Mario!

 This post is kind of a weird one. I will briefly cover the first three Mario games, and nothing past Mario 64. Mario 64 is just goofy.

Super Mario Bros.

Basic History

This game was released by Nintendo in 1985 as a sequel to the 1983 ARCADE game called Mario Bros. It was programmed and designed by Nintendo Giants Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. The game was meant to be a combination of all the groundbreaking gameplay mechanics the Famicom team developed in the early 80's. 

Gameplay

You play as either Mario or Luigi, depending on whether you are player one or two, and share the goal of trying to rescue peach from Bowser. You face off enemies like Koopas, Goombas, and a menagerie of other enemies. You collect coins and break mystery blocks as you make your way to the final level. In the final level, you must jump on certain platforms at certain times, or you fail and have to start the whole game over!

Super Mario Bros. 2

Basic History

This game was released by Nintendo in 1988. Unlike the first Mario game, this game had a director, since Nintendo knew that Mario made tons of money. The game was directed by Kensuke Tanabe. The team to make Super Mario Bros. 2 was much bigger as well. It was designed by Kensuke Tanabe, Toichi Yamada and Hideki Iwawaki. It was programmed by Toshihiko Nakago, Yasunori Taketani and Toshio Iwawaki.

Gameplay

Like the game's predecessor, SMB2 is a 2d side-scrolling platformer game. In SMB2, you must navigate your character through the dream world called Subcon, and defeat the games main boss, Wart.

This game switches the game play up from the original SMB. For example, at the beginning of each stage you can CHOOSE what character you play as, choosing from Mario, Luigi, Captain Toad and Princess Toadstool. SMB2 also introduces the gameplay mechanic that allows characters to pick up and throw objects and enemies.

Super Mario Bros. 3

Basic History

SMB3 was released in 1991, and made by the same team as SMB2. the game moves away from the very pixelly look of the past games, and takes on a more whimsical look, which I really love. The game removes the character selection option that was introduced in SMB2, which kind of disappoints me. Overall, the game is a little less innovative in gameplay, but more innovative in graphics.

Gameplay

SMB3 introduces a few new gameplay mechanics, such as sliding down slopes, and flying/gliding. You play as either Mario or Luigi, depending on which player slot you chose. The game introduces an overhead map in between levels, which allows you to skip certain levels to just power through the game. The game is also made up 8 kingdoms, such as desert land or giant island. Each kingdom is made up of multiple levels.  This game also introduces new power-ups such as the tanooki suit. This powerup gives mario an appearance like a tanooki, and allows him to glide. When changing into a tanooki suit mid-air it makes mario drop down to the ground and kill any below enemies. This was the first appearance of the iconic mario ground slam.

Sources:

SMB:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros.

SMB2:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._2

SMB3:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._3
Play here!

SMB:https://www.retrogames.cz/play_005-NES.php

SMB2:https://www.retrogames.cz/play_006-NES.php

SMB3:https://www.retrogames.cz/play_007-NES.php