It’s time to embark on another mystical marathon in the realm of video games. This is a video game icon that many people know. He’s going strong and going for his 30th anniversary soon and the name is Mario. We’ve already discussed Mario on a previous article written by me but let’s take a deeper look at his games. Basically Mario has a lot of games under his name some of them good and some of them were not so good. Regardless Mario’s name has already conquered the realm of video games and it’s impossible to see a world without him.
Let’s discuss first the original and first Mario game released in 1983 for arcades in Japan which was later ported to the Famicom and NES. The title was simply called Mario Bros. The game consisted of only 1 screen at the time and the setting was that of an underground sewage area. The area was filled with hazards like turtles and other enemies. The objective was simple and that was to annihilate all enemies in each level to clear it. The game could be played by two players but the simple game play and repetitive nature soon caught up.
Luckily in 1985 Nintendo released a game called Super Mario Bros. The game was a departure from the first Mario Bros. The game consists of more than one screen and was a 2D side scroller and platforming genre. Mario was still maintained with his image as a plumber and his brother Luigi from the first game came back. Technically Luigi was just a green and white palette swap of Mario but he had his own identity later on in the series as someone taller than Mario. Anyway the objective of the game is to save Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser. You venture into a numbered world with 4 different sections going from point A to point B to complete the level.
The last level is always a castle with Bowser as a boss only to find out that the princess is located in another one. There are 8 worlds to explore and they all have specific level designs and difficulties. The game play was very addicting and hard at the same time. It gave players a new thrill when it came to playing video games. The good thing about the Super Mario Bros. game is that it elevated 2D side scrolling games to a new height. Even to this day this game is referred to as the best 2D side scroller and platformer game to date. Then again the Mario series tends to innovate but with the 2 immediate sequels taking the genre even further but that’s for another time.
