What if Super Mario Bros never existed?

[ElectriKong]

OK here is a scenario. What if Super Mario Bros did not exist?

Well we all no for sure that video games today would be very different. Let's use this thread to speculate and discuss what would have changed and what wouldn't.

[HeroLinik]

Someone would undoubtedly make a game with similar gameplay and plot, and then it would have formed the basis of all the platform games that we know now, even if it didn't play like SMB.

[kr4k1n]

Well I personally think that SMBX wouldn't exist, let along the countless Mario fangames out there. And seeing how Sonic is tied into the Mario universe a bit, we wouldn't have him either. Nintendo was created in 1889 originally as a card company and continued until 1956, so they probably would have been known for their card games instead of video games. But like HeroLinik says, another company would've started making video games instead. That would make it very unlikely for any of the games and software companies that we see today to exist in another scenario.

[onpon4]

I wouldn't have been born. 9/11 wouldn't have happened. Windows may have never been developed. Linux may have never been developed. Dexter's Laboratory would have never been made. Samurai Jack would have never been made. Johnny Test would have never been made.

I think you get the idea. Pretty much nothing that happened more than a few years after Super Mario Bros was released would have happened if Super Mario Bros wasn't a thing, good or bad.

Still, that doesn't imply that history would be fundamentally different. If Super Mario Bros wasn't developed, some other very similar game could have been developed. Or maybe not. It's really impossible to say.

[NightKawata]

OK here is a scenario. What if Super Mario Bros did not exist?

Well we all no for sure that video games today would be very different. Let's use this thread to speculate and discuss what would have changed and what wouldn't.

Then we probably wouldn't be having this conversation, would we? :p

[Fuyu]

Super Mario Bros. revolutionized gaming. Without its existence, there's no telling what would've happened. Maybe gaming as we know it wouldn't exist because no one dared to make the first move towards innovation. Only speculations remain.

[Cidro]

SMBX would likely be non-existent. Cartoon shows will make some video game references other than Mario. I'd also be stuck with RPGs since Mario was the first platformer I've played and Final Fantasy was the first RPG I've played. We would never know if mushrooms and orange-colored flowers are edible. I'd still have my 3GB internet. I'd be playing either Dota 2 or LoL.
My mom would still have her 3GB internet. I would watch my favourite anime on the Internet. There's more, but I guess that's
it.

[kr4k1n]

SMBX would likely be non-existent. Cartoon shows will make some video game references other than Mario. I'd also be stuck with RPGs since Mario was the first platformer I've played and Final Fantasy was the first RPG I've played. We would never know if mushrooms and orange-colored flowers are edible. I'd still have my 3GB internet. I'd be playing either Dota 2 or LoL.
My mom would still have her 3GB internet. I would watch my favourite anime on the Internet. There's more, but I guess that's
it.

So let's just say that we're cutting out the Mario Bros./Super Mario Bros. franchise as it is. For me, I wouldn't have asked my grandpa for a Wii, instead, I would've asked him for a PS3 or a Xbox1, or something like that. Or maybe not ask at all. I would completely despise music of any kind, and would rather listen to the newest music artists's soundtracks, than listen to video game music, movie soundtracks, or 70s-80s rock. I'd probably not be at interested in technology as I am today, and most likely would not be a gamer. And I also wouldn't be here because SMBX won't exist without Mario.

[FireyPaperMario]

My thought on this theory is, if Super Mario Bros. never existed, we'll all be playing nothing but Sega, TurboGrafx16, and arcade games forever.

[Snessy the duck]

Johnny Test would have never been made.

And that would probably be for the better.

[onpon4]

That's exactly what I was thinking. Gotta contrast the good with the bad, y'know.

[Navi]

Uhhh... the forums would never exist?

[DarkMatt]

We wouldn't have video games today.

Well, maybe Namco or Sega would get on that bandwagon, but just imagine if the flagship of the 8-bit generation wasn't Mario, but like, Pac-Man. Or Castlevania. Or maybe even Frogger. Robotron?

It'd be a very different flagship genre, probably. It wouldn't be a guarantee that just someone else would make the gold standard of platformers. We'd probably get a gold standard of something else entirely.

Oh yeah, I should correct myself. We would still have video games today. After all, before the NES we had stuff like Commodore 64 and Apple II. Those kept on going, making games, even when the dedicated game console market died in a fire. But hey, people always want to be lazy and just play games so, someone would fill in that gap. Doesn't mean we wouldn't have games.

[timocomsmbx2345]

Then I'll make it exist.

[HeroLinik]

Then I'll make it exist.

If you could make it exist though, then how would you make it successful? By now, if Super Mario Bros. never released in 1985, someone out there would have done a game with similar gameplay and plot, but using a different character. Therefore, your take on Super Mario Bros. would have been seen as a knockoff, and probably wouldn't be successful unless you changed it up dramatically from the original.

[Julia Pseudo]

I think gaming as a whole would look way different today without Super Mario Bros. As I understand it, one of the main things that distinguished it from its contemporaries was that it was one of the first games where the main goal was just to complete the game, as opposed to setting a high score or whatever. "Arcade-style" games might be a lot more popular now without Super Mario Bros.

[onpon4]

That wasn't a new thing in 1985... even if you discount games like Donkey Kong, there's Pitfall, Adventure, Ghostbusters, and... E.T. Don't even get me started on the PC games available at the time.

The "distinction" of Super Mario Bros was that it was a reasonably advanced and fun game that was bundled with the NES, during a time when the NES was massively dominant.

[kr4k1n]

That wasn't a new thing in 1985... even if you discount games like Donkey Kong, there's Pitfall, Adventure, Ghostbusters, and... E.T. Don't even get me started on the PC games available at the time.

The "distinction" of Super Mario Bros was that it was a reasonably advanced and fun game that was bundled with the NES, during a time when the NES was massively dominant.

Pretty much just taking Super Mario Bros out of the mix will only change a few games that come after that point, and maybe just barely make any changes to future gaming systems.

[PixelPest]

Then I wouldn't have a virus on my phone from trying to download the full version of Super Mario Run without paying for it

[NicoBros]

Easy: Sonic will be the most played game, or never existed because SEGA created him to be a rival of the Merio and N O S M B X.
Technically redigit will only be some guy that created terraria with a platform style inspired in Sonic style, I think.