Yokoi said Mario should fall from any height. Miyamoto hesitated — then agreed to let physics bend.
Gunpei Yokoi proposed that Mario should be able to fall from any height without dying. Shigeru Miyamoto hesitated — it felt wrong, like giving away too much for free. But he agreed, and that single decision bent the rules in a way that stayed with Mario forever. The game is full of choices like that: attacking enemies from below, flipping them before you can kick them, a POW block that shakes the entire screen. None of it follows the logic of a normal platformer — all of it follows the logic of a game designed by two people willing to break what they inherited. Play it now and the strangeness is still there, quieter than you remember but just as deliberate. That's what happens when you let the rules bend and then build the game around the new shape.
— inspired by Gunpei Yokoi and Shigeru Miyamoto
About this game
Released on Famicom in September 1983, Mario Bros. was the arcade game brought home — a fixed-screen platform game where Mario and Luigi work as plumbers in the New York sewers, exterminating creatures by jumping beneath platforms to flip them, then kicking them away. Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi, the game introduced Luigi and established the brothers as plumbers. The Famicom version was the first game developed by Intelligent Systems and maintained the arcade's simultaneous two-player mode within a single screen.
Key Features
Fixed-screen design with multiple platforms, simultaneous two-player cooperative/competitive mode, enemies that must be flipped from below then kicked, POW block that shakes the entire screen, and progressively faster phases requiring precise timing and coordination between players.
The Story Behind
Mario Bros. was originally released as an arcade game in 1983, designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi. It introduced Luigi as Mario's brother — created as a palette swap for the multiplayer mode — and established the plumber identity that would define the characters going forward. The Famicom version, released September 9, 1983, was the first game developed by Intelligent Systems, translating the arcade's fixed-screen multiplayer experience to home hardware. This design preceded the scrolling platformer format that Super Mario Bros. would pioneer two years later.
Tricks & Tales
The design involved creative exchanges between Miyamoto and Yokoi: Yokoi suggested Mario should be able to fall from any height, which Miyamoto hesitantly accepted. Yokoi also proposed attacking enemies from below, which proved too easy until they added the requirement to touch enemies after flipping them. The turtle enemy was specifically designed to only be vulnerable from below. The two-player mode was inspired by the arcade game Joust.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
Famicom and NES are the same hardware family but use physically incompatible cartridge formats — Famicom carts have a 60-pin connector and a narrower shell, while NES carts use a 72-pin connector with a wider housing. You cannot insert a Famicom cartridge into a North American NES slot without an adapter, and vice versa. The Famicom itself has no lockout chip, so any Famicom cartridge from Japan will run on a Famicom console regardless of origin. If you are buying a Japanese Famicom cart to play on a NES, you will need a 60-to-72-pin physical adapter; if you own a Famicom, Japanese-market software is your native format and no workarounds are needed.
Maintenance Tips
The gold-plated edge connectors on Famicom and NES cartridges pick up skin oils and oxidation over decades — a gentle wipe with a cotton swab dampened in 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol, stroking along the length of the pins rather than across them, is the accepted standard. Let the alcohol fully evaporate before reinserting. The old habit of blowing into a cartridge is folklore: the moisture in breath causes slow corrosion of the contacts over time, and any improvement you felt came from the act of re-seating the cart, not from the breath itself. Nintendo eventually updated its own troubleshooting guidance to say explicitly: do not blow into your Game Paks.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Mario Bros. copies regularly.
Does Mario Bros. on Famicom save my progress?
No. Mario Bros. is an arcade-style game designed to be played in a single session, with no save system or password feature. Progress is measured by high scores within each play session — when you turn the power off, the score resets.
Will a Japanese Famicom Mario Bros. cartridge work on a North American NES?
Not directly. Japanese Famicom cartridges are physically smaller with a different pin layout than North American NES cartridges, preventing direct insertion. Adapters exist to bridge the gap, but region differences and cartridge shape mean compatibility requires additional hardware.
How should I clean a Famicom cartridge?
Use a cotton swab dampened with 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol and gently wipe the gold edge connectors at the base of the cartridge. Let it dry completely before inserting it into the console. Never blow into a cartridge — the moisture in your breath corrodes the contacts over time.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy Mario Bros.
A short checklist for buying a used Famicom cartridge wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
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Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
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Make sure it fits your console
This is a Japanese Famicom cartridge with a 60-pin connector; a North American NES uses a 72-pin slot, so it will not fit directly.
Play it on a matching Japanese console or a region-free system, and confirm the listing states the region.
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If this title saves your progress, check the battery
Cartridges that save use a small coin-cell battery that fades over decades — a dead one wipes your save without warning.
Ask the seller whether the save function was tested. Replacing the battery is possible, but doing so erases any existing save.
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Check that the contacts are clean
Dirty edge contacts are the most common cause of startup and sound trouble in cartridges of this age.
Choose a seller who cleans the contacts before shipping. A note that it was tested and cleaned means the basics were handled.
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Confirm it is genuine, not a reproduction
Sought-after titles are targets for reproduction boards with replacement labels.
Ask for a photo of the circuit board and look for factory markings. Favour a shop with a licensed second-hand dealer permit (古物商) — by law its stock has a traceable origin, your simplest guard against fakes.
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Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
See the unit we have →Unexpected Discoveries
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Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where Mario Bros. sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
This is a young museum, and this page is still waiting for its first voices. The memories people send reach Taisei personally, and the ones that move him find a home here over time — always with the writer's blessing. Yours could be the very first for this game.
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