#2: Super Mario Bros
Platform(s): NES, SuperFamicon, Arcade
Year: September 13, 1985
Why Did it Change Gaming? (Side-scrolling platform genre):
Nintendo has appeared constantly on this list and for good reason. Nintendo had a golden-era of ground-breaking innovative titles that fans still love even today. Super Mario Bros is actually the successor to the arcade version of the game, which was released in 1983 entitled Mario Bros., The game’s development was aimed at keeping things simple and it worked. Other games attempted to follow its mechanics after the game’s massive success and its structure of popularizing the side-scrolling genre. Super Mario Bros eventually went on to be the second greatest selling game of all time selling 40 million copies (and later was beat by Nintendo’s Wii Sports).
During the early days most developers liked to use black backgrounds as to not distract the player, however Super Mario Bros used bright-blue backgrounds which made everything else complement each other, the green pipes that you could enter made it seem as if you were exploring multiple worlds. A rarity in most arcade games at the time of release. Super Mario was originally was meant to be a platform shooter, but those features were scrapped and replaced with fireballs. The power up mechanics were revolutionary and highly innovative at the time combining with great level design and music production, Super Mario Bros is one of the best game titles of all time…Of all time! *drops mic*
Honorable Mention(s)
Grand Theft Auto