Super Mario Bros. (pinball)
| Industry | Pinball machine manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | Pinball machines |
Super Mario Bros. is a four-player pinball game launched in 1992 by Gottlieb under official license from Nintendo. The machine debuted on April 25, 1992, with an estimated production run of 4,200 units. In Japan, distribution was handled by Taito, which presented the game at JAMMA '92. It secured a position within the top ten best-selling pinball machines in the United States for 1992 and received a Gold Award from the American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA). A sequel titled Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World was released two months later in June.
Gameplay
Players aim to achieve the status of Super Mario by completing the word "SUPER," which unlocks the ability to target the castle adorned with Bowser imagery. Successfully defeating seven castles across various worlds results in rescuing Princess Peach, after which players can enter their name and score. Attaining the highest score rewards an additional game. Castles destroyed during play persist into future games, allowing players to start with up to six castles already eliminated, although this reduces the maximum attainable final score. Each game begins with three balls, with opportunities to earn extra balls during play.
The gameplay consists of six timed modes: Bomb, Mega Bumpers, Yoshi's Countdown, !, Castle Extra Ball, and Cave Count-Up. To initiate a mode, players must activate three shells by hitting designated targets or ramps and then collect the Key when it appears in one of three lit sinkholes. Mode selection is made using the flipper buttons; if no choice is made, the system automatically selects the current option. Playing as Super Mario doubles the value of modes and extra balls earned. Each mode lasts approximately one minute and can only be completed once per game. Completing all six modes lights up Castle Special.
Playfield
The machine’s playfield features three flippers, three pop bumpers, two vertical up-kickers, one standup target, two ramps, and a raised mini-playfield.
Development
The design of the Super Mario Bros. pinball machine was led by Jon Norris, with artwork contributions from David Moore, Constantino Mitchell, and Jeanine Mitchell. Although named after Super Mario Bros., much of its visual design draws inspiration from Super Mario World (1990), incorporating characters such as Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2 and Bowser depicted as "King Koopa" from the DIC Entertainment TV series on the backglass. This was Gottlieb’s inaugural machine to utilize a dot-matrix display, which presented scores and animations crafted by Rand Paulin and Daryl Moore (who also co-programmed alongside Allen Edwall). The soundtrack was composed by Dave Zabriskie with sound effects created by Craig Beierwaltes.
There was speculation that Mario’s voice featured in the machine was provided by Charles Martinet, who began voicing Mario in 1991; Martinet later stated that Gottlieb used his voice without acknowledgment or payment. However, composer Zabriskie clarified that Gottlieb engaged Craig Brolley through Voices Unlimited for Mario’s voice work—Brolley had previous experience voicing on Gottlieb’s Cactus Jack's pinball machine.