History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / SuperMarioBros

*** Cloud Blocks are known as semi-solid, but in this game (and other early games) they are completely solid blocks. ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' is when it's established that players can go through them from underneath.

*** Cloud Blocks are now known to be semi-solid, but in earlier games including this one they're merely solid blocks. It wasn't until ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' that it was established players could go through them underneath.

*** Cloud Blocks are known as semi-solid blocks, but in earlier games including this one they're merely solid blocks. It wasn't until ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' that it was established players could go through them from below.

*** Cloud Blocks are known as semi-solid blocks, but in earlier games including this one they were merely solid blocks. It wasn't until ''Mario Bros. 3'' that it was established players could go through them from below.

*** Cloud Blocks are known as semi-solid blocks, but in earlier games including the first one they were merely solid blocks. It wasn't until ''Mario Bros. 3'' that it was established players could go through them from below.

*** Cloud Blocks are known to be semi-solid in sidescrollers. But starting with this game they're solid blocks. It wasn't until Mario Bros. 3 that it was established players can go through them from underneath.

*** This is likewise the only game where Birdo is explicitly stated to have a confused gender identity, something which has since become one of the most notorious pieces of Mario lore. Though some subsequent games allude to the idea of Birdo being less than entirely feminine, the whole “thinks he’s a girl” premise that is mentioned in both the English and Japanese manual has not been mentioned since, with Birdo simply being treated as canonically female in the vast majority of subsequent games. Certainly the premise that Birdo “would rather be called Birdetta,” implying “Birdo” is a masculine name, has never been raised again.

** In earlier games, Bowser, Peach, and Luigi were clean-slates. It wasn't until the late 1990s and early 2000s, with games like ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', that their personalities began being fleshed out. Peach was originally a standard PrincessClassic even in ''Super Mario 64'' but she eventually turned into a parody of the trope. Her lighter tone of personality was reflected in her voice becoming more high pitched from the late N64-era onwards. Bowser was originally a generic BigBad before the [=RPGs=] gave him a hammy personality and showed that he has a VillainousCrush on Peach. Luigi was originally a simple palette-swap of Mario until games like ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' and ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Superstar Saga]]'' established him as a CowardlyLion and a [[{{Sidekick}} second banana]] to Mario[[note]]Though outside the games, this personality trait was established as early as [[''Anime/TheGreatMissionToSavePrincessPeach'' the 1986 anime movie.]][[/note]].

** In earlier games, Bowser, Peach, and Luigi were clean-slates. It wasn't until the late 1990s and early 2000s, with games like ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', that their personalities began being fleshed out. Peach was originally a standard PrincessClassic even in ''Super Mario 64'' but she eventually turned into a parody of the trope. Her lighter tone of personality was reflected in her voice becoming more high pitched from the late N64-era onwards. Bowser was originally a generic BigBad before the [=RPGs=] gave him a hammy personality and showed that he has a VillainousCrush on Peach. Luigi was originally a simple palette-swap of Mario until games like ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' and ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Superstar Saga]]'' established him as a CowardlyLion and a [[{{Sidekick}} second banana]] to Mario[[note]]Though outside the games, this personality trait was established as early as [[''Anime/TheGreatMissionToSavePrincessPeach'' the 1986 anime movie.[[/note]].

** In early games, Bowser, Peach, and Luigi were clean-slates. It wasn't until the late 1990s and early 2000s, with games like ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', that their personalities began being fleshed out. Peach was originally a standard PrincessClassic even in ''Super Mario 64'' but she eventually turned into a parody of the trope. Her lighter tone of personality was reflected in her voice becoming more high pitched starting with the [=GameCube=] era. Bowser was originally a generic BigBad before the [=RPGs=] gave him a hammy personality and showed that he has a VillainousCrush on Peach. Luigi was originally a simple palette-swap of Mario until games like ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' and ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Superstar Saga]]'' established him as a CowardlyLion and a [[{{Sidekick}} second banana]] to Mario.

*** Licensed media depicted Mario and Luigi with Brooklyn accents to reflect their original backstories. As early as 1992 (And officially starting with ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''), Mario was given an Italian accent to reflect his Italian heritage, with Luigi following suit a few years later.

*** Wario lacked an Italian accent in the Japanese version of ''Mario Kart 64'', and all versions of ''Mario Kart: Super Circuit'' and the first two ''Mario Party'' games and instead was presented as German; like Luigi, he wasn't voiced by Martinet during this time. Daisy had a much girlier and higher-pitched voice provided by Kate Fleming and Jen Taylor for her first few appearances in Mario spin-offs, and it wouldn't be until ''Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour'' when her signature energetic and tomboyish voice, courtesy of Deanna Mustard, and later on Giselle Fernandez, would settle in.

** Characters' voices didn't become their current standard until the 2000s. Prior to ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' both Mario and Luigi had Brooklyn accents to reflect their original backstories. Starting with the N64, both gained Italian accents to reflect their Italian heritage. Peach's original voices were deeper than her post-''Sunshine'' ones, while Toad's voice was high-pitched and childish (especially in the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'') instead of raspy. Luigi had a voice that was higher-pitched than Mario's in the Japanese version of ''Mario Kart 64'', all versions of ''Mario Kart: Super Circuit'' and the first two ''Mario Party'' games, while the first two ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games simply gave him a higher-pitched version of Mario's voice; he was given a deeper voice in other countries' versions of ''Mario Kart 64'', finally being voiced by Charles Martinet, like Mario, but his voice wouldn't be the familiar, timid voice, till ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion''. Wario lacked an Italian accent in the Japanese version of ''Mario Kart 64'', and all versions of ''Mario Kart: Super Circuit'' and the first two ''Mario Party'' games and instead was presented as German; like Luigi, he wasn't voiced by Martinet during this time. Daisy had a much girlier and higher-pitched voice provided by Kate Fleming and Jen Taylor for her first few appearances in Mario spin-offs, and it wouldn't be until ''Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour'' when her signature energetic and tomboyish voice, courtesy of Deanna Mustard, and later on Giselle Fernandez, would settle in.

* Peach's Castle looked very different when it first appeared in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', having pinkish bricks and multiple raised trapezoid-shaped areas on the roof of equal size. Half a year later it would receive its now-iconic design in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', with gray stone walls and a tall central spire. The red tiled roof remained consistent, however.

*** This is likewise the only game where Birdo is explicitly stated to have a confused gender identity, something which has since become one of the most notorious pieces of Mario lore. Though some subsequent games allude to the idea of Birdo being less than entirely feminine, the whole “thinks he’s a girl” premise that is mentioned in both the English and Japanese manual has been mentioned since, with Birdo simply being treated as canonically female in the vast majority of subsequent games. Certainly the premise that Birdo “would rather be called Birdetta,” implying “Birdo” is a masculine name, has never been raised again.

*** The first game was significantly more aggressive, where the winner of many mini-games was rewarded from the pockets of the losers. Some mini-games had the entire team working together, with no villain other than the stage itself. The first game was also the only one to have mini-games involving [[ScrappyMechanic rotating the control stick]], which would cause blisters; the second game excised these as well as coin-losing mini-games, but it also recycled many ''other'' mini-games from the first, which the third game (and all those subsequent) would make a point of avoiding. Finally, it wasn't until the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube era that a wide variety of side games were available, probably for memory reasons.

* The first ''VideoGame/MarioVsDonkeyKong'' game plays quite differently from its sequels. You control Mario, instead of an army of windup Mini-Marios, in what is essentially a SpiritualSuccessor to the UsefulNotes/GameBoy version of ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKong94 Donkey Kong]]'' (and in fact started life as an UpdatedRerelease of that game) instead of an indirectly controlled PuzzleGame in the vein of ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}''.

** The game has five races per cup instead of four like in the later games. It also features Donkey Kong Jr. as one of the playable characters; Franchise/DonkeyKong himself wouldn't appear in the series until ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' (as Creator/{{Rare}} wouldn't create the iconic new Donkey Kong in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' until 2 years after ''Super Mario Kart's'' release). DK Jr. would appear once later in the first ''VideoGame/MarioTennis'' game, then vanished until TheBusCameBack in ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'' with his sprites taken directly from this game.

** 150cc difficulty is locked, whereas it is freely open to players in the later games.
** Tracks all have five laps per race while the rest of the games play with only three laps, except in certain cases (such as if a track is very long or very short, as seen with ''Double Dash!!''[='=]s Wario Colosseum having two laps and Baby Park from the same game having more than three laps in all of its appearances) and in ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'', where most courses have two laps or segments. This is due to the tracks in ''Super Mario Kart'' being quite short, while the tracks and their retro counterparts in later games are lengthened a bit to accommodate the new racing mechanics. Time Trials in ''Super Mario Kart'' have no item use at all compared to the later games, where they allow the use of Triple Mushrooms in Time Trials.

*** The ''RPG''-exclusive characters like Geno and Mallow, despite being {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s, [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome have never appeared in the franchise since]] beyond small cameos (and even then, Geno got cut out of the [=3DS=] remake of the first game), which some speculate is because of Creator/SquareEnix [[ScrewedByTheLawyers owning the rights to those characters]].

** In some respects, the game was an instance of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness for much of 3D gaming. For a lack of other games to compare with, entire levels quite visibly hanging in the middle of nothing were perfectly fine back then, but would have been considered signs of an ObviousBeta mere years later. It was also very cubic, even by later N64 standards, and thus unusual in a series that tends to prefer round shapes whenever possible. Again, ''Super Mario Odyssey'' would revisit this, including the Mushroom Kingdom itself being inexplicably on a floating island (although all the floating islands in that game are implied to be connected to larger landmasses seen in the background, as opposed to the entirely featureless voids of ''64'').

** Boos don't look the way they do here in the ''LM'' sequels. For one, they're uncharacteristically translucent, while they switch between invisible or fully opaque in their standard appearance established by other games. They are also depicted with only their two outer fangs and are missing the smaller two teeth between them. The sequels adopt the standardized appearance of the Boos with opaque bodies and four teeth, though King Boo's unique visual aspects besides these traits were retained as his established ''Luigi's Mansion'' look, rather than the games adopting the standard King Boo design featured in other titles. The Boo-teeth discrepancy also gets referenced in ''3'' when King Boo pulls a DoppelgangerAttack, as his fake copies are marked by having only two teeth like in this game.

** Characters' voices didn't become their current standard until the 2000s. Prior to ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' both Mario and Luigi had Brooklyn accents to reflect their original backstories. Starting with the N64, both gained Italian accents to reflect their Italian heritage. Peach's original voices were deeper than her post-''Sunshine'' ones, while Toad's voice was high-pitched and childish (especially in the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'') instead of raspy. Luigi had a voice that was higher-pitched than Mario's in the Japanese version of ''Mario Kart 64'' and all versions of ''Mario Kart: Super Circuit'' and the first two ''Mario Party'' games, while the first two ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games simply gave him a higher-pitched version of Mario's voice; he was given a deeper voice in other countries' versions of ''Mario Kart 64'', finally being voiced by Charles Martinet, like Mario, but his voice wouldn't be the familiar, timid voice, till ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion''. Wario lacked an Italian accent in the Japanese version of ''Mario Kart 64'', and all versions of ''Mario Kart: Super Circuit'' and the first two ''Mario Party'' games and instead was presented as German; like Luigi, he wasn't voiced by Martinet during this time. Daisy had a much girlier and higher-pitched voice provided by Jessica Chisum and Jen Taylor for her first few appearences in Mario spin-offs, and it wouldn't be until ''Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour'' when her signature energetic and tomboyish voice, courtesy of Deanna Mustard, would settle in.

** Unlike later NSMB games, Bowser was voiced by Creator/PeterCullen, via archival audio taken from a sound library; his roars had already been recorded and used decades earlier in films such as ''Film/KingKong1976'' and ''Film/Jaws2''. This was actually the standard for Bowser since ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' ten years prior. Following this game, Bowser's voice would instead be provided by a variety of in-house voice actors, each of whom would give Bowser a more human-like voice a-la his portrayal in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', rather than Cullen's more overtly animal-like roars. Additionally, the "power-up loss" and "coin" sounds are reused from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' rather than ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''.

** Originally conceived as ''VideoGame/DokiDokiPanic'', the game marked the debut of several enemies that would become regulars in the ''Mario'' series, but some of them are portrayed here differently. For example, the two red dots on the Ninji sprites are depicted in both the game's official artwork and ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' as red fangs, but later Ninji portrayals reinterpret those dots as big buttons or BlushStickers. Bob-Ombs have arms and lack the familiar windup keys from their backs (from ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' onwards, it's the other way around, with some exceptions). Pokeys are colored green instead of yellow or orange, and ''can'' be mounted safely (in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', the only way to ride them safely is with the Spin Jump). Lastly, Shy Guys have a slightly shorter height, looking more like {{Waddling Head}}s; later games made their torsos look more visible.

** The sequel, ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongJunior'', is the ''only'' video game in which Mario has ever played a villain role.
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong3'' is the ''only'' video game in the franchise to not feature, mention, or allude to Mario in any way, shape, or form. Instead, the protagonist is a bug exterminator called Stanley.

** ''Donkey Kong 3'' is the ''only'' video game in the franchise to not feature, mention, or allude to Mario in any way, shape, or form. Instead, the protagonist is a bug exterminator called Stanley.

* [[EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference Character designs often started out differently]]:
** Mario had a blue shirt and red overalls in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongJunior''. The NES port of ''VideoGame/MarioBros'' was the first game to give him the standard red cap, red shirt and blue overalls; His in-game sprites in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' and ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels The Lost Levels]]'' would depict him with a ''brown'' shirt and red overalls. (Mario's sprites wouldn't accurately reflect his now-iconic modern color palette until ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' came around, although artwork from the game's box art and manual would still depict him with a blue shirt and red overalls.) The blue shirt and red overalls would eventually return in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' as an alternate outfit. Also, promotional artwork for ''Videogame/DonkeyKong'' depicted Mario as a [[http://pm1.narvii.com/6420/4ebcabf8c8495d4c1f2c41aae5d8888fdaf44585_hq.jpg middle-aged balding man]] (which is also how he looked in the [[Film/SuperMarioBros1993 1993 live-action film]]), but Nintendo has since {{retcon}}ned Mario into a twenty-something and shown him to possess a full head of hair underneath his plumber's cap. Mario's limbs were also [[https://www.mariowiki.com/images/e/e3/SMB2Art2.png much stubbier]] in early artwork, making him appear rather stocky, however modern art gives him [[https://www.mariowiki.com/images/2/21/FortuneStMario.png longer limbs]] which gives the impression that he's actually lost weight in the intervening decades.
** Luigi had a brown shirt-green overall combo in his first appearance, and a green shirt and white overalls (resembling his Fire Flower form) in ''Super Mario Bros.'' Both of the remakes gave him back said brown shirt-green overall combo (or, in the case of the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' version, the blue shirt-green overalls), and made this costume his Fire Flower form instead. Luigi also started off as a PaletteSwap of Mario. While the American ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' was the first time Luigi was depicted with his current tall and slim look, he went back to being a palette swap in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''. The original release of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' also had him as a palette swap. The ''Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World'' compilation and the GBA remake of ''Super Mario World'' gave him new taller and slimmer sprites. Likewise, the ''All-Stars'' remakes of the first and third games updated Luigi's sprites into his modern look, which has persisted in every game since.
** Peach has her ''[=SMB1=]'' sprite drawn with red hair and a white dress with red trim, using the colour palette as the Mushroom Retainers. Early official artwork also shows her much younger, possibly the age of a child - she wouldn't gain her proper adult appearance in the official art until ''The Lost Levels''.
** Both Bowser's official ''[=SMB1=]'' artwork and his in-game sprite look considerably more bull-like than later appearances, with his bracelets and collar presumably inspiring his stereotypical dog name, "Bowser".
** [[VideoGame/SuperMarioLand Daisy]] wore a purple crown in her older appearances, which appeared as red in-game sometimes, but somewhere around ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'' it was replaced with a golden one like Peach's one. Her hair was also long like Peach's until it was cropped shorter in ''VideoGame/MarioParty4''. Daisy was AmbiguouslyBrown during the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 era, presumably to represent her being from a desert kingdom, but she returned to her original tone for ''Mario Party 4''. She becomes dark-skinned again in ''Mario Golf: Super Rush'', seemingly confirming it to be a tan.
** [[VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins Wario]] originally wore a long-sleeved shirt, but since ''VideoGame/WarioLandII'' he's often been seen wearing a short-sleeved one. He's consistently portrayed with short sleeves in [[VideoGame/{{Wario}} Wario's own games]], but alternated between them and the long sleeves in the ''Mario'' spin-offs before permanently settling on the short ones.
** Pauline was originally depicted as a blonde in illustrations for the arcade and Famicom versions of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', but became a brunette in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong94'', presumably to distinguish her from Peach (who at that point had already appeared in more games than Pauline and was a more recognizable character as a result).
** Yoshi was [[https://i.stack.imgur.com/44Y33.jpg less-anthropomorphized]] in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' compared to how he would look later on. Certain spin-offs, such as ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', also stayed closer to Yoshi's original depiction. Said depiction was dropped starting with the fourth ''Super Smash Bros.'' game however.

** The sequel, ''Donkey Kong Jr'', is the ''only'' video game in which Mario has ever played a villain role.

** Mario had a blue shirt and red overalls in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', and ''Donkey Kong Jr.''. The NES port of ''VideoGame/MarioBros'' was the first game to give him the standard red cap, red shirt and blue overalls; His in-game sprites in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' and ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels The Lost Levels]]'' would depict him with a ''brown'' shirt and red overalls. (Mario's sprites wouldn't accurately reflect his now-iconic modern color palette until ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' came around, although artwork from the game's box art and manual would still depict him with a blue shirt and red overalls.) The blue shirt and red overalls would eventually return in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' as an alternate outfit. Also, promotional artwork for ''Videogame/DonkeyKong'' depicted Mario as a [[http://pm1.narvii.com/6420/4ebcabf8c8495d4c1f2c41aae5d8888fdaf44585_hq.jpg middle-aged balding man]] (which is also how he looked in the [[Film/SuperMarioBros1993 1993 live-action film]]), but Nintendo has since {{retcon}}ned Mario into a twenty-something and shown him to possess a full head of hair underneath his plumber's cap. Mario's limbs were also [[https://www.mariowiki.com/images/e/e3/SMB2Art2.png much stubbier]] in early artwork, making him appear rather stocky, however modern art gives him [[https://www.mariowiki.com/images/2/21/FortuneStMario.png longer limbs]] which gives the impression that he's actually lost weight in the intervening decades.

* Every game prior to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' seems to take place in a slightly more cartoony version of the real world rather than the more familiar fantasy setting, has no supernatural elements at all, and portrays the heroes abilities as significantly more grounded.

* Every game prior to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' seems to take place in a slightly more cartoon version of the real world rather than the more familiar fantasy setting, has no supernatural elements at all, and portrays the heroes abilities as significantly more grounded.