SUPER MARIO BROS. ENCYCLOPEDIA THE OFFICIAL GUIDE SUPER MARIO BROS. ENCYCLOPEDIA THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE FIRST 30 YEARS 1985-2015 DARK HORSE BOOKS ~~ ys SUPER MARIO = SUPER INTRODUCTION BY GENERAL MANAGER OF NINTENDO CO., LTD. ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT, GAME PRODUCER TAKASHI TEZUKA It’s been over thirty years since Super Mario Bros. first went on sale, and for all those years, Takashi Tezuka has been working on the development of the series. Now he has a message for all of Mario’s fans! FRIEN ARTO! When the Famicom [the Japanese release of the Nintendo Entertainment System] went on sale in 1983, | was job-hunting, and a chance word from a friend changed my life forever: “Hey, there’s a company that looks interesting.” That company turned out to be Nintendo. The Famicom had only just gone on sale, and | hadn't even touched one. | had seen the Game & Watch and was drawn to it because it looked fun and had a simple design. | thought that a company that could design the Game & Watch might be a good place to work, so | applied to Nintendo and got a job, Normally I'd have had to wait for April 1" to start work at a company like that, as is the norm in Japan. But before | was officially hired, they called me up and asked if I'd work part-time on an arcade game called Punch-Out! . . . | was drawing pixel art, At the time, Nintendo was so understaffed, they would have hired cats if they thought it would help. When | officially joined the company, it wasn’t to be on the team building the Game & Watch, but rather in the Creative division [eventually called Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development] —a small department with only about six people. We'd design playing cards and user manuals, and every now and then we'd get together with someone from a different division to help work on games. As | remember, it was pretty fun to go to work every day. One of these people was Shigeru Miyamoto, and that began a game-making partnership that’s lasted for thirty-plus years. The first one we worked on together was Devil World for the Famicom. | was in charge of pixel art, but | never heard one word about the new game that Miyamoto was plan- ning until after Devil World had already gone on sale. He said, “For the next one, let’s make a fast-paced game that has levels on the land, in the sea, and in the air, and let's do it with large characters!” “Large characters” actually meant a character just sixteen by thirty-two pixels. At the time, “small characters” were half that size, at sixteen by sixteen pixels. Those were more commonplace. So we started testing large characters on the screen and seeing how they moved, and the feedback we got was extremely positive. That’s when we started Calling this large character “Super Mario,” and that was the official start to the project. At the time, Nintendo's building was very close to a temple called Toufukuji, which is famous for the color of the leaves in autumn. We entrusted the programming of Super Mario Bros, to a company called SRD, and Nintendo set up a room for them. Unfortunately the room was just some extra space between floors, and the place felt more like a low-ceilinged storeroom. There were seven members in the core group. The director was Miyamoto, | was his assistant, and the guy in charge of sound was Koji Kondo, who joined the company at the same time | did. By the way, one person who worked for SRD, Toshihiko Nakago, went on to develop both the Mario and Zelda series. When we started to develop the game, first Miyamoto and | would design the levels together. We'd draw them on huge sheets of graph paper, and the next morning, we'd deliver them to SRD. By that evening, they'd be finished programming it. At that point Miyamoto and | would play the heck out of it, make changes, put all of our notes and instructions in writing, and hand it all to them the next morning. Every single day was a repeat of that. We'd be there pretty much every day until the lights went off and we had to go home. Miyamoto would always be in the office even later than | was. f SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS THE VINE THAT LEADS TO THE SKY! The aspect of the Super Mario Bros. development that really excited me was the “air” part of the “land, sea, air” concept. | couldn't help but think that it would be so fun to play in the sky! It was then that we considered having Mario board a cloud and do battle in the air, This may sound obvious, but it meant we needed enemies who were also flying through the air. But because of the very small capacity of the Famicom game cartridges at the time, we had almost no room to add new characters. So we decided to simply add wings to a character that already existed. That's how Koopa Paratroopa was born—by giving wings to the Koopa Troopa. We came up with a trial product, but unfortunately, it wasn't any fun at all. It was too much like a shooting game, and it didn’t have the feel we wanted from our Mario game. And so we did away with the sky aspect, but the desire to do adventures in the sky remained with me. At one point | said to Miyamoto, “What if we did a Jack and the Beanstalk kind of thing, where Mario can climb a beanstalk up into the sky? I’d love that!” | was just tossing out ideas, but Miyamoto made a level where Mario could climb a vine into the sky. He reused some elements he'd already created and constructed a level with them. | thought that no one else in the world but he could do that. It’s easy to throw out ideas, but to be able to build a game you can actually play from those ideas is crucial. | had joined the company two years prior, but I think it was at that moment that I learned just what was important in game design. One more thing | wanted to talk about was when | was doing pixel art for the Goombas. When we first started working on the game, the original enemy that you’re supposed to meet is the Koopa Troopa. From our stand- point, the Koopa Troopas were pretty easy to defeat. You jump on them and they vanish into their shells. But for people who were just starting, this was extremely hard, So we thought we would need an easier enemy, one you could just jump on to destroy, so that people just starting the game could easily defeat them. We were nearing the completion of the game when Goombas showed up for the first time. By the way, their Japanese name is Kuribo because they look a little like chestnuts [kuri in Japanese], but in actuality, they’re shiitake mushrooms. It was really a lot of things coming together that led to the development of the original Super Mario, and we had plenty of rough patches after that, but we've always given it our creative all when we are making the games. | honestly feel that I’ve been just concentrating on these games, and before | knew it, thirty years had passed. At the same time, it feels like a long time, and I’ve been fortunate to play in a world that defies age demographics. It’s made me avery happy man. MARIO’S ADVENTURES ARE FAR FROM OVER! The latest game in the series is Super Mario Maker, which went on sale in 2015. This game could only come about because of the Wii U GamePad. Now that I’ve seen what the Wii U can do, | really want to do a new version of Mario Paint like we had for the Super Famicom [SNES]. | was thinking how fun it would be to draw some cool pictures using the stylus that comes with the Wii U GamePad. There were a lot of special circumstances that prevented Mario Paint from being fully realized on the Super Famicom; Super Mario Maker was pro- grammed with a lot of the ideas from Mario Paint in mind. For example, the cursor has become a Cat’s paw. As | said before, when | first got some part-time work from Nintendo, they probably would have hired cats if they thought it would help. Well, this time we really have a “cat” working for us. Actu- ally, | have ten cats at home, and | brought two of them to work and had them photographed. Of course, there are a lot of other interesting ideas in the game aside from cats’ paws. | think you'll find a lot of things in Super Mario Maker that you will not find in any other Super Mario game! After thirty years of making Mario games, Mario has come to be something of a friend to me. I've gone through a lot of games with the purpose of making Mario a more likable character, but there were so many times when it was Mario who made me more courageous. So it’s my intention to keep on hanging out with Mario. Thirty years is just a checkpoint along the way. Finally, | want to show my appreciation to all of you who have spent your time playing with Mario. Truly —thank you! His adventures are just starting, and we hope you and Mario will be adventuring together for a long time to come. Interviewer and writer: Akinori Sao _/ Photographer: Shoji Nakamichi November 17, 1960 swe Osaka, Japan 8 1. Osaka University of Arts, Department of Design 1.» I'started working at Nintendo in April 1984 and have worked as a designer and producer for both the Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda series, 1» Tenten, 1» Tobe an artist Experimenting with all sorts of things. For example, | once took apart a tape recorder and put Calpis soda in the steam iron, among other ‘experiments. Favorite School Subject emu a. Math Least Favorite School Subject .». Japanese writing and literature Schoolboy Obsessions suns 1» Making up stories, and going places with friends Favorite FOOd snamuemmnnnesniinnmemeene Watermelon and Garigari-kun popsicles Loast Favorite Food .. Snapping turtle Favorite MUSIC wsmmnnanmnanninnnnnenne §igten to a wide range of music (most recently, I've been listening to a bossa nova album), Person You Most Respect..nmsnasunnanaun Shigerti Miyamoto (better get that on record) Breakfast : Toast or rice Nightly Hours of Sleep sear 6-8 hours Hobby... Seeececunries .-. Working on cars (recently I've been playing with their electrical systems) Activities for Days Off... se Family outings: @ Tezuka says that more Mario adventures Favorite Place in Kyoto. are coming! Here he is outside Nintendo's Analysis and Development building in Kyoto. me Favorite Character iwimmrmuununnemnmen Lakitu (Hfke the Japanese name, Jugemu, and the fact that you can Above: Tenkss siypemire, board the cloud when you take him out) Arashiyama (good even when crowded with tourists) Least Favorite Character re Don't have one Ww Beit EVES BE avira © 2016 Nintendo Super Mario Maker is the software you've been dreaming of! A 2D side-scrolling action game where you can play Super Mario Bros. courses and, using the Wii U GamePad, build your own courses with ease! Once you've finished a course, you can upload it and submit it online. You can also download and play courses other people have created! To celebrate the series’ thirtieth anniversary, we wanted to give creators the world over a chance to have a completely different kind of gaming experience! RELEASE DATE — SEPTEMBER 2015 $59,99 US The package includes a booklet fully packed with ideas for creating your own course, You can also get the contents of the booklet on the Nintendo site for free! ‘© wii U BUNDLES Wii U SUPER MARIO MAKER—SUPER MARIO BROS, 30TH SET (JAPAN ONLY) Includes Wii U (white/32GB), digital download of the game, hardcover idea booklet, and 30th Color amiibo. Anniversary Mario—Cl NINTENDO Wii U SUPER MARIO MAKER DELUXE SET Includes Wii U (black/32GB), digital download of the game, idea booklet h Anniversary jodern Color amlibo. ‘SUPER MARIO BROS. 30TH ANNIVERSARY—MARIO SERIES ‘Two amiibo figures were made for Super Mario Maker: 8-bit Mario in two unique color schemes! Available in either Classic or Modem Colors, they celebrate the 30th Anniversary and feature exciting effects when used during a game! @ I you use these amiibo figures while playing 2 course, you can obtain a Big Mushroom. With ityou can break apart even the tough blocks with Big Mariot ve ciassic MODERN fs € COLOR Build highly unusual courses or near-impossible ones with hordes of enemies. With Super Mario Maker, create courses freely! Here is how you can create and play! COMBINE SIXTY DIFFERENT PARTS TO MAKE A COURSE ALL YOUR OWN! There are all sorts of parts like blocks, characters, and items you can use to build your course, Set your own time limits and auto-scrolls, and set the goal wherever you feel like putting it. On top of that, you can use game styles from different eras such as the original Super Mario Bros. or New Super Mario Bros. U, and even switch between styles. Once you've cleared the course you've created, you can submit it for others to play! Just place the parts using the GamePad, © 8008 and othor enemies that Wore never seen in the original game make appearances hore. ‘The characters change to match is, 30 you can get 2 it 100k like in earlier games in the series. HAVE FUN EVERY DAY ON COURSES: MADE ALL OVER THE WORLD! Players all over the world can submit their courses, and you can play as many as you like! You can also play any of the sixty-eight courses that come pre-made with your software, Play the Ten Mario Challenge and see how far you can get through eight levels with only ten lives. @ Challenge yourself with a series of eight submit- ted sample courses with the Ten Mario Challenge! EASILY MAKE AND/SH ar ~~ IARE 2D MARIO\C oy. URSES! Now you ean play the course ‘Submit the course you made you just created! There are also and play courses that others (>) pre-made courses you can play! (>) have submitted! A A SLE IMAKE/A\COURSE} i PUAYAYOUR(COURSE Create @ 2D Mario course on the GamePad. You ean adjust it whenever you feel like it. By putting together different parts in inter- esting ways you can create tricks, traps, Cor! and mechanisms that wouldn't be possible GHS6 oc use onan © There are sity stterent part series. How they — Youcanusel Adshionaly, parte, work depends ‘can be changed just by shaking them with the stylus (for example, ‘a Green Koopa Troopa can change to a Red Koopa Troopa,) «+++« EXAMPLES OF COMBINATIONS « entirely on you! BILL BLASTER ® COINS Make a shower of coins spray from a Bil Blaster. BOWSER ® BOWSER JR. MARIO # SPINY SHELL ‘the atack! MARIO # BUZZY BEETLE SHELL Heavy things can fll on Mario, and yet not damage hi. MARIO 4 KOOPA CLOWN CAR ‘Mario can take fightin the iconic Koopa ride! Take up a challenge of randomly chosen courses with a limit of 100 Ii s. You can choose a difficulty level from eEaeye Normal "Expert! and ‘Super Expert.” Just kein the Ten Mario Challenge, Pour goal is to rescue rincess Peach. You can search for the latest courses, those with high star ratings, or any one of a number of different search options. Find courses that match your personal play style! Ifyou find a submitted course you particularly like, you can follow the “Maker” of that course! Once you've followed them, you can easily check in to see if they've made any new courses. Pricing and material are current as of October 2015. MARIO IN ACTION: A STYLE FOR EVERY ERA re You can change between the designs of the four series whenever you want. The music for each is recreated too! CHANGE THE BACKGROUND Choose from four different games and six different scenes to create a unique aesthetic En for your course! The basic movement of Mario is similar to New Super Mario Bros. U, but the individual styles will give you different kinds a of action. {COURSE} You can play Mario aboveground, underground, in the very first ULISMIES | Ghost House, and many others! There are even new scenes that aren't in the original! SUSER MARigoss norman ae BROS. The original game in the series where you control Mario in the way you know and love! You can power up to Fire Mario, just like in the original. Sometimes a strange, thin mushroom comes from the 2 Blocks. When Mario grabs it, he becomes tall, super slender, and can jump much higher! Use it to defeat enemies ‘and avoid traps, This B Button down, it wa what Mario does best! CC iH | MARIO CHARACTERS When you got a mushroom with "i a question mark on it, Amilibo or accomplish things, like winning the 100 Mario Challenge! 9 tia omg a ty SUPER MARIO @&® We've adel a Ghost House theme that wasnitin the BROS. 3 Create and play in the style of the game that introduced the world map! Though it was also for the NES, the graphics appear more detailed than those of the original Super Mario Bros. Since Yoshi doesn’t appear in Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario Bros. 3, he appears as Goomba’s Shoe in these two styles. + NEWLY ADDED ACTIONS » | HOLDING/THROWING/PLACING tt seems as if you could always do this, but Super Mario Bros. 3 was the first game that allowed you to held and throw Koopa Shells! SSS Transformations that match the styot RACCOON MARIO When Mario gets # Super Leaf, he turns into Raccoon Mario. If you dash to fill the gauge in the upper left to full, Mario spreads his arms and can fly through the air! Srwia SU PE R M ARI e) —” We've added an Airship theme, which wasn't in the original! ' WORLD GE Super Mario World went on sale at the same time as the SNES! It was the first game that included Yoshi and Ghost Houses. You'll encounter a lot of new enemies, so we've redone Yoshi's interactions with them, See Yoshi eat a Dry Bones, then spit out the bones for the first time! © GROUND papas ck OUND) ‘200900000 6 ‘GHOST HOUSE | OO@0On mm NING UPWARD Mande spn sump dabuted, allowing you to defeat cortain ios and get over Youean pick up an how it Mario World skis the only one whoro you can perform this tion, Trataormations that match tho syle! CAPE MARIO When you get a Cape Feather, you | transform into Gape Mario. You can attack with the cape and fly through the air. By doing # quick descent, you can attack enemies by bouncing off of them. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. U =P. 204 If you put in the original software te and use the GamePad, youcanhave [Ry a five-person multiplayer game. With Super Mario Maker, this is the only style where the characters are rendered in 3D! Yoshi also appears here! +++ ACTIONS UMIQUE TO THIS STYLE see+e tap TE | CLI | Hf you dash and jump, | You can ground: pound een seater tho wall, thane good uring | when yu pens own eu 2. mn on onthe scontol Tiepouienayer | whieiatie'e Ueske | Side, Theteckon was can do Touattack or activate, | introdueed: atrple trial of 3B Mario ‘ corner 0 ian Shove games, and = Raster” BE 3] a Ce 6 PROPELLER MARIO When Mario gots Propeller Mushroom, Mario Propeller Suit, After a huge jump into their You descend slowly tothe around. You can attack enemies by quickly descending. IF YOU CAN CLEAR THE GNAT ATTACK MINIGAME, YOU’RE AWARDED WITH BUILDER MARIO! Shake a Muncher and three flies appear. If you can swat all of them, you can play the same fly-swatting minigame found originally in Mario Paint for the SNES. EET] @ A huge boss appear “Siz you Builder Mario. CONTENTS Super Mario 30-Year SerieS Timeline ....csssssssssersssssseesteraserssensaee 12 MBO titties MeriOl Ramm LY ieesrcrsessnssscenencanerecet snnctcrerestisecopeemertereeererse 14 SU POT MANO BT OS peccccecrncccgercecece ccarcercsreerescate eceersretentancors