“Super Mario Multiverse” – VS. Super Mario Bros. (Arcade) by Andrew Fisher

VS SUPER MARIO BROS

by Andrew Fisher (@merman1974)

There have been many articles about Nintendo’s early arcade games leading up to the smash hit that was Donkey Kong (and the relative failure of Radarscope in the US). However, Nintendo’s later arcade systems get mentioned less. Part of it is the assumption that the VS System was just a “NES in an arcade cabinet”, but there was a lot more to it than that. And VS Super Mario Bros is a fascinating game in its own right. In fact an early flyer for the game reveals it was to be called VS Mario’s Adventure instead.

The flyer for VS Mario’s Adventure.

Nintendo designed the VS System initially to be retrofitted into its existing arcade cabinets, including Donkey Kong. This sort of conversion kit was becoming common, allowing the arcade operator to change out a title that was doing badly for something new. (Some games only existed as conversion kits; Super Bike, for example, was designed to run in a Donkey Kong cabinet.) For collectors there is an important point to note. The monitor in these cabinets runs on inverse voltage levels, the opposite to the vast majority of arcade machines. This means you cannot replace the monitor with one from a different game without a converter. Nowadays the JAMMA standard makes swapping games much easier.

A classic blue Donkey Kong cabinet, ripe for conversion. 

The VS System is based on the same Ricoh 2A03 processor that runs the NES, but the graphics hardware is different. The PPU (Pixel Processing Unit) for each title was unique, giving an alternative palette to the NES equivalent game. Using the wrong PPU will make the game appear in odd colours. Later units had PPUs with a protection system in, checking particular registers to ensure the game was running in the correct cabinet. There is the possibility of modifying a VS game to run on a NES console. There are other differences, with many of the games altered to increase the amount of two-player involvement. Graphics were altered too, with VS Duck Hunt notably having more animation and different backgrounds (plus an extra scrolling bonus stage where you can shoot the dog “accidentally”…)

The cabinet containing VS Super Mario Bros.

There were four different types of dedicated VS arcade cabinet. The basic upright cabinet was called the VS UniSystem. But VS has a clever trick up its sleeve. A special DualSystem upright variation was made for head-to-head two player games, with one cabinet’s processor running the game for both machines. A sit-down cabinet VS DualSystem was also produced and allowed two players. Most exotic was the Red Tent, a sit-down cabinet with four sets of controls (two sets on each side, with two monitors).

Flyer showing the Red Tent on the left and the DualSystem at the back.

So what of VS Super Mario Brothers? Is it just the original NES game running in an arcade cabinet? No, as those who have played Hamster’s Arcade Archives version on the Switch have recently discovered. I am sure the majority of readers here are aware of The Lost Levels. This was the original Super Mario Brothers 2 in Japan, deemed too difficult for American players. Among its tricks were narrower ledges, poison mushrooms and huge caverns to jump. International players got the re-skinned Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic game instead.

The VS Super Mario Bros flyer, and the detailed instruction panel from a real cabinet.

VS Super Mario Brothers then is the origin of those more difficult levels. It starts out by taking its initial levels from the original SMB game and making them harder. The later levels include six new stages that became part of the Famicom Disk System’s Super Mario Bros 2. For example, stage 1-4 of VS SMB is the same as stage 1-4 the FDS SMB2. Those stages arrived again in the West as The Lost Levels in the SNES compilation Super Mario All-Stars. Several of the “easy” levels early in the game are replaced with their harder version from later – level 2-2 is replaced by level 7-2. The solution to the “maze” on level 7-4 is also different in VS SMB.

Toad congratulates the player on completing this trickier stage 1-4.

Adding to the difficulty of the VS version is the fact there are less power-ups, with some blocks moved or removed completely – or replaced by coins. There are only four 1-Up mushrooms in the whole game (and the invisible 1-Up mushrooms remain, if you know where to find them). DIP switches on the arcade board can be changed to determine how many coins Mario must collect to earn an extra life. (The Arcade Archives version allows you to change those switches, meaning it could take from 50 up to 250 coins to add a life.) There were also changes to the Warp Zones, with the Warps to levels 7 and 8 removed from 4-2.

A couple of familiar tricks in the original SMB must have been noticed, because the VS version made changes. The Minus World is still present, but there are fewer bricks in World 1-2 in an attempt to prevent players reaching it. Similarly the Koopa Troopa near the last staircase on World 3-1 – where the player could jump on it repeatedly to gain 1-Ups – has been replaced by a Goomba to negate that quirk.

The missing bricks at the top make reaching Level 1-2’s Warp Zone harder.

Another subtle change is to the music. The ending theme has the second section of The Lost Levels’ theme played with the original’s instruments, and the second verse of the theme has been removed so the tune loops. Another rearrangement of the classic main theme is used during Name Registration for the high score, which was later re-used in Super Mario Advance 4 and the Mario Maker titles.

The Name Registration screen, and the high score table. 

Chris Kohler of Kotaku has described VS Super Mario Bros as “The meanest trick Nintendo ever played”, imagining a young player in 1986 stepping up to the VS arcade machine with confidence because he has played the home NES game. And then the new level layouts and tougher difficulty, not to mention the need to collect more coins for an extra life, leave that player confused and upset. I have to agree with him. The experience of playing VS Super Mario Brothers is like a dream about a familiar place that turns into a nightmare. Everything looks the same, but there is danger lurking just around the corner. The Mushroom Kingdom has always demanded a skilful player to conquer it, but this is particularly true in this often-forgotten cousin. You could call it the black sheep of the Mario game family… but there is nothing fluffy or woolly about it.

This player has completed the game as Luigi. You might find it tougher.

Although VS Super Mario Bros was never officially released in Japan, Japanese arcades found ways to import the cabinets. During the 1986 ACME (American Coin Machine Exposition) convention in Chicago, Nintendo awarded prizes to the best players on its new arcade titles – including VS Super Mario Brothers – in the Ca$h Grab tournament.

The VS system saw new games released between 1984 and 1990. Nintendo created 24 games that are currently known, with five of those planned releases that did not reach the market. Unusual titles include VS Raid on Bungeling Bay, developed by Hudson under license from Brøderbund’s home computer game by legendary designer Will Wright, and VS Slalom from UK developers Rare. There are 22 known VS titles from third-party manufacturers, including VS Sky Kid from Sunsoft and VS Atari RBI Baseball. Out of that 22 at least three prototypes never made it to market.

Dr. Mario in a VS System cabinet.

Nintendo went on to create the PlayChoice-10 hardware. The 10 refers to the fact it could hold ten different games on expansion cards. These were basic NES games with an extra 8K of RAM. The extra memory held hints that were displayed during the game. Most cabinets had two monitors, one displaying the hints and the other the gameplay. Single monitor variants required a button to be pressed to switch between hints and game. Players bought time rather than games/lives, allowing them to switch between titles. The system received 52 different cartridges between 1986 and 1990, with Nintendo stopping support and manufacture in 1992. The successor was the Super System, based on Super NES hardware. It was intended to preview SNES games and had a similar time-buying coin slot. The US version supported 11 different titles. There were two variations of the hardware, one with standard buttons and the other with US-style purple joypads on wires that slotted into the control panel. But like the VS System, Nintendo stopped manufacturing the Super System in 1992.

Examples of PlayChoice-10 and Super System cabinets.

The year 1992 was significant because it was when Nintendo announced it would no longer be manufacturing and developing arcade games. It has collaborated with other manufacturers on new arcade titles, notably F-Zero AX and the Mario Kart Arcade GP games. The hardware for these games was the Triforce system, developed jointly between Nintendo, Namco and Sega. Although it is no longer a force in the arcades, VS Super Mario Brothers is a relic from the time when the big N was dominant in homes AND arcades. 

Mario Kart Arcade GP, powered by the Triforce board.

Kotaku review by Chris Kohler:

https://kotaku.com/vs-super-mario-bros-is-the-meanest-trick-nintendo-eve-1821531808

Super Mario Wiki article with more descriptions of the changes/differences:

https://www.mariowiki.com/VS._Super_Mario_Bros.

Andrew Fisher is a freelance writer specialising in retro games, with a personal collection of over 3,000 retro games across many formats. He is a regular contributor to Retro Gamer magazine – https://www.retrogamer.net, and writes the More C64 column for The Retrogaming Times website – https://www.classicplastic.net/trt/. His book The Commodore 64 Games Book 1982-19xx, featuring over two hundred game reviews, was published in 2008. He recently completed over 700 SNES game reviews (including several Picross games) for the Super Nintendo Anthology from Geek-Line Publishing. He has contributed music and been a games tester for newly released C64 games. He has been working on a book project with fellow writer Jerry Ellis, titled Arcade Imperfect, due for publication in 2020. Andrew is 45, married to Alison and helps look after his stepdaughter Madalyn.

[Andrew enjoys a well-earned cup of tea from his ZZAP! 64 mug. Photo processed with the Retrospecs app.]

Wahoo! You are a Super Reader! But the adventure doesn’t stop here… There’s more of this project in another castle! This article is just one level in an entire Super Mario Multiverse, a galactic collaboration between writers around the world sharing a bit of our hearts and memories about our favorite Mario games. Visit the Center of the Multiverse to see more: