19

SUPER MARIO BROS. (1985): HOW HIGH CAN JUMPMAN GET?

Mario. This mustachioed Italian plumber from Super Mario Bros., a 1985 run-and-jump platform game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), is one of the most recognizable videogame characters of all time. Indeed, his fame is rivaled only by Pac-Man. His humble, even comical image is the face of Nintendo and the unlikely hero of generations of American and Japanese videogamers. If any videogame character is truly worthy of the epithet “super,” it's Mario.

Screenshot from the famous World 1-1 in Super Mario Bros.

Mario made his debut in the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong, in which he was known only as Jumpman. Nintendo of Japan had begun exporting coin-operated videogames to the United States approximately one year earlier, in December 1980. Their venture got off to a rocky start with flops like Radar Scope, which interested Americans about as much as shrimp-flavored breakfast cereal. To prevent the company from sinking, Nintendo's president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, decided to repurpose the Radar Scope machines, selecting game designer Shigeru Miyamoto¹ for the task. After the company failed to obtain the license to develop a game based on the popular Popeye comic strip,² it decided to create its own characters. The end result was Donkey Kong, one of the hottest arcade games of the 1980s.

Screenshot from the arcade version of Donkey Kong.

The Donkey Kong franchise earned Nintendo over $280 million by 1983,³ and encouraged them to develop other arcade hits like Mario Bros. (1983), a spin-off of Donkey Kong. It also gave them the capital to enter the home console business, starting with the Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom) in Asia, later modified and introduced in the United States as the NES. The success of the NES and Super Mario Bros., which has sold over 40 million copies worldwide,⁴ are credited with resurrecting the moribund videogame market after The Great Videogame Crash of 1984 (see Chapter 13, “Pac-Man (1980): Japanese Gumption, American Consumption”). Super Mario Bros. played a decisive role not only in the revival of the console market, but in the expansion of the videogame industry as a whole.

Mario, the star of Super Mario Bros., is a short and stocky Italian plumber who resides in the Mushroom Kingdom. His appearance had not changed much from his Jumpman days. He still had his prominent mustache and characteristic cap and overalls. These features, incidentally, were largely dictated by the limitations of the era's hardware and software; the mustache, for instance, was easier to represent than a mouth. Nevertheless, the image was endearing and accessible, and what Mario lacked in heroics he made up for with charm. He is a kind-hearted soul, always willing to help those in need (except in Donkey Kong Junior, the only game in which he is portrayed as a villain).

Mario's goal in Super Mario Bros. was once again to save a damsel in distress from an anthropomorphic creature. In Donkey Kong, Jumpman/Mario is a carpenter on a quest to save his girlfriend from his peeved pet ape, whereas in Super Mario Bros., he is on an epic adventure to save Princess Toadstool (also known as Princess Peach) from the evil Bowser, a turtle-like creature who is king of the Koopas. In his quest, Mario encounters a series of enemies and obstacles, some of which had been previously introduced in Mario Bros. The most notable of these are the Koopa Troopas, which closely resemble the earlier game's Shellcreepers.

Screenshot from the Mario Bros. arcade game.

Super Mario Bros. can be played in one- or two-player mode, with players taking turns and advancing through each world independently. Player 1 is Mario and player 2 is Luigi, who was first introduced in Mario Bros. and is Mario's doppelganger in white overalls. The game consists of eight worlds, each of which has four subworlds. At the end of each world, Mario must defeat one of Bowser's henchmen. Along the way, Mario (or Luigi) collects coins, magic and “1-up” mushrooms, fire flowers, and star men. Once 100 coins are collected or a 1-up mushroom is consumed, an extra life is awarded. Magic mushrooms cause Mario to grow in stature, becoming Super Mario, and allow him to take a hit from an enemy without dying, though afterwards he returns to his regular size. Fire flowers turn Mario into Super Mario and also allow him to spit fireballs at enemies; star men provide temporary invincibility, acting much like power pellets in Pac-Man. The mission is to complete each board before the allotted time runs out. Otherwise, Mario loses a life and must restart the board at the beginning—or at roughly the midpoint, if the invisible checkpoint had been reached. Despite the time limit, there is still plenty of opportunity for exploration. There are subterranean worlds, which can be accessed through select pipes. These are generally self-contained areas that offer coin rewards. There are also sky worlds, which are accessed through vines that grow when certain blocks are nudged. These worlds tend to be larger and offer coin rewards or access to warp zones, which allow Mario to advance to other worlds. Besides defeating enemies, Mario must navigate his way over and under obstacles. Getting sucked into a “whirlpool” (bottom of the screen in a water world) or falling into a pit or into lava will result in instant death.

Super Mario Bros. came bundled with the NES and remained one of the best games ever made for the system throughout the platform's long shelf life. Although Nintendo had to make amends of sorts for the sins of others at retail for The Great Videogame Crash by promoting their system more as an electronic toy⁵ than a console—explaining the inclusion of the basically useless Robotic Operating Buddy (R.O.B.) robot and avoiding the term “videogame” on packaging and promotional materials—Super Mario Bros. left no doubt in consumers’ minds what the system was all about. The gameplay was superb, which is why the formula continues to be popular today, as demonstrated by the release of games like 2006’s New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS. The controls in Super Mario Bros. are straightforward and intuitive.

Surprisingly, maze-game maestro Pac-Man starred in one of the first side-scrolling platformers, Pac-Land, in 1984. Original arcade version shown.

Unlike the previous generation of game consoles, which relied on joysticks for movement, the NES shipped with the now-common game pads. The NES controllers had a directional pad (d-pad) and A and B buttons. Each button had a main function and a secondary function, depending on the environment or status of the character. Players advanced left or right by pressing accordingly on the controller's d-pad, though the screen only scrolls to the right, preventing backtracking. Pressing down allows Mario to crouch or access hidden worlds in pipes. Pressing up is used to float up in a water world or to climb vines. The A button is the jump button and also allows Mario to stay afloat in an aquatic environment if pressed repeatedly. The B button allows Mario to accelerate and to shoot fireballs at his enemies, provided that he is fiery Mario. Usage of the buttons is flexible; the longer the A button is held down, the higher Mario will jump, and the extent to which the B button is held down determines the pace at which Mario walks or runs. Although the new controllers were arguably easier to manipulate than joysticks, some gamers complained of “numb thumb” and even bought items of dubious value like special gloves to deal with the problem.

Besides its intuitive controls, Super Mario Bros. boasts superb physics. Objects interact with each other consistently and in a convincing manner. Also, each category of enemy has specific mechanics and requirements for being defeated. Piranha plants can only be eliminated with fireballs. Goomba mushrooms, the weakest of all enemies, can be jumped on. Turtle Koopas require a two-step process (unless they are hit with a fireball), and Mario must first render them vulnerable to attack.

This two-step attack concept was introduced in Mario Bros. by jumping under a floor with an enemy on top of it or with use of the “POW” block. Hitting this block, like hitting the floor from under them, would cause enemies to flip on their backs, allowing Mario or Luigi to dispose of them upon direct contact. In Super Mario Bros., Mario is not powerful enough to destroy blocks unless he is Super Mario, but he is able to nudge them. If an enemy happens to be on the block that is nudged, it may be disposed of (such as the Hammer Brothers) or it may simply change the direction the enemy advances (for example, Goombas); however, Super Mario will destroy blocks on contact along with any enemy on it. Any enemies that can be defeated by being jumped on must be attacked from above. If Mario or Super Mario hits the enemy from the side or brushes against them, he takes a hit.

Screenshot from the arcade version of Williams Electronics’ Joust (1982), which was perhaps the first time the play mechanic of being higher than your enemy to overcome them was introduced, a key concept when jumping on enemies in Super Mario Bros.

Besides avoiding or defeating enemies, players must master timing to successfully complete various running and jumping feats, such as advancing between moving platforms or those that straddle seemingly insuperable chasms. This gameplay is reminiscent of Pitfall!, a classic platformer published in 1982 for the Atari 2600 VCS by Activision. In this multiscreen, nonscrolling game, Pitfall Harry must navigate a series of jungle obstacles to recover 32 treasures within a 20-minute period. To accomplish this, players must master various timing feats. Unlike Super Mario Bros., there are no enemies to kill, so they must be avoided altogether or landed on in a spot where they are innocuous (e.g., the very tops of the crocodile heads). The jumping mechanics in Pitfall! are not as refined as they are in Super Mario Bros. In some cases, even when it appears an enemy has been avoided successfully, a hit is taken, leading to frustration. In Donkey Kong, Mario also had very limited jumping abilities; thus, what distinguishes Super Mario Bros. from other platformers is a very precise but flexible jumping mechanic that feels just right.

Pitfall! (above) was one of the first platformers, but did not scroll; as Harry passed through a screen edge, a new scene would appear. Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (1984), left, like the later Super Mario Bros. 3, would have extra hardware in the cartridge to give additional technical capabilities to its home platform and was an amazing technical achievement on the Atari 2600 VCS.

It is clear that a lot of thought went into the level designs in Super Mario Bros. Enemies and obstacles are placed so that the player is progressively challenged, unlike many other side-scrollers, which are notoriously difficult from the outset—Mega Man (Capcom, 1987; NES) comes to mind. Another element that adds to the appeal of Super Mario Bros. is that it can be played multiple ways. One can play it as an epic adventure, with the goal of racking up as many points as possible and collecting as much as possible in each world, or as a time trial by racing to the finish as quickly as possible.⁶

Screenshot from Super Mario Bros. 2 from the Super Nintendo's Super Mario All-Stars compilation.

Super Mario Bros. 2—which was released in North America in 1988, in Japan in 1989, and in Europe in 1992—was not a direct sequel to Super Mario Bros., but was actually a conversion of a Japanese game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (1987). The Japanese market, however, had received a true sequel to the game three years earlier in 1986, which was released to the U.S. market in 1993 as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels as part of the Super Mario All-Stars compilation for the Super Nintendo (SNES). The reason that this version had not been initially released as the real sequel in the U.S. market was that it had been deemed too difficult by some Nintendo of America employees.

Screenshot from Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels from the Super Nintendo's Super Mario All-Stars compilation.

The premise of the converted Super Mario Bros. 2 game is actually a radical departure from Super Mario Bros. and 1990’s Super Mario Bros. 3. In this game, Mario dreams of a kingdom called Subcon, which has been cursed by a character called Wart, and Mario is asked to return this kingdom to its “natural state.” When he wakes up, he talks to the Princess, Toad, and Luigi about it, and they decide to go on a picnic, only to discover the world Mario dreamed about is real.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is a one-player game in which players can alternate playing as Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Peach, each of which has different abilities (i.e., speeds) and jumping mechanics. Mario has average jumping power, which decreases slightly upon lifting an object. Luigi can jump higher and farther than Mario, but he is slow and his power is decreased more than Mario's when he carries an item. Toad has the least jumping power with very short jumps, but he is the quickest character and his abilities are not diminished when carrying objects. The Princess is the weakest character and third in jumping power, but she can float in the air for roughly 1.5 seconds if the A button is held down. Players can also increase their character's jumping capacity by pressing down on the d-pad while pressing the A button. Once the character flashes, he or she will be able to jump 1.5 times higher than usual. Super Mario Bros. 2 was one of the few Mario games in which the objective was not to rescue Princess Peach; in fact she could be the hero. However, once the game is finished and Wart is defeated, we find Mario still sleeping, demonstrating this was in fact all a dream (which, as many angry Dallas fans know, is often a frustrating resolution).

Super Mario Bros. 2 introduced a menagerie of unusual and quirky characters, mainly because these characters were repurposed from Doki Doki Panic; however, many of these would appear in subsequent Mario games. The most notable of these is Ostro, also known as Birdo. This sweet character from Subcon is Nintendo's first full-fledged transsexual, and one would not know it except through the description in the first-edition game manual: “He thinks he is a girl and he spits eggs from his mouth. He'd rather be called Birdetta.” Interestingly, subsequent edition manuals omitted the second line, and when he reappears in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64 and subsequent games, there is no mention of the fact that she was ever a “he.” In fact there is affectionate interaction between Birdo and Yoshi, the dinosaurlike creature who first appears in 1991’s Super Mario World.

Players defeat enemies by throwing vegetables at them, which must first be plucked from the ground. Enemies can't be stomped on, but certain ones can be picked up and thrown at others. To defeat Birdo, one must capture his eggs and throw them back at him. Super Mario Bros. 2 is the first Mario game to feature a life meter. The player starts the game with three lives and a total of two units on the life meter, which can be increased to a total of four units, allowing four hits to be taken before death. As in Super Mario Bros., however, falling into a chasm will result in instant death. This is also the first Mario game to use doors, including those requiring keys, as a means of entering other rooms and secret worlds. If a player uproots a magic potion from the ground and throws it down, a door to “Sub-space” will appear. If the player enters the door, he or she will find a nonscrolling world that is an unlit duplicate of the current screen sans the enemies. In this world, the music becomes the iconic Super Mario Bros. theme song and coins are uprooted instead of vegetables. If the magic potion had been used in just the right spot, a life-meter-increasing mushroom will appear. Unlike its predecessor, this game does not have a time limit and players can backtrack. Players may also uproot a stopwatch, which will suspend enemies in time for a certain period. It also introduced the “minigame” to the Mario franchise through the bonus slot machine game, through which a player can win more lives (up to a maximum of five if they get three cherries). There are a total of seven worlds with a combined 20 levels. As with Super Mario Bros., there are warp zones, allowing players to skip worlds, though these are accessed only through select vases. Some of these vases are inhabited by cobras, reminiscent of piranha plants in Super Mario Bros.

Screenshot from Super Mario Bros. 3 from the Super Nintendo's Super Mario All-Stars compilation.

Although Super Mario Bros. 2 was radically different from its predecessor and is sometimes referred to as the “black sheep” of the series, it was still very successful. The game sold more than 10 million copies on the NES, making it the third highest grossing game on the system. The second highest selling game was Super Mario Bros. 3 at more than 18 million copies.⁷ This game was released in 1990 and hailed by some as the best Mario game of all time. Nintendo Power ranked it sixth in their list of the 200 Greatest Nintendo Games and it also made GameSpot's list of “The Greatest Games of All Time.”⁸ Stanford University History of Science and Technology released a list of the 10 Most Influential Games of All Time. Several industry insiders were consulted, each of whom picked some games. Christopher Grant, the editor of Joystiq.com, was one consultant, and when asked why he selected Super Mario Bros. 3, he said that the game was important for its nonlinear play, a mainstay of contemporary games, and new features like the ability to move both backward and forward (scroll left, as well as right). For many, what makes the game so appealing is that it stuck to the formula that made Super Mario Bros. so enjoyable, but improved upon this by adding an even better soundtrack and many exciting new features, such as more minigames and hidden items, an overview map outlining the levels in each world, and a two-player mode that allows players to take turns clearing levels or to compete against each other.

The antagonist in this game is once again Bowser, who has sent his seven children (known collectively as the Koopalings) out to disrupt the kingdoms that make up the Mushroom World. They have stolen the royal magic wands of each kingdom and turned the kings into animals. Mario and/or Luigi must recover the wands and return the kings to their true forms. There is a king to be saved at the end of each level; however, as with other Mario games, players can advance to distant kingdoms by using magic whistles. Once played, these whistles will bring forth a tornado, which transports Mario or Luigi to a distant world. This warping technique had been introduced previously in The Legend of Zelda (see Chapter 21, “ The Legend of Zelda (1986): Rescuing Zeldas and Uniting Triforces”), and even the tune of this warp whistle is the same as the one that transports Link in Zelda.⁹ The musical references in Super Mario Bros. 3 also manifest in the names and likenesses of the Koopalings. Morton Koopa Jr., for instance, is named after the late controversial talk show host, Morton Downey Jr., but also has the trademark makeup of guitarist Paul Stanley from rock group KISS. The only female Koopaling is Wendy O. Koopa, and she is named after punk singer Wendy O. Williams. Larry Koopa is the only Koopaling for which the musical reference, if there is any, is unclear.

Super Mario Bros. 3 brings back many familiar enemies, including Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Piranha Plants, but with a twist. For instance, in addition to there being the usual walking Goombas, there are now Para-Goombas, which fly and unleash micro-Goombas that attack Mario by clinging to him. The familiar staples in Mario's arsenal from Super Mario Bros. are there, including the magic/super mushrooms, fire flowers, and star men. Additional powerups include the frog suit, which increases his swimming abilities, as well as super leaves, which change Mario into Raccoon Mario. This powerup allows Mario to use his tail to attack enemies and to fly short distances. If Mario uncovers the incredibly rare Tanooki suit, he appears in full Raccoon regalia and is granted the same abilities as with the super leaf, but he can now also turn to stone to defeat enemies.¹⁰ Other useful items include a magic wing, a music box, a hammer, and a cloud. These items allow Mario to fly, put enemies to sleep, break through rocks on the map scene, and bypass an action scene, respectively. Powerups can be stored in an item box, which is accessible on the world map. At the end of most levels is a goal, which has three cards flashing in it—mushroom, flower, and star. Once Mario jumps to hit the goal, a card is gained. If three cards are eventually obtained, an extra life is granted. If three cards of the same type are acquired, even more lives are granted (two lives for three mushrooms, three lives for three flowers, and five lives for three stars). In two-player battle mode, Mario or Luigi are opponents and can steal these cards from each other or get rid of the ones that they do not want. Once the level goal is hit, any enemies on the screen will be turned into coins and a bonus will be added to the player's score, depending on how much time is left on the clock.

The game features several types of minigames, some of which appear on the map board. One is a spade panel, which is a slot-machine-type game in which the object is to line up the mushroom, flower, and star pictures. Lives are granted based on which pictures are aligned, and star again ranks highest in the hierarchy. There is also an N-mark spade panel, which is a memory-type card matching game. If two matching cards are uncovered, that item is obtained. The player is allowed to continue matching cards until there are two misses or all nine items are acquired. Another way to obtain booty is by visiting Toad's house, where Mario can select one of three treasure chests to open. The game also includes a true minigame, which is actually a version of Mario Bros. Players can access this minigame by entering two-player mode and selecting the other player's resting square on the world map. The player wins if he or she defeats five enemies or the opponent gets hit by an enemy.

Before we continue our discussion of the Mario series, you may be wondering how the competition responded to Nintendo's plat-forming masterpieces. The short answer is: not particularly well. Starting in 1986, Sega had the Alex Kidd and Wonder Boy series for their Sega Master System, but neither platformer had particularly broad appeal. Atari had three consoles out at the time—the VCS, XEGS, and 7800—but managed only the visually flat and late to the party Scrapyard Dog (1990) for the latter. NEC first tried on their TurboGrafx-16 console with the pack-in of Keith Courage in Alpha Zones (1989), which was an audiovisually rich action adventure platformer, but proved to be little fun. NEC then came back with the much more successful Bonk's Adventure (1990), starring a fun cartoon caveman, Bonk, who would go on to star in several additional games and represented the platform admirably, but could do little to improve sales in the United States.¹¹ In fact, it wouldn't be until 1991 that Mario met his match: Sonic the Hedgehog, for Sega's fledgling Genesis console.

Screenshot from Bonk's Revenge (1991) for the NEC TurboGrafx-16.

Although Sonic the Hedgehog became known for the cheeky attitude of its main character—for instance, Sonic would famously tap his foot in impatient frustration if the player took too long to move—it was the game's speed that really differentiated it from the competition. Whereas a game like Super Mario Bros. 3 encouraged careful exploration, Sonic the Hedgehog encouraged running through its levels as quickly as possible, which was often the only way to make it through the loops to get the highest rings. With springboards and other high-speed launching devices, there was no shortage of encouragement to feed a player's need for speed. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was released the following year and sold even better than the best-selling first game, both of which separately came as pack-ins for a time with the system.¹² Like the Mario series, Sonic would see countless spin-offs, off-shoots, and clones, and would become a worldwide media icon himself.

In the same year as Sonic's first appearance, Super Mario World was released for the SNES, which once again Nintendo had bundled with a surefire hit. Mario and Luigi are back on a quest to save the Princess from the Bowser, who captured her while the brothers were relaxing in a magical world called Dinosaur Land. During their search for the Princess, Mario and Luigi find a sealed egg, from which a dinosaur named Yoshi hatches. Yoshi tells the brothers that he and his pals were sealed in the eggs by evil turtles and proceeds to give them a magic cape. This starts the journey across seven worlds and two secret worlds, with a cumulative of 72 levels. In the game, Mario is able to pick up and throw items or place them down gently. In addition to super mushrooms and fire flowers, there are now cape feathers, which allow Mario to fly with a cape. When enemies are hit with a fire ball from fiery Mario, they turn into coins instead of being knocked off the screen. In the game, Mario is also able to ride the Yoshis. These come in various types and each has unique abilities; however, they all are able to eat enemies. If Mario finds a little Yoshi, he must feed it five enemies so that it becomes a big Yoshi. Most levels have one exit, but some have two, with the second being hidden.

Screenshots from Sonic the Hedgehog (top) and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (bottom), both for the Sega Genesis.

Screenshot from Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo.

Super Mario World introduced many firsts to the Mario series. It was the first to allow players to exit a level without dying or having to complete it; however, this feature is activated only when replaying the level after completing it. It was also the first to have a visible marker, or checkpoint, in the level, so if a player reached that marker before exiting the board or dying, upon returning to the board, they would pick up at that marker instead of having to restart the level. The marker also serves as a powerup if Mario did not reach it as Super Mario. Although all levels do not need to be played or explored to complete the game, this was one of the first games to reward gamers who did.

Because of the increased capabilities of the SNES, Super Mario World features a more modern 3D effect, which is partially achieved through the use of parallax scrolling as well as Mode 7-style rendering in select boss battles, most notably those between Morton, Ludwig, Roy, and Bowser. The first technique employs multiple layers, and by moving the background layer slower than the foreground layers, creates the illusion of depth. The second technique uses texture mapping that allows the background layer to be rotated and scaled, also contributing to a 3D effect. The colors throughout the game are very vibrant, making the graphics aesthetically pleasing.

Of course, Nintendo was not alone in offering innovations; Sega introduced several of their own in the Sonic series. Unlike with Nintendo's, these did not necessarily involve gameplay, but came in the forms of Sonic CD and Sonic & Knuckles. Sonic CD, which was released first for the Sega Genesis's Sega CD add-on in 1993, was really the only epic side-scrolling platformer ever put on such an expansive storage medium. The main innovation of Sonic CD was allowing Sonic to time travel to the same game zone in the past, present, or future, with player actions in one period affecting the outcome and appearance of another. Sonic & Knuckles, released on cartridge for the Sega Genesis in 1994, featured lock-on technology that enabled another cartridge to be plugged in via the game's top or pass-through socket. Sonic & Knuckles allows play through the same game levels as either of the titular characters, with ech having their own unique abilities to interact with the levels differently. While Sonic has the speed and a type of shield, Knuckles the echidna can climb walls, break through blocked entryways, and glide in the air. By inserting either the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or 3 cartridge in the Sonic & Knuckles pass-through socket, extra areas and features are unlocked in the earlier games, including the ability to play as Knuckles.

Screenshot from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island for the Super Nintendo.

Sonic, Sega's mascot, began the “animal with attitude” craze, of course, which Nintendo addressed in a way through the Mario franchise by introducing Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island in 1995. This was the first Mario game to allow Yoshi to be the main playable character. The premise is that baby Mario and Luigi are being delivered to their parents, when an evil Magikoopa intercepts the stork. He thinks he has captured both babies, only to find upon returning to his castle that he has only Luigi. Mario had fallen onto Yoshi's Island. The Yoshis decide that they will reunite Mario with his brother, using a relay system to do so, “not unlike the old pony express.” Throughout the game, Mario rides on Yoshi's back, while Yoshi is used to defeat enemies along the way, who were sent out to capture baby Mario. Yoshi can take a lot of damage, but if he is hit, Mario is knocked off his back and encapsulated in a bubble, initiating a countdown timer. Yoshi must recover Mario before time runs out, otherwise Mario is captured by the Koopas and a life is lost. Unlike Sonic, the Yoshis do not have much “attitude” and are very laid-back creatures, but they do offer some whimsical moves to defeat enemies. As in Super Mario World, they can swallow up enemies and spit them out, but they can also make an egg out of them. Much of the game involves the collection and use of eggs to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. At various points in the game, a metamorphosis bubble will appear, which allows Yoshi to become another transportation vehicle, including a helicopter, mole tank, race car, train, or submarine. During these sequences, baby Mario is left behind, and Yoshi must reach a Yoshi block within a specified period of time, otherwise he returns to the point at which he started. However, if he reaches that block, Mario is warped there and reunited with him. If a Super Star is obtained, baby Mario becomes playable and can inflict a lot of damage on enemies. He becomes much like Sonic, with his ability to dash and “climb” walls. The game features many mini battle games, such as balloon and watermelon-seed-spitting activities. There are also bonus challenge games, many of which are lottery- and casino-style.

As technological capabilities increased, the thirst for 3D gaming also increased. Few 2D platformers made a successful transition to 3D, but Mario did it with style in the 1996 release of Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64. Despite this success, there was still nostalgia for the 2D Mario platform games, leading to some interesting hybrids, most notably the Paper Mario series. Paper Mario was first released in 2001 for the Nintendo 64 and juxtaposed 2D character renderings with a 3D environment. The game is a role-playing platformer in which Mario is again on a quest to save the Princess from Bowser. The manner in which he progresses in this quest depends on how he interacts with the nonplayable characters. In 2007, Nintendo released Super Paper Mario for the Wii, which took the 2D/3D juxtaposition to the next level. To advance between levels, players must switch between 2D and 3D views to solve puzzles and pass obstacles. When switching from 2D into 3D, a “flip meter” appears and slowly starts decreasing. If a player is not cognizant of the time spent in this dimension, the meter will run empty, costing one health point. Although games in the Paper Mario series were well received and highly successful, the desire for traditional platformers did not cease. When New Super Mario Bros. was released on the Nintendo DS in 2006, it sold 500,000 copies in the first 35 days, or one copy every 20 minutes.¹³ This game was largely influenced by Super Mario Bros., but incorporated elements from other Mario games.

Photo of the Nintendo Game Boy's Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992), shown running on a Nintendo Game Boy Advance. Most Nintendo systems featured great Mario series platform games.

The Mario games introduced innumerable innovations to gaming, right through to games like 2008’s Braid for the Microsoft Xbox 360, which took significant influences from both Donkey Kong and the main Mario franchise. Braid's designer, Jonathan Blow, discussed his influences on Independent Gaming: “As far as games go, the main influence is Super Mario Bros, which is obvious as soon as you start playing.” Braid is a visually stunning platformer that requires the player to manipulate time to solve puzzles. The story is the timeless tale of a boy looking for a princess, but the narrative is cryptic and pieced together slowly much like a patchwork quilt.

The Mario series feature, some of the greatest videogames the world has ever seen, directly influencing at least two generations of games and gamers. They have remained popular and influential well beyond the technical shift from 2D to 3D. Mario games are platforming the way it should be, with no cut corners. The worlds are vibrant and alive and the critical jumping mechanics feel exactly right. Many games tried to follow in their footsteps with often-forced attempts at mascots, low-budget hacks, and the like, but none—save for Sonic—could get anywhere near that special Mario magic. To many, Super Mario Bros. is the quintessential videogame, and—based on the game's success and the amazing amount of reverence given to the series even today—who are we to argue? Besides his influence on countless other videogames, Mario has permeated other media as well, like film, adventure books, and comics. Nevertheless, videogames are still clearly his home turf. With old and new gamers alike adoring him, Jumpman will no doubt continue to reach new heights.

¹Responsible for many classics and three primary games in this book. Besides Super Mario Bros., he was also instrumental in the creation of The Legend of Zelda (Chapter 21, ” The Legend of Zelda (1986): Rescuing Zeldas and Uniting Triforces”) and Super Mario 64 (Chapter 18, “Super Mario 64/Tomb Raider (1996): The Third Dimension”).

²Something that Nintendo would rectify with the 1982 release of the popular single screen arcade platformer, Popeye.

³Based on adding figures from Steven Kent's book, The Ultimate History of Video Games (Three Rivers Press, 2001).

⁴http://gamers.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/nintendo.aspx.

⁵See http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/july03/25smartest/index22.shtml.

⁶Numerous videos on YouTube demonstrate how to defeat the game in a matter of minutes. Individuals have even raced each other by placing televisions side-by-side. The ability to race through the game is a feature that is maintained in Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3. Although this feat takes a little longer to accomplish in these games, it can be done in under 15 minutes.

⁷Nintendo Power , February 2006, pp. 58–66.

⁸See http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/.

⁹The tunes can be compared at http://themushroomkingdom.net/games/smb3. As Shigeru Miyamoto and Koji Kondo had worked on both games, this similarity was unsurprising.

¹⁰“Tanooki” refers to the Japanese term “tanuki,” which according to Japanese folklore are raccoon dogs. These mythical creatures are thought to be able to use leaves to shapeshift and cause chaos. Tanuki statues are found outside many temples and restaurants in Japan; thus, Mario or Luigi's added ability to turn into stone with the Tanooki suit is quite a clever play on the tanuki mythology.

¹¹The console was a big hit in its country of origin, Japan, as the PC Engine, but had poor sales elsewhere in comparison to Nintendo and Sega.

¹²According to Wikipedia [Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(video_game)]: “As of November 19, 2007, [Sonic the Hedgehog] has sold 4 million copies, the second-highest amount for a Genesis game, behind Sonic 2, which has sold 6 million copies.”

¹³http://www.gamespot.com/ds/action/supermariobrosds/news.html?sid=6153037.