| Super Mario | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Developer(s) | Nintendo |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Creator(s) | |
| Composer(s) | |
| Platform(s) | |
| First release | Super Mario Bros. September 13, 1985 |
| Latest release | Super Mario Maker 2 June 28, 2019 |
Super Mario is a Japanese platform game series developed and published by Nintendo. It is the central series of the greater Mario media franchise, and at least one Super Mario game has been released for every major Nintendo video game console. The series follows Nintendo's mascot Mario, an Italian plumber who resides in the Mushroom Kingdom and typically protects its ruler, Princess Peach, from the villainous Koopas led by King Bowser. Mario is often joined by characters from the Mario franchise cast, such as his younger brother Luigi and pet dinosaur Yoshi.
Development
editBackground, conception, and 8-bit era (1985–1989)
edit
Mario, the mascot character of Japanese video game publisher Nintendo, was created by Shigeru Miyamoto for the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong. Miyamoto created the character after he was unable to obtain the license to use Popeye characters[1] and initially wanted to name him "Mr. Video",[2] but he was referred to as "Jumpman" in Donkey Kong's English instructions[3] and "Mario" on the arcade flyer.[4] According to a widely circulated story, the developers chose the name Mario after Nintendo of America's warehouse landlord Mario Segale came to collect overdue rent from president Minoru Arakawa and berated him in front of employees.[5][6] Mario was originally a carpenter, but for his playable appearance in Mario Bros. (1983), Miyamoto decided to make him a plumber since the game was set underground. Miyamoto also chose to make the character Italian,[7] and created his younger twin Luigi as a palette swap.[1] Both Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. were commercially successful, although Donkey Kong's popularity was largely attributed to its title character and sales for Mario Bros. were more modest. Nintendo was also shifting its focus to the home video game console market, with its lucrative Famicom system.[1]
Nintendo was preparing to release the Famicom Disk System (FDS) add-on for the Famicom; FDS games were stored on floppy disks, which were expected to replace ROM cartridges as the dominant distribution method. Motivated by a desire to give the ROM cartridge format "a final exclamation point" in light of the FDS, Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka began working on a platform game using their technical knowledge from previous projects such as Excitebike, Devil World, and Kung-Fu Master. The two were not using any particular character until Tezuka suggested Mario after seeing the sales figures for Mario Bros. Director Miyamoto designed the game world—called the Mushroom Kingdom after its folktale-inspired mushroom power-ups—and led a team of seven programmers and artists who turned his ideas into code; this included refining many of the programming techniques and design elements from Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. (1982), and Mario Bros. Sound designer Koji Kondo composed the score, which he designed around the feeling of motion that mirrors the player's physical experience. The title Super Mario Bros. was chosen after the mushroom power-ups, and it was released in Japan in September 1985. Later that year, it was released as a launch title for the Famicom's Western equivalent, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Super Mario Bros. was an immense commercial success, selling tens of million NES consoles by February 1986, and is considered to have played a significant role in resurrecting the crashed American video game market.
Versions of Super Mario Bros. were released for other platforms, including the NEC PC-8801 and Sharp X1 personal computers and Nintendo's Game & Watch LCD handheld line. When developing Vs. Super Mario Bros., a port for coin-operated arcade machines, the team experimented with new, challenging level designs. They enjoyed these new levels, and thought fans would as well. Miyamoto no longer had time to design games by himself—given his responsibilities leading Nintendo's R&D4 division and their work on The Legend of Zelda—so Tezuka took over directorial duties for the sequel. Tezuka believed players had mastered the original game and needed a more challenging sequel. Super Mario Bros. 2 was developed using the same game engine as its predecessor and includes some levels directly from Vs. Super Mario Bros. It was released for the FDS in June 1986, and became the add-on's bestseller. However, when playtester Howard Phillips evaluated the game for an American NES release, he found it unfairly difficult and "painful" to play, opining that it would not sell well. As such, Nintendo of America released a retrofitted version of the game Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (1987) as the region's Super Mario Bros. 2 in 1988. Doki Doki Panic was developed by Miyamoto and Kensuke Tanabe and had originally been a Super Mario game before it was retooled as part of a collaboration with Fuji Television. Doki Doki Panic's characters and artwork were modified to match Super Mario, and it was released to critical and commercial success.
16-bit era and jump to 3D (1990–1996)
editHandheld remakes and Super Mario Sunshine (1999–2004)
editStory
editCharacters
editGameplay
editMusic
editRelated media
editReception and legacy
editCommentary
editSales
editEffect on the industry
editCultural impact
editNotes
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c McLaughlin, Rus (September 13, 2010). "IGN Presents: The History of Super Mario Bros". IGN. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
- ^ Giggs, Jamie (November 26, 2009). "Mario Was Almost Called Mr Video". Nintendo Life. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
- ^ "Mario: Alive, Well, and Living in the Bronx?". Next Generation. No. 26. Imagine Media. February 1997. p. 46.
- ^ Donkey Kong arcade flyer. Nintendo. 1981.
- ^ Zraick, Karen (November 2, 2018). "Mario Segale, Developer Who Inspired Nintendo to Name Super Mario, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
- ^ Edwards, Benj (April 25, 2010). "The True Face of Mario". Technologizer. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
- ^ Mike Snider (November 8, 2010). "Q&A: 'Mario' creator Shigeru Miyamoto". USA Today. Retrieved November 9, 2010.