40 years of Super Mario Bros.: reminiscing about our first time with the iconic plumber

Rainer Etzweiler

13.9.2025

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Co-author: Philipp Rüegg, Debora Pape, Kevin Hofer, Michelle Brändle, Domagoj Belancic

40 years ago, Super Mario Bros. started a revolution that still has an impact today. To celebrate, we’re remembering our first virtual experience with Nintendo’s mascot.

Summarising the history of the most important video game character ever can only go wrong. Regardless, I’ll try. When Shigeru Miyamoto unleashed his moustachioed protagonist on the world in the early 80s, the gaming industry was in deeper trouble than Peach in Bowser’s castle.

The still young medium had experienced its first crisis in 1983, soon to be known as the great video game crash. The crash was triggered by market oversaturation – too many shoddy games and competition were plaguing the home computer sector. 1983’s crash had practically flattened everything that called itself a console in North America. Then Nintendo came along with the NES and a game that changed everything.

Super Mario Bros. was released on 13 September 1985 for the Famicom. That’s Family Computer by the way, the Japanese name for the NES. America was served three months later, while Europe had to wait until the following summer. The game was a launch title for the NES and largely responsible for its success, which in turn almost single-handedly brought the video game industry out of its crisis – with a little help from Sega.

The numbers speak for themselves: over 40 million copies sold made Super Mario Bros. the best-selling video game ever for quite some time. Still, its true impact can’t just be measured in figures. The franchise became the blueprint for an entire industry. Its DNA can still be seen today in releases from all over the world. Without that plumber, our favourite hobby would probably look very different today.

So grazie mille, Mario.

40 years on, the plumber is still around. So today, my colleagues and I are remembering our first time with Mario.

Rainer: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1993, Game Boy)

My first time meeting Mario was actually in Super Mario Bros. That was around 35 years ago. As you’d expect, my memories of it are hazy and my emotional connection to the game is limited. Things look completely different for Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins on the Gameboy.

My neighbour Claudio lent me the cartridge way back when, and I was immediately hooked. The clever level design featuring hidden exits, that catchy music and the short mini-games grabbed me. Nintendo adapted the level selection screen from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. It made this pocket adventure feel much bigger than it actually was.

When Claudio wanted his game back at some point, I wasn’t ready to part with Mario. I told him it had been stolen from me at school and continued to hop happily through the 32 levels, albeit with a much guiltier conscience. It eventually won out, and I ruefully returned the game to Claudio. My humble apology wasn’t enough to quell his anger – he ratted me out to my parents and I was grounded for about 200 years. Worth it.

Phil: Super Mario Land (1989, Game Boy)

Super Mario Land, Super Mario Bros. and arcade release Mario Bros. – I’ve played them all. However, I can no longer say with 100 per cent certainty which of those was my first contact with the bouncing moustache bearer. Still, I remember exactly what I finished first: Super Mario Land on that grey block with its postage stamp-sized, puke-green display. As a fan of excessively large monitors and TVs, I wonder how I ever managed to enjoy it. Not just enjoy, but love it! Starting with that fantastic soundtrack by Hirokazu Tanaka, still featuring absolute earworms today.

But my highlight was, of course, the varied levels. I played the first, the pyramid one, ten times as much as the later ones back then. There was no save feature, and since I never owned a Game Boy, my playing time was limited. Once I was allowed to play at my cousin’s or neighbour’s house, I didn’t want to stop. That satisfying sound of Mario breaking blocks with his head alone kept me entertained for hours.

Only four different worlds doesn’t sound like much from today’s perspective. But as a primary school student, every new one knocked my socks off. The second one in particular, where Mario steers a submarine, is still one of my absolute favourites.

And although I had to rely on others entrusting their Gameboy to my sticky fingers, I actually managed to beat the final boss one time. It’s neither Wario nor Bowser, but some weird alien in a spaceship. Still, I wasn’t aware of either main villain back then anyway. The journey felt endless, same as my joy for it. The fact that the game can be finished in an hour is still incomprehensible to me today.

Debora: Super Mario 64 (1996, N64)

In the mid-nineties, the Super Nintendo was my best friend, and I was certainly familiar with the Super Mario games. But compared to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, I found it boring and frustrating, so I hardly remember it. But my interest in Mario suddenly grew towards the end of 1996 when details of the upcoming Nintendo 64 came out. An earthquake was about to hit the gaming world as I knew it.

For months beforehand, I regularly devoured gaming magazines such as NTower and marvelled at every detail of the new console. Super Mario 64 was the flagship and launch title, and naturally widely publicised in these magazines. A free rotating camera! Three-dimensional worlds with near-photorealistic graphics! The spaced-out controller with rotating sticks!

I still needed almost two years of pocket money to buy my own console. Luckily, my local supermarket did feature one or two gaming stations with the new console at the time. And so, I suddenly became interested in shopping. While mum filled the cart, I snuck down to the gaming corner, hoping the shop would take a long time.

There was always a cluster of longing youngsters around those TV sets – and I was right in the middle. I mostly just watched as others collected coins in search of golden stars, had underwater adventures, jumped across flowing lava, ran away from big balls, slid down ramps, and so on.

The new, three-dimensional worlds of Super Mario 64 were a revelation to me, a glimpse into the future and later, finally, a welcome escape from everyday life. Even today, I can recall sounds and music from the game at any time by heart. And, of course, I’ll keep the original cartridge for the rest of my life – maybe I’ll even take it with me to the grave.

Kevin: Super Mario Bros. (1985, NES)

Like Rainer, my first encounter with Mario was also in Super Mario Bros. for the NES. Unlike him, however, I still remember it very clearly, since the game is the reason why I still play today: it awakened my love for video games.

It must’ve been sometime in the late eighties when I visited my cousin, who was five years older than me. There in his room was a grey, square box with the red inscription Nintendo Entertainment System. He explained to me what it was and started up the console. Seconds later, Super Mario Bros. was playing on his puny tube TV placed in front of his bed. I was hooked from Mario’s first hop. The gameplay, the music, the kooky enemies – I just loved everything.

From then on, I visited him often to game together. Still, I also really wanted an NES with Mario. Eventually I got one, kicking off a weeks-long addiction. I was so excited that I couldn’t fall asleep for hours in the evening. All I could think about was how I had to time my jumps to finally reach the end of level 8-4. This naturally had an impact on my grades, so screen time limits were imposed on me around the early nineties. Still, I can find the Warp Zone in level 1-2 blindfolded to this day.

Michelle: Super Mario World (1990, SNES)

My amazing dad gave me a taste for Super Mario, and I’m still grateful to him for that. He gifted my sister and me our first console, the Super Nintendo, including the perfect game: Super Mario World. I was about five or six years old at the time and very quickly understood how things worked. Mario, Luigi, even Yoshi – I loved them all.

The fact I only had to insert the cartridge into the console to start the game was extremely child-friendly, and the controllers were wonderfully colourful. Just thinking about it makes me remember the game’s start screen and the iconic music:

From then on, my sister and I loved playing games together. She loved playing Mario and I loved Luigi – as siblings should. If she died as her red plumber in Super Mario World, it was my turn controlling the green one. This way, we fought our way through every level. We also quickly fell in love with the adorable Yoshi, happily trampling our pixelated enemies with him.

In Super Mario World, however, levels naturally became increasingly harder, and I was always terrified of boss levels featuring ghosts and the vengeful Bowser. It’s why we occasionally dragged our parents in front of the TV screen to help us when we got stuck.

The world of Super Mario was colourful, exciting and the perfect introduction to gaming. Influenced by this introduction, I still love colourful platformers and cute characters to this day. Thanks dad, thanks Nintendo!

Domagoj: Mario Kart 64 (1996, N64)

My very first time with Super Mario was Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins – my constant gaming companion for years. But Rainer has already snapped up that Gameboy classic for his section. Debora claimed my second great love, Super Mario 64, for herself. Annoying. But there’s another title I count in my holy trinity of Mario games: Mario Kart 64.

I know, it’s not a platformer and not part of the Super Mario Bros. series. Nevertheless, it deserves a shout-out on this list.

As a kid, I didn’t have a Nintendo 64 at home – I was on Team PlayStation. But thanks to my nanny, I had access to Nintendo’s 64-bit console. In addition to Super Mario 64, I also spent a lot of time there playing Mario Kart 64.

Mario Kart 64 was purest crack for my little kid brain. I couldn’t believe that besides running and jumping, my Italian plumber also drove go-karts. It was fascinating to see the same character in two different games with different game mechanics.

What’s more, the colourful race tracks, chaotic items and cute Nintendo characters kept me glued to the strange trident controller for hours. I tried to win all Grand Prix tournaments at all speeds by myself, with as many riders as possible. And in multiplayer mode, we shouted and screamed at each other in the race for first place. But my highlight was Battle Mode, which I played both alone and against others.

At home, I was always sad that I couldn’t try Mario games on my PlayStation. Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 are the reasons why I switched from PlayStation back to Nintendo for the next console generation. A decision that changed my gaming career forever.

How about you? Which Mario game was your first? Or does the bouncing plumber leave you uninterested? Don’t worry, the comments are a safe space – tell us.

Rainer Etzweiler

Freelance Editor

rainer@rockstar.ch

In the early 90s, my older brother gave me his NES with The Legend of Zelda on it. It was the start of an obsession that continues to this day.

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