Super Mario Bros.

Lore & Background

Following the events of Mario Bros., the game is set in the fantasy land of the Mushroom Kingdom after Mario and Luigi had arrived through a clay pipe from New York City. In the Mushroom Kingdom, a tribe of turtle-like Koopa Troopas invade the kingdom and use the magic of their king Bowser to turn the Mushroom People into inanimate objects such as bricks, stones, and horsehair plants. Bowser and his army also kidnap Princess Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom, the only one with the ability to reverse Bowser's spell. After hearing the news, the brothers set out to save the princess and free the kingdom from Bowser. They fight Bowser's forces while traversing the Mushroom Kingdom. After each defeat of a decoy Bowser, a Toad retainer proclaims, 'Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!'. Finally, they reach Bowser's true stronghold, where they defeat him by either throwing fireballs or by dropping him into lava with an axe, freeing the princess and saving the Mushroom Kingdom.

Reader's Guide

Super Mario Bros. is a platform game in which the player controls the titular protagonist Mario, who is tasked with exploring the Mushroom Kingdom to defeat Bowser and rescue Princess Toadstool. His brother, Luigi, is controlled by the second player in multiplayer mode and assumes the same plot role and functionality as Mario. The game takes place through a side-scrolling perspective where the player moves to the right to reach the flagpole at the end of each level. The Mushroom Kingdom includes coins for Mario to collect and special bricks marked with a question mark (?), which when hit from below by Mario may reveal more coins or a special item. If the player gains a Super Mushroom, Mario grows to double his size and gains the ability to break bricks above him. Mario may also acquire the Fire Flower from certain '?' blocks that when picked up changes the color of Super Mario's outfit and allows him to throw fireballs. A less common item is the Starman, which grants Mario temporary invincibility from all minor dangers. The game consists of eight worlds, each with four sub-levels or stages. The final stage of each world is in a fiery underground castle where Bowser is fought on a suspension bridge above lava; the first seven of these Bowsers are actually minions disguised as him, and the real Bowser is in the eighth world. Bowser and his decoys are defeated by jumping over them or running under them while they are jumping and reaching the axe on the end of the bridge, or with fireballs. After completing the game once, the player is rewarded with the ability to replay with increased difficulty, such as all Goombas replaced with Buzzy Beetles.

Did You Know?

• Super Mario Bros. used the fast scrolling game engine originally developed for Excitebike, which allowed Mario to smoothly accelerate from a walk to a run.
• The team designed the first level, World 1-1, as a tutorial for platform gameplay.
• Koji Kondo's soundtrack is one of the earliest in video games, making music a centerpiece of the design.
• The game initially used a concept in which Mario or Luigi could fly a rocket ship while firing at enemies, but this went unused.
• After completing the game once, the player can replay with increased difficulty, such as all Goombas replaced with Buzzy Beetles.