A platformer (also called a platform game , and sometimes a jump 'n' run game ) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels with uneven terrain and suspended platforms of varying height that require jumping and climbing to traverse. Other acrobatic maneuvers may factor into the gameplay, such as swinging from vines or grappling hooks, jumping off walls, gliding through the air, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines.
185-578: Super Mario Bros. 2 is a 1988 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System . After the smash hit Super Mario Bros. in 1985, Nintendo quickly released a minor adaptation of the original with advanced difficulty titled Super Mario Bros. 2 , for its mature market in Japan in 1986. However, Nintendo of America found this sequel too similar to its predecessor, and its difficulty too frustrating, for
370-454: A Mario game for the rest of the world as Super Mario Bros. 2 , before being released in Japan as Super Mario USA as part of Super Mario All-Stars . One of the game's most defining aspects is the four player characters: not only Mario, but Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad are available for single-player gameplay, each with defined character movements: Luigi jumps higher, the Princess can hover in
555-599: A true 3D platformer is a French computer game called Alpha Waves , created by Christophe de Dinechin and published by Infogrames in 1990 for the Atari ST , Amiga , and IBM PC compatibles . Bug! , released in 1995 for the Saturn , has a more conservative approach. It allows players to move in all directions, but it does not allow movement along more than one axis at once; the player can move orthogonally but not diagonally. Its characters were pre-rendered sprites, much like
740-597: A "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. Upon release, Super Mario Bros. 2 was the top-selling video game in the United States for fourteen consecutive months, from October 1988 through late 1988, into 1989 through spring and summer, to November 1989. By early 1990, 3.5 million copies were sold in
925-488: A "running/jumping/climbing game" while developing it. Miyamoto commonly used the term "athletic game" to refer to Donkey Kong and later games in the genre, such as Super Mario Bros. (1985). Donkey Kong spawned other games with a mix of running, jumping, and vertical traversal, a novel genre that did not match the style of games that came before it, leaving journalists and writers to offer their own terms. Computer and Video Games magazine, among others, referred to
1110-448: A 1980 arcade release by Universal , is sometimes credited as the first platformer. Another precursor to the genre from 1980 was Nichibutsu 's Crazy Climber , in which the player character scales vertically scrolling skyscrapers. The unreleased 1979 Intellivision game Hard Hat has a similar concept. Donkey Kong , an arcade video game created by Nintendo and released in July 1981,
1295-408: A 2011 interview, Wired said "Although the initial concept for the game had been scrapped, the development of that original two-player cooperative prototype inspired all the innovative gameplay of Super Mario Bros. 2 ". For the international conversion into Super Mario Bros. 2 , many graphical changes were made to the scenery and characters' look, animation, and identity. The R&D4 staff modified
1480-401: A 2D plane are called 2.5D , as they are a blend of 2D and 3D. The first platformers to simulate a 3D perspective and moving camera emerged in the early-mid-1980s. An early example of this was Konami 's Antarctic Adventure , where the player controls a penguin in a forward-scrolling third-person perspective while having to jump over pits and obstacles. Originally released in 1983 for
1665-548: A 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure , for its Dreamcast console. It used a hub structure like Super Mario 64 , but its levels were more linear, fast-paced, and action-oriented. Star (Mario) Super Mario (also known as Super Mario Bros. and Mario ) is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario . It is the central series of the greater Mario franchise . At least one Super Mario game has been released for every major Nintendo video game console . However, there have also been
1850-508: A 99-life limit. In March–April 1996, Nintendo's partnership with the St.GIGA satellite radio station released an ura or gaiden version of the game for the Satellaview system, titled BS Super Mario USA Power Challenge . Like all Satellaview games, it was released episodically in a number of weekly volumes, only in Japan, and only in this format. It features 16-bit audiovisual enhancements to
2035-433: A Power Star. In Galaxy 2 , they can also be used to feed some hungry "Luma" characters that can turn into either an item or another planet. The games often feature other tokens found in levels to progress in the overworld, most frequently with the visual motif of a star. They are typically situated in locations that are not readily found or reached, or awarded for completing stunts, or objectives given by NPCs . They include
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#17328588382922220-522: A Super Leaf) and the Tanooki Suit each provide the character with a tail that enables flight. In addition, the Tanooki Suit lets the character spontaneously change into an invincible statue for about five seconds. Super Mario Bros. 3 includes a Hammer Bros. suit, which allows Mario and Luigi to throw hammers as projectiles to defeat enemies at a distance. Other suits in later games in the series include
2405-462: A balance between open-ended and guided exploration. Another platform-adventure released that year, Pony Canyon 's Super Pitfall , was critically panned for its vagueness and weak game design. That same year Jaleco released Esper Boukentai , a sequel to Psychic 5 that scrolled in all directions and allowed the player character to make huge multistory jumps to navigate the vertically oriented levels. Telenet Japan also released its own take on
2590-481: A bouncing car that jumps on various platforms such as buildings, clouds, and hills. Jump Bug offered a glimpse of what was to come, with uneven, suspended platforms, levels that scroll horizontally (and in one section, vertically), and differently themed sections, such as a city, the interior of a large pyramid, and underwater. Irem's 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol combines jumping over obstacles and shooting attackers. A month later, Taito released Jungle King ,
2775-525: A brief burst of episodic platformers where the first was freely distributed and parts 2 and 3 were available for purchase. The abundance of platformers for 16-bit consoles continued late into the generation, with successful games such as Vectorman (1995), Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995), and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995), but the release of new hardware caused players' attention to move away from 2D genres. The Saturn , PlayStation , and Nintendo 64 nevertheless featured
2960-470: A common term for the genre by 1989, popularized by its usage in the United Kingdom press. Examples include referring to the " Super Mario mould" (such as Kato-chan & Ken-chan ) as platform games, and calling Strider a "platform and ladders" game. The genre originated in the early 1980s. Levels in early platform games were confined to a single screen, viewed in profile, and based on climbing between platforms rather than jumping. Space Panic ,
3145-742: A few alterations for its conversion into the Mario series because its gameplay elements were already so heavily rooted in it: Starman for invincibility, the sound effects of coins and jumps, POW blocks, warp zones, and a soundtrack by Super Mario Bros. composer Koji Kondo . To reduce the game's overall difficulty, the designers made minor technical changes. They opted not to retain Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic ' s ultimate requirement to complete each level using each protagonist; therefore, this new Super Mario Bros. 2 can be completed in only one pass by any combination of characters. A late prototype of
3330-595: A few new pre-installed levels, but no online level sharing. Super Mario Maker 2 is a new version of Super Mario Maker with many new items, themes, and enemies, a world-builder, as well as online multiplayer. The game was released on June 28, 2019, for the Nintendo Switch. Super Mario Run is a side-scrolling and auto-scrolling video game released in December 2016 on the iOS platform, then in March 2017 on Android . It
3515-450: A forward-scrolling effect similar to Sega's 1985 third-person rail shooter Space Harrier . 3-D WorldRunner was an early forward-scrolling pseudo-3D third-person platform-action game where players were free to move in any forward-scrolling direction and could leap over obstacles and chasms. It was notable for being one of the first stereoscopic 3-D games . Square released its sequel, JJ , later that year. The earliest example of
3700-483: A fruit that transforms the player into an elephant and a flower that allows the player to create bubbles that capture enemies. When touching a Wonder Flower, the player character experiences strange effects that involve the character and the world being altered. It is the first game to feature Kevin Afghani as the new voice of Mario and Luigi, following the announcement of previous actor Charles Martinet 's departure from
3885-767: A helicopter, train, and mole tank in Yoshi's Island , cars in Yoshi's Island and Maker 2 , and the Koopa Clown Car aircraft in the Maker games. Most items in the Super Mario series appear from item blocks when hit, which originated in Super Mario Bros. and have persisted throughout the series, where the character hits a block to receive either coins or power-ups. Variations include those that are invisible until hit, advice dispensers, produce another block, move, frozen, contingent on
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#17328588382924070-605: A high quality of animation. The 1988 shareware game The Adventures of Captain Comic was one of the first attempts at a Nintendo-style platformer for IBM PC compatibles . It inspired Commander Keen , released by id Software in 1990, which became the first MS-DOS platformer with smooth scrolling graphics. Keen's success resulted in numerous console-styled platformers for MS-DOS compatible operating systems, including Duke Nukem , Duke Nukem II , Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure , and Dark Ages all by Apogee Software . These fueled
4255-619: A level results in a Power Star or Shine Sprite respectively. There are also stages in that game reward a Power Star for collecting eight red coins in a level, worth two normal coins each. In 64 , a blue coin is worth five normal coins. In Sunshine , blue coins act as a side quest when brought to the Delfino Bank and for every ten blue coins deposited, Mario will earn a Shine Sprite. In the Galaxy series, after finishing each game once, stages unlock where Mario or Luigi can collect 100 purple coins to earn
4440-450: A level. 64 DS contains over 30 minigames that can be accessed independently of the original mode of play. 3D World contains Luigi Bros. , a version of Mario Bros. with two Luigis, and the Switch version of 3D World includes Bowser's Fury , a 3D platformer of smaller size in one enclosed environment. Much of the original Super Mario Bros. music and sound effects have become iconic to
4625-556: A limited time. Its story was continued in Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 , which retroactively became the first of a spin-off series, Wario Land . Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was released for the SNES in 1995. To reunite baby Mario with his brother Luigi, who has been kidnapped by Kamek , the player controls Yoshi as the primary character through 48 levels while carrying Baby Mario. Yoshi runs and jumps to reach
4810-465: A mapped overworld . These locations are not necessarily in a linear order, and the player is occasionally permitted to skip levels or play the game out of order. Completed levels cannot be replayed. The penultimate boss stage in each world is a side-scrolling level atop an airship ("Doom Ship") with a fight against one of Bowser's seven Koopalings . The game introduced a diverse array of new power-ups, including flight as Raccoon Mario and Raccoon Luigi or
4995-559: A named character—Mario, which became a mascot of the company. The term platform game gained traction in the late 1980s, as did the alternate form platformer . During their peak of popularity, platformers were estimated to comprise between a quarter and a third of all console games. By 2006, the genre had experienced a decline in sales, representing a 2% market share as compared to 15% in 1998. In spite of this, platformers are still being commercially released every year, including some which have sold millions of copies. A platformer requires
5180-545: A number of Super Mario video games released on non-Nintendo gaming platforms. There are more than 20 games in the series. The Super Mario games are set primarily in the fictional Mushroom Kingdom, typically with Mario as the main player character . He is usually joined by his brother, Luigi , and often other members of the Mario cast. As platform games, they involve the player character running and jumping across platforms and atop enemies in themed levels . The games have simple plots, typically with Mario and Luigi rescuing
5365-623: A number of successful 2D platformers. The 2D Rayman was a big success on 32-bit consoles. Mega Man 8 and Mega Man X4 helped revitalize interest in Capcom 's Mega Man character . Castlevania: Symphony of the Night revitalized its series and established a new foundation for later Castlevania games. Oddworld and Heart of Darkness kept the subgenre born from Prince of Persia alive. The difficulties of adapting platformer gameplay to three dimensions led some developers to compromise by pairing
5550-521: A reflected, unscrollable area where the player can collect coins and Mushrooms that increase the character's maximum health . In addition, certain jars, when entered in Sub-space, will warp the player to the later worlds, skipping levels altogether. Other items available include cherries, which are collected in order to acquire a Star ; the POW Block, which can be used to destroy all the enemies visible on
5735-399: A score counter. Furthermore, at the beginning of the game, Mario is the only playable character. Later in the game, time-dependent events occur triggering, among other things, the possibility of using other characters. Another feature unique to the game is the inclusion of gold Mario statues (ten in total for each chapter) that are hidden in various locations (including Sub-Space). Collection of
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5920-464: A series of cameos, spin-offs, and sequels. Sources have debated on whether Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island , where the player primarily controls a Yoshi carrying Baby Mario, should count as a Super Mario game, with some sources considering it strictly a Yoshi game . Miyamoto responded affirmatively when asked if Yoshi's Island is a Super Mario game, with Tezuka later adding: "When that game debuted, I wanted people to understand that Yoshi
6105-466: A shift in design. Later 3D platformers like Banjo-Kazooie , Spyro the Dragon , and Donkey Kong 64 borrowed its format, and the "collect-a-thon" genre began to form. In order to make this free-roaming model work, developers had to program dynamic, intelligent cameras. A free camera made it harder for players to judge the height and distance of platforms, making jumping puzzles more difficult. Some of
6290-406: A side-scrolling action game some platform elements: jumping between vines, jumping or running beneath bouncing boulders. It was quickly re-released as Jungle Hunt because of similarities to Tarzan . The 1982 Apple II game Track Attack includes a scrolling platform level where the character runs and leaps along the top of a moving train. The character is little more than a stick figure , but
6475-481: A single entry. In 1999, Next Generation listed the Mario series as number 3 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "The depth of the game design was never matched in 2D and has yet to be equaled by a 3D action performer. The gameplay is simply genius – Shigeru Miyamoto wrote the book on platformers." Electronic Gaming Monthly attributed the series' excellence to the developers' tireless creativity and innovation, pointing out that " Sega 's Sonic
6660-576: A switch, bouncy, etc. The propeller block lets the character spin up into the air and slowly descend, and the Gold Block generates coins through running. A single block is the unit of measurement in the design of Super Mario levels. Player characters can gain extra lives in most of the games. The 1-Up mushroom was introduced in Super Mario Bros. , with the term 1-up subsequently being used generically in other video game series to refer to extra lives. In
6845-715: A teenager with a rebellious personality to appeal to gamers who saw the previous generation of consoles as being for kids. The character's speed showed off the hardware capabilities of the Genesis, which had a CPU clock speed approximately double that of the Super NES. Sonic 's perceived rebellious attitude became a model for game mascots. Other companies attempted to duplicate Sega's success with their own brightly colored anthropomorphisms with attitude. These often were characterized by impatience, sarcasm, and frequent quips. A second generation of platformers for computers appeared alongside
7030-461: A time limit and lead to the next sequential level. Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced the overworld , a map of nonlinear levels that branches according to the player's choice. Super Mario World introduced levels with multiple exits. 3D installments in the series have had two subgenres: open world exploration based games and more linear 3D games with a predetermined path. Levels in the open world games, 64 , Sunshine and Odyssey , allow
7215-449: A world map. It is a direct successor to the Super Mario Bros. games, bearing the subtitle Super Mario Bros. 4 in Japan. Unlike Super Mario Bros. 3 , however, where each world map is separate, the world map here covers the whole game. Some of the levels have hidden alternate exits leading to different areas. New abilities include a spin jump and the rideable Yoshi , who can eat enemies and either swallow or spit them out. Power-ups include
7400-420: Is an enhanced Super Mario Bros. , with the same gameplay and more complex level designs, character features, and weather features. Some of the advanced level content had been culled from Vs. Super Mario Bros. , a 1986 coin-operated arcade version of the original Super Mario Bros. for NES. All of these factors combined to yield an incremental game design with significantly higher difficulty. Also that year,
7585-434: Is based on characters, settings, and music from Super Mario Bros. 2 . Platformer The genre started with the 1980 arcade video game Space Panic , which has ladders but not jumping. Donkey Kong , released in 1981, established a template for what were initially called "climbing games". Donkey Kong inspired many clones and games with similar elements, such as Miner 2049er (1982) and Kangaroo (1982), while
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7770-469: Is in a vector game called Major Havoc , which comprises a number of mini-games, including a simple platformer. One of the first raster -based platformers to scroll fluidly in all directions in this manner is 1985's Legend of Kage . In 1985, Enix released the action-adventure platformer Brain Breaker . The following year saw the release of Nintendo's Metroid , which was critically acclaimed for
7955-555: Is one of the best-selling video games of all time. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (known as Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan) is the first sequel to the original Super Mario Bros. It uses the Super Mario Bros. engine, with additions such as weather, character movements, and more complex levels, altogether yielding a much higher difficulty. The game follows the same style of level progression as Super Mario Bros. , with eight initial worlds of four levels each. At that time, this sequel
8140-477: Is part of the greater Mario franchise, which includes other video game genres and media such as film, television, printed media, and merchandise. More than 380 million copies of Super Mario games have been sold worldwide, making it the fifth-bestselling video game series , behind the larger Mario franchise, the puzzle series Tetris , the Pokémon video games, and Grand Theft Auto . The objective of
8325-418: Is playable in and the first to feature a music track with vocals. After having fallen out of favor by the mid-2000s, open-world "collectathon" 3D platformers such as Super Mario 64 , Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64 had become less common. For example, the 3D adventure game Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (2008) explicitly mocked the perceived tedium of collecting large quantities of tokens. By
8510-518: Is similar in appearance to the Amanita muscaria , with an ivory stalk below a most commonly red and white (originally red and orange) spotted cap. Created by chance, Shigeru Miyamoto stated in an interview that beta tests of Super Mario Bros. proved Mario too tall, so the development team implemented mushrooms to grow and shrink Mario. Different variants of mushroom power-ups appear in the series. For example, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels introduces
8695-575: Is similar to the original Super Mario Bros. , Super Mario Land 2 has more in common with Super Mario World , featuring a world map and the ability to move back to the left within levels. There are 32 levels, divided into several themed worlds that each have their own boss. Three power-ups return: the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Super Star. The game also introduces the Carrot power-up, which gives Mario large rabbit ears that let him glide when falling for
8880-513: Is still a game worth playing on the merits of its gameplay alone", and that "the only reason you may not want to pick it up is if ... you already own it in another form." However, GameSpot thought that Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World would have been a better choice for a launch game considering their respective popularity; both games were eventually also remade as part of the Super Mario Advance series. Conversely, IGN praised
9065-537: Is the Super Mushroom . The Super Mushroom increases the character's size, turning them into a "Super" variant, and allows them to break certain blocks. When hit by an enemy, the character reverts to their smaller size instead of losing a life. When the character is in their "Super" form, most blocks that would contain a Super Mushroom instead offer a more powerful power-up such as the Fire Flower. The Super Mushroom
9250-647: Is the first 3D Super Mario game to have the Fire Flower. In Land and Maker 2 , the Superball is a bouncing ball obtained from a Super Flower, which the character can use to defeat enemies and collect coins. The Ice Flower transforms the character into an Ice variant who can shoot balls of ice as projectiles similar to those of the Fire Flower; they freeze enemies in blocks of ice that can be used as platforms or thrown as projectiles, as seen in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. U . In Galaxy ,
9435-648: Is the first game in which Princess Toadstool and Toad are playable characters. Princess Toadstool established a floating jump and stars in later Mario games such as Super Princess Peach . Toad stars in later Mario games like Wario's Woods , New Super Mario Bros. Wii , and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker . In Super Mario Bros. 2 , Luigi became distinguished from Mario's form, especially his tall stature and scuttle jump. The Super Smash Bros. series gained many direct homages to this game. The 1989 cartoon television show The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
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#17328588382929620-399: Is the first official Super Mario game developed for mobile devices . As such, it features simplified controls that allow it to be played with only one hand. In this game, the character runs automatically, with the player controlling the jumping action to avoid hazards. This is achieved by touching the tactile screens these devices are built with. The longer the player touches the jump button,
9805-574: Is the second 3D Super Mario game. It was released in 2002 for the GameCube . In it, Mario and Peach travel to Isle Delfino for a vacation when a Mario doppelgänger , going by the name of Shadow Mario , appears and vandalizes the entire island. Mario is sentenced to clean the island with a water-squirting accessory called F.L.U.D.D. Super Mario Sunshine shares many similar gameplay elements with its predecessor Super Mario 64 , yet introduces moves, like spinning while jumping, and several other actions through
9990-660: The Super Mario All-Stars (1993) collection for the Super NES , and as Super Mario Advance (2001) for the Game Boy Advance . It is included as part of the Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online services. Super Mario Bros. 2 is a 2D side-scrolling platform game . The objective is to navigate the player's character through the dream world Subcon and defeat the main antagonist Wart. Before each stage,
10175-456: The All-Stars remake, as part of Super Mario Advance , which also contains a remake of Mario Bros. Super Mario Advance was developed by Nintendo Research & Development 2 , and was a launch title for the Game Boy Advance . The Super Mario Advance version of Super Mario Bros. 2 includes several new features such as the addition of the enemy Robirdo, a robotic Birdo, replacing Mouser as
10360-611: The Atari 2600 , with 256 horizontally connected screens, became one of the best-selling games on the system and was a breakthrough for the genre. Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle was released on the ColecoVision that same year, adding uneven terrain and scrolling pans between static screens. Manic Miner (1983) and its sequel Jet Set Willy (1984) continued this style of multi-screen levels on home computers . Wanted: Monty Mole won
10545-537: The Family Computer Disk System in Japan on July 10, 1987. The title Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic is derived from "doki doki", a Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of a quickly beating heart. The title and character concept were inspired by a license cooperation between Nintendo and Fuji Television to promote the broadcaster's Yume Kōjō '87 event, which showcased several of its latest TV shows and consumer products. The Yume Kōjō festival's mascots became
10730-675: The MSX computer, it was subsequently ported to various platforms the following year, including an arcade video game version, NES , and ColecoVision . 1986 saw the release of the sequel to forward-scrolling platformer Antarctic Adventure called Penguin Adventure , which was designed by Hideo Kojima . It included more action game elements, a greater variety of levels, RPG elements such as upgrading equipment, and multiple endings . In early 1987, Square released 3-D WorldRunner , designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nasir Gebelli . Using
10915-516: The Master System with Alex Kidd in Miracle World . It has horizontal and vertical scrolling levels, the ability to punch enemies and obstacles, and shops for the player to buy power-ups and vehicles. Another Sega series that began that same year is Wonder Boy . The original Wonder Boy in 1986 was inspired more by Pac-Land than Super Mario Bros. , with skateboarding segments that gave
11100-600: The New Super Mario Bros. games contain Toad Houses that host skill- and luck-based activities such as shell games . The Land games feature end-of-level minigames for acquiring extra lives. The Battle Mode in the All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Advance series of remakes all feature versions of Mario Bros. as a minigame. Yoshi's Island enables a minigame when certain conditions are met when completing
11285-604: The Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, became the archetype for the genre. It was bundled with Nintendo systems in North America, Japan, and Europe, and sold over 40 million copies, according to the 1999 Guinness Book of World Records . Its success as a pack-in led many companies to see platformers as vital to their success, and contributed greatly to popularizing the genre during the third and fourth generations of video game consoles. Sega attempted to emulate this success with their Alex Kidd series, which started in 1986 on
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#173285883829211470-482: The Nintendo Switch . It implements 3D open-world "free-roaming" gameplay in a similar fashion to Odyssey , from which it includes many elements. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a 2D sidescrolling Super Mario game announced on June 21, 2023 and released on October 20 of the same year. Playable characters include Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Nabbit and Toadette. New power-ups include
11655-634: The Poison Mushroom , which causes damage when collected; and New Super Mario Bros. introduces the Mini Mushroom, which shrinks the character to miniature size; and the Mega Mushroom, grows the character into a towering, invulnerable giant who destroys enemies and the environment by running through them. Super Mario Bros. 3 introduces suits to the Super Mario series, many of which are based on animals or Mario enemies. The Raccoon Suit (provisioned by
11840-450: The Sega arcade game Congo Bongo (1983) adds a third dimension via isometric graphics . Another popular game of that period, Pitfall! (1982), allows moving left and right through series of non-scrolling screens, expanding the play area. Nintendo 's flagship Super Mario Bros. (1985) was a defining game for the nascent genre, with horizontally scrolling levels and the player controlling
12025-467: The Super Mario Bros. games released for the Famicom/NES. The version of Super Mario Bros. 2 included in the compilation has modernized graphics and sound to match the Super NES's 16-bit capabilities, as well as minor alterations in some collision mechanics. It is possible to change the character after losing a single life, while the original version allows changing it only after completing a level or when
12210-588: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) game Star Fox (1993). He considered using the Super FX chip to develop a SNES game, Super Mario FX , with gameplay based on "an entire world in miniature, like miniature trains". He eventually reformulated the idea for the Nintendo 64, not for its substantially greater power, but because its controller has more buttons for gameplay. Super Mario 64
12395-533: The virtual camera , it had to be constrained to stop it from clipping through the environment. In 1994, a small developer called Exact released a game for the X68000 computer called Geograph Seal , which was a 3D first-person shooter game with platforming. Players piloted a frog-like mech that could jump and then double-jump or triple-jump high into the air as the camera panned down to help players line up their landings. In addition to shooting, jumping on enemies
12580-506: The "Super Star" in the two Super Mario World games as well as the New Super Mario Bros. games and the "Rainbow Star" in the two Super Mario Galaxy games. Picking up the star makes the character temporarily invincible , able to resist any harm. Use of the item is accompanied by a distinctive music track that appears consistently across most of the games. The player character flickers a variety of colors – and in some games, moves with increased speed and enhanced jumping ability – while under
12765-500: The 3D games in the series starting with Super Mario 64 . The character uses the cannon by jumping into the barrel, aiming themself and being fired at a distant target. This allows the character to progress through a level or reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Many games in the series feature minigames supplemental to the platforming gameplay, usually offering the chance to win extra lives or power-ups. Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3D World feature slot machines . Super Mario Bros. 3 and
12950-541: The 3D games through including more linear levels. It is the first original 3D Super Mario game on a handheld console, since all previous handheld games were either 2D or a port of a previous game. It also brought back several older gameplay features, including the Super Leaf power-up last seen in Super Mario Bros. 3 . New Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in July and August 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS. The player, as Mario or Luigi, tries to save Princess Peach from Bowser and
13135-411: The 8-bit original in the fashion of Super Mario All-Stars , plus " SoundLink " narration ( radio drama -style streaming voice data intended to guide players through the game and give helpful hints and advice) and broadcast CD-quality music. Due to the nature of SoundLink broadcasts, these games were only broadcast to players between 6:00 and 7:00 PM on broadcast dates, at which times players could download
13320-471: The Bonus Chance minigame between the levels. Mario has a dream of a staircase leading to a mysterious door to a mysterious place. A voice identifies the world as the dreamland of Subcon, and asks for Mario's help in defeating the villainous frog named Wart, a tyrant who has cursed Subcon and its people. Mario suddenly awakes and decides to tell Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool, who all report experiencing
13505-460: The Enchanted Castle , which was only modestly successful. That same year, Capcom released Strider in arcades, which scrolled in multiple directions and allowed the player to summon artificial intelligence partners, such as a droid, tiger, and hawk, to help fight enemies. Another Sega release in 1989 was Shadow Dancer , which is a game that also included an AI partner: a dog who followed
13690-521: The Frog Suit, Penguin Suit, Cat Suit, Boomerang Suit, and Bee Suit. Super Mario Maker includes costume power-ups that depict many more characters ( Super Mario Maker 2 includes only a Link power-up). The flower power-ups let the player character shoot projectiles. The Fire Flower, introduced in Super Mario Bros. , transforms the character into a Fire variant who can throw bouncing fireballs at enemies. Galaxy
13875-539: The Hedgehog series changed very little in its four installments on the Genesis . The Mario series has changed significantly with each new game." The original Super Mario Bros. was awarded the top spot on Electronic Gaming Monthly ' s greatest 200 games of their time list and IGN ' s top 100 games of all-time list twice (in 2005 and 2007). Super Mario Bros. popularized side-scrolling video games and provided
14060-424: The Hedgehog into 3D. Their project, titled Sonic Xtreme , was to have featured a radically different approach for the series, with an exaggerated fisheye camera and multidirectional gameplay reminiscent of Bug! . Due in part to conflicts with Sega Enterprises in Japan and a rushed schedule, the game never made it to market. In the 1990s, platforming games started to shift from pseudo-3D to "true 3D," which gave
14245-486: The Ice Flower turns Mario or Luigi into ice and lets him walk on lava or water for a limited time by freezing the surface. Lastly, New Super Mario Bros. 2 ' s Gold Flower lets Mario or Luigi turn bricks into coins and earn bonus coins for defeating enemies. Koopa Shells serve as a major projectile in the series, featuring since the original game. The character can throw them to defeat enemies, collect coins, and activate
14430-716: The Japanese sequel's localization to America and instead requested a newer and more player-friendly Super Mario Bros. sequel for release outside Japan. An early prototype with vertical scrolling was developed by Kensuke Tanabe , designed by a team led by Shigeru Miyamoto , and programmed by Nintendo's frequent partner, SRD, shortly after Tanabe was hired in April 1986. The first prototype's gameplay emphasizes vertically scrolling levels with two-player cooperative action: lifting, carrying, and throwing each other; lifting, carrying, throwing, stacking, and climbing objects; and incrementally scrolling
14615-607: The Koopalings, with the game's secondary goal to collect one million coins. Several gameplay elements were introduced to help achieve this goal, such as the Gold Flower, a rarer variant of the Fire Flower that turns items into coins. New Super Mario Bros. U , the Wii U follow-up to New Super Mario Bros. Wii , was released in November 2012. It introduces both a Flying Squirrel suit that lets
14800-432: The Mega Mushroom, Blue Shell, and Mini Mushroom. Miyamoto explained that when he was developing Super Mario 64 with Yoshiaki Koizumi , they realized that the title would be more directed towards the "core gamer", rather than the casual, "pick-up-and-go" gamer. After Sunshine , their focus shifted to more accessible, casual games, leading them to develop Super Mario Galaxy with more progression-oriented paths. Galaxy
14985-765: The Power Stars in Super Mario 64 and the Super Mario Galaxy games, Shine Sprites in Super Mario Sunshine , Cat Shines in Bowser's Fury , Star Coins in the New Super Mario Bros. series, Star Medals in Super Mario 3D Land , Green Stars in the Galaxy games and Super Mario 3D World , and Power Moons in Super Mario Odyssey . In Super Mario Land 2 , there are six Golden Coin tokens that must be collected to finish
15170-648: The Propeller Mushroom, the Ice Flower, and the Penguin Suit. All characters can ride Yoshi. Super Mario Galaxy 2 , released on May 23, 2010, was initially developed as an expansion pack to Galaxy , but was eventually developed into its own game. It retains the basic premise of its predecessor and includes its items and power-ups besides the Ice Flower and Red Star. New power-ups include the Cloud Flower, which allows Mario or Luigi to create platforms in mid-air and
15355-526: The Rock Mushroom, which turns the character into a rolling boulder. The character can also ride Yoshi. The game was released to widespread critical acclaim, getting better reviews than its predecessor. Super Mario 3D Land was released for the Nintendo 3DS in November and December 2011. It was the first attempt to translate the gameplay of the 2D games into a 3D environment, and simplify the control scheme of
15540-659: The Star's influence. While invincible, the character defeats any enemy upon contact with it. In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island , the star gives the normally immobile baby Mario the ability to run as well as become invincible. In Super Mario 64 and 64 DS , invincibility is provided when the character becomes metal or intangible. The Mega Mushroom provides temporary invincibility with the addition of giant size and environment destruction (see Power-ups and transformations ). Super Mario level design traditionally incorporates many distributed coins as puzzles, rewards, and guidance through
15725-440: The Super Mushroom, Super Flower, which allows Mario to shoot projectiles, Super Star, and hearts, which give Mario an extra life . The game consists of twelve levels split across four worlds. Reaching the higher of two exits at each level's end activates a minigame where the player can try to get extra lives. Super Mario World was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and consists of nine worlds displayed via
15910-525: The United States, eventually totaling 7.46 million copies worldwide, making it the fourth highest-selling game ever released on the Nintendo Entertainment System . Although only the fourth highest-selling NES game overall, it is the best-selling standalone NES game which was never a pack-in game . Although The Lost Levels was considered too difficult to play, Super Mario Bros. 2 received critical acclaim. Nintendo Power listed it as
16095-588: The Wing Cap, allowing Mario to fly; the Metal Cap, turning him into metal; and the Vanish Cap, allowing him to walk through obstacles. Super Mario 64 is considered seminal to 3D video games. A remake of the game called Super Mario 64 DS was released for Nintendo DS in 2004 and 2005, adding Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario as playable characters, new abilities, new objectives, multiplayer, and minigames. Super Mario Sunshine
16280-519: The acrobatics evoke the movement that games such as Prince of Persia would feature. B.C.'s Quest For Tires (1983) put a recognizable character from American comic strips into side-scrolling, jumping gameplay similar to Moon Patrol . The same year, Snokie for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers added uneven terrain to a scrolling platformer. Based on the Saturday morning cartoon rather than
16465-510: The air (most commonly seen in the New Super Mario Bros. series). In early Mario games such as Super Mario Bros. , special, well-hidden areas known as Warp Zones contain pipes that allow players to skip several worlds (handfuls of levels) at once. In the New Super Mario Bros. series, pipe-shaped Warp Cannons work similarly to the Warp Zones of the earlier games and are unlocked by finding secret exits in levels. Cannons appear in most of
16650-403: The air for a short amount of time, and Toad is the fastest. Characters here also can pluck items from the ground to throw at enemies. This is also the first Super Mario game to use a life meter, which allows the characters to be hit up to four times before dying. Super Mario Bros. 3 is divided into eight themed worlds, each with 6–10 levels and several bonus stages displayed as locations on
16835-463: The basic concept and mechanics that persisted throughout the rest of the series. Super Mario Bros. sold 40.24 million copies, making it the bestselling video game of the whole series. Various other video games of the series were ranked as the best within the series. Games included are Super Mario Bros. 3 , Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 to name a few. Before Super Mario Odyssey , Super Mario Galaxy has been for 10 years
17020-415: The basis for the non-linear mission structure found in most open-world, multi-mission, sidequest -heavy games. Another Capcom platformer that year was Bionic Commando , which popularized a grappling hook mechanic that has since appeared in dozens of games, including Earthworm Jim and Tomb Raider . Scrolling platformers went portable in the late 1980s with games such as Super Mario Land , and
17205-522: The boss of World 3; the addition of the Yoshi Challenge , in which players may revisit stages to search for Yoshi Eggs; and a new point-scoring system, similar to that used in the aforementioned BS Super Mario USA Power Challenge . Graphical and audio enhancements appear in the form of enlarged sprites, multiple hit combos, digital voice acting, and such minor stylistic and aesthetic changes as an altered default health-meter level, boss-order, backgrounds,
17390-496: The character circumnavigate rounded or irregular planetoids by walking sideways or upside down. The character is usually able to jump from one independent object and fall towards another close object. Though the main gameplay and physics are in 3D , there are several points in the game where the character's movements are restricted into a 2D axis. Several new power-ups appear following the new game mechanics. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009) features 4-player co-op and new power-ups:
17575-419: The character falls off the screen, represented by hearts. The player can replenish health by collecting floating hearts that appear upon defeating a certain number of enemies. The player will receive a Game Over upon losing the last life, though the player may continue up to twice in one game. Extra lives may be obtained by collecting hidden 1-Up Mushrooms or by using the coins collected from Sub-space to play
17760-429: The character likenesses of Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad, building them over their respective counterpart models of Imajin, Mama, Lina, and Papa. This marked the first time that Mario and Luigi had noticeably different heights, and Miyamoto originated the scuttling animation of Luigi's legs, to justify the enhanced jumping ability seen in the corresponding Mama character. Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic needed only
17945-565: The characters glide through the air, and asymmetric gameplay that allows the player holding the GamePad to influence the environment. In June 2013, New Super Luigi U was released as a downloadable content (DLC) package for the game, featuring shorter, but more difficult levels, starring Luigi as the main protagonist instead of his brother. Subsequently, it was released as a standalone retail game on August 25 in North America. The Nintendo Switch port New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe includes both
18130-540: The characters. Like Super Mario Bros. 2 , it features Princess Peach and Toad as playable characters in addition to Mario and Luigi. Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy is also unlocked later in the game. Miyamoto said that "even though that's a 3D game, it's a little more accessible to everybody." Super Mario Maker is a creation tool released for the Wii U in September 2015 which allows players to create their own levels based on
18315-419: The choice, calling it "one of the most polished and creative platformers of the era". The game was named one of the best NES games ever by IGN, saying that the game offers greater diversity in graphics and gameplay than the original, making it a great bridge game between the other NES Mario games. ScrewAttack named Wart's battle theme in a list of the top ten best 8-Bit Final Boss Themes. Game Informer placed
18500-455: The compilation game Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). In Super Mario Bros. 2 (known as Super Mario USA in Japan), Mario and his companions seek to defeat the evil frog Wart in the Subcon dreamland. Based on a discarded prototype, the game was instead originally released as Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic in Japan, and was ultimately converted into
18685-512: The console as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in North America, along with Super Mario World , while Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis . Sonic showcased a new style of design made possible by a new generation of hardware: large stages that scrolled in all directions, curved hills, loops, and a physics system allowing players to rush through its levels with well-placed jumps and rolls. Sega characterized Sonic as
18870-421: The criteria of a platformer, and was billed as an action adventure . It used true 3D characters and set pieces, but its environments were rendered using a rigid engine similar to the one used by Wolfenstein 3D , in that it could only render square, flat corridors, rather than suspended platforms that could be jumped between. Sega had tasked their American studio, Sega Technical Institute , with bringing Sonic
19055-419: The earlier Clockwork Knight . The game plays very similarly to 2D platformers, but lets players walk up walls and on ceilings. In 1995, Delphine Software released a 3D sequel to their 2D platformer Flashback . Entitled Fade to Black , it was the first attempt to bring a popular 2D platformer series into 3D. While it retained the puzzle-oriented level design style and step-based control, it did not meet
19240-502: The eighth best Nintendo Entertainment System video game, mentioning that regardless of its predecessor not being in the Super Mario franchise, it was distinguished on its own merits and its unique takes on the franchise's signature format. GamesRadar ranked it the 6th best NES game ever made. The staff complimented it and other third-generation games for being a greater improvement than sequels around 2012, which they thought had seen only small improvements. Entertainment Weekly picked
19425-474: The end of the level while solving puzzles and collecting items. In a style new to the series, the game has a hand-drawn aesthetic. The game introduces his signature abilities to flutter jump and produce eggs from swallowed enemies. Yoshi's Island received "instant" and "universal acclaim", according to IGN and review aggregator Metacritic , and sold over four million copies. Yoshi's signature characteristics established in Yoshi's Island would carry throughout
19610-529: The festival, and were adapted into the Super Mario theme to make a second Super Mario Bros. sequel. Super Mario Bros. 2 was a resounding success, becoming the fifth-best-selling game on the NES , and was critically well-received for its design aspects and for differentiating the Super Mario series. It was re-released in Japan for the Famicom as Super Mario USA (1992), and has been remade twice, first included in
19795-489: The first side-scrolling 2D platform game to feature Mario, was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. It was derived through collaboration by Nintendo 's Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka as a successor to the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. , which starred two characters: Mario, the titular character that first appeared in Donkey Kong as the original player character and its sequel where he
19980-521: The first award for Best Platform game in 1984 from Crash magazine. Later that same year, Epyx released Impossible Mission , and Parker Brothers released Montezuma's Revenge , which further expanded on the exploration aspect. The first platformer to use scrolling graphics came years before the genre became popular. Jump Bug is a platform-shooter developed by Alpha Denshi under contract for Hoei/Coreland and released to arcades in 1981, only five months after Donkey Kong . Players control
20165-479: The foreground and background, and the camera panning and curving around corners. Meanwhile, Pandemonium and Klonoa brought the 2.5D style to the PlayStation . In a break from the past, the Nintendo 64 had the fewest side scrolling platformers with only four; Yoshi's Story , Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards , Goemon's Great Adventure , and Mischief Makers —and most met with a tepid response from critics at
20350-573: The functions of blocks. Power-ups are available for Yoshi to breathe fire in World , Yoshi's Island , and 64 DS , breathe freezing air and spit seeds in Yoshi's Island , spit out enemies in the World games, and spit juice in Sunshine . Other power-ups let the character throw bombs, boomerangs, and baseballs and shoot cannonballs. In Odyssey , Mario can possess characters, some of which can launch various projectiles. Flying shoot 'em up gameplay also appears in
20535-667: The game 30th on their top 100 video games of all time in 2001. In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the game 27th on a list of greatest Nintendo games. Next Generation reviewed the Game Boy Advance version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "This classic probably shouldn't have been brought back. It's well translated but hasn't aged gracefully." Many elements in Super Mario Bros. 2 have endured in subsequent sequels and in related franchise. The ability to lift and toss enemies and objects—a defining feature of its earliest prototype—has become part of
20720-464: The game a greater sense of speed than other platformers at the time, while its sequel, Wonder Boy in Monster Land added action-adventure and role-playing elements. Wonder Boy in turn inspired games such as Adventure Island , Dynastic Hero , Popful Mail , and Shantae . One of the first platformers to scroll in all four directions freely and follow the on-screen character's movement
20905-554: The game as the #6 greatest game available in 1991, saying: "The second and still the best of the Super Mario franchise". In 1997 Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked the All-Stars edition as the 14th best console video game of all time, calling the level designs "unlike anything you've seen before" and highly praising the boss challenges. In the Pak Source edition of Nintendo Power , which rated all NES games released in North America from October 1985 to March 1990, Super Mario Bros. 2
21090-452: The game covering these changes was exhibited in the first issue of Nintendo Power , dated July/August 1988. In the tradition of the Mario series, they added the ability to run by holding the B button. Super Mario Bros. 2 was first released in North America in September 1988. In PAL regions , the game released the following year. It was such a commercial success and its contributions so substantial over Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic , that it
21275-562: The game from the Events Plaza on the BS-X application cartridge . A single rerun of the broadcasts was conducted in the same weekly format from June 3, 1996, to June 29, 1996, at 5:00 to 6:00 PM. The BS-X download location for the rerun changed to Bagupotamia Temple. While the underlying gameplay itself is largely similar, new and arranged content has been added. For instance, the BS version newly featured
21460-485: The game is to progress through levels by defeating enemies, collecting items and solving puzzles without dying. Power-up use is integral to the series. The series has installments featuring both two and three-dimensional gameplay. In the 2D games, the player character (usually Mario) jumps on platforms and enemies while avoiding their attacks and moving to the right of the scrolling screen. 2D Super Mario game levels have single-exit objectives, which must be reached within
21645-403: The game's protagonists: a family consisting of the boy Imajin, his girlfriend Lina, and his parents Mama and Papa. The rest of the game's characters, including the main villain named Mamu, were created by Nintendo for the project. Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic takes place within a book with an Arabian setting. All four characters are optionally playable, though the game is not fully completed until
21830-400: The game. The Warp Pipe is a common method of transportation used in many of the Mario series games. Warp Pipes are most often green but also appear in other colors (early games included silver pipes, newer games have introduced red, green, blue and yellow pipes), and have many uses in the series. Warp Pipes can also contain enemies, usually Piranha Plants, and sometimes launch the player into
22015-437: The gameplay and style of Super Mario Bros. , Super Mario Bros. 3 , Super Mario World , and New Super Mario Bros. U , as well as to share their creations online. Based on existing games, several gameplay mechanics were introduced for the game, with existing ones also available to be used together in new ways. A Nintendo 3DS version of the game called Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS , was released in December 2016. It features
22200-498: The gameplay from its precursor but traded the frog-like mech for a cartoony rabbit mech called Robbit. The title was successful enough to get two sequels and is remembered for being the first 3D platformer on a console. Rob Fahey of Eurogamer said Jumping Flash was perhaps "one of the most important ancestors of every 3D platformer in the following decade." It holds the record of "First platform videogame in true 3D" according to Guinness World Records . Another early 3D platformer
22385-419: The genre are walking, running, jumping, attacking, and climbing. Jumping is central to the genre, though there are exceptions such as Nintendo 's Popeye and Data East 's BurgerTime , both from 1982. In some games, such as Donkey Kong , the trajectory of a jump is fixed, while in others it can be altered mid-air. Falling may cause damage or death. Many platformers contain environmental obstacles which kill
22570-465: The genre as "Donkey Kong-type" or "Kong-style" games. "Climbing games" was used in Steve Bloom's 1982 book Video Invaders and 1983 magazines Electronic Games (US)—which ran a cover feature called "The Player's Guide to Climbing Games"—and TV Gamer (UK). Bloom defined "climbing games" as titles where the player "must climb from the bottom of the screen to the top while avoiding and/or destroying
22755-403: The genre continued to maintain its popularity, with many games released for the handheld Game Boy and Game Gear systems. By the time the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 launched, platformers were the most popular genre in console gaming. There was a particular emphasis on having a flagship platform title exclusive to a system, featuring a mascot character. In 1989, Sega released Alex Kidd in
22940-412: The genre. A modern variant of the platform game, especially significant on mobile platforms, is the endless runner , where the main character is always moving forward and the player must dodge or jump to avoid falling or hitting obstacles. Various names were used in the years following the release of the first established game in the genre, Donkey Kong (1981). Shigeru Miyamoto originally called it
23125-583: The ground and mushroom blocks. The game consists of 20 different levels across the seven worlds comprising Subcon. Each world has three levels, except World 7, which has two. Each world has a particular theme that dictates the obstacles and enemies encountered in its levels, such as desert areas with dangerous quicksand and snowy areas with slippery surfaces. Levels contain multiple sections or rooms that are connected via doors or ladders. Some rooms are accessible by entering certain jars . Magic potions found in each level are used to temporarily access "Sub-space",
23310-488: The higher the character jumps. This game also includes a "Toad Rally" mode, similar to the "VS Boo" mode of Super Mario Bros Deluxe , in which players have to complete a level faster than a computer-controlled Toad. Success in this mode earns the player access to in-game money to spend on customizing the Mushroom Kingdom map, using mechanics similar to FarmVille . This is the first Super Mario game that Princess Daisy
23495-496: The increasingly popular Mario series to be too difficult to a recovering, transfiguring, and expanding market — nor to be stylistically outdated by the time the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 could be eventually converted to the NES's cartridge format, localized, and mass-produced for America. Utilizing its regional autonomy to avoid risking the franchise's popularity in this nascent market, Nintendo of America declined
23680-415: The kidnapped Princess Peach from the primary antagonist , Bowser . The first game in the series, Super Mario Bros. , released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, established the series' core gameplay concepts and elements. These include a multitude of power-ups and items that give the character special powers such as fireball-throwing and size-changing. The Super Mario series
23865-518: The level-long P-Wing allowing flight through a whole level. Bowser is again the final boss. Super Mario Land is the first handheld Super Mario game apart from the Game & Watch conversion of Super Mario Bros. , and was released for the Game Boy in 1989. Like the Super Mario Bros. games, it is a sidescrolling platformer. Mario sets out to save Princess Daisy from the spaceman Tatanga. Items include
24050-440: The level. Coins are often found floating in the air in groups. Most Super Mario games award the player an extra life once a certain amount of gold coins are collected, commonly 50 or 100. Several coin variants exist, such as silver coins, dragon coins, star coins, and more. In 64 , Sunshine , Galaxy , and Galaxy 2 , coins replenish health (and air, when the character is underwater). In 64 and Sunshine , collecting 100 coins in
24235-454: The levels were open and had objectives. Completing objectives earned the player stars, and stars were used to unlock more levels. This approach allowed for more efficient use of large 3D areas and rewarded the player for exploration, but it meant less jumping and more action-adventure . Even so, a handful of boss levels offered more traditional platforming. Until then there was no settled way to make 3D platformers, but Super Mario 64 inspired
24420-595: The lowest speed and strength; Toad has the highest speed and strength, which allows him to pick up items quickly, but jumps the lowest. Unlike Super Mario Bros. , this game has no multiplayer functionality and no time limit. The original only scrolls from left to right, but this game can also scroll right to left, and even vertically in some areas. Unlike other Mario games, the characters cannot defeat enemies by jumping on them but can stand on, pick up, and throw most enemies at each other to defeat them. Other objects that can be thrown at enemies include vegetables pulled from
24605-472: The main game and New Super Luigi U , and new playable characters Nabbit and Toadette . Super Mario 3D World , the sequel to 3D Land , was released for the Wii U on November 22, 2013, in North America, and used the same gameplay mechanics as its predecessor. Co-operative multiplayer is available for up to four players. The game introduced the ability to turn the characters into cats able to attack and scale walls to reach new areas, and to create clones of
24790-489: The maze game, Namco's 1984 Pac-Land is a bidirectional, horizontally-scrolling, arcade video game with walking, running, jumping, springboards, power-ups , and a series of unique levels. Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani described the game as "the pioneer of action games with horizontally running background." According to Iwatani, Shigeru Miyamoto described Pac-Land as an influence on the development of Super Mario Bros. . Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. , released for
24975-542: The mid-2010s, however, 3D platformers were aiming to replicate such experiences, including Yooka-Laylee and A Hat in Time . Super Mario Odyssey is a return to the open-world "sandbox" 3D style of gameplay, with "more open-ended exploration like in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine ." It was released in October 2017 for Nintendo Switch . Bowser's Fury is part of the 2021 re-release of Super Mario 3D World on
25160-467: The monochromatic Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2 , instead of a differently colored mushroom, the 1-Up is shown as a heart. Super Mario World introduced the 3-Up Moon. 1-Ups can also be earned through collecting a certain number of coins or playing minigames. Invincibility is an effect first appearing in the three Super Mario Bros. games, where it is granted by a "Starman", an anthropomorphized, flashing star. The star has also been named
25345-405: The more linear 3D platformers like Tork: Prehistoric Punk and Wario World used scripted cameras that limited player control. Games with more open environments like Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie used intelligent cameras that followed the player's movements. Still, when the view was obstructed or not facing what the player needed to see, these intelligent cameras needed to be adjusted by
25530-459: The nascent American market. This prompted a second Super Mario Bros. sequel based on Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic , Nintendo's 1987 Family Computer Disk System game which had been based on a prototype platforming game and released as an advergame for Fuji Television 's Yume Kōjō '87 media technology expo. The characters, enemies, and themes in Doki Doki Panic have the mascots and theme of
25715-539: The new Cape Feather, which lets Mario and Luigi fly with a cape, and the P-balloon, which inflates the player character to allow him to float. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins was released for the Game Boy in 1992. It introduces Mario's rival, Wario , who took over Mario's castle during the events of Super Mario Land and forces Mario to collect the six golden coins to reenter and reclaim his castle. While its predecessor
25900-526: The new wave of consoles. In the latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s, the Amiga was a strong gaming platform with its custom video hardware and sound hardware . The Atari ST was solidly supported as well. Games like Shadow of the Beast and Turrican showed that computer platformers could rival their console contemporaries. Prince of Persia , originally a late release for the 8-bit Apple II in 1989, featured
26085-506: The obstacles and foes you invariably meet along the way." Under this definition, he listed Space Panic (1980), Donkey Kong , and despite the top down perspective, Frogger (1981) as climbing games. In a December 1982 Creative Computing review of the Apple II game Beer Run , the reviewer used a different term: "I'm going to call this a ladder game, as in the 'ladder genre,' which includes Apple Panic and Donkey Kong ." That label
26270-572: The paintings in Peach's castle to unlock later courses and areas. The Nintendo 64's analog stick makes an extensive repertoire of precise movements in all directions possible. The game introduced moves such as punching, triple jumping, and using a Wing Cap to fly. It is the first Super Mario series game to feature Charles Martinet 's voice acting for Mario. Mario must once again save Princess Peach from Bowser. The game's power-ups differ from previous games, now being three different hats with temporary powers:
26455-421: The permanent repertoire of the Super Mario franchise, appearing in numerous subsequent Super Mario games. The Wii U game Super Mario 3D World features the same playable characters with the same basic physical abilities from Super Mario Bros. 2 . Many characters and features of Super Mario Bros. 2 have been assimilated into the greater Mario universe, such as Birdo , Pokey, Bob-omb, and Shy Guy. This
26640-408: The platform-action game, Valis , which contained anime -style cut scenes . In 1987, Capcom 's Mega Man introduced non-linear level progression where the player is able to choose the order in which they complete levels. This was a stark contrast to both linear games like Super Mario Bros. and open-world games like Metroid . GamesRadar credits the "level select" feature of Mega Man as
26825-499: The player around and aid in battle. In 1990, Hudson Soft released Bonk's Adventure , with a protagonist positioned as NEC 's mascot. The following year, Takeru's Cocoron , a late platformer for the Famicom allowed players to build a character from a toy box filled with spare parts. In 1990, the Super Famicom was released in Japan, along with the eagerly anticipated Super Mario World . The following year, Nintendo released
27010-418: The player character in several Super Mario games since Super Mario World . In Yoshi's Island and 64 DS , instead of the player character merely riding on Yoshi's back, Yoshi is the player character. Yoshis generally have abilities including eating enemies, flying, and breathing fire. Miyamoto had originally wished for Mario to be able to ride a dinosaur in Super Mario Bros. , but this wasn't possible due to
27195-460: The player chooses one of four protagonists: Mario , Luigi , Toad , and Princess Toadstool . All four characters can run, jump, and climb ladders or vines, but each character possesses a unique advantage that causes them to be controlled differently. For example, Mario has balanced speed, jumping height, and strength; Luigi can jump the highest, but moves slightly slower and has weaker strength; Princess Toadstool can float because of her dress but has
27380-470: The player clears all levels using each protagonist. Nintendo of America's Gail Tilden recalls that president Minoru Arakawa 's request to convert the thematically unrelated Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic into a Mario sequel was "odd" at first but not unusual for Nintendo, which had already converted a canceled Popeye prototype into Donkey Kong and reconceived that into Donkey Kong Jr. and Donkey Kong 3 . Summarizing Tanabe's recollections within
27565-409: The player loses all their lives and chooses "Continue", making the game more forgiving when choosing a character not adept at some specific level. The player begins with five lives instead of three, and the slot game gains an additional bonus: if the player obtains three sevens, the player wins 10 lives which is something that was not featured in the original NES version of the game. However, the game has
27750-405: The player more control over the character and the camera. To render a 3D environment from any angle the user chose, the graphics hardware had to be sufficiently powerful, and the art and rendering model of the game had to be viewable from every angle. The improvement in graphics technology allowed publishers to make such games but introduced several new issues. For example, if the player could control
27935-452: The player to freely explore multiple enclosed environments in 360-degree movement. As the game progresses, more environments become accessible. The linear 3D games, Galaxy , Galaxy 2 , 3D Land and 3D World , feature more fixed camera angles and a predetermined path to a single goal. The series often features the option to play as characters other than Mario, usually Luigi. Earlier games have offered an alternating multiplayer mode in which
28120-481: The player to maneuver their character across platforms to reach a goal while confronting enemies and avoiding obstacles along the way. These games are either presented from the side view, using two-dimensional movement, or in 3D with the camera placed either behind the main character or in isometric perspective . Typical platforming gameplay tends to be very dynamic and challenges a player's reflexes, timing, and dexterity with controls. The most common movement options in
28305-498: The player's character upon contact, such as lava pits or bottomless chasms. The player may be able to collect items and power-ups and give the main character new abilities for overcoming adversities. Most games of this genre consist of multiple levels of increasing difficulty that may be interleaved by boss encounters, where the character has to defeat a particularly dangerous enemy to progress. Simple logical puzzles to resolve and skill trials to overcome are other common elements in
28490-993: The player. In the 1990s, RPGs , first-person shooters , and more complex action-adventure games captured significant market share. Even so, the platformer thrived. Tomb Raider became one of the bestselling series on the PlayStation , along with Insomniac Games ' Spyro and Naughty Dog 's Crash Bandicoot , one of the few 3D games to stick with linear levels. Moreover, many of the Nintendo 64 's bestsellers were first- and second-party platformers like Super Mario 64 , Banjo-Kazooie , and Donkey Kong 64 . On Windows and Mac , Pangea Software 's Bugdom series and BioWare 's MDK2 proved successful. Several developers who found success with 3D platformers began experimenting with titles that, despite their cartoon art style, were aimed at adults. Examples include Rare 's Conker's Bad Fur Day , Crystal Dynamics 's Gex: Deep Cover Gecko and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver , and Shiny Entertainment 's Messiah . In 1998, Sega produced
28675-460: The prototype until eventually receiving instruction to use the Yume Kōjō festival mascots in a game. He recalls, "I remember being pulled over to Fuji Television one day, being handed a sheet with game characters on it and being told, 'I want you to make a game with this'." Tanabe re-implemented that prototype's elements in his new game, and released the advergame -themed Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic for
28860-451: The roles in August 2023. The Super Mario series has seen tremendous critical acclaim from both critics and audiences. The series was ranked as the best game franchise by IGN in 2006. In 1996 Next Generation ranked the series as number 5 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", additionally ranking Super Mario 64 at number 1 although stating the rule that series of games be confined to
29045-613: The same dream. The group goes on a picnic, but discovers a cave with a long staircase. Through a door at the top, they are transported to Subcon, revealing their dreams to have been real. After defeating Wart, the people of Subcon are freed and everyone celebrates. Mario suddenly awakes in his bed, unsure if these events were a dream. He soon goes back to sleep. The idea was that you would have people vertically ascending, and you would have items and blocks that you could pile up to go higher, or you could grab your friend that you were playing with and throw them to try and continue to ascend ...
29230-415: The screen quickly; and a stopwatch that can stop enemies from moving for a short period of time. The player must defeat a boss enemy at the end of each of the first six worlds, then defeat Wart himself at the end of World 7 to complete the game. The player starts Super Mario Bros. 2 with three lives , one of which is lost each time the player's character loses all health from enemy or hazard damage or when
29415-495: The screen upward when reaching the top. Dissatisfied so far, Miyamoto then added the traditional horizontal scrolling, saying to "make something a little bit more Mario-like", and saying "Maybe we need to change this up ... As long as it's fun, anything goes". However, the prototype software was too complex for Famicom hardware at the time, and the gameplay was still considered lacking, especially in single-player mode. Unwilling to compromise on gameplay, Tanabe suspended development of
29600-688: The second player controls Luigi on their turn. Luigi is often only playable by player one in a second, more challenging iteration of the base game, such as in The Lost Levels , Galaxy 2 , New Super Luigi U and the special worlds in 3D Land ; these feature lower gravity and reduced friction for Luigi. Later games allow four player simultaneous play. Other playable characters include Princess Peach, Princess Daisy , Toads , Yoshi , Rosalina, and Nabbit, among others. Characters are sometimes differentiated by special abilities. Mushroom power-ups appear in almost every Super Mario game. The most iconic of these
29785-431: The series and incorporated into modern games. The original Super Mario Bros. theme , composed by Koji Kondo , has become one of the most well known video game themes around the world. Super Mario Galaxy , released in 2007, became the first game in the Super Mario series to feature orchestrated music, which would return in its sequel and other subsequent games such as Super Mario 3D World . Super Mario Bros. ,
29970-540: The series since 1995, New Super Mario Bros. was released on the Nintendo DS in 2006. In it, Mario and Luigi set out to save Princess Peach from Bowser Jr. The gameplay is 2D, but most of the characters and objects are 3D on two-dimensional backgrounds, resulting in a 2.5D effect. The game uses an overworld map similar to those of Super Mario Bros. Deluxe . Some levels have multiple exits. The classic power-ups (Super Mushroom, Fire Flower and Super Star) return alongside
30155-452: The series. Mario pilots the armed Sky Pop biplane and Marine Pop submarine in Land . The Koopa Clown Car, aircraft of Bowser and the Koopalings, can sometimes shoot fireballs in Maker . Apart from automated objects in levels that may transport the player character, certain ridable animals and vehicles have appeared that the player controls. Mario's dinosaur friend Yoshi has appeared as a mount to
30340-500: The size of hearts, Princess Toadstool being renamed to the now-standard "Princess Peach", and the inclusion of a chime to announce Stars. The game was released for the Wii U Virtual Console on July 16, 2014, in Japan and later in North America on November 6, 2014. It was released for the Nintendo Switch as a part of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership plan on May 26, 2023. Super Mario Advance received
30525-463: The statues in-game grants the player an extra life and refills the life meter. After clearing a level, the player could press "Select" to see some statistics such as the number of statues, coins, cherries, and mushrooms collected, as well as displaying which bosses had been defeated. As a 4-volume broadcast, each week bore a different subtitle. These are the names of the volumes: On March 21, 2001, Super Mario Bros. 2 received another release, based on
30710-488: The technical restraints of the system. Poochi is a dog featuring in Yoshi's Island who Yoshi can ride. Plesiosaurs Dorrie and Plessie can be ridden by the player characters in 64 and 3D World respectively, with Plessie serving a larger role in Bowser's Fury . Various vehicles that the player character can control have also appeared. These include a magic carpet in 2 , flying clouds in several 2D games, submarines in Land and Yoshi's Island , an airplane in Land ,
30895-486: The time. Despite this, Yoshi's Story sold over a million copies in the US, and Mischief Makers rode high on the charts in the months following its release. The term 3D platformer usually refers to games with gameplay in three dimensions and polygonal 3D graphics. Games that have 3D gameplay but 2D graphics are usually included under the umbrella of isometric platformers , while those that have 3D graphics but gameplay on
31080-459: The title came from the integration of the Super Mushroom into the game. The brothers Mario and Luigi must rescue Princess Toadstool/Peach from Bowser/King Koopa in the Mushroom Kingdom. The game consists of eight worlds of four levels each, totaling 32 levels altogether. Though the worlds differ in themes, the fourth level is always a fortress or castle that ends with a fight against Bowser (or one of his minions disguised as him). Super Mario Bros.
31265-529: The use of F.L.U.D.D. The game contains a number of independent levels, which can be reached from the hub, Delfino Plaza. Mario collects Shine Sprites by completing tasks in the levels, which in return unlock levels in Delfino Plaza by way of abilities and plot-related events. Sunshine introduces the last of Bowser's eight children, Bowser Jr. , as an antagonist. Yoshi also appears again for Mario to ride in certain sections. After no original 2D game releases in
31450-495: The vertical-scrolling gimmick wasn't enough to get us interesting gameplay. — Kensuke Tanabe at Game Developers Conference 2011, on the gameplay mechanics that were later used for Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2 . Nintendo originally released a different game called Super Mario Bros. 2 on Japan's Family Computer Disk System in 1986 (later released as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels for Super NES as part of Super Mario All-Stars ). Its engine
31635-437: The video game industry internationally. The following year, Donkey Kong received a sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. and later Mario Bros. , a platformer with two-player cooperative play . It laid the groundwork for other two-player cooperative games such as Fairyland Story and Bubble Bobble . Beginning in 1982, transitional games emerged with non-scrolling levels spanning multiple screens. David Crane's Pitfall! for
31820-455: The visual flash of 3D with traditional 2D side scrolling gameplay. These games are often referred to as 2.5D. The first such game was Saturn launch title , Clockwork Knight (1994). The game featured levels and boss characters rendered in 3D, but retained 2D gameplay and used pre-rendered 2D sprites for regular characters, similar to Donkey Kong Country . Its sequel improved upon its design, featuring some 3D effects such as hopping between
32005-472: The young subsidiary Nintendo of America was just beginning its launch of the new Nintendo Entertainment System and its flagship game, Super Mario Bros. This international adaptation of the Famicom platform had been deliberately rebranded in the wake of the American video game crash of 1983 , a regional market recession which had not directly affected the mature Japanese market. Nintendo of America did not want
32190-413: Was Floating Runner , developed by a Japanese company called Xing and released for PlayStation in early 1996, before the release of Super Mario 64 . Floating Runner uses D-pad controls and a behind-the-character camera perspective. In 1996, Nintendo released Super Mario 64 , which is a game that set the standard for 3D platformers. It let the player explore 3D environments with greater freedom than
32375-479: Was a final boss , and Luigi , who first appeared in Mario Bros . Super Mario Bros. established many core Mario elements, such as Goombas , Koopa Troopas , Bowser, Peach, and its three power-ups: the Super Mushroom, increasing the character's size and providing an extra hit point , Fire Flower, allowing the character to throw fireballs as weapons, and Super Star, granting temporary invincibility. The "Super" in
32560-449: Was a primary way to attack. This was the first true 3D platform-action game with free-roaming environments, but it was never ported to another platform or released outside Japan, so it remains relatively unknown in the West. The following year, Exact released their follow-up to Geograph Seal . An early title for Sony's new PlayStation console, Jumping Flash! , released in April 1995, kept
32745-554: Was also used by Video Games Player magazine in 1983 when it named the Coleco port of Donkey Kong "Ladder Game of the Year". Another term used in the late 1980s to 1990s was "character action games", in reference to games such as Super Mario Bros. , Sonic the Hedgehog , and Bubsy . It was also applied more generally to side-scrolling video games , including run and gun video games such as Gunstar Heroes . Platform game became
32930-534: Was among the only three games (aside Metroid and Mega Man 2 ) to receive the maximum score of 5 in at least one of the categories evaluated, which was not awarded to either Super Mario Bros. nor Super Mario Bros. 3 . It was awarded the score of 5 for both "Challenge" and "Theme Fun". The re-release as Super Mario Advance in 2001 received generally positive reviews, garnering an aggregate score of 84/100 on Metacritic . One reviewer concluded "all nostalgia and historical influence aside, Super Mario Bros. 2
33115-480: Was developed over approximately three years, with one year spent on the design concept and approximately two years on production. Production began on September 7, 1994, and concluded on May 20, 1996. Super Mario 64 is the first 3D and open world game in the series, and a launch game for the Nintendo 64 home console. Each level is an enclosed environment where the player is free to explore in all directions without time limits. The player collects Power Stars from
33300-623: Was eventually re-released in Japan in 1992 with the title Super Mario USA . Likewise, Nintendo later re-released the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 in America in the form of Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels , a part of the 1993 re-release compilation Super Mario All-Stars on the Super NES. Nintendo has continued to re-release both games, each with the official sequel title of Super Mario Bros. 2 in their respective regions. In 1993, Nintendo released an enhanced Super Nintendo Entertainment System compilation titled Super Mario All-Stars . It includes
33485-468: Was found in any previous game in the genre. With this in mind, Nintendo put an analog control stick on its Nintendo 64 controller, a feature that had not been seen since the Vectrex but which has since become standard. The analog stick provided the fine precision needed with a free perspective. In most 2D platformers, the player finished a level by following a path to a certain point, but in Super Mario 64 ,
33670-423: Was launched in 2007 for the Wii . It is set in outer space , where Mario or Luigi travel between " galaxies " to collect Power Stars, earned by completing quests or defeating enemies. It introduced motion controls to the series. Each galaxy contains a number of planets and other space objects for the player to explore. The game's physics system gives each celestial object its own gravitational force, which lets
33855-458: Was not released outside Japan since Nintendo of America did not want the Super Mario series to be known to players outside Japan for frustrating difficulty. It remained inaccessible to a steadily broadening market of American video game players, becoming stylistically outdated by the time the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 could be eventually delivered to America. The game later debuted outside Japan in 1993 as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in
34040-426: Was part of the Mario world, and that be conveyed whether through title or gameplay. To me, it's part of the Mario series, but today's Yoshi games? They've changed from those origins, so I think it's okay to think of Yoshi living in his own universe. You can think of it separately from Mario's world." In the early 1990s, director and producer Shigeru Miyamoto had conceived a 3D Mario design during development of
34225-418: Was the first game to allow players to jump over obstacles and gaps. It is widely considered to be the first platformer. It introduced Mario under the name Jumpman. Donkey Kong was ported to many consoles and computers at the time, notably as the system-selling pack-in game for ColecoVision , and also a handheld version from Coleco in 1982. The game helped cement Nintendo's position as an important name in
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