There is some serious confusion over when exactly Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. was released in the U.S., and a new Gamasutra feature explores that mystery. The game has always been pegged as having hit the U.S. in 1986, but an abundance of evidence points instead to 1985, thanks to some dynamite investigative reporting from Gama's Frank Cifaldi.
The three-page feature chronicles Cifaldi's exhaustive search for some sort of "official" U.S. launch date for the game, with anecdotal reports, publicly recorded evidence, and, in a fun twist, a last-minute anonymous tip. If you have any appreciation for video games and where they come from, it behooves you to read through te feature and educate yourself. As Cifaldi points out in his conclusion, "If this is the state of video game preservation in 2012, 50 years after Spacewar!, we're in trouble."
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Displaying 1–18 of 18
Bloodthr0e
The people who edit wikipedia must be flabbergasted.
DKBomber13
Just read the article. Really interesting. To some of the other comments from the "uneducated", You REALLY can't believe everything you find and read on the internet. Even wikipedia... But I think its kinda fun that the video game industry still has some mysteries.
DKBomber13
Just read the article. Really interesting. To some of the other comments from the "uneducated", You REALLY can't believe everything you find and read on the internet. Even wikipedia... But I think its kinda fun that the video game industry still has some mysteries.
Jackfirestorm
Why couldn't you look on the box or start up the game? Don't most of the older games show what year they were released? But seriously do you little kids that post on here not realize that without Mario Bros your HD shooters and RPG games might not have seen the light of day? I love my games I have on 360 but I also respect where they came from. I worked my tail off to pay for most of my NES and my parents paid the rest for my birthday. It was fun for everybody to play. These new games don't hold a candle to the level of difficulty some of the old games had. Gamers today don't want a challenge. they want to be led by the hand and coddled to feel like they did something. Where do you think game saves came from? How about cheat codes? 4 player? The zapper was the first handheld gun for consoles. The power glove the first motion control. The first dance pad. In fact those might have been the first game attachments. I'm 28 so it's not like I'm that much older than anybody I would think and if you are older than me and bashing the old games because of the graphics, gameplay or whatever then you have lost your way in gaming and should go relive the beginnings. And no the Nintendo is not the very beginning. But it is a good place to start.
teac77
Nintendo hadn't come into its own, yet.
bubbafett2112
if you dont like mario.. why do you need to comment on a thread about mario?
ChunkLightning
@All the haters stating how easy it was to find the release date obviously don't understand the methods and rhetoric that goes into historical research. It ain't easy, guys.
e.wallaceiii
Because THIS is what gamers are dying to know. "Hey! That game that came out nearly 26 years ago...what do you think the actual date was? Was it snowing? What was the humidity level? Had to be 20% I think. How expensive was gas then?" Oh wait...it was 26 years ago and no one cares now!
CujoSWAoA
Who gives an F.
The world doesn't need any more Mario Brother's games.
Lazybrown
it came out November 17th 1985. that took me less than 5 minutes to find out. You know why? I looked it up.
zappy4
I've been wondering myself about the official release date. It was a few years before my time, but I am still a big fan of playing the game. I remember clearly playing the combo Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt game when I was very little.
djinn24
Pretty sure it was 1985, Christmas time to be exact. All they would have to do is see when the original Nintendo came out as it is all bundled.
Animeman1000
Silly G4. here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Super_Mario_Bros.
http://themushroomkingdom.ne t/smb_release.shtml
http://forums.somethingawful .com/showthread.php?threadid=3 475207
http://www.flickr.com/photos /lostlevels/5106061662/sizes/l /in/photostream/
4 different sites. The last one is a picture of a Macy's advertisement from November 17, 1985 for the NES and Super Mario Bros. is listed 4th from the bottom. Credit does not go to me. I simply found the websites that G4TV couldn't do. Maybe you should give me a job G4TV I've been looking for one.
supervegeta_93
it doesnt matter when it was released because it was always released in our hearts.......
ninenightmares
Slow day at the cubicle huh?
sonicwind510
super mario bros > Call of duty+battlefield
JordanA7x
That comment has nothing to do with this article...
AmericanKing01
Can't wait for Smash Bro. to come out on the Wii U.
Displaying 1–18 of 18