existence for a mere twelve years, had risen to an astonishing 3.2 billion dollar industry. Atari spearheaded the industry, which introduced its first console in 1977 (Atari Video Computer System), and since had grown to hold two thirds of the entire market. However, in 1984 all this would end with a thunderous crash. This concise overview will show you the history of the home consol crash and how SUPER MARIO BROTHERS came to the rescue.

In 1976, Warner Communications bought Atari for $28 million from the company's founder, Nolan Bushnell. Over the next two years, Atari, suffering major production problems and Bushnell's bizarre management, lost Warner millions. Bushnell and Warner's CEO fought, and in 1978 Bushnell was forced to leave. Warner totally revamped the working style, and in 1979-1980, produced twelve new titles. However, Atari was still dragging down Warner's stock. Struggling to gain the market share, Atari made the smartest move they possible could have; in 1980, they began licensing arcade games, the first being SPACE INVADERS. Over the next two years, Atari overtook the market, bringing in over half of Warner's overall profits.

However, very significant problems would totally destroy the infant industry. In 1981, Atari released PAC MAN on the VCS, and, because it was such a huge arcade hit, quickly became a bestseller. Unfortunately, the quality was very low. This was a major blow to the company's image, with fans and critics alike extremely disappointed.

Another major stumble was one of video games' most infamous games, ET. Warner bought the rights from Spielberg for twenty one million dollars. Atari, expecting the game to be as big a hit as the movie, which was the highest grossing film at that point, purportedly made more ET cartridges than there were consoles themselves. ET proved to be a huge flop, nearly breaking Atari.

By 1983, Atari was in serious trouble. Suing Activision (which was disgruntled Atari employees who broke off and formed their own company) and Imagic, the two leading third party developers, Atari tried to gain control over its software catalogue. Atari lost the suits. Third party developers began popping up overnight, and the industry becomes saturated with very low-quality products. (One of the most controversial is CUSTER'S REVENGE by Mystique, where the goal is to rape a Native American woman while avoiding being shot by arrows.) The third-party developers went bankrupt; these cartridges were heavily discounted, and the major companies couldn't compete. Another factor is the home computer market, that was just starting to come alive in 1984. With an increasing amount of computer games and low prices, people started buying these over the consoles.

All these factors lead to the crash of 1984. In 1983 alone, Atari lost $356 million ($2 million daily). Warner sold Atari to Jack Tramiel, former head of Commodore. The video game industry died, with no major American corporation coming anywhere near it. Enter Nintendo.

A little history here will be highly illuminating as well. What many people don't realise is Nintendo is a very old company, founded in 1889 (yes, you read that right) as a playing card company. It became Japan's largest playing card company, and was very successful. In the 1960s, they moved away from the cards and got into the game and toy markets. (A very interesting sidenote: during that same decade, Nintendo's president opened up a `special hotel' rented `by the hour.' Supposedly, the married president was one of the hotel's top customers). In the 1970s and early 1980s, the company scored significant points with big arcade hits and the Game and Watch product line. In 1983, Nintendo released the Famicom (Family Computer). It was a massive hit in Japan. In 1983, Nintendo went to Atari because they wanted to release the Famicon to the American market. Do to complications I won't go into, the deal fail through. In 1984 they were looking to broaden their market share.

1985, Nintendo announced the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System. They release SUPER MARIO BROTHERS in Japan, scoring a huge hit. In 1986, the NES comes full throttle into the American market, quickly becoming the biggest selling console ever, largely because of this title. The NES owes much of its success to SUPER MARIO BROTHERS. Coming prepacked with the console, there are an estimated 40 million copies of SMB in existence, making it the highest selling video game ever.

Unparalleled, SMB blew open the doors to the videogaming world. With rich palettes of colour, eight four level worlds, spot-on play control, and expert level design, SMB was a much longer game than most of Atari's products and was a game unlike any other at that time. SMB also had the benefit of being very simple to grasp; run, jump, and fire. It was also the first side-sroller as we know it, though Atari's PITFALL set up the concept. Also, it's one of the best. Without SMB, NES wouldn't have been nearly as big a hit.

In the end, Nintendo came at the industry's key moment. With a powerful new console and a very well-designed game, Nintendo resurrected video gaming. With its phenomenal success of the NES and this game, the video game industry once again took off, becoming one of the world's most significant economical contributors.

And we very largely have this game to thank for it

Super Mario Bros.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: May 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Sold as a 2 in 1 package or 3 in 1 package Super Mario Bros. easily out shinned the other games that it came with. The second in a long line of Mario games and the game that help make Nintendo what it is today. Super Mario Bros. had the first appearance of his arch nemesis Bowser and flying turtles, who can forget the flying turtles?

Replayability [10/10] Yes, replayability, the ability for you to play one game over and over and not become bored with it. Super Mario Bros. has been beaten myself well over 100 times, whether I just warp through the levels or just go through the whole game its been done. No matter how often I play it, it still brings back the days of spiking a controller into the ground when you fall into a pit or get hit by a hammer from a Hammer Brother. Super Mario Bros. is the game that got me into video games and I have never put it down since. One of the key reasons to it being so easy to pick back up is the size of the game. There are 8 worlds with 3 sub divisions in most of them. And even if you get bored of playing it at one time and would just like to finish it off, there is always a warp point only a few minutes away. No matter how many times you beat this game, it just never seems to get old enough to leave in the closet. If it were any better, it would have had a movie made after it…wait a minute.

Gameplay [09/10] Jumping on baddies head is an attack that nobody could ever withstand. Super Mario Bros. gameplay is superb to say the least. Since it is in fact a side scroller Mario is very easy to control, left or right? Although you can’t go back in levels you can go left to dodge a speeding turtle shell or snag that coin you just ran by which could lead to an extra life. Gaining an extra life is very simple as many of us know, collect 100 coins and you got one, hit 5 guys with one shell or hope on 5 in a row and you get another. Or there is the 99 Life trick where you continuously jump on one turtle shell until the crown appears. The only bad part of the gameplay is the repetitiveness of jumping or throwing fireballs over and over again, but at this point in time, there wasn’t much else you could do.

Graphics & Audio [09/10] For it’s time, both were spectacular. The graphics where superb and anyone who grew up with a system of this magnitude can easy tolerate the graphics today, as long as your Nintendo is still clean and useable of course. There is no lag in the game at all, even when switching worlds and such, since it is the old school cartridges and not CD's. Super Mario Brother’s audio tracks are classics, and have even been played by Orchestras in New York and San Francisco, not many other games have that on their stat line. It obvious that the music is classic because by now I’m sure you guys all have the tune bouncing around your head or have at some point. As for the other in-game sounds they are also quite classic themselves. The favorite sound obviously being the ringing when receiving a 1up.

Overall [14/15] Super Mario Bros. is probably as classic as you can get, hence why we chose it to be the first Cave review ever. After writing this much of the review I picked up my Nintendo to check out Super Mario once again, and using the warps it only took me about 15 minutes to beat. What a great game it is, and if I didn’t use a single warp it would have taken me probably an hour. Such a versitile game should be in ever gamers library and that’s why it has been ranked as a Cave Must Have.

The definition of the word "classic..."

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Remember the old days where video games were all about fun and not about flashy graphics? Where action commands were limited to the simplistic method of "jump" and "hit?" Where you had to blow into your video game cartridge a few times to make it work? Where getting hit once by an enemy meant you died and had to start the level all over again? While it might sound dumb and frustrating to kids these days who's video game experiences started with the release of the PlayStation, it was non-stop hours of fun for us old school veterans.

"Super Mario Bros." is the most well-known, most played and highly regarded video game ever created. Everyone had it and, when first released, nobody could stop talking about it. I can hear the comments in my head now:

"There's an alternate world after you beat it?!"
"How do you beat the last castle?"
"Mario can run?!"
"I keep accidentally jumping on those spikey things."
"I keep getting hit by the hammer brothers!"

And of course, the classic line:

"God, I HATE this stupid game!" *throws controller into the wall out of frustration*

Ah, those were indeed the days. Of all the Nintendo games made, this one is currently the easiest one to find and can be purchased at a REAL bargain price. Some stores sell it for so cheap in fact that you'd be able to get it and a pack of gum for less than a dollar. That said, there's no excuse for you not to pick this game up if you see it... Unless of course you got rid of your Nintendo a long time ago or if you're one of those lucky son of a guns who has a copy of "Super Mario Bros." that still actually works.

Classic music, classic character, classic baddies, dated graphics, eight levels, homicidal frustration and hours of fun. What's not to love? In fact, after writing this review, I think I'll go upstairs, dust off the old Nintendo and stomp some Goombas.

Later.

classic Mario!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: May 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

For so many people my age (24, at the moment), this is the game that first got them into playing video games. It was all about a plumber on a quest to rescue a princess. No matter how many castles he conquers, Mario is always told "Your princess is in another castle". This goes on until the very end (the 8th castle) when he finally defeats Bowser and rescues his princess.

Playable on the original NES, this game is as simple as it gets. You have two buttons to control the action. One button does nothing but jump. The other button, if held down, allows you to run. If you get the power-up flower, you can toss fireballs. That's it. The gameplay is very simple, but yet 15 or more years later, it is still one of my all time favorite games and the replay value is still there. I still enjoy popping SMB into my NES and running, jumping, and stomping on Goombas.

Groundbreaking

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: August 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When people first think of Nintendo, Mario is obviously the first thing that enters most people's minds. Even being the huge Zelda fan that I am, Mario has still plopped into my head first; Mario, like Sonic is for Sega, is still a pop culture icon that seemingly doesn't age... and it all started because of this game. Super Mario Brothers.

THE GOOD
Oddly enough, this game stands the test of time, even with later games (not all of them, mind you) that have seemingly better graphics and color schemes. It has this otherworldly fun factor that somehow exceeds most games (kind of like Tetris). The music may be old, but the soundtrack to this game grabs you by the cojones and forces you to like it. Everything about this game, in fact, inherently grabs you like no other game could.

THE BAD
Perhaps the only bad thing about it that I can say is probably the fact that I've gone through so many "You found the Princess! EHHHH! She's in another house, GO AWAY!" scenes that it got annoying (for those of you who are going "You got the phrase wrong," it came from a song). But oh well... I suppose it adds to the charm of the game.

OVERALL
A classic game. This should never be ignored. In fact, I think game developers should test play this game and use it as a template for how games are made. Not just as a platform aspect, but its blend of fun and difficulty is uncanny. It's very saddening to see today's gamers not liking it because "it has bad graphics" or other such drivel. I don't know what the mentality is, but back in the day, I guess us old gamers appreciated it more for what it was, rather than just a part of the game. *Sigh* Anyways, It's pretty common to find in game stores, so it's not like it's going to run out or anything; it's Mario, and he's here to stay.

WOW!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Many a gamer will without a doubt have played this game! This was the first game I ever played...EVER and let me tell you that this is the game that got me started on being a gamer! The first side-scrolling adventure ever made and it was great.

But if you're not an old-skool gamer or you're just so much more impressed with all the new stuff then you might as well skip this. Let me say that a game shouldn't be judged based on it's age, graphics and sound alone. This game taught me that the importance of a game was it's gameplay and that my friends is what this game is all about.

First let me say this though, there was one moment in this game that made me realize that games are meant to be explored, and you know what that is? That invisible block in the first level! When I first found that invisible block I was in awe because it was in the middle of NO WHERE but just appeared. I actually let that one-up get away the first time. I'd never seen anything like it before in ANYTHING!

Now I know that people complain, "Oh you can't save" and "You only get three lives and when you die you start from the beginning" and "There's a @#$%^&* time limit!" and of course everyone's favorite "These graphics suck" and second favorite "The game is too short". Well, as I said it isn't the age that counts. For it's time these graphics were some of the best the world had ever seen! Also, the ability to save your game wasn't in thought yet (Metroid was one of the first games to even use the "Password" system). You got three lives on just about EVERY game back then and as I said, saving hadn't been thought of. The lentgh? You certainly wouldn't think so now but Super Mario was one of the longest games in the world when it was released! For today's standards the difficulty has gone down (but I'd still say it's easier than the majority of XBOX, PS2 and GCN games) but not by much. The game can still be hard but it's easy to master. In fact this game started a series of Video Game challenges in which people did crazy things like go through the entire game without grabbing a single mushroom on one life WITHOUT warping! I remember doing that as well.

For the ages this game is freakishly awesome. Even those born in my time would know this game pretty well and have fun with it (Some of us were like what...one? two? three? etc.?)

Truly if you're an NES fanatic and an old-skool gamer this is one game you CANNOT be without!

Classic!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I love this game! STORY: You are a plumber named mario. You go down a special pipe that leads to another world! you see hostile koopas and walking mushrooms. You can get bigger with magic mushrooms! stomp on the bad guys, and save the princess. NOTE: only the last castle will have the princess. The only thing i do not like in this game is that when you walk forward, some of the background goes away, and then when you try to go back, you can't! (this can be very frustrating if you missed a magic mushroom.) besides that, this...game...is...GREAT!!! By the way, there is a king koopa named bowser guarding the castle. Even though you kill him first, you see him again guarding another castle...........BOO!!............SAYONARA!!

Super Mario Bros started a video game revolution!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: September 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Everybody should try this game and feel a joy for jumping with Mario. There are eight different levels, which contains four stages. If you are a real power player, you won't need warps at all. Koopa turtles, man-eating flowers and lukitus which flies with clouds are your enemies. Don't jump in canyons and beware lava paths! Grow up with a magic musroom and beat koopas with fire balls. Collect 100 golden coins if you want to get one life more. Attention, Super Mario Bros is not a easy game if you are beginner because there are lot of difficult levels in castles under water and clouds. This game can be cause a little addiction to playing. It takes so long that you beat the final boss whose name is Bowser. Melodies are simple but workable. It is easy to play with Mario because you can control him totally.
Play and enjoy a long trip with Mario1

weird!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 24
Date: August 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is so weird. Bowser has kidnapped princess toadstool. There is no way to continue or save your game. The music also goes fast when the timer reachs 99.

A great arcade type Mario game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This here is a classic of the Mario trilogy. The action is fulfilling, the adventure is awsome, and bullet bills gives it peril! You get to run across bridges and go underwater avoiding cheep-cheeps and springing high on spring boards! This is a must have game next to Super Mario 2!

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