Mario Bros.

1983 · Platform · Arcade

Overview

Mario Bros. (1983) is Nintendo's two-player arcade game set in the sewers: bump enemies from below to flip them, then kick them off the platform.

Deep Dive

Mario and Luigi work a series of sewer platforms as turtles, crabs and flies emerge from the pipes. Hitting a platform from underneath flips the enemy standing on it, and a quick kick finishes it off; the POW block shakes every platform at once. The two players can help each other or knock each other's enemies back to life. Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi, it was the first game to name Luigi, and its turtles led to the Koopa Troopas of Super Mario Bros.

Developer Story

Mario Bros. was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and released by Nintendo in 1983. It was the first game to name both Mario and his brother Luigi, establishing them as a pair. The plumber setting was introduced here — the action took place in a sewer. The co-operative/competitive mechanic where both players shared a screen and could interfere with each other was novel and made it a favourite for two-player sessions.

Did You Know?

Mario Bros. was the first game to feature Luigi as a named character alongside Mario — establishing the sibling partnership that defines Nintendo's most beloved franchise.
Mario's profession changed from carpenter (Donkey Kong) to plumber here — the sewer setting made the occupation change logical.
The turtle enemies in Mario Bros. were the direct ancestors of the Koopa Troopas in Super Mario Bros.
The two-player mode allowed players to accidentally or deliberately knock each other off platforms — a source of both co-operation and rivalry.