Mario Bros. (game)

Mario Bros. is an arcade game made by Nintendo in 1983. It was later also released on the NES, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Atari 7800. It marked the first appearance of Luigi in a game, and was the first installment in the Mario Bros. series.

A port of the Mario Bros. also appeared on the Game & Watch, but without color and two screens. Mario Bros. was included as a separate mini-game, playing like the original game with updated graphics in the Two-player mode of Super Mario Bros. 3 for the SNES, and for Super Mario Advance and the RPG game Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga on the Game Boy Advance. For the GBA games, there was also an added two- to four-player battle mode meaning that other players could join your game through the use of a GBA link cable. Also, in those games the Shellcreepers were replaced by Spinies.

Gameplay
The game features a simple stage in which the player playes in an endless game. Enemies come from the pipes on the top and head downwards, where they may enter the pipes again to return to the top. The goal in each Phase is to defeat all enemies. This is done by jumping against the floor when enemies are walking on from below to knock them out, and then the player has to kick them away. When all enemies are defeated, the player gets to the next phase. In later levels, different types of enemies and harming fireballs appear. From time to time, there is a bonus level where the player has to collect all coins in order to get a 1-Up.

Enemies



 * Shellcreeper - The first enemies in the game, possibly related to Koopas. They were replaced by Spinies in Super Mario Advance 
 * Sidestepper - Crab creatures that were harder to defeat and have appeared in various games. They first appear in Phase 4. 
 * Fighter Fly - Flies that jump up and down. They first appear in Phase 6. 
 * Spiny - They replaced Shellcreepers in the remakes.
 * Slipice - Ice creatures that have appeared in a lot of games. They have been renamed Freezie, and first appeared in Phase 9.

Trivia

 * This game is technically not the first appearance of Koopas. The enemies that closely resemble Koopas are technically Shellcreepers.
 * Freezies was later introduced as a item and trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Freezie, when thrown, would freeze opponents in their tracks.
 * There is a minigame entitled Mario Bros. in Game & Watch Gallery 3 in which Mario and Luigi have to prepare cakes moving along a conveyer belt.
 * Phase 1 of Mario Bros. appears as a stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * There's a trick in the game where Mario or Luigi can stay behind a Warp Pipe and not get damaged by enemies. However, fireballs can harm Mario and Luigi behind there.