Super Mario Bros. was released in Japan 25 years ago today on the Famicom, the Japanese version of what Americans call the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since then, Mario has become one of the most iconic characters and entertainment brands in the world.Mario had previously appeared in the arcade games Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., but it was Super Mario Bros. that propelled the Italian plumber to icon status and contributed significantly to making video games commonplace in homes around the world and reversing the
video game crash of the early 80s.
The game was bundled with the Nintendo Entertainment System in the U.S., and it’s tough to say whether it was successful because of the NES or vice versa, but either way, Super Mario Bros. has sold more than 40 million copies over the past 25 years. In fact, it was the best-selling video game of all time until just recently. That title now belongs to Wii Sports, the game bundled with the Nintendo Wii.
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary, Nintendo released a video, which we’ve embedded below. It’s a sort of video timeline of the major Mario releases, though it omits Super Mario Kart and other genre-bending spinoffs that have featured Mario and friends.
We’ve also included Nintendo’s Mario timeline graphic in case you don’t want to sit through the video. The Guardian also listed 25 fun Mario facts and Nintendo launched a star-studded ad campaign to commemorate the date.
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