Feature: Super Mario Bros & 25 Years Of Mario

Today, Monday 13th September, marks the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and in celebration of the occasion we will be running two special features here at IQGamer over two days. Yesterday we took a brief look at the defining NES gaming system, and today we look at Super Mario Bros and the Character himself.

It’s easy to blind you with stats about how successful Super Mario Bros and the Super Mario series of games has become. The character itself is one of the most famous and recognisable faces in the developed world, and his impact has been felt across more than one generation, as families open up their children’s lives into the world of videogames, and of course Mario. Indeed, the character is not only one of the worlds most enduring, now being far more popular, and dare I say more recognisable Mickey Mouse to the youth of today, but one which transcends boundaries of age, race, gender, and time. Everyone it seems loves, or knows about Mario.


The original Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System alone is the second biggest selling game of all time, with a whopping 40 million copies to its name – that’s like the equivalent to how many Xbox 360’s have been sold worldwide so far, only missing out on first place to Nintendo’s other global smash-hit, Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training on the Nintendo DS. What makes this feat more incredible is that it happened in the 1980’s, long before videogaming was a mainstream leisure activity, and the PlayStation a blink in Sony’s eye.

Some of the most familiar, iconic imagery, and recognisable sounds of today come from this 25-year-old videogame – a testament to the impact it had, and continues to have on the world. When you see children, teenagers, and fully grown adults sporting a Mario mushroom t-shirt, and your dad humming the first level theme tune to Super Mario Bros you know something extraordinary has happened. To put it bluntly, Mario the character, and Mario the game was, and continues to be a worldwide phenomenon.

Although these days his success is far more restrained - the brand has dissipated ever so slightly as more and more younger games are weaned on the likes of Call of Duty and Halo, rather than fun, family-friendly platform games. Still, the impact he had cannot be understated, and continues to be felt to this day.

The brainchild of one Shigeru Miyamoto, the original Super Mario Bros was a revolutionary step forward in game design. Pretty much most of the concepts that hold together traditional platform games can be traced back to this very one title. The use of power-ups, a scrolling playing field, secret pathways, and different environmental physics depending on whether the character was either underwater, on icy ground, or on normal solid, were all concepts that had never really been explored before - certainly not to the extent of Miyamoto’s classic. Hardware restrictions, development costs, along with the desire to keep game prices low held back these kind of forward-thinking ideas until the NES, and SMB delivered them in spades.


The basics of Super Mario Bros gameplay was simple. The title saw Mario progressing from the left to the right hand of the screen, collecting golden coins and jumping on the heads of any enemies, whilst also navigating a series of ever more tricky platforms and traps laid down in his path by the nefarious Bowser. It sounds pretty basic by today’s standard. Although back then there was nothing else remotely like it. Most platform games were either single-screened affairs, or featured a move from one screen to another, rather than the continuously flowing nature of Nintendo’s title.

SMB also had some extremely clever level design ideas that even a decade after its release, was still not being matched by its rivals. Warp pipes lead Mario into secret areas containing either more coins, or another power-up, and also acted as a quick level skip counteracting the lack of a battery-save option in the cartridge. The most familiar of these is contained in world 1-2, in which it is easily possible to break out above the confines of the normal stage design, avoiding most of its perils before leading you to a secret room featuring three warp pipes, each teleporting you to later worlds, congratulating ardent players skilled enough to discover this.

Moving platforms, rotating rows of fireballs, underwater sections, and icy whether conditions all changed how certain areas would play, thus not only increasing the game’s challenge as a result, but also providing players with a sense of wonderment and adventure not seen in other comparable, early 8bit platformers. All these things we now tend to take for granted, but back then all of this was revolutionary stuff, and was executed with exemplary precision.

The game also opened up the concept of having ‘power ups’ enhance the main character’s abilities, making him bigger, invincible, being able to shoot fireballs from his hands. But to be fair, there’s no need for any further explanation as most of you already know about the ‘Super Mushroom’ and Fire Flower’ power ups, the use of the Starman, the concept of hidden power-ups, and other such design ideas, many of which are still considered part of the basic blueprint for the 2D platformer.


Outside of the highly praised and revolutionary gameplay it was Koji Kondo’s memorable score which is perhaps one of the most recognisable pieces of music in today’s popular culture. Even people who have never played any of the game will often sight the tune as ‘ the theme from Super Mario’, something all the more apparent when you that the catchy, first level theme has been released in various forms from mobile phone ring tones, to being modified and used as an example of generic videogames music for TV advertisements.

The game’s iconic western boxart is also one of the most highly recognised in the world. The image of Mario, drawn in 8bit pixel art, and blown up onto the front cover of Super Mario Bros shows the quirky, simpler nature of early designs that often donned games outside of Japan. By contrast the artwork for the Japanese release is altogether more in-keeping with the rest of the series, featuring both Mario and Luigi, along with Bowser and his minions taking centre stage on the front cover.


A mock-up below shows us just what the North American and European releases of SMB would look like with the Japanese art replacing the familiar 8bit styled design most of us remember so vividly.


Super Mario Bros biggest success though came from the fact that the game was so incredibly simple to play, and controls being so much more responsive than other comparable titles released at the time. It was seemingly easy to pick up and play, but incredibly challenging in later stages, testing even the most ardent gamers to the limit. The game was always fair however, with that fine line between success or failure down to the player’s own swift reaction times and ability to read, and then take advantage of the situation.

I remember first getting a hold of the game with NES in 1988, and quite frankly it was like nothing else I had played. Sure, I had owned other single-screened platformers - even ones that saw you moving between different screens, but nothing as smooth or quite as polished, expertly designed as SMB. For the first time since the likes of Pong popularised gaming in the home on the Atari 2600 VCS, this was a giant leap forward, the next true evolution of the medium. Well, for platform games that is. Nintendo would continue to expand and perfect other gameplay concepts and ideas in future titles, like Metroid and Zelda, although some of the groundwork was laid down firmly here.

Going beyond the game itself, many of the imagery found in Nintendo’s worldwide smash has made its way into popular culture. T-shirts featuring the 1-up mushroom are commonplace; TV advertisements all too often shamelessly rip off the theme tune and ideas behind the series thus to represent gaming as a whole, whilst the mere use of blue, denim overalls screams Super Mario whenever an unlikely sole may be happening to wear them.


Mario’s biggest legacy by far however, is with the NES in helping to transform the videogames industry into what it has become today. It largely helped take an industry left on its last legs after the 1983 videogames crash, and revitalised it, perhaps driving it forward further than any other title had done in the years before. That’s not to discredit earlier successes by the company, or some of Atari’s, Ultimate’s or even Activision’s hits of the day, but SMB moved beyond those, forming many of the gaming concepts present in all 2D platform games today.

So far Mario has starred in games selling an excess of over 210 million units to date, and has constantly been the driving force behind reinventing what can be seen as possible in a videogame. With each subsequent sequel the series added multiple routes, gameplay incorporating advanced visual effects, the first real, fully 3D (in terms of both gameplay and graphics), interactive platform world, and the use of physics and gravity like never seen before, all of this combined with some quirky humour and some of the most finely-crafted gameplay mechanics to date.

To talk about everything that the Mario series has brought to the table would take all day, and several thousands words more than anyone would care to write in one week, let alone in a few hours. To keep it short, the original Super Mario Bros transformed the industry we loved forever, and the series has a whole has been constantly redefining itself, never afraid to change direction or push the boundaries into new areas. And amongst all this, the character himself, a once two-toned carpenter originally known as Jumpman, has become one of the largest entertainment properties worldwide.


It has been exactly twenty-five years today since the ‘worlds favourite videogame hero’ appeared in Super Mario Bros, released on the 13th September 1985 in Japan, and we, along with hopefully the entire industry, salute him, and those responsible for his creation. Hats off to Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Koji Kondo, everyone at the team at EAD, and of course Nintendo. Here’s to another 25 years of gaming magic.

Review: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)

The original Super Mario Galaxy was unquestionably my 2007 game of the year. With it’s magical atmosphere, delightful art styles, stunning graphics, and exemplary level design it was one of the best games to come out of Nintendo since the N64 days, and Super Mario 64 itself. This is made even more impressive as during the GameCube generation, with the exception of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Nintendo failed to create anything quite as captivating, or as awe-inspiringly beautiful as their N64 masterpiece.

SMG displayed the kind of wondrous personality and gameplay mastery associated with the company for the last twenty years or so, providing all who ventured into its grasp with some of the most refined and downright amazing platforming on any videogame system to date. It was to many, myself included, beyond just being a sequel to one of the best games of all time, firmly stamping its own mark into a genre long since forgotten amongst today’s mainstream gaming crowd.

The use of gravity as a gameplay mechanic, throwing players around from planet to planet; and the use of switching perspectives, 3D to 2D, and back again, brought forward deviously fresh gameplay which had never been seen before. Not quite like this, and all the more refreshing as a result. Huge bosses, unique level designs and challenges, new and old characters, all contributed even more to the experience. And that’s not even mentioning the whimsical nature of the affair, steeped in a lovingly polished goodness of visual beauty and orchestrated audio delights, quite possibly the closest thing to perfection in a long while.


This sequel in many respects is more of the same, partially streamlined to be more accessible, but more hardcore at the same time, without compromising on the style and gameplay foundations which worked so well the last time around. But it’s more than just a rehash of what has gone before, and the concepts established in the first Super Mario Galaxy. It’s an attempt to bringing together something fresh and altogether familiar at the same time.

At first glance SMG2 is undeniably similar to the last game. The intro sequence in particular being a 2D homage to the opening of the original SMG, with Bowser once again invading Princess Peach’s castle and stealing her away from Mario once more, thus yet again introducing us to the use of space travel and the need to collect those delightful golden stars. From this point on, the mechanics are pretty much identical to the last game, and the use of gravity, the combination of traversing across large and tiny planets are all so familiar. The difference is, that this sequel mixes it up far more than seen in the original SMG.

It’s a testament to the minds at Nintendo’s EAD team that they’ve managed to plunge so much originality in what could be seen as a rehashed, homage title of sorts. Calling it a rehash though, simply doesn’t do SMG2 any justice, as the game is brimming with brand new ideas, excitingly tough and imaginative levels, and perhaps the best orchestral score used in a Mario game to date. It is definitely in many ways a homage title though, more so than the last game.


SMG2 also expands upon the gravitational ideas and shifting perspectives introduced to us in the first game, whilst adding practically a new gameplay mechanic almost in every level. Nintendo have taken onboard what worked, and ditched perhaps what didn’t, or rather what did, but just not as well as it could have. At the same time they have also reduced the number of stages which favour Mario 64’s brand of exploration, instead focusing on obstacle course style level layouts. These stages have a definitive beginning, but the end sometimes feels out of place and strangely positioned into what appears to be the most challenging to reach area in the stage, whether it makes sense of not.

Despite this the game still manages to be an awesome experience through and through - just not quite as amazingly perfect as I would have liked - and this is further upheld up by the inclusion of cool new power-ups, and the return of an old friend from Super Mario World. The finely crafted orchestrated sound track, and magical nature of the game also plays a large part in this too, with the usual Nintendo touch being applied without restraint.


The first thing that you’ll notice has changed in SMG2 is the use of a hub world to serve as entry to one of many galaxies to be found in the game. Instead of featuring a large and expansive hub in which to both explore and to act as a gateway to new stages, you now have Starship Mario, and the return of a traditional map system. This new map system is very much like the ones found in both New Super Mario Bros and Super Mario 3. Levels are clearly marked in order along with the amount of stars possible to collect in each one, and the amount required to unlock the next stage. There are also branching pathways which lead to bonus levels or other normal stages.

The map can also be zoomed in and out, to show either individual galaxies, or simply the stages to be found in each one. It is a far more convenient way of displaying all of the game’s levels, which are now easier to find and keep track of, than to have to hunt around for them in the old hub world. Sadly the map system lacks some of the same charm and magical quality compared to SMG1’s ‘observatory’, although Starship Mario certainly does not.

Starship Mario itself is a smaller version of the hub found in the original SMB, complete with hidden areas, and a cool reproduction of one of the last game’s observatories, which acts as a museum of sorts for displaying power-ups found and artefacts uncovered on your journey. The Starship looks like Mario’s face, and you can run all around it, venturing into unlocked rooms and talking to the inhabitants that arrive at certain points throughout the game. Jumping on the pressure pad in front of the steering wheel (yes, a wheel) takes you to the game’s map screen, in which you browse through, and select your levels.


Outside of the new hub world and map system, most of the changes and improvements are contained within the gameplay itself. The biggest addition to SMG2 is the inclusion of Yoshi, who has been missing in action for far to long in a Mario game. He hasn’t changed much from his debut in Super Mario World on the Super NES, keeping both his tongue grabbing and hovering abilities at the forefront of what he’s all about.

Yoshi is only used in certain stages, most of which have a new mechanic, which uses him in different ways from just running around and doing the usual platform jumping. For example, some stages will require you to keep Yoshi fed with fruits enabling him to walk on otherwise invisible platforms. At other times eating a blue coloured fruit will see him puff up like a balloon and enable him to float up in the air to areas out of reach using the standard Mario/Yoshi combination. Likewise, the game will also test your basic tongue-lashing capabilities by having you swing from objects suspended high up in the air before reaching a specific location.


After Yoshi comes the use of brand new power-ups, including Cloud Mario, Rock Mario, and a funky looking drill that Mario can carry above his head (Drill Mario?). These are awesome, especially Rock Mario, which sees the little fellow take the form of a rocky boulder when waggling the Wii Remote, causing him roll around on screen at speed, much like Morpthball Samus in Metroid Prime.

Cloud Mario has the ability to create a few temporary platforms in which to stand on, allowing you to reach previously out of the way areas. Simply by jumping up and then waggling the Wii Remote creates one of three clouds for Mario to stand on. These clouds can be created in jet streams allowing Mario to glide across the sky, or just to gain a little extra height. After using up all three clouds it simply a case of grabbing another power-up to refill your supply, and away you go.

Like with Yoshi levels are all specifically designed to use these abilities, and in many cases new mechanics are presented for the player to learn and master. The range on offer is pretty incredible, with an almost constant barrage of new, or quirky things coming your way, all of which are done extremely well.


If there is one complaint about an otherwise near perfect experience, it’s that a lot of the levels are very linear in nature, and with little exploration to be had. You never really get to ‘know’ the levels like in Mario 64, or even parts of the first SMG. Instead the levels feel like a design homage to the likes of Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, or Super Mario World, created more in the way of testing your hardcore platforming skills rather than delivering the most intoxicating, and expansive Mario game yet.

However, the challenges set in nearly every world are as imaginative as the last, and a lot of effort has gone into making this one of the most inspired Mario titles yet. It also works beautifully as homage to the old 2D Mario titles, with redone orchestral music, and faithfully styled level designs. Approaching the sequel in this way, rather than putting it on a ten out of ten, revolutionary, and perfectionist pedestal, is perhaps the way to go.

And this is in itself the way that Nintendo views the game – as a hardcore instalment of the series designed for the most experienced, and dedicated Mario fans. In which case the game succeeds with flying colours, earning its Koopa wings, but maybe not in making it the ‘best’ Mario game of all time. Perhaps not quite as sublime as the first SMG either, though that will be debated for years, I’m sure.


Moving forward, there is plenty to do once you’ve finished the game. After getting 120 stars you unlock another 120 green stars to collect, taking the challenge up a notch, and giving you another chance to play through every level once again. Getting stars is only one part of the challenge though. Throughout every level is a hidden comet coin, and picking this up unlocks specific challenges in addition to the main task required to getting a star. So, for example you might have to do a timed run of a specific star challenge, or a race to the end of the stage.

Occasionally I thought that some of the challenges the game has to offer are just a little too frustrating, especially later on when the slightest mistake leads to a lost of life. In these situations it isn’t so much the level design or actual challenge itself that is the problem, but it’s these elements combined with what appears to be occasionally restrictive camera placement that impacts on the overall polished nature of the experience. It’s nothing overly bad, or even enough to tarnish the delights that Nintendo have managed to cram in here, but it does in my opinion make it less of an overall exemplary experience compared to the first game.

So, you could say that while this sequel does much to improve on the original, it doesn’t quite beat it outright, at best matching the original’s brilliance, and at worst not quite hitting the same highs. Either way, however you slice it, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is still one of the best games to be released in the last ten years or so, and well worth picking up, essentially so, even if it’s not as awe-inspiringly fantastical as SMG was.


Overall SMG2 does so much right. The inclusion of new characters and power-ups are suitably inspired as they are superb, as is the streamlined map system and the extra challenges that keep you going after finishing the game, not to mention the beautiful visuals on offer – Nintendo have really pushed the Wii in this regard, shiny and beautifully lit graphics all at a lavish 60fps. That said, this sequel isn’t quite as groundbreaking as the first game, and not quite as finely balanced either. However, you do have to appreciate the fact that Nintendo very rarely makes a Mario sequel, and in this case it’s one of the best they’ve ever made, minor issues aside.

Perhaps, at the end of the day that’s all that matters, because whilst Super Mario Galaxy 2 might not be as revolutionary as the first, it’s still full of imagination, atmosphere, and some of the most impressively creative level designs to date. Sure it can be frustrating at times, and the reduction in larger level exploration is mildly disappointing. But by the same token it is complete celebration of what gaming used to be about, not what it is about now, and with this in mind it is an undeniable success.

VERDICT: 9/10