Genre: Arcade
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

There is a school of thought that true graphical artistry emerges purely from function-- and Mario Bros. is a lesson in such an approach. Bright green pipes summon turtles with bright green shells, while the nicely tiled stage platforms are colorful and attractive, but without being too busy or distracting. A large POW block-- introducing the concept to the world for the very first time-- fills in the central lower area, providing not only another platform and a panic button, but filling in the stage's "white space" too.

Like the two Donkey Kong games before it, Mario Bros. does an excellent job of having sound effects that are distinctive and that give the game a great amount of character. Not only that, but they serve perfect functional purposes, letting the player know what is going on elsewhere in the stage without the player needing to divert his eyes from the action. A short musical ditty plays at the beginning of each stage, signalling to the player to get ready.

Mario Bros. is spectacularly deep and nuanced; there are three types of jumps-- straight up, a short distance, and a long distance-- and each one continually serves explicit purposes during play. Mario slides when he stops, the distance of which must be mastered to take out enemies, and then to immediately set up a subsequent jump. Enemies change direction when they run into a coin or another enemy, and the stage design constantly creates "risk-reward" tradeoffs for the player-- almost like real-time chess gambits. There are three enemy types, and they compliment each other and the various hazards in an interweaving way, creating nearly limitless combinations.

Video games originated as board games brought to life, with graphics, music, and sound. Mario Bros is that formula, perfected: every aspect of its design serves a functional purpose, with no filler or fat. As excellent as were the two Donkey Kong titles, shifting the difficulty focal point from stages to patterns was the key. This switch in emphasis raises the player's level of engagement, since the challenges aren't static anymore-- they are emergent!