History VideoGame / SuperMarioBros

* [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 The very first game in said franchise]], originally released for the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem.

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[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Super_Mario_Bros_title.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:''[[Level1MusicRepresents Doo Doot Doot Doo Doot Doot! Doop...]]'']]

->''THANK YOU MARIO!\\
[[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle BUT OUR PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE!]]''
-->--'''Toad'''

The first game in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series, and probably the game that singlehandedly kicked off the EightBitEra. After appearing in ''DonkeyKong'' and ''VideoGame/MarioBros'', the Mario brothers moved on to the game that set loads of standards. Not just for platform games, but just about any genre that used conventions established in this game.

The general story is that Bowser, the ornery King of the Koopas, has kidnapped the Princess and turned all of her subjects into [[ThrivingGhostTown background textures]]-- er, bricks and shrubbery. Mario, ever the gallant one, storms each of Bowser's castles looking for her. Unfortunately for Mario (and you), Bowser has more body doubles than Saddam Hussein, so it's long road ahead...

Really, the importance of this game can be easy to underestimate by today's standards. There simply weren't games like it. [[TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames "Golden Age" games]] were more simple, and had fallen out of favor in the US due to the TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983, and games on [=PCs=] were more complex, which meant they didn't have the accessibility or mass appeal.

This game hit that sweet spot in the middle. It was simple enough that it could attain mass appeal, yet it also exhibited enough depth to be stimulating for more devoted gamers. Some might dismiss its sales due to being bundled, but it was sold separately in Japan[[hottip:*:and in North America at first]], and was still a smash hit. This game helped sell the {{NES}} to a game-weary audience, and elevated Nintendo to the top of the gaming companies.

And this of course had loads of sequels and follow-ups in the SuperMarioBros series, as well as loads of imitators.

The original game was remade with SNES graphics along with the other NES titles in ''Super Mario All-Stars''. There was also a GameBoyColor version called ''Super Mario Bros. Deluxe''. This included a challenge mode where you had to get a high score, collect 5 red coins, and find the Yoshi egg in each stage; a two-player race mode; badges and other images awarded for achievements; a high-score table; extra utilities and printables; a hidden "You vs. Boo" mode (a one-player version of the two-player game); and a hidden conversion of ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels]]''.

NobuoUematsu has stated that the theme music, originally created by KojiKondo, should be Japan's national anthem.

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!!This game provides examples of:

* ActuallyADoombot: The first seven "Bowsers" are actually enemies somehow in disguise as him. Flinging fireballs at the fake Bowsers will reveal their true forms.
* AllThereInTheManual / EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The Koopa are a clan of sorcerers who have brought the Mushroom Kingdom to ruin by transforming its citizens into the bricks you break (and thus the items are "gifts" from the transformed citizens to help you) and various other background objects. The only one who can break this curse is Princess Pea..., er "Toadstool"[[hottip:*:She was always called "Peach" in Japan]], which is why Bowser has kidnapped her. This bit of lore was dropped in later games.
** The game also used RatchetScrolling, which prevented players from going back. Most Mario games after this abandoned this type of scrolling for AutoScrollingLevel in a few places while allowing backtracking in everything else.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: ''TheGreatGianaSisters''; so much that Nintendo sued.
** Sega's ''AlexKidd in Miracle World'' was not such an obvious clone, but still fits the trope (and was correspondingly packaged with or built in to the SegaMasterSystem, the NES's rival).
* AnimatedAdaptation: The ''SuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' adapts both this and ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2 Super Mario Bros. 2]]''
** Also, the anime movie ''TheGreatMissionToSavePrincessPeach''.
* ArtEvolution: According to [[http://www.nintendods.com/iwata-asks-chapter.jsp?interviewId=1&volumeId=8&chapterId=4 this Iwata Asks]], Miyamoto utilised external illustrators to flesh out his rough pencil sketches since ''DonkeyKong''. When it came time to do this game's (Japanese) package illustration[[hottip:*: which was eventually used in the U.S. for the "How to Win at Super Mario Bros." strategy guide]], Miyamoto had to do the art himself, since there was no time left for him to hire a mainstream artist. [[http://www.mariowiki.com/images/f/fc/SuperMarioBrosArtwork2.jpg This was the result.]] It was Yoichi Kotabe who fleshed out the designs of the characters since then. Notable mention goes to Bowser. Miyamoto himself was aiming for the appearance of [[ALoadofBull an ox]] for Bowser's design, even though he's supposed to be a turtle. Upon reflection on this, Miyamoto remarked, "I'd been drawing something completely incomprehensible - a turtle's body with an ox's head!" In a MythologyGag, Midbus, Bowser's [[TheRival rival]] from ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', more closely resembles an ox, with some [[FullBoarAction boar]] characteristics thrown in.
* ArtifactTitle: Although ''Super Mario Bros.'' has more elaborate play mechanics and greater production values than the original ''Mario Bros.'', it lacked its predecessor's 2-Player co-op mode (which was that game's big selling point). Since the 2-Player mode in this game is that of the alternating type, it reduces Luigi's role to a mere afterthought (since there's no point of having a separate Player 2 character if the players have to take turns anyway). [[SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels The Japanese sequel]] would try to justify Luigi's inclusion by removing the 2-Player mode and turning Luigi into an alternate character with [[DivergentCharacterEvolution different characteristics]], while the 2-Player mode in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' is designed around the fact that both players can split the stages among themselves or even compete against each other in a ''Mario Bros.''-style minigame.
* TheArtifact: Mario and Luigi being plumbers and travelling through pipes. This made sense in ''MarioBros'', which was set in New York's sewers; not so much in the Mushroom Kingdom. However, it became an integral part of the gameplay and setting, and its incongruous nature helped create the series' WorldOfChaos reputation.
* AscendedGlitch: The multi-coin blocks were reportedly a programming error that was left in because they liked it.
* AttractMode: It features one, and the computer's one of the worst Mario players ever.
* BaldOfEvil: Bowser. Averted in both the original artwork and the ''Super Mario All-Stars'' remake.
* BattleThemeMusic: Averted in the original version, played straight in the ''All-Stars'' version.
* BigBad: Bowser.
* BottomlessPits: Everywhere.
* BubblyClouds: The "Coin Heaven" bonus areas.
* CheatedAngle: In the original game, the Mario Bros. always have their head to the side they're walking towards, even when they aren't moving and the rest of their body is facing the screen. The only time they ever fully face the viewer is if they're dying.
* ChekhovsGunman: See GameplayAndStorySegregation below.
* CollisionDamage
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Red mushrooms (extra hit point) vs. green (1-Up), red Koopas (they patrol specific areas) vs. green (they come straight at you). Oddly subverted in the Goombas, whose color-coding only matches the level.
* ColorCodedMultiplayer: There's no difference between Mario and Luigi in terms of playability.
* EasterEgg:
** If you wait long enough on the title screen, then a brief demo will start to play.
** Also, run out of time as Fiery Mario.
* EliteMook: Hammer Brothers.
* EndlessGame: Famous for averting it, although technically, you can play the levels again after the ending.
* EveryTenThousandPoints / LawOfOneHundred: 100 coins equal a OneUp.
* ExcusePlot
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: World 6-3, is either this, or simply a representation of snow.
* {{Fireballs}}: From the Fire Flower, of course.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Cheep-Cheeps, which jump out of the water and into the air.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: There is actually only ''one'' Buzzy Beetle that can be killed with fireballs in this game. Guess where it can only be found!
** [[spoiler:It's inside a Bowser costume.]]
* GuideDangIt: Each x-1 level has a hidden OneUp Mushroom in it. Besides the one in 1-1, they only appear if you've gotten all the coins in the previous x-3 level or used a Warp Pipe (e.g. to get the one in 2-1, you need to get all the coins in 1-3).
* HardModeFiller: Some of the later stages.
* InfiniteOneUps: Line a Koopa shell just right against a staircase at the end of 3-1, and your jumps will turn into a chain reaction, triggering loads of points followed by {{One Up}}s.
** GameBreakingBug: But woe to you if you exceed 127 lives, because the life counter will overflow into negative lives, causing your next death to be a GameOver.
* InNameOnly: Aside from the presence of Mario, Luigi, turtle enemies, and coins, ''Super Mario Bros'' really doesn't have anything to do with ''MarioBros'', although it does have some similar elements (you can still attack enemies from below when they are on brick platforms).
* InvincibilityPowerUp: The Starman and its famous jingle debut here.
* LethalLavaLand: The castle levels.
* Level1MusicRepresents
** The overworld theme has become the iconic theme of the Mario series.
** Subverted in the ''All-Stars'' version though, which uses an arrangement of the underwater level theme as the title theme.
* MarathonLevel: Level 8-1 is looooooooooooong. Even harder than making all of the tricky jumps is reaching the end before time runs out!
* MarketBasedTitle: Subverted. Copyrights documents (and at least one brochure for the arcade version) suggest that Nintendo originally considered renaming the game ''Mario's Adventure'' for the American market, but they decided to keep the original name instead.
* NintendoHard: Although at the lower end compared to other infamously hard games.
* OneUp: TropeMaker. The green OneUp Mushrooms have appeared in almost every other Mario game since.
* PacManFever: Lots of sound effects from this game have turned up in children's TV shows, particularly in scenes set at arcades (there were arcade cabinet versions of the game, but it's unlikely any of those writers knew that).
* PaletteSwap: Not just with enemies; the bushes and clouds use the same tiles.
** Backgrounds, too; Worlds 3 and 6 apparently take place at night.
* PlatformGame: TropeMaker and TropeCodifier for many platform tropes.
* RatchetScrolling / WhenAllElseFailsGoRight
** Required by the way levels were stored. Each "object" in the level had a "page select" flag which, when set, told the game to advance one screenful to the right. There was no code for going back one screen, however, and as there could be a variable number of objects per page, the algorithms involved would have been a bit too complicated for the [=NES=], where every byte and every clock cycle counted (and they were already running low on [=ROM=] space as it was). So while the game could be told to go to the ''next'' screen, there was no way to start loading objects from the ''previous'' screen, hence why you can only go right.
* SaveThePrincess: And she's in another castle.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Worlds 3 and 5, although "snow" in this game is just recolored trees and pipes. The ''All-Stars'' version of the game improves on this by making the ground actually look snowy.
* SuperDrowningSkills / SuperNotDrowningSkills: Yes, both of them. If you're underwater, nothing aside from the standard timer can stop you from staying under for as long as you want. On the other hand, falling into a pit filled with water doesn't even slow your fall.
* ThisWasHisTrueForm: If defeated with fireballs rather than being thrown into the lava, the Bowsers of Worlds 1-7 are revealed to be simple minor enemies which have taken Bowser's form, likely using more of that Koopa Clan magic you only ever hear about in the manual.
* TimedMission
* UndergroundLevel: World 1-2 and World 4-2.
* UnderTheSea: World 2-2 and World 7-2.
* UpdatedRerelease: ''DX'' on the GameBoyColor, which also had ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels]]'' as UnlockableContent.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' which also had [[VideoGame/DokiDokiPanic Dok-]] [[DolledUpInstallment er,]] [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2 Super Mario Bros. 2]], and VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3. And, in an UpdatedRerelease of an UpdatedRerelease, VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld.

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!!''Super Mario Bros.'' is the TropeNamer for:
* TheGoomba
* GoombaStomp
* MinusWorld
* TheSpiny
* WarpZone
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle ([[BeamMeUpScotty even if those aren't exactly the right words you're familiar with]])

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!!It also provides examples of: