Mario Bros. (Game & Watch): Difference between revisions

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{{infobox

|title=Mario Bros.

|released=March 14, 1983

|genre=[[Genre#Platform|Platformer]]

'''''Mario Bros.''''' is a title for the [[Game & Watch]]. Despite its name, it has no similarity to the arcade game ''[[Mario Bros. (game)|Mario Bros.]]'' Instead of plumbing, [[Mario]] and [[Luigi]] are working at a bottling plant and must prepare packages of bottles to load onto a delivery truck. This game, played on the Multi Screen model of the Game & Watch, was released on March 14, 1983<ref>[http://www.intheattic.co.uk/mario_bros_.htm ''Mario Bros.'' info page on In The Attic, a website dedicated to classic videogames] Retrieved 13 November 2010</ref>—three months before the much more popular arcade title, making this the first game to feature Luigi.

The model opened like a book and could allow for simultaneous two-player action, with one player controlling Luigi on the left half of the game and the other playing as Mario on the right, making it the very first ''[[Mario (franchise)|Mario]]'' game to have two-player mode.

[[File:Mario Bros Alarm Bell Artwork.gif|thumb|left|The alarm bell]]

Like other Game & Watch games, ''Mario Bros.'' was licensed out as a promotional item for various businesses such as Pokka, which is a Japanese food company, and Campari, which is an Italian alcohol producer.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4os3JIdKshE&ab_channel=eastexitjapanmerchant 16394 Nintendo Game & Watch Mario Bros Pokka Version MW-56 1983] - YouTube Channel eastexit japan merchant</ref><ref>[https://www.gameandwatch.ch/en/faq-questions-answers/promo-advertising-game-watch.html Promotional (Advertising) Game&Watch Games]</ref> These companies put their own logos on the units, which has now made them highly sought after collectibles.

[[File:G&WG4 Mario Bros Classic Screenshot.png|thumb|left|The Classic version of ''Mario Bros.'' from ''Game & Watch Gallery 4'']]

Mario must first take a pallet out of the machine on the lowest level and place it on the lowest of five conveyor belts running in alternating directions. A bottle is placed on the pallet as it passes through the divider between the screens and continues on until it reaches the end of the conveyor belt. Here, Luigi must take the package and place it on the above conveyor belt, which takes it back to Mario, who sends it back to Luigi on the next conveyor belt. Luigi sends it back again, and Mario has to put it on the highest conveyor belt, where it is sealed while passing through the column. Luigi then throws the sealed package onto the delivery truck, which eventually gets filled up and leaves, giving Mario and Luigi a brief break until it returns empty. The player earns a [[point]] for every pallet moved to another conveyor belt and for every package thrown onto the truck. They earn ten points after every time the truck is fully loaded with eight packages. The conveyor belts get faster and the number of pallets on the screen increases as time goes by, forcing Mario and Luigi to scramble up and down the ladders in order to prevent the packages from falling off the ends of the belts. Each time a pallet or package falls off, the Mario Bros. get yelled at by their boss, giving the player a miss. If the player manages to score 300 points without a single miss, the points that are earned will be doubled until the player does get a miss. If the player earns a miss before scoring 300 points, all misses will be cleared instead. After three misses, the player receives a [[Game Over]].

The Modern version of the game has many changes: Mario and Luigi are working in an outdoor [[cake]] factory, [[Wario]] drives the delivery truck, and [[Bowser]] periodically [[Ground Pound|ground-pound]]s the top of the packing machine to reverse the directions of the conveyor belts, forcing either Mario or Luigi to flip one of two switches at the bottom or top of the screen to switch them back to normal (normal play also resumes if Mario and Luigi "return" all the cakes to the machine that dispensed them during this time). The player does not earn any points for moving cakes backward. In this version, the player earns three points for every cake thrown onto the truck. Plus, if the player fully loads the truck five times without getting a miss, they will earn 30 points. When a cake falls and breaks, rather than having their boss yell at them, Mario and Luigi will each just make a face of dismay. At 200, 500, and 700 points, a [[1 UP Heart|heart]] will appear for the Mario Bros. to remove a miss. Music is also featured in this version, with the tempo changing depending on the speed of the game.

The game reappears as a secondary game in ''Game & Watch Gallery 4''. It largely has the same premise as in ''Game & Watch Gallery 3'', except that the ''Mario'' characters are working in an indoor cake factory. Also, the player will earn only 20 points if they fully load the truck five times without getting a miss.

If the player selects the game in ''Game & Watch Gallery 4'' yet waits a few moments, a humorous sequence will play. In it, Mario and Luigi are washing the pickup truck for deliveries, only for both Wario and Bowser to carjack it just as they finished cleaning it, much to the Mario Bros.' dismay.

*[[Mr. Game & Watch]]'s forward-aerial attack in the [[Super Smash Bros. (series)|''Super Smash Bros.'' series]] involves swinging a package, much as Mario and Luigi do in this game. Additionally, Mr. Game & Watch's down taunt in ''[[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS]]'' / ''[[Super Smash Bros. for Wii U|Wii U]]'' and ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' is based on Mario and Luigi's animation after finishing a level.

{{MarioGames}}