| Technical Specs
Mario Bros. is a 2D raster graphics arcade
game. The vertical display is 224 x 256 pixels in size and uses a
256-color palette. The game's original controls featured a single joystick
and a jump button. It runs on a Z80 microprocessor running at 3.072 MHz,
with the sound being processed on an I8039 microprocessor running at .73
MHz. Some analog sounds may require samples if you're playing the ROM on
an emulator such as MAME.
Cabinet Styles
Mario Bros. was manufactured only as an upright cabinet. Dimensions: 67.5"
x 27.5" x 33/5", 230#
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| Mario Bros.
 The
precursor to the eventual smash hit Super Mario Brothers—which
spawned an empire for Nintendo—is here in Mario Bros. Mario makes his
appearance here with his brother, Luigi. Here, they jump around, knocking
turtles over from underneath, then jump up and kick the shells to get
coins. The turtles keep coming from out of the pipes at both sides at the
top.
Virtually everything you see in this
game is later used in the Super Mario Brothers games. Mario is the only
character in SMB1 (although on two player mode, they are different
colors), but when he gets "firepower" his overalls turn white and he looks
like Luigi. In SMB2, you can choose between Mario, Luigi, Toad, or the
Princess (who is, if you ask me, another incarnation of Pauline from
Donkey Kong—in fact, we always called Pauline "the Princess" in the early
1980s). The turtles appear in all three SMB games. There are the same
green pipes. There is even a "POW" block; in this game, you jump up and
hit it to knock over all your enemies (usable once). In SMB2, you pick up
POW blocks and throw them to do the same thing.
I'm not an enormous fan of this game,
but it is challenging and a blast to play on two player—which you can do
cooperatively or as a competition.
Super Mario
Brothers 3! The original Mario Bros. game makes a guest appearance
in the Super Mario Bros. 3 game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. If
you're playing two-player and meet up on the map screen, you can launch
into a bonus level that is a faithful reproduction of this game! It's just
a one-rounder, but it's pretty much the way it should be,
Mario and Luigi prepare to battle the turtles coming out of the
pipes at the top of the screen.
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Mario hits the platform from below, kicking a turtle into the air
and onto its back.
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Turtle knocked over, but not for long unless Mario gets up there.
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Mario kicks the turtle shell away and claims the spinning coin prize
(another carryover to the SMB games).
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Coin grabbed. What exactly is Luigi doing down there, anyway?
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