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[loosus]

Note: this will mean jack-shit to anyone who is not a hardcore Super Mario Bros. fan.

I always assumed that the arcade version and NES version of Super Mario Bros. were identical. Well, they were not.

Here's is what I believe is the same:

--Sprites seemed 100% identical
--Controls seemed 100% identical
--The enemies seemed 100% identical
--Music seemed 99% identical (with one caveat, listed below)
--Glitches and overall programming seemed 100% identical

Here's what I have found to be different:

--The arcade version used a different font. The NES version used the standard "NES/arcade font," whereas this version uses something similar but still different. The arcade version is slightly smaller because the developers added a shadow behind the font, which helps contract the font from the background. It's the exact font from Super Mario Bros. 2 (i.e., "The Lost Levels") for Famicom.

--The arcade version had three digits for the coin tally, whereas the NES version had only two digits.

--The levels were probably 10% different. Some levels had slightly different layouts between the two version. The biggest difference seemed to be the locations of power-up blocks, coin blocks, etc.

--The ending (after Bowser in World 8 has been defeated) was different. Here is a comparison between the two endings:

----NES ending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U6rAKKdxDA
----Arcade ending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNqo9JqJH6M

As you can see, there was actually quite a difference between the two endings.

--There is one piece of music that, to my knowledge, was not in the NES version: the music that played when you were at the "enter your initials" screen. The music was basically a play on the main overworld level (i.e., World 1-1), but it was indeed a different song. You can see that in the video above, as well.




Has anyone tried sniffing out unused sprites and music from the arcade version? I think the NES version has been sniffed and nothing really found. I wonder if the same has been done for the arcade version.

 

[StuBurns]

We need a Eurogamer face-off I think.

 

[Odrion]

PEACH IS PAVED
WITH KINGDOM SAVED
HURRAH TO MARIO
OUR ONLY HERO
THIS ENDS YOUR TRIP
OF A LONG FRIENDSHIP

 

[Hot Coldman]

You don't have to put money into the NES

 

[Why would you do that?]

I played the game once, in college... before the machine broke. The game's levels are weird, with holes in places where there weren't holes, and little changes like that.

It's kind of like the second quest to Zelda 1 and Ocarina of Time (moreso OoT), with the somewhat familiarity, but interesting changes.

----Arcade ending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNqo9JqJH6M

--There is one piece of music that, to my knowledge, was not in the NES version: the music that played when you were at the "enter your initials" screen. The music was basically a play on the main overworld level (i.e., World 1-1), but it was indeed a different song. You can see that in the video above, as well.

Woah, that's awesome! I love that music.

--The arcade version had three digits for the coin tally, whereas the NES version had only two digits.

There is no coin tally for the NES version... unless you're referring to something else?

 

[loosus]

Here's a bonus. The ending of Super Mario Bros. 2 (i.e., "The Lost Levels"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zWZ42gqjQo#t=09m32s

Looks familiar, huh?

There is no coin tally for the NES version... unless you're referring to something else?

I don't follow? Every version of Super Mario Bros. I've played tallies your coins.

 

[sonikokaruto]

I played the game once, in college... before the machine broke. The game's levels are weird, with holes in places where there weren't holes, and little changes like that.

It's kind of like the second quest to Zelda 1 and Ocarina of Time (moreso OoT), with the somewhat familiarity, but interesting changes.


Woah, that's awesome! I love that music.


There is no coin tally for the NES version... unless you're referring to something else?

the coins that if you get 100 you get 1up.

Yes, the differences between the two games is that the arcade one has some super mario bros 2 (jp) levels on it, i believe it is the same as All night nippon super mario bros.

Al night nippon is a special edition that was given as a prize on a radio station in japan. It replaced enemies and the toads in the castles for radio personalities of japan.

 

[loosus]

It was a total mindfuck when I first played the arcade version and couldn't find the Fire Flower in its usual location in the first level. :lol

 

[Sixfortyfive]

The coin tally in VS SMB has 3 digits because there's an option to set the 1-up threshold to 150, 200, or 250 coins instead of 100.

VS SMB has a handful of levels from SMB2j (Lost Levels). Some of them are even harder because this game uses SMB1's original physics system, which makes some jumps in the SMB2j stages absurdly difficult.

Some secret 1-ups are removed, some extra pits are added, and it's generally a more difficult game all around. Some stages have been altered to prevent glitches (like the 1-2 warp glitch that takes you to the minus world).

 

[loosus]

So which came first, Super Mario Bros. 2 or the arcade version of Super Mario Bros.? I did think it was strange that they both (a) used the same font and (b) had extremely similar endings.

By the way, here's probably the most fucked up official version of Super Mario Bros.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZQ9fHaY524

 

[InfiniteNine]

Man this ending hot, didn't know that Princess Peach was a loli in this one. Is this canon? Don't remember toads forming to make some crazy ass arch while occasionally falling through dimensions.

:lol :lol :lol

 

[Why would you do that?]

VS SMB has a handful of levels from SMB2j (Lost Levels). Some of them are even harder because this game uses SMB1's original physics system, which makes some jumps in the SMB2j stages absurdly difficult.

This is just like the Game Boy Color "version". There was one very specific jump that took me about 50 tries to do correctly... Something about jumping on Koopas to get into a pipe, or else the stage will repeat.

I totally missed the higher jumping Luigi in that game...

I don't follow? Every version of Super Mario Bros. I've played tallies your coins.

the coins that if you get 100 you get 1up.

Oh, holy crap, forgot about those coins I was thinking coins like in the arcade. See, playing Mario Galaxy, with little coin emphasis, does this to you.

 

[G-Fex]

The best thing about it was playing SMB in the arcade, and the cabinet was great too.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

This is just like the Game Boy Color "version". There was one very specific jump that took me about 50 tries to do correctly... Something about jumping on Koopas to get into a pipe, or else the stage will repeat.

I totally missed the higher jumping Luigi in that game...

The GBC version of SMB2j had some of its jumps modified. A bunch of know-nothings bitched and moaned that this made the game "easier," but it was necessary because those particular jumps would have been impossible with SMB1's physics, which is what the GBC version used.

Luigi sucks in SMB2j anyway. No big loss.

 

[Dai101]

It was a total mindfuck when I first played the arcade version and couldn't find the Fire Flower in its usual location in the first level. :lol

Me too, but it was with the secret 1UP in level 1-1.

 

[Why would you do that?]

So which came first, Super Mario Bros. 2 or the arcade version of Super Mario Bros.? I did think it was strange that they both (a) used the same font and (b) had extremely similar endings.

By the way, here's probably the most fucked up official version of Super Mario Bros.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZQ9fHaY524

The release date of Vs. SMB is unclear, according to Wikipedia. They say the boards are stamped 1985, but the game itself says 1986. Wikipedia also says this: "Many of these later, changed stages reappeared in the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2." That implies that Vs. SMB came first, but then again, the writer could be basing it on the 1985 stamped date.

Super Mario Bros. 2 came out in 1986 in Japan as a release game for the FDS (along with Zelda 1). It's possible they could have been making both that and Vs. at the same time.

Yeah, I know it's bad to judge a game from a video, but yeah, the PC-8801 and Sharp X1 versions are painful... Hudson could have at least tried to program the physics right...

The GBC version of SMB2j had some of its jumps modified. A bunch of no-nothings bitched and moaned that this made the game "easier," but it was necessary because those particular jumps would have been impossible with SMB1's physics, which is what the GBC version used.

Wow, I didn't know that. They should have modified that pipe.

Luigi sucks in SMB2j anyway. No big loss.

Woah there... His superior jumping is so much better once you get used to his handling. I use him all the time.

 

[sonikokaruto]

The release date of Vs. SMB is unclear, according to Wikipedia. They say the boards are stamped 1985, but the game itself says 1986. Wikipedia also says this: "Many of these later, changed stages reappeared in the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2." That implies that Vs. SMB came first, but then again, the writer could be basing it on the 1985 stamped date.

Super Mario Bros. 2 came out in 1986 in Japan as a release game for the FDS (along with Zelda 1). It's possible they could have been making both that and Vs. at the same time.

Yeah, I know it's bad to judge a game from a video, but yeah, the PC-8801 and Sharp X1 versions are painful... Hudson could have at least tried to program the physics right...


Wow, I didn't know that. They should have modified that pipe.


Woah there... His superior jumping is so much better once you get used to his handling. I use him all the time.

the "brake" rate of luigi sucks!

and the pipe vas actually moved, it was pulled down.

i believe it was on the autobar level. On the autobar level you did had to land on a toirtle to pull it off.

 

[Mak]

I played VS. Super Mario Bros. not too long ago for the first time.

It actually took me for a surprise because I thought it was just the arcade version of the NES game. It has less power ups for example, and when I tried taking the warp zone that led to Worlds 6,7, and 8 it only led to 6. The levels were remixed and I actually didn't get past World 6. I looked it up online later and from what I read it was put in arcades after the NES version but with levels that would later go into Super Mario Bros. 2 (JPN) to give players already familar with the game a new challenge. It's like Super Mario Bros. 1.5

The coin tally in VS SMB has 3 digits because there's an option to set the 1-up threshold to 150, 200, or 250 coins instead of 100.

Ah, that's why I wasn't getting any 1UPs. I kept collecting coins to get extra levels and realized, oh, this is an arcade game where you pay to continue.

Super Mario Bros. 2 came out in 1986 in Japan as a release game for the FDS (along with Zelda 1). It's possible they could have been making both that and Vs. at the same time.

Wikipedia says Super Mario Bros. was released "by March 1986", but I think it was released in select markets alongside the NES in 1985. Wasn't an arcade version of Super Mario Bros. used to promote the NES version? (I'm guessing VS. Super Mario Bros. was the only arcade version). I always remembered that the arcade version had some levels switched around to adjust the difficulty but I used to be under the impression that the arcade game was first.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

There were two different "arcade versions" of SMB. One was VS SMB; the other was part of the "Playchoice" system. The Playchoice games were pretty much just plain NES ROMs, except that you had a limited amount of time to play and had to keep feeding quarters into the system to buy more time.

A local Pizza Hut had what I believe was VS Dr. Mario; basically the same as the NES version only with no Easy difficulty and you had to start at at least level 10.

I'd bet that VS SMB came after or at the same time as SMB2j, but I couldn't tell you for sure. Some of the SMB2 stages in VSMB just don't seem like they were designed for a game with SMB1's physics. 6-3 (4-3 in SMB2) just has some really stupid jumps.

 

[Red Scarlet]

Yeah there's a good chunk of differences. Power-ups aren't in the same place, I could only find a 1up on 1-1 and I think one other level, no others. There's more gaps all over.

Some later levels are completely different. 6-3 is an ice world and is the same (layout-wise) as a level in SM2. You can only warp to world 6 and 5 on 4-2. No clue if you can warp to 7 or 8 at all. IIRC 6-4 and 7-4 are not rehashes of 1-4 and 4-4, but brand new (7-4 is still a maze, a horrible maze).

You *can* get however get as many extra lives you want on 6-1 (no idea if you go over 100 it is an automatic game over), but I don't think the other areas (3-1, 7-1) will work because of gaps. It's a bit trickier, too. I think the 1up on 8-2 is just a power-up, too.

 

[Dreamwriter]

After beating NES Super Mario Bros., it gives you a second quest. That game is closer to the arcade version, being more difficult in small ways like turning some mushrooms into turtles.

 

[WillyFive]

There's an arcade version of Super Mario Bros? What?

 

[GDGF]

That's pretty awesome. It's been years since I've played the (non Player's Choice) arcade game. Always loved the way SMB felt with an arcade stick.

 

[G-Fex]

There's an arcade version of Super Mario Bros? What?

Did you know there was an arcade version of Quake with confusing controls?

 

[cress2000]

I used to wonder why they never included this in All-Stars.

 

[WillyFive]

Did you know there was an arcade version of Quake with confusing controls?

Didn't know that either.

Maybe I should go to arcades more often.

Now to figure out if my state still has arcades....

 

[G-Fex]

I wonder if there was really a sitdown version of ninja gaiden like in The Wizard.

 

[loosus]

There's an arcade version of Super Mario Bros? What?

...

Anyway, for anyone interested, here's Vs. Duck Hunt. Pretty damn significantly different:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaTE1W3h3VM

--You can shoot the fucking dog! And he even tells you about it.
--In the NES version, there were two phases: shooting ducks and shooting discs. Here, there's an entire phase that doesn't exist in the NES version. (This is where you can shoot the dog.)
--The exclusive phase includes some basic music.
--The dog laughs at you even if you fuck up the disc-throwing. (He comes out of nowhere just to laugh at you.)
--There are "BREAK TIME" sequences, similar to the little "cutscenes" that played in Pacman.

 

[MAtgS]

PEACH IS PAVED
WITH KINGDOM SAVED
HURRAH TO MARIO
OUR ONLY HERO
THIS ENDS YOUR TRIP
OF A LONG FRIENDSHIP

& thus begins Luigi's depression.

 

[Tomasooie]

PEACH IS PAVED
WITH KINGDOM SAVED
HURRAH TO MARIO
OUR ONLY HERO
THIS ENDS YOUR TRIP
OF A LONG FRIENDSHIP

I also read it as "Peach is paved" and had to double-take there. It actually says "peace is paved", so it makes sense. It reminds me of the poems in Rare's Spectrum games.

 

[sonikokaruto]

...

Anyway, for anyone interested, here's Vs. Duck Hunt. Pretty damn significantly different:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaTE1W3h3VM

--You can shoot the fucking dog! And he even tells you about it.
--In the NES version, there were two phases: shooting ducks and shooting discs. Here, there's an entire phase that doesn't exist in the NES version. (This is where you can shoot the dog.)
--The exclusive phase includes some basic music.
--The dog laughs at you even if you fuck up the disc-throwing. (He comes out of nowhere just to laugh at you.)
--There are "BREAK TIME" sequences, similar to the little "cutscenes" that played in Pacman.

ok, i need to watch this, wtf?

 

[wondermega]

By the way, here's probably the most fucked up official version of Super Mario Bros.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZQ9fHaY524

argh. it makes me angry to think of playing mario like that. these machines couldn't handle scrolling graphics, so they had to just keep pushing the screen like that. NES has spoiled us.

Supposedly the old versions of Casltevania and Contra on the Japanese MSX were the same way..

 

[loosus]

argh. it makes me angry to think of playing mario like that. these machines couldn't handle scrolling graphics, so they had to just keep pushing the screen like that. NES has spoiled us.

Supposedly the old versions of Casltevania and Contra on the Japanese MSX were the same way..

I haven't played Contra on MSX, but Castelavnia on MSX is indeed like that. However, everything else is pretty decent. It's not a horrendous fuck-up like Super Mario Bros. Special.

 

[sonikokaruto]

I haven't played Contra on MSX, but Castelavnia on MSX is indeed like that. However, everything else is pretty decent. It's not a horrendous fuck-up like Super Mario Bros. Special.

actually there is a

Spoiler

rom hack

version that supposedly recreates the game but with the smb1 engine.

 

[Why would you do that?]

Supposedly the old versions of Casltevania and Contra on the Japanese MSX were the same way..

Look at the MSX versions of Salamander [video], Gradius [video], and Parodius [video] (all scrolling space shooters technically of the same series). Then weep in pain.

It makes me sad that Parodius 1 was only on the MSX. I don't know if it even had a remake.

(To be fair, they only look horrible. They play better than they look.)

the "brake" rate of luigi sucks!

and the pipe vas actually moved, it was pulled down.

i believe it was on the autobar level. On the autobar level you did had to land on a toirtle to pull it off.

Yeah, that was the level. Good to know that the pipe was pulled down, but it really still was hard... They should have considered changing the physics, which would have been so much easier, faster, authentic, and better than finding and tweaking all the problem levels.

Wikipedia says Super Mario Bros. was released "by March 1986", but I think it was released in select markets alongside the NES in 1985. Wasn't an arcade version of Super Mario Bros. used to promote the NES version? (I'm guessing VS. Super Mario Bros. was the only arcade version). I always remembered that the arcade version had some levels switched around to adjust the difficulty but I used to be under the impression that the arcade game was first.

See, I'm not that old. I don't know these things.

I do know, however, that Mario 1 was released in Japan in early '85, and in New York City (along with the NES) in late '85. Sometime in '86, it was released throughout the rest of America.

 

[sonikokaruto]

Look at the MSX versions of Salamander [video], Gradius [video], and Parodius [video] (all scrolling space shooters technically of the same series). Then weep in pain.

It makes me sad that Parodius 1 was only on the MSX. I don't know if it even had a remake.

(To be fair, they only look horrible. They play better than they look.)


Yeah, that was the level. Good to know that the pipe was pulled down, but it really still was hard... They should have considered changing the physics, which would have been so much easier, faster, authentic, and better than finding and tweaking all the problem levels.


See, I'm not that old. I don't know these things.

I do know, however, that Mario 1 was released in Japan in early '85, and in New York City (along with the NES) in late '85. Sometime in '86, it was released throughout the rest of America.

I remember playing a pirate copy of a cart that said "super mario bros 4" and having a blast with it. Though i remember thinking "why would they go back to the graphics of 1?"