Game of the Week #41

[Metal Mario]

Mario Bros. (Game & Watch, 1983)



No, I'm not talking about the well-known arcade classic that features Mario and Luigi flipping and kicking Koopas and Sidesteppers. (We've already done that one.) No, this Mario Bros. is quite different. A dual-screen Game & Watch game released in 1983, this fun, frantic little romp sees the titular brothers working the conveyor belts at a bottling plant. The player controls Mario and Luigi simultaneously as the increasing action forces them to move more and more quickly to keep up with all the moving packages of bottles. Once a package is finished, it is thrown onto a flatbed delivery truck, but those other bottles never stop coming! (Think of that classic I Love Lucy episode with the chocolates.)

Here's a (sped-up) video of the game in action.

Click to view video.

Mario Bros. was included in both Game & Watch Gallery 3 for Game Boy and Game & Watch Gallery 4 for GBA. Like all other Game & Watch games in these collections, Mario Bros. was given a modern update to go along with the classic version. In the remake, Mario and Luigi are working in a cake factory. Wario becomes the truck driver, and Bowser is on hand to gum up the works by reversing the conveyor belts' directions.

Here's a gameplay video of the remake from Game & Watch Gallery 4.

Click to view video.

[Luigiman7]

Bottling plant? I thought it was cake.

[Metal Mario]

That's because the remake is set in a cake factory, and the graphics of the original are so indistinct.