Super Mario Bros. is a 1985 platform game created and released by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Shigeru Miyamoto directed and produced the game. It followed the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. and started the Super Mario series. Players control Mario or Luigi in multiplayer mode to travel through the Mushroom Kingdom and save Princess Toadstool from King Koopa, later called Bowser. The game uses side-scrolling levels where players avoid dangers like enemies and pits and collect items such as the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Starman.
Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka designed the game based on their work on Devil World and earlier games like Excitebike and Kung Fu. Miyamoto wanted to create a more colorful platform game with a scrolling screen and bigger characters. The first level, World 1-1, was made to teach players how to play. Koji Kondo composed the music, which became an important part of the game’s design.
The game was released in Japan in September 1985 for the Famicom, the Japanese version of the NES. It later came out in the United States and was adapted for international arcades in 1986. The NES version was released in North America in 1985 and in PAL regions in 1987. It has been re-released on most Nintendo systems.
Super Mario Bros. is often called one of the greatest and most influential video games ever made. It is known for its accurate controls and has sold over 58 million copies worldwide. Alongside the NES, it helped revive the video game industry after the 1983 crash and popularized the side-scrolling platform genre. The game’s music is frequently praised as one of the best in video games. Mario became a well-known character in pop culture, and Super Mario Bros. started a multimedia franchise that includes many games, an animated TV show, a Japanese anime film, a live-action movie, and two animated films.
Gameplay
Super Mario Bros. is a video game where the player controls Mario, the main character. Mario's goal is to explore the Mushroom Kingdom, defeat Bowser, and rescue Princess Toadstool. In two-player mode, Mario's brother, Luigi, plays the same role as Mario. The game is viewed from the side, with the player moving right to reach a flagpole at the end of each level.
The Mushroom Kingdom includes coins for Mario to collect and special bricks marked with a question mark (?). When Mario jumps up from below to hit these bricks, they may reveal more coins or special items. Some hidden bricks, which are not always visible, may also contain coins or rare items. If Mario collects a Super Mushroom, he grows larger and can break bricks above him. This item protects Mario from one hit by an enemy or hazard, but falling off the screen will always cause Mario to lose a life.
Players begin with a set number of lives. Extra lives can be earned by collecting 100 coins, defeating enemies in a row with a Koopa shell, bouncing on enemies without touching the ground, finding green spotted 1-Up Mushrooms in bricks, or completing specific tasks in earlier levels. Mario loses a life if he is hit while small, falls off the screen, or runs out of time. The game ends when all lives are lost, but players can restart from the first level of the world where they died by pressing the "A" button on the game over screen.
Mario's main way to attack enemies is by jumping on them. Some enemies, like Goombas, are defeated when jumped on, while others, like Koopa Troopas, retreat into their shells. These shells can be used as projectiles or bounced off walls to hit other enemies, but they may also hurt Mario if they return. Enemies such as underwater foes or those with spiked tops cannot be jumped on and will harm Mario instead. Mario can also defeat enemies above him by jumping to hit the bricks they stand on. If Mario collects a Fire Flower from a ? block, he can throw fireballs. A rare item, the Starman, gives Mario temporary protection from minor dangers.
The game has eight worlds, each with four levels. Underwater levels include special aquatic enemies. Secret areas and bonuses may offer more coins or warp pipes, which allow Mario to skip to later worlds. The final level of each world takes place in a fiery castle where Mario fights Bowser on a bridge over lava. The first seven Bowsers are actually fake, and the real Bowser appears in the eighth world. Bowser and his copies can be defeated by jumping over them, running under them while they jump, or using fireballs to hit the axe at the end of the bridge. After completing the game once, players can replay with harder challenges, such as replacing Goombas with Buzzy Beetles, which cannot be defeated by fireballs.
Plot
After the events of Mario Bros., the game takes place in the fantasy world of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Luigi arrive there through a clay pipe from New York City. In the Mushroom Kingdom, a group of turtle-like Koopa Troopas invades the land. They use the magic of their leader, Bowser, to change the Mushroom People into non-living objects such as bricks, stones, and horsehair plants. Bowser and his army also capture Princess Toadstool, the only person who can undo Bowser's magic. When Mario and Luigi learn about the princess's capture, they travel across the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue her and free the land from Bowser. They battle Bowser's forces and face several fake versions of Bowser. Each time they defeat a fake Bowser, a Toad servant says, "Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!" Eventually, they reach Bowser's real castle. There, they defeat Bowser by either throwing fireballs at him or dropping him into lava. This action frees Princess Toadstool and saves the Mushroom Kingdom.
Development
Super Mario Bros. was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka from Nintendo's Creative Department. Toshihiko Nakago from SRD, a company that later became part of Nintendo, helped program the game. The original Mario Bros., released in 1983, was an arcade game played on a single screen with a black background. Miyamoto called platform games "athletic games." For Super Mario Bros., Miyamoto wanted to make a more colorful "athletic game" with a scrolling screen and larger characters.
The development of Super Mario Bros. built on the team's experience with earlier games like Devil World, Excitebike, and Kung Fu. The side-scrolling movement from Excitebike and the fighting style from Kung Fu Master influenced the game's design. Kung Fu Master was based on a Jackie Chan movie. While working on these games, Miyamoto imagined a platformer where players could move sideways over long distances, explore above and below ground, and see colorful backgrounds instead of black ones. Super Mario Bros. used a fast scrolling engine from Excitebike, allowing Mario to speed up smoothly. Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani said Miyamoto mentioned that an earlier game called Pac-Land influenced Super Mario Bros.
Miyamoto wanted Super Mario Bros. to be the final major game for the ROM cartridge format before the Famicom Disk System was released. Development started in 1984, around the same time as The Legend of Zelda, another game designed by Miyamoto. The two games shared some ideas, like the fire bars in Mario's castle levels. Nintendo aimed to release a simple game for the holiday season. In December 1984, the team made a prototype with a rectangle moving on a single screen. Tezuka suggested using Mario after seeing the success of Mario Bros. The game was named Super Mario Bros. in February 1985 after adding the Super Mushroom power-up.
An early idea for Mario to fly a rocket ship was not used, but the sky-based bonus stages in the final game were inspired by this. The team decided Mario should be able to jump on turtles, unlike in Mario Bros. Miyamoto first imagined Bowser as an ox but Tezuka thought he looked more like a turtle. They worked together to design Bowser.
Super Mario Bros. is an early example of teamwork in the video game industry, made possible by the Famicom's powerful hardware. Miyamoto designed the game world and led a team of seven programmers and artists. They used techniques from earlier games, such as slopes from Donkey Kong and enemy movement from Mario Bros.
The team planned for Mario to be small at first, then grow bigger with a power-up. Early levels taught players that mushrooms were helpful, so the first mushroom in World 1-1 was hard to avoid. The idea of using mushrooms to change size came from Japanese stories about magical mushrooms in forests, which led to the name "Mushroom Kingdom." Miyamoto said starting with small Mario made getting a mushroom more rewarding. He denied rumors that small Mario was a bug. The 1-up trick was tested but players mastered it better than expected. Features like coin blocks were inspired by programming errors.
Super Mario Bros. was made for a cartridge with limited space: 32KiB for code and 8KiB for graphics. To save space, the team reused sprites and used algorithms to generate backgrounds. Sound effects were recycled, like the sound when Mario is hurt or jumps on enemies. Goombas were created using a single image flipped back and forth. After adding music, the team used leftover space to add a crown to the life counter for players with 10 lives. The game was released in August 1985.
During the third generation of video game consoles, tutorials were rare. Super Mario Bros. taught players through level design. World 1-1 was designed to let players learn the game's mechanics by exploring. Miyamoto said the level was made to help players "gradually and naturally understand" the game. Once players understood the rules, they could play more freely.
Nintendo sound designer Koji Kondo worked on the game's music and sound effects.
Release
Super Mario Bros. was first released in Japan on September 13, 1985, for the Family Computer (Famicom). It was later released in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) the same year. The exact date of its North American release is not agreed on. Most sources say it came out in October 1985 as a launch game for the NES, which had a limited release in the United States. However, some sources suggest it was released between November 1985 and early 1986.
The arcade version of Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo VS. System was first shown in London in January 1986 and released in other countries in February 1986. This was the first version of the game to be widely released internationally. Many people outside Japan first played the game through the arcade version. The NES version was later released widely in North America, followed by Europe on May 15, 1987.
In 1988, Super Mario Bros. was re-released with the game Duck Hunt as part of a single multicart, which was included with the NES as part of the Action Set bundle. Millions of copies of this version were sold in the United States. In 1990, another cartridge containing Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, and World Class Track Meet was released in North America as part of the NES Power Set bundle. The NES version was released in Europe on May 15, 1987, and in Australia later that year. In 1988, the game was re-released in Europe on a cartridge that included Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and Nintendo World Cup. This version was sold alone or bundled with a new version of the NES.
Super Mario Bros. has been released on many platforms. A version for the Famicom Disk System, Nintendo’s floppy disk drive, was released only in Japan on February 21, 1986.
VS. Super Mario Bros. was an arcade version of the 1985 game, released in 1986 for the Nintendo VS. System and its variants. The game was harder than the original, with narrower platforms, more dangerous enemies, fewer hidden items, and 200 coins needed for an extra life instead of 100. Some new levels from this version appeared in the Japanese sequel, Super Mario Bros. 2.
The arcade version was not officially released in Japan. However, unauthorized versions made by putting a Famicom console inside an arcade cabinet were available in Japanese arcades by January 1986. Nintendo warned arcade operators that they could face legal action, including fines or prison sentences, for using these versions. These illegal versions remained in Japanese arcades until 1987.
Outside Japan, the arcade version was officially released in other countries in early 1986. It made its first appearance in Europe at the 1986 Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) in London. The game was then released internationally in February 1986, initially as a ROM software conversion kit. In North America, the game was shown at the ACME convention in Chicago in March 1986 and became a popular attraction. It later became one of the top-grossing arcade games in the United States in 1986. The game sold 20,000 arcade units within months and became the best-selling Nintendo VS. System release. Each unit earned more than $200 per week on average. It ranked as the 13th highest-grossing arcade game in the United States in 1986, behind Sega’s Hang-On. In Europe, the game was very popular in 1986 and introduced many players to Super Mario Bros. who did not own an NES.
The arcade version was re-released on the Nintendo Switch in 2017 as part of the Arcade Archives collection by Hamster Corporation. A reviewer called the game’s difficulty “the meanest trick Nintendo ever played.”
A version of the game called Super Mario Bros. Special was released in Japan in 1986 for the NEC PC-8801 and Sharp X1 computers. It had similar controls and graphics but no screen scrolling due to hardware limits. It also had different level designs, new items, and enemies based on Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong.
A handheld LCD version of the game was released as part of Nintendo’s Game & Watch line.
Several modified versions of the game have been released, many of which are based on the original NES game.
On November 11, 2010, a special red version of the Wii with a pre-downloaded copy of the game was released in Japan and Australia to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Some graphics were changed, including “?” blocks with the number “25” on them.
All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. was a promotional version of the game released in Japan in December 1986 for the Famicom Disk System. It was given away by the radio show All Night Nippon. The game had graphics based on the show, with enemies and other characters changed to look like famous Japanese music idols and radio personalities. It used updated graphics and physics similar to Super Mario Bros. 2. This version is very rare and sold for nearly $500 in 2010 (about $738 in 2025).
Speed Mario Bros. is a version of the original game with faster gameplay and a different title. It was released on Ultimate NES Remix for the Nintendo 3DS.
Super Luigi Bros. is a version of the game in NES Remix 2. It features Luigi in a mirrored version of the game that scrolls from right to left. Luigi jumps higher but has less friction than Mario, similar to the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2.
Super Mario Bros. 35 was a 35-player battle royale version of the game released in 2020. It was available for a limited time to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.
Super Mario All-Stars was a compilation game released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It included a remade version of Super Mario Bros. and other NES games. The remade version had improved graphics and sound to match the SNES’s 16-bit capabilities. It also had minor changes to collision mechanics, allowed saving progress, and had a multiplayer mode that swapped players after each level or when a player died. A 25th-anniversary version of the game was re-released for the Wii, including a 32-page art book and a music compilation.
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe was released for the Game Boy Color on May 10, 1999, in North America and Europe. It was released in Japan in 2000 through the Nintendo Power retail service. Based on the original game, it added an overworld map, simultaneous multiplayer, a Challenge mode, and eight new worlds inspired by the Japanese 1986 version of Super Mario Bros.
Reception
Super Mario Bros. was very successful, both in sales and in how critics viewed it. It helped make side-scrolling platform games more popular and was an important reason for buying the NES. When it was first sold in Japan in September 1985, 1.2 million copies were sold that month. By the end of the next four months, about 3 million copies were sold in Japan, earning more than ¥12.2 billion, which was worth $72 million at the time (or $216 million when adjusted for inflation in 2025). The success of Super Mario Bros. helped increase Famicom sales to 6.2 million units by January 1986. By 1987, 5 million copies of the game had been sold for the Famicom. Outside of Japan, many people first played the game through the arcade version, which became the best-selling game for the Nintendo VS. System, with 20,000 arcade units sold in early 1986. In the United States, more than 1 million copies of the NES version were sold in 1986, over 4 million by 1988, 9.1 million by mid-1989, more than 18.7 million by early 1990, nearly 19 million by April 1990, and over 20 million by 1991. By 1994, more than 40 million copies of the original NES version had been sold worldwide, and 40.23 million by April 2000, for which it received the Guinness World Record for the best-selling video game of all time.
Including all versions and re-releases, more than 58 million units of the game had been sold worldwide. The game was the best-selling game for over 20 years until its sales were surpassed by Wii Sports in 2006. The game's release on the Wii Virtual Console was also successful, reaching number 1 by mid-2007, and sold about 660,000 units for $3.2 million outside of Japan and Korea in 2009. In August 2021, an anonymous buyer paid $2 million for a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros., according to collectibles site Rally, breaking the previous record set by Super Mario 64.
Clare Edgeley of Computer and Video Games gave the arcade version a positive review when it was first shown in 1986. She noted the graphics were simple compared to other games, but praised the depth of gameplay, including its length, hidden secrets, and the skill required to play. She predicted the game would be a major success. In 1986, Top Score newsletter reviewed Vs. Super Mario Bros. for arcades, calling it "one of the best games" of the year and saying it combined proven ideas with new twists. The arcade game won the "Best Video Game of 1986" award at the Amusement Players Association’s Players Choice Awards in January 1987.
The Video Game Update segment of Computer Entertainer magazine praised the NES version in June 1986 for its "cute and comical" graphics, lively music, and deep gameplay, including hidden surprises. It called the game a "must-have" NES game. In September 1986, journalist Rawson Stovall wrote that the game’s story and world helped create a special style that made it a must-play. Top Score also reviewed the NES version in 1987, calling it "a near-perfect game" with simple mechanics, hidden surprises, and colorful graphics.
The Games Machine reviewed the NES version in Europe in 1987, calling it a "great and playable game" with simple rules, alternate routes for challenges, and "splendid" graphics and sound. In 1989, ACE magazine called it the "undisputed king" of cutesy platform-style games, noting its many hidden levels and rewards. Computer and Video Games called it one of the "all-time classic video games" with addictive gameplay and good graphics and sound.
Critics have praised the game for its precise controls, which let players adjust how high and far Mario or Luigi jumps and how fast they run. AllGame gave the game a five-star rating, saying it was a "masterpiece" that remains fun and playable despite its sequels surpassing it in some areas. IGN called the Virtual Console version a "must" for any collection. Darren Calvert of Nintendo Life noted the game’s visuals were outdated compared to newer games but were impressive when first released.
The Game Boy Advance version of Super Mario Bros. has an 84 score on Metacritic. Critics compared it to earlier ports, noting it lacked new content to distinguish it from the original. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com called the game "the most fun you’ll ever have" while playing it.
Legacy
The success of Super Mario Bros. led to the creation of many games in the Super Mario series, which became the main part of the larger Mario franchise. Two of these games, Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3, were direct follow-ups to the original game and were released for the NES. These games were also very successful commercially. Another game called Super Mario Bros. 2 was made for the Famicom Disk System in Japan in 1986. It was later released internationally as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels through Super Mario All-Stars on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The ideas and gameplay from Super Mario Bros. are used in almost every Super Mario game. The series has more than 15 games, and at least one Super Mario game has been released on nearly every Nintendo console. Super Mario 64 is widely considered one of the greatest games ever made and helped change the platforming genre by moving from 2D to 3D. The series is one of the best-selling, with over 310 million copies sold worldwide as of September 2015. In 2010, Nintendo released special red versions of the Wii and Nintendo DSi XL consoles in Mario-themed bundles to celebrate the game’s 25th anniversary. To mark the series’ 30th anniversary, Nintendo released Super Mario Maker, a game for the Wii U that lets players create custom levels using elements from Super Mario games.
The game’s success helped make Mario a well-known cultural icon. In 1990, a study in North America found that more children in the United States recognized Mario than they did Mickey Mouse, another popular character. The music from Super Mario Bros., especially the “overworld” theme composed by Koji Kondo, became a common part of popular culture and appears in nearly every Super Mario game. The game also helped revive the video game industry after the 1983 market crash. In the U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation shared research showing that games like Super Mario Bros. contain cartoon violence similar to that in children’s shows like Mighty Mouse and Road Runner, which did not cause public concern.
Because of its importance in the video game industry and its status as an early Nintendo game, mint-condition copies of Super Mario Bros. are valuable to collectors. In 2019, a nearly mint-condition sealed box of the game sold for over $100,000, drawing more interest in video game collecting. In 2020, a similar copy sold for $114,000, the highest price ever for a single video game.
Video game developer Yuji Naka said Super Mario Bros. inspired the idea for Sonic the Hedgehog, a 1991 game. He said the idea came to him while speedrunning World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. and thinking about a game focused on fast movement.
Super Mario Bros. is important in speedrunning esports, with coverage beyond video gaming and a version for Guinness World Records. At the game’s 25th anniversary celebration, a speedrunner named Andrewg attempted a run while Nintendo’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, watched. In 2021, speedrunner Niftski set a record with the first run under four minutes and fifty-five seconds. The current world record is 4:54.415 seconds, which is 150 milliseconds longer than the fastest possible human time of 4:54.265.
Super Mario Bros. inspired many fan-made games. In 2009, Tuper Tario Tros combined elements of Super Mario Bros. with Tetris. In 2010, Super Mario Bros. Crossover allowed players to control characters from other NES games like Mega Man and Link from The Legend of Zelda. Mari0, released in 2012, added a portal gun from Portal (2007). Full Screen Mario (2013) included a level editor. In 2015, Ennuigi was released as a metafictional game that commented on the lack of story in the original Super Mario Bros..
In September 2025, an open-source fan remaster called Super Mario Bros. Remastered was released. It includes content from Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, and Super Mario Bros. Special, along with new music, assets, and a level editor. To avoid copyright issues, the remaster requires users to provide a ROM image of the original game.
The Minus World (also called World -1) is a glitch level in the original NES version of Super Mario Bros. that cannot be completed. In World 1-2, players can find a hidden warp zone that leads to other levels. If a player exploits a bug that lets Mario pass through bricks, they can reach a level labeled “World -1,” which loops endlessly until all lives are lost. The level’s name appears as “-1” on the screen, but it is actually World 36-1.
The Minus World glitch behaves differently in the Japanese Famicom Disk System version. It creates multiple playable levels, including an underwater version of World 1-3 and copies of other levels. After completing these levels, the game returns to the title screen, making them replayable in a harder mode. Hundreds of other glitch levels exist, accessible through cheat codes or ROM hacking.
The Super Mario Bros. series has inspired many media products. In 1985, a strategy guide titled Super Mario Bros.: The Complete Strategy Guide was published. It included content from Family Computer Magazine and new material written by Naoto Yamamoto.