By then, he was quickly becoming Nintendo's most iconic character. Mario's Busiest Year Pre-Super Mario Bros.ġ984 saw an incredible number of games featuring Mario. For those counting, though, that puts the tally up to six Mario video games so far. also received a Game and Watch version, as well as a "Special" re-release, but those aren't counting toward the fourteen original games that came out before Super Mario Bros.
in 1985, Mario Bros. didn't make it to the NES until 1986, although the game was in arcades and on other consoles like the Atari 2600 in 1983. Not to be confused with Super Mario Bros. Mario's Cement Factory had Mario attempting to funnel cement while Mario's Bombs Away had a military uniform-wearing Mario delivering bombs. In 1983, Mario was featured in several Game and Watch titles.
Related: Super Mario 3D World Remaster: What Bowser’s Fury Is Those three games were only the beginning, though. By the time Donkey Kong Jr. arrived the following year, Mario was named Mario, and went on to appear in Donkey Kong II that same year. His first appearance was in Donkey Kong in 1981, where he was called Jumpman. That's a pretty impressive number, considering Mario had only existed for a few years before 1985. Not counting ports or re-releases, there were fourteen games featuring Mario before Super Mario Bros. released in 1985 and became a colossal hit, but there were actually quite a few games featuring Mario before then.
Nintendo is even launching a whole slew of remasters and new games to mark the occasion. This year marks the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., and everyone is celebrating.