His beginning was a monkey
The story of Mario Bros. dates back to 1981. He made his first appearance on Donkey Kong under the name Jumpman; at that time he was a carpenter by trade, but he was already wearing his legendary red cap. In this story, he had to rescue the princess who was held by the gorilla Donkey Kong. To do this, he had to overcome the obstacles that stood in his way.
Success in Japan led Nintendo to try its luck in the United States. He did very well and Miyamoto-san renamed him Jumpman Mario. He also created his brother Luigi. Players of the time first saw the two in action in the 1983 video game Mario Bros. But it wasn’t until a few years later that Mario’s popularity began to skyrocket. On September 13, 1985, Nintendo released its platform video game Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros saves Nintendo and becomes one of the most expensive games in the world
Shigeru Miyamoto, the developer of the keg-throwing gorilla game, along with designer Takashi Tezuka and sound artist Koji Kondo have used entertainment works, such as Devil World and Excitebike, to use them as a basis in creating a higher-proportion character. This is how Mario was renamed “Super Mario”, with the appearance of a plumber with a mustache.
To this same conception was integrated the idea of the change of size of Mario, to pass it from a tiny subject to a great character that must face long circuits, constant tests, landscape changes and the particular music in the underground missions.
Although in the mid-eighties, the United States has had a hoarded entertainment industry, the search for practicality and lightness in devices has led some companies to work on video game consoles connected to televisions, which provided greater comfort to gamers.
Original Super Mario Bros
That’s when Nintendo has seen the opportunity to expand to the West and compete with great references by creating an economical cartridge console. This is how the Family Computer was born, known by many as Famicom, of which about 500 thousand units were sold in just a few months in the Japanese country.
Although not successful they decided to change the name of Famicom to NES, make some aesthetic modifications, add accessories such as a gun and a robot to play Duck Hunt.
With this scenario, it has been bought initially for $ 140 thousand, about three million Mexican pesos, by the platform for buying and selling shares of collectible assets Rally, and then remarket it in a larger figure.
Collectibles have been a source of investment, for patients who know how to identify the potential of an object, since, over the years, the initial value can increase. This happened with a copy of the Super Mario Bros developed by Nintendo.
It was a revolution and saw the appearance of other well-known characters such as Princess Peach, the giant turtle Bowser and the fungus Toad Toads tool.
How Bross has evolved
With the passage of time, the saga evolved with important graphic changes. For example, Nintendo made the leap from 8 to 16 bits and then entered the 3D universe with the possibilities offered by this technology when it comes to moving through the levels of the game and performing 360º movements.
In terms of gameplay, we’ve seen different scenario changes. In addition, we have seen Mario go from plumber to pilot, golfer, dancer.
Who’s who: the characters.
Although the main character is Mario, the saga would not be the same without the other characters that accompany him in his adventures: his little brother Luigi and Princess Peach who lives in fear of Bowser, the king of the Koopas: he is the antithesis of Mario and resorts to brute force. He has a son named Bowser Jr.
Toads are Peach’s loyal allies and come in different colors. Not forgetting Yoshi, Mario’s anthropomorphic dinosaur hybrid friend.
Common elements
Just as the Super Mario series wouldn’t be the same without all of its characters, there are a number of common elements that have become indispensable. This is the case with mushroom enhancers like the Super Mushroom, which makes Mario grow bigger. The mini mushroom has the opposite effect, but allows you to float in the air or jump higher.
Coins are also common, for example to get an extra life, and of course pipes and transport cannons, pipes that can have different colors and have very different uses depending on the title.
Other common elements are the stars, which are usually hidden and help advance the plot, projectile flowers or special costumes that act as power-ups and take the form of raccoon, bee, cat, frog or penguin.
Nes Super Mario Bros
In addition to these costumes, there is also Mario’s own Mario costume. It is unmistakable: red cap and shirt, blue breastplate with yellow buttons, white gloves and brown shoes.
Rarity
“In terms of rarity, popularity and relevance to collectors, this cartridge has it all. Mario is the most recognized fictional or non-fiction character in the world, even more so than Mickey Mouse.”
This rare copy of ‘Super Mario Bros.’ is now owned by Jim Halperin, founder and co-president of the collectible auction company Heritage Auctions, Rich Lecce, a video game collector and Zac Gieg, owner of a video game store. Between the three will be divided the ownership of this cartridge having joined to pay the amount of 100,150 dollars.
In fact, between 1985 and 1994, the ‘Super Mario Bros.’ box had 11 box variants with different reprints that adjusted both image and text details, as well as box materials and packaging. Well, this cartridge that has just been auctioned, is the first version of these 11 different boxes.
First of all, the box is almost intact, and it is one of the first 17 NES games produced in the United States in 1985, which were not wrapped but sealed with sticker. With the passage of time, they realized that this ended up mistreating the boxes, so in 2016 the production changed to boxes with transparent wrapping.
These 17 games under the first packaging were only sold in New York and Los Angeles, and the idea was to analyze the response of consumers after the launch of the NES in that country. They were only in stores between October 1986 and March 1986, as they were subsequently removed from stores to sell the next version of cartridges with wrapped boxes.
