More tidbits about the arcade origins of Super Mario Bros. and European release date
At the end of June, we shared a few tidbits about the origins of Super Mario Bros. courtesy of a report from German website Nintendo-Online, with some sources stating that it was originally an arcade game. The site has now done further digging and uncovered the following details:
– Nintendo of America launched the NES and Super Mario Bros. in New York at the end of 1985 and in Los Angeles in early 1986. But the nationwide launch wasn’t until late 1986.
– To promote the NES and its flagship title SMB to people not living in NY or LA, Nintendo launched an exact arcade port of SMB in early 1986.
– This port is NOT identical to the Vs. Super Mario Bros. arcade port.
– It seems that the direct SMB arcade port was also distributed in Europe.
– Most of this info comes from William Audureau: “The History of Mario”, p. 261 ff.
In related news, Nintendo Online shares the following tidbits regarding the European release date of Super Mario Bros.
– It was unknown when exactly Super Mario Bros. was released in Europe. The best date we were originally able to confirm was 1987, but we couldn’t get any closer.
– Nintendo of Europe wasn’t founded until the early 1990’s. Prior to that, most European countries had own companies that distributed the Nintendo products.
– According to William Audureau: “The History of Mario”, p. 267, in some European countries SMB was released on June 1986.
– But in most of the countries the game didn’t release until September 1987. According to Audureau that was the case in the United Kingdom as well as in France. We concluded from our sources that this was also SMB’s release month in Germany.
