1983 was not an easy year to create a successful video game, but Nintendo pulled it off, thanks to Mario, who was well on his way to becoming video games' most popular hero. Luigi also helped, making his first appearance here. Together they headlined a game easily as addictive as the original Donkey Kong. Mario Bros. boasts deceptively complex gameplay, forcing players to think about their choices. Sure, you should knock that critter off the platform before it flips back over and moves even faster, but if you do, you'll get uncomfortably close to a fireball, and those bonus coins are about to disappear! What do you do? Such decisions require real strategy, not just simple pattern memorization or the brute-force "kill everything quickly!" mentality of most earlier arcade games.
Mario Bros. also benefits from Nintendo's typically whimsical style. The New York City sewers may be full of deadly beasts, but they sure look adorable as they creep and crawl their way around. Of course, one or two lost lives and you will be out for blood no matter how cute your enemies are!
Nintendo scored yet another hit and continued to cement their reputation as a premier video game developer. Several decades later they are one of the few video game companies still in business for themselves. With games like Mario Bros. to their credit, it's easy to see why.