Mario Bros

Purchased December 29th, 2000
Derek's Classic Top 50 Ranking: 4th All Time
Originally Released 1983

Page updated Feb 6th, 2001

I have always been fond of that pudgy little plumber. Mario started out as a carpenter in Donkey Kong and switched to his new profession with this game. This game introduces his brother Luigi and is very reminiscent of Joust in the way the 2 player cooperative works. Unlike Joust you can accidentally get in the way and get your brother killed, but if you know what your partner will do you can play a long, long time.

This game was available as a conversion kit and also in a dedicated wide body format. The wide cabinet was orange and was 4 inches wider than a regular Nintendo cab. The control panel is also a few inches higher and the monitor more vertical. With the conversion you could covert a Popeye, DK or DK Jr to a Mario Bros.

I had been given a Popeye basically for free and since I really didn't like the game I decided to convert it to a Mario Bros. I bought all the parts on ebay and unfortunately the shipper did not pack them well enough and the monitor bezel got all scratched from the control panel itself during shipping.

It worked fine, but it felt as though something was wrong. Sure enough being 4 inches narrower made a big difference in game play as well as the control panel and monitor position. So I decided to get a wide body and convert the other machine back into a Popeye.

(Click on any of the above pics for a larger pic) 

Check out the difference in the size of the monitor bezels

The opening is the same (obviously since they used the same 19 inch monitor). What they did is clip off a bunch of the artwork. The wide body looks so much better!

I recently bought a NOS Control Panel. Here are both together. What a difference!!!