Super Mario Bros Mania
The Super Mario Bros are part of video game royalty since their creation by Nintendo. When the first Nintendo came out in the mid-1980s, it was incredibly successful, but it actually took a while to catch up. Early Nintendo games didn’t really offer anything different than what was already on the market from game companies like Atari. It wasn’t until they released the ‘Super Mario Bros’ game that Nintendo really exploded onto the scene with their first hint system, and only then did they achieve iconic status in ’80s entertainment.
Recognizing what a huge success the first Super Mario Bros game was, Nintendo wisely decided to start including the game as part of the bundle when you purchased the system. It was a smart promotion and it certainly increased the sales of their game system. When I first got my Nintendo Entertainment System it came with the Super Mario Bros game and I was in video game heaven.
I was a big fan of the Atari 2600, but I was blown away by the superior sound and graphics Nintendo offered. More than the best graphics and sounds, the sheer size and scope of the Super Mario Bros. game was what really made Nintendo shine above the rest. Atari games had always lacked depth in layers, but the Super Mario Bros. game had it and then some.
Super Mario Bros games are still being produced today for modern Nintendo systems such as the ‘Gamecube’ and ‘N64’. There’s no question that Super Mario Bros are the nationally recognized standard bearers and symbols for Nintendo systems, and have likely done more to generate business for the Japan-based company than all of its other advertising efforts to date. Simply putting Super Mario Bros. in a game guarantees higher sales, it’s a great temptation. So it’s no wonder there are so many different takeoffs of Mario Bros games now.
One of my most recent favorite Super Mario Bros games is the Mario Kart series. The really cool thing about these games is that you can play against other players directly. You could play the original Super Mario Brothers games with more than one player, but not simultaneously, so you always waited for your friend to get killed before you could play. Mario Kart games are fun because you can play multiplayer and have fair fun while doing it and still stay friends.