Welcome to my new blog. Here I talk about various interesting facts about various games, movies, tv shows and more. What better way to ring in this new blog than with an old favorite? From unused concepts to various ways the developers saved on memory, here are 10 interesting facts about the original Super Mario Bros.
#10: The clouds and bushes are the same
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| In all fairness, this was back before video games could afford millions of assets. |
To save on memory since this was a very early NES game, the clouds and bushes have the same sprite as each other. The only difference is that the clouds are white and the bushes are green.
#9: The story's "dark secret" isn't as dark as we thought
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| Turns out Mario isn't a psycho, regardless of what Dorkly or MatPat may tell you! |
According to the manual, Bowser's army turned the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom into blocks and other things. However this isn't as dark as it sounds, as the manual actually clarifies that only the blocks containing powerups are transformed citizens and those blocks are indestructible.
#8: There's a reason for Mario's build
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| Evidently Mario hasn't changed much in his 30+ years of existence. |
Mario's slightly chubby figure came about because it made coding his hit detection in this game easier. Likewise, Mario has his iconic hat because Miyamoto wasn't good at drawing hair.
#7: This game has it's own inspirations
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| Thank God for Pac-Man! |
While this game is known as one of the most influential games of all time, it was in turn inspired by the 1984's Pac-Land. Likewise according Miyamoto, the idea of growing big by eating mushrooms came from enchanted food of mythology and not from Alice in Wonderland.
#6: Bowser was originally an ox
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| Talk about getting a makeover! |
Miyamoto original envisioned Bowser to be a huge ox-like monster. However, Yoichi Kotabe misinterpreted the original artwork and made him into a giant turtle. That being said, Miyamoto liked the new design so much that it became Bowser's default design to this day.
#5: Mario almost had a gun and a dinosaur
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| Yoshi goes waaaay back! |
Originally there was gonna be a shoot em up level in the game, complete with Mario sporting a gun. Not only that, Mario originally would've had a dinosaur companion in some levels, but that feature couldn't be implemented due to technical limitations. Fortunately, the dinosaur would later come to the series in Super Mario World in the form of Yoshi.
#4: There is more than one Minus World
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| Part of Mario's believe it or not! |
We all know the Minus World, the glitch world that never ends. What you might not have known, however, was that it held more than one level. By hacking a flag into the first level, players could explore the other Minus World levels.
#3: The Bowsers turning into enemies was a glitch
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| The princess isn't the only thing that's in another castle. |
Speaking of glitches, the Bowsers in levels 1 through 7 turning into enemies when killed by fireballs was a glitch that the developers liked so much that they not only left it in, they put it in the lore claiming that those Bowsers were enemies in disguise.
#2: The theme song has lyrics
Some time after the game's release, a Japanese radio station had a little contest for fans to give lyric to the game's iconic first song. One of these submissions caught the ear of Nintendo, who liked it so much that they released it on vinyl.
#1: It helped end the Video Game Crash of 1983
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| A legacy that may never die! |
Before this game came out, the USA was going through a video game recession thanks to the oversaturation of video game consoles and poor quality video games. This recession ended around the time the Nintendo Entertainment System came out in 1985, meaning Nintendo and it's mascot Mario are responsible for saving the video game market!
And those were some interesting facts about the original Super Mario Bros. If can think of any more facts about this legendary classic, feel free to share them in the comments section. Thanks for viewing and keep on gaming!
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