Complete Early History of Super Mario 🍄 (20 Games Explained!)

All of the official Nintendo games that featured Mario before he gained international fame in "Super Mario Bros" on the Nintendo Entertainment System. These include classic arcade games, as well as titles for the Famicom and NES, Game & Watch, and even some obscure PC games that were only released in Japan!
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0:00 - Intro
1:07 - Donkey Kong Arcade
3:10 - Donkey Kong Game & Watch
4:17 - Donkey Kong Jr. Arcade
6:09 - Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch
6:48 - Donkey Kong Jr. Panorama Screen
7:45 - Donkey Kong II Game & Watch
8:23 - Mario Bros. Arcade
9:41 - Hudson Soft Mario Games
10:23 - Mario Bros. Special
11:38 - Punch Ball Mario Bros.
12:27 - Mario Bros. Game & Watch
13:44 - Mario’s Cement Factory
14:46 - Mario’s Bombs Away
15:51 - Donkey Kong Circus
16:46 - Donkey Kong Hockey
17:50 - Donkey Kong Ports
18:20 - Tennis NES
18:25 - Pinball NES
18:30 - Golf NES
18:38 - Punch Out
18:58 - Family Basic Famicom
20:15 - Wrecking Crew
21:23 - Super Mario Bros.
#Nintendo #SuperMario #DonkeyKong #nes #retrogaming #retrogames #supermariobros #famicom

[@itsgruz]

Mario has had so many jobs! In this video alone he’s been: A Carpenter, Plumber, Packer at a Bottling Plant, Demolition Specialist, Gorilla Trainer (He was bad at this one), Bomb Delivery Soldier, Tennis Referee, Pinball Machine Operator, Professional Golfer and a Cement Truck Filler! What a busy guy! 😄

[@donmakaveli2227]

Wow, I am early! :D

[@plusah1268]

And a practitioner of opening a can of whoopass in smash bros

[@omh20]

The video was good but you did miss one game. ( yea I’m gonna be that guy). The arcade version of Donkey Kong 2.

[@itsgruz]

@@omh20 Nah I'm only doing official Nintendo games in this video - not ROM hacks.

[@omh20]

@@itsgruz oh ok never mind then the video is perfect, p.s. big fan of your stuff

[@CiCaruana]

It's heart-warming that Donkey Kong took a chance on letting an unknown talent be in his game to help kickstart his career, what a great guy

[@Rydonittelo]

It's not unlike what Dr Dre done for Eminem 👍🏻

[@Haganeren]

Before actually having success, Mario had to go to a lot of part time work just like a normal human being ! How inspiring.

[@lilylopnco]

Ah yes, blue collar gigs leading to success, truly the escapist fantasy the medium of gaming was made for.

[@Haganeren]

@@lilylopnco Maybe that's what happened. Mario had been isekai'd into some strange world named "Mushroom Kingdom" and has become a VERY good friend of the princess. That's the only way he could climb up in the society...

[@unwelldanny7108]

That even inspires me. I am autistic, and I can't seem to hold a job. Outside of my program, I've worked at GameStop during the holiday season, and I'm hopefully gonna do that again. But in my program, I've packaged food for poor people, dusted furniture at a thrift store, and recycled cans and bottles for money. If Mario can do it, then I can!!

[@emilyapricot1313]

Wrecking Crew @ 20:30 was criminal underrated. It was easily the most advanced of Mario’s arcade style classics, with a 100 puzzle rich levels.

[@rashidisw]

The NES/Famicom version of Wrecking Crew ware indeed better than its arcade version. It also has its own custom-level editor.

[@SalivatingSteve]

Disney ripped off this game with Wreck-It Ralph and Fix-It Felix.

[@unwelldanny7108]

​@@SalivatingSteveI think they were ripping off Donkey Kong more.

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

​@@SalivatingSteve They were meant to be an homage, not a rip-off. The gameplay is kind of like Wrecking Crew, but also similar to Rampage but with only one building at a time.

[@EpicGamer_SansheeFreddy]

I know, right?

[@RetroArcadeGuy]

Ironically, Wrecking Crew was gonna be an original game with original characters, but the devs worried it wouldn't sell much, they reached out to Miyamoto and asked for advise. "Just put Mario in there. People will recognize him" he said.

[@RoninCatholic]

Donkey Kong Circus is a prequel explaining the bad treatment Mario gave Donkey Kong before he breaks out in the arcade original. Donkey Kong Jr. is a prequel to that, showing Mario capturing Donkey Kong from the jungle in the first place.

[@notsyzagts7967]

Citation needed or else it's all just speculation.

[@RoninCatholic]

@@notsyzagts7967 It's because it's obvious from the context. You don't need an "official source" to officially spell things out like this, especially not in things with a loose canon anyway. Besides which, when Nintendo _do_ "clarify" the continuity in a series that wasn't released in a strictly linear order, their "clarification" makes less sense than just about any fan theory anyway.

[@greenknight9000]

You're correct, except for the Jr. part - it's confirmed the Donkey Kong in the original Donkey Kong became Cranky Kong, thus Donkey Kong Jr. was actually the Kong that'd grow up to be the more friendly and social Donkey Kong you see today

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

Donkey Kong Circus is a prequel, but Donkey Kong Jr. is not. The instruction booklet for DK Jr. for NES says Mario caged DK to punish him for kidnapping Pauline.

[@globingoblin]

I love Wrecking Crew, the G&W Mario Bros and Cement Factory so much, thanks for giving them some well-deserved exposure!

[@SGMayuriKurotsuchi]

Like many people, Mario had to cycle through several jobs before he finally found the one meant for him: professional princess saver and turtle killer.

[@lafcursiax]

Fascinating! I've been a Mario fan since 1988 and didn't know about most of these! Who knew Mario was a veteran?

[@YuukiTakemoto1996]

Cree knew about most of these, since she's been a Mario fan since 1981 and a Pac-Man fan since 1980.

[@unwelldanny7108]

I knew about alot of these, thanks to the power of the Web.

[@mcasias33]

The Game & Watch handhelds felt like magic at 8 years old. I LOVED playing them.

[@MacInTheBox]

Seems like you're really taking these more seriously now and giving it more structure and polish. Would be lying if I said I didn't miss the more offbeat Gruz myself but this new style is definitely going to be a bigger draw. Really hope it works out for you, because you deserve it!

[@christianb8900]

I feel like he's changing this for the better because of the competition of similar video's.

[@jacquespaught]

He literally got 50m and 75m mixed up in the first game covered.

[@cobracommander4774]

Mario's military background explains his proficiency in battling the Koopa forces. He has seen so much combat he no longer fears danger; so much bloodshed it no longer shocks him. This explains why he always seems so happy despite constantly being in situations where he is at risk of being killed and has to take the lives of countless Koopas and Goombas. His experiences have hardened him; his carefree demeanor is not a coping mechanism, but is present simply because he no longer feels the fear of death nor the weight of having to take a life.

[@marcoworlds7681]

Huh.. that’s a very dark turn on Mario, but what about Luigi? He still has to face those enemies and save his brother

[@Stuffies2022]

@@marcoworlds7681 because Luigi didn’t go to war

[@iMernerner]

​@@marcoworlds7681 luigi's physical ability is matching with mario but he is no soldier material. Too Kind and Values Life....

[@masterfarr8265]

Mario: Luigi pass me the mg42

[@LostSoulSilver]

This is the most unnecessarily edgy thing I have read all day

[@Metalwario64]

Always nice to see someone who enjoys Game & Watch games. I grew up on them with the Gallery games in the late 90s and early 2000s so I just love them.

[@YuukiTakemoto1996]

Same! I also had the tabletop Cement Factory game.

[@unwelldanny7108]

I had G&WG2 on my 3DS.

[@broox419]

Our first 4 games for NES: Duck Hunt, Gyromite, Wrecking Crew and DK Jr. Wrecking Crew was my favorite of them.

[@tkayube]

I have Mario's Cement Factory on DSiWare. I didn't know that there was a full color version of that game. I'm surprised they didn't go with that one for the DSi version.

[@blackenedheart9592]

I've always wondered why eggplants we're used as enemies in Nintendo games back in the day. Lol. They were in kid Icarus as well and also parodied later on in the Hyperdimension Neptunia games since each of those characters represent video game companies or consoles and one of their biggest fears are eggplants! Lol. Funny but weird 🤣 ???

[@repyukJC]

Thank you Gruz, you're awesome. I've actually been watching a lot of these retrospective type videos on yt lately and it was awesome to see you post one in the midst of my obsessive period. It was very well done and interesting, thanks again for doing what you do

[@lovescarguitar]

You have an excellent voice for doing documentary-type videos. I enjoy watching these videos as it is, but the voiceover just pushes it over the top.

[@realizedvisions]

It's why I subscribed.

[@elijahoreli]

This was fantastic info! Time to rewatch Super Mario Bros. The Movie 🍿

[@bidoofenshmirtzevilinc.4369]

This right here ladies and gentlemen is a man who uploads true quality videos. Great video Gruz! I'll be watching this over my break!

[@GShumway132]

I always loved Wrecking Crew. I could never get past a certain level in the 20s because I'd lose the golden hammer and then just get slaughtered.

[@teknix1]

How great is this content! Always happy to see you post a new video, this one is especially great, I love these lesser know subjects, thank you!

[@_The_Worst_]

You did manage to pull out some stuff from the depths of middle Earth...💯✔️

[@MCastleberry1980]

I love the color LCD ones. I dunno if I'm easily impressed, but just having color makes them feel more like a "real" game for some reason

[@unwelldanny7108]

Black and white video games from the '70s scare me. IDK why, but I feel like something's gonna pop out at any moment.

[@costincommamike]

I love this video SOOOOOO much.. I've probably seen it 6 times since you made it. I love this kind of content keep up the amazing work!!!

[@GhostyMallow]

Excellent! A Gruz video, just the perfect way to round off the day. :D Nicely edited and put together, as always. :)

[@FranklinDelanoDonut]

I love your thorough descriptions and explanations of the games you review.

[@TheAdventuresOfJimiJaden]

Whenever Donkey Kong is lifted up and pushed to the side by two Marios, the one that goes offscreen is rumored to actually be Luigi wearing red.

[@blackenedheart9592]

Gruz, awesome video man! 🤘🤘 You're so knowledgeable and informative! you're right, most of those games I have never heard of before. it's mainly the game and watch ones. II've heard of a couple but not all of them. Love your channel bro!

[@claybaxter3202]

This was awesome! I appreciate the great video and information. I had no idea about some of these bad boys.

[@ridureyu]

Mario’s Bombs Away: “If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me!”

[@emilyapricot1313]

Great Production Value on this One, Gruz !

[@reapergrim324]

This was really cool! I watched from beginning to end. I was 12 when NES came out, I played Super Mario constantly.

[@ibrachaka8727]

You sound so much happier in these videos. I'm really glad!

[@ParanoidThalyyMVS]

I find it pretty interesting that Nintendo actually released the G&W version of Mario Bros. before the arcade one.

[@TomFury3310]

Awesome, finally another Gruz episode!

[@bspep3]

Great vid, boss. Had no clue some of those existed.

[@chrismurray5846]

I had the tabletop Donkey Kong Jr. game as a kid! I wish my parents didn't give it away when they decided I was "too old" for it.

[@kumada84]

Killgruz, your videos are always awesome 👏👏👏 Entertaining, interesting, and well-made. BTW, 12:27 - most people don't know that this was originally developed as a Laverne and Shirley game. (I don't care that literally no one will get that joke.)

[@unwelldanny7108]

I get it. My mom watches Laverne & Shirley.

[@enemyofvirtue]

great video, gruz!

[@DouglasFish]

I am honestly surprised you aren't more popular than you are. I've loved most of your recent videos!

[@itsgruz]

Thank you! 😊

[@notsyzagts7967]

KZbin algorithms are the key. If you don't meet certain criteria with traffic and upload frequency, you won't get noticed as much.

[@RiverRiceRansom]

Very well put together video. I can tell you worked hard on it. Well done!

[@itsgruz]

Yeah this one was a lot of work! Glad you enjoyed it! 😁

[@YuukiTakemoto1996]

The owner of my local comic shop, Cree has been a Mario fan since 1981 and can remember every game you mentioned on this list (minus the Japanese ones.) Mario's Bombs Away had me dying. I myself had Mario's Cement Factory, the tabletop version. It was my parents'.

[@johnriff85]

Gruz, you are awesome! Great video!

[@nevergonnabesilent]

Never heard of Mario Bros Watch. That looks fun! Great video btw

[@mityace]

Donkey Kong was also the pack-in launch title for the Colecovision. It is IMO almost as good as the NES/Famicom version. However, the cement/pie factory screen was left out due to memory constraints. They released a version on tape for the Adam that was complete, Donkey Kong Junior was also released. Coleco also released versions for the Atari 2600 and Mattel Intellivision but those versions were awful. Atari released the original Mario Brothers for the 2600, 5200 and 7800. The latter two were faithful ports. Due to Nintendo holding on tightly to the rights, these games are not available on retro collections or systems. You can only play them with the cartridge on the original or clone hardware or getting a ROM image and using it on an emulator.

[@unwelldanny7108]

I love the commercial for the Atari Mario Bros port.

[@latran1578]

nice video like always

[@itsgruz]

I appreciate that, thank you!

[@yopachi]

Now these are some rare Marios! Thoughts... Soldier Mario reminds me of a 1991 knock off Mario for MS-DOS, "Aldo's Assault". The "Punch Ball" looks like the mii brawlers projectile in smash bros -- probably no relation.

[@Mordecrox]

Now I have to look that up, only knew Aldo's Adventure and Aldo Again. I was amused at its game over prompt, which was just "All Gone" in a deranged font

[@cqis7820]

I knew about most of those. Thanks for a trip down memory lane

[@MotherKojiro]

I actually did know about a few of these! I used to be really into the Game & Watch Gallery titles, but otherwise wouldn't have known about Game & Watch until Super Smash Bros. Melee.

[@singingcoyote1370]

nintendo and their commercial campaign was one of the biggest i ever seen back in the day. it was literally nintendo and mario (and zelda) everywhere. they sold their games even in tabacco stores in my city. they had free monthly subs for nintendo power i believe. other companies didnt even really stand a chance, except maybe sega.

[@derekbinelli9691]

#LongLiveTheSuperMarioBrothers!

[@rockerteen8300]

You have to be joking, before Mario was famous? Donkey Kong was huge, he was a superstar from that point, he even had a Saturday morning cartoon because of it, if that didn’t mean he was already famous then nothing would.

[@EsmeAmelia]

For some reason that Mario bomb game brought that famous moment in the Adam West Batman movie to mind: "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!"

[@halfbakedmedia]

5:04 Those are eggs? I've spent 25 years thinking they were defecating!

[@Sly88Frye]

Surprisingly I knew about every game here, but not every port of each. Well except for one game. I had no idea there was a Donkey Kong Hockey game.

[@ETBX1]

I think they should say the second Mario who hoists Donkey Kong at the beginning of DKJr is the first appearance of Luigi, though at that time wearing the same colors.

[@OscarGomez80]

Amazing video

[@nabhagrawal672]

I have played 85-90% of those. Thanks for the memories

[@GameplayandTalk]

Great video! I never realized Nintendo had so many variants of Game & Watches like featured here.

[@bewearstar9462]

47 were made 49 if you included the new mario and zelda ones

[@NullScar]

Good stuff! 👍🏻

[@stadiumking328]

Finally you're back😭😭

[@ouackstrax7356]

This is incredibly thorough, can't believe some of these I've never heard of. Watching this almost felt like one of those dreams I have where I discover all kinds of things from my childhood era that I never knew existed. Looking forward to being a new subscriber.

[@unwelldanny7108]

I HAVE THOSE DREAMS TOO. In fact, I just had one last night.

[@MicBain]

I still have my original Mario Bros game and watch. It's actually really fun and you can even play it with two players. I had no idea those colour screen panorama games even existed!

[@AnimationMaster167]

Oh man, I love Mario! I mean, I have Classic Mario Games on every emulation I've got including the Japanese Home Computers.

[@Allan_Oliver]

Cool video 👍👏

[@duceduce5392]

The first time I seen Mario and Luigi was on the Atari 2600. The game was entitled "Mario Bros".

[@LinkRocks]

You have a cool voice. I really enjoyed this video. Mario is a legend.

[@hismario123]

must be a big mario fan becasue I knew about all of them (BUT AMAZING VIDEO!!!!!)

[@XAlucardmoonX]

Very thorough nice

[@michaelturner2806]

I thought I knew Mario's history but a few of these escaped me!

[@chestercastaneda4920]

Wait, wait, wait. On top of being a plumber, Mario is also a soldier, a construction worker, a zookeeper, and a hockey player?

[@alanyuppie]

I had DK2 as a child and used to hack the game by intermittently depriving the game of power via fancy fingerworks on the battery compartment. All the sprites went nuts , behaved erratically . chaos ensued!

[@puppiesarepower3682]

Who would of thought that the image of a hairy, moustached Italian man from Brooklyn, and his brother, would rival Mickey Mouse in fame. The power of Mario.

[@Noobmaster-ic7kh]

Surprisingly I'd played most of them when I was young but at that time I didn't know it was Mario. In fact I didn't know Mario yet.

[@heyyobuddy]

gruz, donkey kong, Mario was a carpenter.

[@michael1234252]

6:59 that was actually a Coleco tabletop game system. It was part of a series of multiple tabletop versions of popular Arcade titles of the time. It included both Donky Kong games, Pac-Man, Frogger, Zaxxon, Galaxian, Ms. Pac-Man, and a few others.

[@jagergerg9771]

Excellent history of Mario I do know some of this but a lot of it I did not.

[@TheZelda360]

Mario's Bomb's Away looks really fun

[@KazPlayZz]

20:33 Ohh, so basically Wreck it Ralph. 😂

[@theskyybay420]

Always knew Wreck it Ralph was a parody of Donkey Kong and Fix it Felix as Mario, but now I know that Felix and the Wreck it Ralph title was also inspired by Wrecking Crew. Pretty cool!

[@gl6806]

The fact that Mario Bros has 99 stages is scary

[@robertskitch]

It's interesting to think that before Super Mario Bros. Mario wasn't really a hero. A protagonist yes, but not really a good guy. Really I'd say that he was the bad guy of the original Donkey Kong series. In Donkey Kong he's just cleaning up the mess that he made after abusing the big ape; in Donkey Kong Jr. he's an out-and-out villain; and in Donkey Kong Circus there he is pointing and laughing at Donkey Kong's misfortune. One thing I wonder about is how much of an affect Mario had on Sonic. Like I know that Robotnik/Eggman took some design cues from Mario (rotund; moustachioed; etc) but the fact that the Sonic games are an animal protagonist fighting through a level to rescue captives from the bad guy with the moustache at the end takes me right back to Donkey Kong Jr. Just look at the fact that Sonic games always start in natural levels and then the later levels are mechanical.

[@LuisEduardoBraschi]

I loved DK Junior. Now I noticed that many features are present in DK Country series as well.

[@theunknownandunsolved6963]

Lol i remember in elementary school (80s) if you had marios cement factory or the bottle factory game you were a popular kid. XD i had the orange dkjr arcade game as a kid, it was a really fun game actually. I still have it on emulation on my OG Xbox.

[@riversarcadereview385]

technically, Luigi made a cameo appearance in Donkey Kong Jr. He is wearing the correct colors in Donkey Kong Jr. REMIX

[@Kyleeeeeeeee]

The foreman spike is returning in the Mario movie!

[@KaiRubix]

Maybe in the movie he starts as a construction worker, until his pet gorilla escapes and destroys the whole site and gets fired over it. Theres a short montage where mario and luigi get different jobs only to fail at them and get fired. At this point mario feels incompetent and wants to prove hes worth something, he then finds a job as a plumber where he finds the warp pipe to the mushroom kingdom.

[@thecedarriversnag]

👍 I still play my Donkey Kong II game and watch

[@AnthonyL0401]

Donkey Kong ends in a TBI... never realized haha. And the journey continues with a vengeance for his daddy

[@wizofssp]

Awesome, awesome, awesome.

[@geodaet83]

well, I'd say it's debatable wether Mario ever really was the good guy... I mean if you think about it in later mario games most of the enemies just walk around, minding their own business, and Mario pretty much murders everything in sight. Maybe the whole kidnapping thing was only staged because he was constantly stalking the princess, who knows? 🤔

[@unwelldanny7108]

That's why I like Sonic better. He saves the animals.

[@Xodabeef]

2:23 i thought of it as "the sushi factory" although i didn't even like sushi lol

[@TheYanster]

I always thought of DK in the 2023 Mario Movie would tell Mario that he’ll retire to the jungle where his family lives and that’s how he spends the rest of his life as Cranky Kong

[@mr.zuniga6712]

The very first arcade I saw as a kid... It was a 24/7 drugstore in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 1988, when I was 5 🥺

[@cazaresj21]

I remember those games before Super Mario Bros. I played them all as a kid

[@captainunload]

I like Donkey Kong 4, when Mario digs a deadfall for Donkey and lets the ape impale himself on various bamboo poles.

[@iUseAndroid2024]

I have heard of all of these except for Donkey Kong Circus and Hockey

[@simontailor9704]

We need a remake of that Donkey Kong Hockey

[@daplaya88]

Tank you for saying Mario and not Merry-O as most of people say.