Super Mario Bros.

It has been requested that this article be rewritten.

"SMB" redirects here. For information about the game known in Japan and Europe as Super Mario Ball, see Mario Pinball Land.

"Super Mario Brothers" redirects here. For information about the microgame from WarioWare: Smooth Moves, see Super Mario Brothers (WarioWare: Smooth Moves).

Not to be confused with Mario Bros. (game) or New Super Mario Bros..

This article is about the video game originally published for the Nintendo Entertainment System. For information about further uses, see Super Mario Bros. (disambiguation).

Super Mario Bros.
Developer	Nintendo EAD
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Famicom/NES Famicom Disk System Nintendo PlayChoice-10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console (Wii / 3DS / Wii U) NES Classic Edition/Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online
Release date	Famicom/NES September 13, 1985 October 18, 1985 May 15, 1987 July 1, 1987 Famicom Disk System February 21, 1986 Nintendo PlayChoice-10 August 1986 Game Boy Advance February 14, 2004 June 7, 2004 July 9, 2004 Virtual Console (Wii) December 2, 2006 December 25, 2006 January 5, 2007 January 5, 2007 April 26, 2008 Virtual Console (3DS) (Ambassador Program release) August 31, 2011 August 31, 2011 September 1, 2011 September 1, 2011 Virtual Console (3DS) (full release) January 5, 2012 February 16, 2012 March 1, 2012 March 1, 2012 February 3, 2016 Virtual Console (Wii U) June 5, 2013 September 12, 2013 September 12, 2013 September 19, 2013 NES Classic Edition/Famicom Mini November 10, 2016 November 10, 2016 November 11, 2016 November 11, 2016 Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online September 18, 2018 September 19, 2018 September 19, 2018 September 19, 2018 April 23, 2019 April 23, 2019
Language(s)	English (United States) Japanese
Genre	2D Platformer
Rating(s)	ESRB: - Everyone PEGI: - Three years and older CERO: - All ages ACB: - General USK: - All ages RARS: - All ages
Mode(s)	1-2 players
Media	NES: Game Pak FDS: Floppy disk Wii: Digital download Wii U: Digital download Nintendo Switch: Digital download Game Boy Advance: Game Pak Nintendo 3DS: Digital download NES Classic Edition: Built-in
Input	NES: NES Controller Wii: Wii Remote (Sideways) Wii Classic Controller Nintendo GameCube Controller Wii U: Wii U GamePad Wii Remote (Sideways) Wii Classic Controller Wii U Pro Controller Nintendo Switch: Joy-Con Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Nintendo Switch Online NES Controller Game Boy Advance: Control pad Nintendo 3DS: Control pad NES Classic Edition: NES Classic Controller Wii Classic Controller

Super Mario Bros. is a video game released for the Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. It shifted the gameplay away from its single-screen arcade predecessor, Mario Bros., and instead featured side-scrolling platformer levels. While not the first game of the Mario franchise (the first being Donkey Kong), Super Mario Bros. is the most iconic, and introduced various series staples, including power-ups, several enemies such as Koopa Troopa, and the basic premise of rescuing Princess Toadstool from King Koopa (eventually renamed to Princess Peach and Bowser, respectively).

As well as kicking off an entire series of Super Mario platformer games, the wild success of Super Mario Bros. popularized the genre as a whole, helped revive the North American gaming industry after the video game crash of 1983, and was largely responsible for the initial success of the NES, with which it was bundled as a launch title. Until it was eventually surpassed by Wii Sports, Super Mario Bros. was the best-selling video game of all time for nearly three decades, with over 40 million copies sold worldwide.

The exact day of the North American release of Super Mario Bros. is heavily disputed, with different sources giving different dates with no way to verify them. Regardless, Nintendo officially pinpoints the release date as October 18, 1985.

A successor named Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan (later renamed Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in North America) was released on June 3, 1986. Another successor with the same English title as its predecessor's Japanese name was released on October 9, 1988. A second successor, Super Mario Bros. 3, was released on October 23, 1988.

Super Mario Bros. has been ported to many consoles. It was one of the NES games that could be played on the Nintendo PlayChoice-10 and NES Classic Edition, and it was released on the Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console and on Nintendo Switch's Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online.

Story

One day, King Koopa, the great and powerful leader of the militaristic Koopa Troop, invades the peaceful Mushroom Kingdom. He and his Koopa Troop are jealous of the beautiful kingdom, and King Bowser decides to take it for himself. To do this, Bowser casts an evil spell upon the kingdom and transforms all of its inhabitants into blocks, weeds, and other odd objects. It is foretold that only King Toadstool's daughter Princess Toadstool can undo the spell. Knowing this, Bowser immediately kidnaps her. Fortunately, the heroic Mario Bros. learns about the Mushroom Kingdom's plight and the Princess's kidnapping and they race to rescue her.

The player takes the role of Mario, or in the case of a second player, Mario's brother Luigi. The ultimate objective is to race through the worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom, evade or eliminate Bowser's forces, and save the Princess.

Gameplay

Super Mario in World 1-1

Super Mario Bros. is divided into eight worlds, which each have four levels. Mario has to get to the end of the level by jumping over various gaps and avoiding the enemies on his way. Mario can use several platforms (some of them collapse when Mario lands on them), stairs in the level, as well as Jumping Boards. There are also pipes along the way, some of which Mario can enter to visit various coin rooms before returning to the level, a bit further ahead than when he left.

Some of the enemies include Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Buzzy Beetles, Paratroopas, Bullet Bills, Hammer Bros, and jumping Cheep Cheeps. All these enemies can be defeated when Mario jumps on them. Koopa Troopas and Buzzy Beetles will cower in their shell when jumped on, which Mario can kick to defeat other enemies with. Koopa Paratroopas will also lose their wings and fall to the ground when Mario jumps on them. Piranha Plants, Lakitus (who throw Spinies) and Hammer Bros are among the enemies harder to defeat. Mario has to either shoot fireballs at them or just avoid them. There are a few levels which take place underwater. In the water, Mario can swim freely from the top to the bottom of the screen. The enemies in underwater levels are Bloobers and Cheep Cheeps. Mario can only defeat these creatures by shooting them with fireballs.

If Small Mario takes a hit, falls down a pit, or if the time limit runs out, he dies and loses a life, and restarts the level. The point where Mario continues depends on how far he ran through the level before dying; either from the very beginning, or at one of several invisible "checkpoints" throughout the level.

Mario can get special power-ups out of ? Blocks or, uncommonly, Brick Blocks. Most of the ? Blocks in which Mario can find these items are visible, but some are hidden and only become visible when Mario hits them from beneath. With the Super Mushroom, he turns into Super Mario. As Super Mario, he can survive the hit of an enemy one time, at the cost of turning back to Small Mario. He may also destroy empty Brick Blocks by jumping beneath them. Additionally, he can also get the Fire Flower. With the Fire Flower, Super Mario turns into Fire Mario, which allows him to shoot fireballs at enemies to defeat them from a distance. With the 1-Up Mushroom, he gains an additional life; he can also get an extra life if he collects 100 coins. With the Starman, which can only be found in Brick Blocks, Mario turns invincible for a short amount of time, and can defeat enemies by simply touching them.

Mario fighting Bowser at the end of World 8-4.

At the end of each level, there is a castle with a Flagpole nearby. When Mario reaches the flagpole, he takes down Bowser's flag and enters the castle, completing the level. The higher the spot that Mario hits the flagpole, the more points he receives. If there are two players playing the game, Luigi's turn comes whenever Mario loses a life. Luigi has no special abilities in the game that are different from Mario's.

The fourth level of each world plays inside a castle. They are usually filled with Podoboos, and Podoboo Cogs. At the end of a castle level, Mario is confronted with a False Bowser in Worlds 1 - 7 and the real Bowser in World 8. Mario ordinarily has no way to hurt Bowser, and has to either use the Ax to destroy the bridge, causing either the false Bowser or the real Bowser to fall into the lava, or pelt Bowser with a number of fireballs, which produces the same result and reveals the true forms of the fakes. After defeating a false Bowser, Mario frees several Toads from the castle, at which point they say their iconic sentence: "Thank you, Mario! But our princess is in another castle...". After Mario defeats the real Bowser at the end of the castle in World 8, Mario frees the grateful Princess Toadstool and completes his adventure.

Modes

After beating the game, the player is given the option to start the game again in Hard Mode, where all Goombas are replaced by Buzzy Beetles, and all enemies walk faster; all of the elevator-style lifts are about sixty-percent of their original size, while firebars appear in all possible locations. However, the player still has the same amount of time to complete each level. The Mario Bros. gain no special powers in Hard Mode, and they receive no extra points when they defeat an enemy. The story remains exactly the same, as each of the first seven castles contain a Mushroom Retainer that needs rescuing, while the eighth castle has Princess Toadstool. If the player finishes the game on hard mode, he or she will unlock nothing new from the previous time the game was finished.

Items

Super Mario Bros. introduced some elements that made subsequent appearances in later Mario games:

Name	Sprite	Description
Coin		If Mario or Luigi manage to collect 100 of them, he will receive an extra life (1-Up).
Super Mushroom		When one of the Mario Bros. eat one of these, he will turn into their Super form.
Fire Flower		This flower grants the Mario Bros. the ability to shoot fireballs.
1-Up Mushroom		A rare item; once collected, it grants the Mario Bros. an extra life.
Starman		Makes the Mario Bros. invincible for a short amount of time.

Power-Ups

Name	Sprite	Description
Small Mario		An 8-bit Mario in the Mini-Form. When he gets hit by an enemy, he gets defeated.
Super Mario		Mario turns into Super Mario by ingesting a Super Mushroom. Mario gains the ability to easily break Brick Blocks in this state (which he will not lose, even if upgraded further). When he gets hit by an enemy, he shrinks back to Small Mario.
Fire Mario		After getting a Fire Flower, Super Mario turns into Fire Mario, giving him the ability to throw fireballs on the enemies (except stronger enemies). When he gets hit by an enemy, he reverts to Small Mario.
Invincible Mario		After getting a Starman, Mario will become invincible, and he can defeat any enemy. It will only last for a short period of time and he still gets defeated when he falls into an abyss.

Characters

Playable

• Mario
• Luigi

Non-Playable

• Princess Toadstool
• Mushroom Retainer

Enemies

• Blooper
• Bill Blaster
• Bullet Bill
• Buzzy Beetle
• Cheep Cheep
• Firebar
• Goomba
• Hammer Bro.
• Koopa Paratroopa
• Koopa Troopa
• Lakitu
• Piranha Plant
• Podoboo
• Spiny
• Spiny Egg

Bosses

• False Bowser
  • Goomba
  • Koopa Troopa
  • Buzzy Beetle
  • Spiny
  • Lakitu
  • Blooper
  • Hammer Bro.
• Bowser

List of Levels

World	Level	Setting	Enemies found
World 1	1	Ground	Goomba, Koopa Troopa
	2	Underground	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Piranha Plant
	3	Heights	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa
	4	Castle	Firebar, False Bowser(Goomba)
World 2	1	Ground	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant
	2	Underwater	Bloober, Cheep-Cheep, Piranha Plant
	3	Seaside	Jumping Cheep-Cheep
	4	Castle	Firebar, Podoboo, False Bowser (Koopa Troopa)
World 3	1	Ground	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Hammer Bro.
	2	Ground	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant
	3	Heights	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa
	4	Castle	Firebar, Podoboo, False Bowser (Buzzy Beetle)
World 4	1	Ground	Piranha Plant, Lakitu, Spiny
	2	Underground	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle
	3	Heights	Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa
	4	Castle	Piranha Plant, Podoboo, Firebar, False Bowser (Spiny)
World 5	1	Ground	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Bullet Bill
	2	Ground/Underwater (secret)	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle, Bullet Bill, Hammer Bro. (Bloober, Cheep-Cheep)
	3	Heights	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Bullet Bill
	4	Castle	Podoboo, Firebar, False Bowser (Lakitu)
World 6	1	Ground	Piranha Plant, Lakitu, Spiny
	2	Ground/Underwater (secret)	Goomba, Koopa Troopa,Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle (Bloober, Cheep-Cheep)
	3	Heights	Bullet Bill
	4	Castle	Podoboo, Firebar, False Bowser (Bloober)
World 7	1	Ground	Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle, Hammer Bro., Bullet Bill
	2	Underwater	Bloober, Cheep-Cheep, Piranha Plant
	3	Seaside	Jumping Cheep-Cheep, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa
	4	Castle	Podoboo, Firebar, False Bowser (Hammer Bro)
World 8	1	Ground	Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle
	2	Ground	Goomba, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Buzzy Beetle, Lakitu, Spiny, Bullet Bill
	3	Near the castle	Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Bullet Bill, Hammer Bro.
	4	Castle/Underwater	Goomba, Koopa Paratroopa, Piranha Plant, Firebar, Podoboo, Buzzy Beetle, Hammer Bro., Bloober, Cheep-Cheep, Bowser

Glitches

Main article: List of Super Mario Bros. glitches

Beta elements

Main article: List of Super Mario Bros. beta elements

Development

Super Mario Bros. was developed at the same time as The Legend of Zelda, both games by Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuke, Toshihiko Nakago, Koji Kondo, the composer, Kazuaki Morita and Yasunari Nishida, two programmers, and Hiroshi Yamauchi, the executive producer.

According to the developers, some aspects in Super Mario Bros. were taken from The Legend of Zelda. One example is Firebars, as they were present in the castles in The Legend of Zelda. Firebars were implemented into Super Mario Bros. as an obstacle.

The main goal of Super Mario Bros. was to have a character travel through many lands with all different themes to each other and it would feature a diverse terrain, such as land, water, and sky. They intended for the main character to be twice the size of the final one.

In the beginning of developing the game, Mario wasn't supposed to be a playable character from the start. Instead, the players would have to control a 16 X 32 pixel square. The square couldn't even jump and as a result, Tezuka made Mario the playable character instead of the square.

Nakago and his team, Systems Research and Development (SRD), colored the background blue in some levels. This was unusual, because video games released during this time period usually had a black background, to avoid eye-strain and to avoid getting distracted by the bright colors. After coloring the background blue in some levels, Nakago then started designing maps for this game. First, Miyamoto and Tezuka would draw the levels on paper, and then Nakago and his team would design it into the video game and program it. Miyamoto wanted levels to last about a minute long and he told SRD to do so. He then realized that it usually takes about a second to travel across a screen, and that numerous of screens would have been implemented in one stage. SRD first thought that Miyamoto would request the them to make 60 screens per stage, but Miyamoto then explained that obstacles in each screen would slow down the player's progress, which resulted in an average of about 12 screens per level. The stage with the most screens has only 32, which is about half of what SRD has expected.

Nakago stated that a lot of documents were sent to them everyday to change some aspects of stages. Adjusting conditions in the stage was a tiresome job that is not present today because of the technology back then. Everyday, the group would do all they can do stated in the documents and until 10 at night, they would be done. By the next morning, they repeated the process.

Legacy

Reception

Super Mario Bros. received favorable reviews and considered one of the best games of all time. One of the most-praised aspects of the game is the precise controls in which players are able to control how far and high the characters jump and how fast they can run. The game popularized side scrolling video games, and the game received several sequels, followed by spin-offs, and many different ports and alternative versions. All characters, enemies and items found throughout the game have returned for following Mario games and the plot of Bowser kidnapping the princess has returned throughout the series.

It ranked the first spot in Electronic Gaming Monthly's "Greatest 200 Games of Their Time", named in IGN's top 100 games of all time lists in 2005 and 2007, and declared the second-best Mario game of all time. Super Mario Bros. has sold 40.24 million copies, being the best-selling Mario game and the second best-selling game of all time. It has received several other works such as a TV series based off it and movie.

References in later games

• Super Mario Bros. Special- A sequel created by Hudson.
• Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels- A direct sequel to Super Mario Bros. using many of the same sounds and sprites.
• Super Mario Bros. 3- Bowser returns along with the rest of the Koopa Troop.
• All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.- Many levels from Super Mario Bros. return.
• Vs. Super Mario Bros.- This is a harder version of Super Mario Bros. for arcades.
• 2-in-1 Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt- A re-release of the game which was bundled with the NES console in the NES Action Set. As the name suggests, the game was in a cartridge that also includes the Zapper Light Gun game, Duck Hunt.
• 3-in-1 Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt/World Class Track Meet- Same as 2-in-1 Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt, but as the title suggests, the cartridge also includes the game, World Class Track Meet. This bundle also includes the NES Power Pad that World Class Track Meet utilizes.
• Super Mario Bros. 2- The American sequel to this game. Mushrooms, Starmen, and Koopa Shells appear
• Super Mario Land- Mario's sprite in this game is near identical as in Super Mario Bros. and gameplay is also near identical.
• Alleyway- Several sprites from Super Mario Bros appear in bonus levels.
• New Super Mario Bros.- Many things from Super Mario Bros. return here, such as- Flagpoles, Warp Zones (in the form of cannons) and also a picture from Super Mario Bros. is an unlockable background.
• Super Mario 64- Outside the Warp Pipe which leads to the final boss, carved into pillars are what look like sprites of Mario and Bowser from this game.
• Super Mario Sunshine - A castle level is seen when Mario first met F.L.U.D.D.
• Tetris DS - The first 6 levels was Stage 1-1 and 1-2 and 10 was a Bowser Castle fight.
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl- The stage Mushroomy Kingdom is based on worlds 1-1 and 1-2 of this game.
• Super Paper Mario - The sprites of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser appear around said character when they collect the Pill Pals, plus, when any character (including a Koopa Troopa) grabs a Mega Star, they turn into a huge version of their SMB1 Sprites. (Mario and Luigi are their small forms in both.)
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii - The second level of Coin Battle World looks exactly like 1-1 from Super Mario Bros.
• Super Mario 3D Land - Mario's sprite from this game is used as the marker of where Mario is in a world. Mario also hums the main theme in the cutscene between worlds 5 and 6. False Bowsers also return.
• Mario Kart 7 - Piranha Plant Pipeway is heavily based on the underground levels of this game.
• New Super Mario Bros. 2 - The first course in Coin Rush's Gold Classics Pack is based off World 1-1 and World 1-2. Also the last course is based off of Bowser's Castle.
• New Super Luigi U - Various sprites of Luigi are reused as hidden Luigis.
• Mario & Luigi: Dream Team - The theme heard when there is a tutorial is a remix of the overworld theme.
• Super Mario 3D World - Mario's sprite from this game is seen on the saving screen. Luigi's sprite can be spotted in some levels and on the button to enter the Luigi Bros. game.
• NES Remix - Super Mario Bros. is a game remixed in this game.
• Mario Party: Island Tour - The theme is heard in the minigames Xylophone Home and Goomba Tower Takedown is the overworld theme.
• NES Remix 2 - A port to the game titled Super Luigi Bros. is where the player controls Luigi, and all the levels are mirrored.
• Super Mario Maker - One of the game's themes is based on this game.
• Super Mario Odyssey - Mario can access 8-bit pipes and access sections where he transforms into his look from this game. Aditionally, all enemies found in these area take on their looks from this game.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - One of the game's themes is based on this game.

Alternate versions and re-releases

3-in-1 Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt/World Class Track Meet

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• 1985 - Original release (US/Japan)
• 1986 - Ported into the American arcade machine, the Nintendo PlayChoice-10.
• 1986 - Re-released on the Famicom Disk System in Japan.
• 1986 - Game & Watch title.
• 1986 - Released in arcades as VS Super Mario Bros.
• 1988 - Re-released on the NES in the US as part of the 2-in-1 Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt compilation, packaged with the NES Action Set.
• 1990 - Re-released on the NES in the US as part of the 3-in-1 Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt/World Class Track Meet compilation, packaged with the NES Power Set.
• 1993 - Remake available on the SNES as part of the Super Mario All-Stars compilation (known as Super Mario Collection in Japan). Graphics and sound were updated, and many glitches were removed.
• 1994 - Remake available on the SNES in the US as part of the Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World compilation, packaged with the SNES Mario Set.
• 1998 - Remake released on the Game Boy Color as Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. The game featured the original game's graphics but loads of additional content.
• 2001 - The original game is available as an unlockable NES game in Animal Crossing. Unfortunately, it can currently only be unlocked using an Action Replay cheat.
• 2004 - The original game was re-released on the Game Boy Advance as part of the NES Classics / Famicom Mini collection, celebrating 20 years of the Famicom in Japan.
• 2006 - Available on the Wii as part of the Virtual Console.
• 2008 - Available in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a playable demo.
• 2010 - Remake available on the SNES in the US as part of the Super Mario All-Stars - Limited Edition compilation.
• 2011 - Available on the Nintendo 3DS as part of the Virtual Console.
• 2012 - Available on the Wii U as part of the Virtual Console.
• 2013 - Challenges based on the game are included in NES Remix.
• 2020 - One of the games part of Game & Watch Super Mario Bros.

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Super Mario Bros./gallery

• 

  Artwork used for the Japanese box art, depicting most characters

• 

  Title screen

• 

  Mario running

• 

  Princess Toadstool

• 

  Toad

• 

  Bowser

• 

  Goomba

• 

  Buzzy Beetle

• 

  Spiny

• 

  Piranha Plant

• 

  Bullet Bill

• 

  Fire Flower

• 

  Starman

Trivia

This trivia section is overly long. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections and articles.

• The Super Mario Bros. Deluxe manual and the the Virtual Console page of this game state that Koopas used black magic to aid their conquest of the Mushroom Kingdom, though the only other occurrences of this is by the Koopalings in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Bowser in Paper Mario (with the aid of the Star Rod) and in Mario Party.
• The game was placed 14th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997.
• This game was originally supposed to be updated and packaged with Super Mario Advance, which would mean its sequels would have had the same side game.
• Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 had Classic World 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, and 2-2. Only World 1-1 was released outside Japan.
• The Super Mario Bros. Stamps set was released in Japan at the end of May, 2007. The stamps feature sprites of characters and items from this game.
• If the player manages to get 129 or more lives, they will receive an instant Game Over should they die again. The game somehow interprets this as the player having a negative amount of lives; this is likely due to data overflow.
• In order to differentiate the Goomba from the Super Mushroom to new players, and teach them that Super Mushrooms were a positive thing in the game, the developers designed the very first portion of World 1-1 so the player would stomp the incoming "menacing" Goomba instinctively and later reveal the Super Mushroom inside the ? Block. Since the Super Mushroom resembles the Goomba, the player would think it is another enemy and so jumps over it again to stomp it. Doing this leads to the transformation from Small Mario to Super Mario.