In the world of computers and video games, “killer apps” are defined as programs or games so useful or desirable that it actually drives hardware sales. In other words, people want the application or game so bad that they will buy a computer or video game console just to play it. Two of the earliest examples of killer apps were VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet that sent small business owners running to their nearest Apple computer dealership, and Space Invaders, a game that caused sales of the original Atari 2600 console to triple.
It’s hard to think of a bigger killer app in the 80s than Super Mario Bros., which came bundled with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The home video game market had been circling the drain for a couple of years when an Italian plumber named Mario showed up and turned the gaming world upside-down.
By the time the NES arrived in North America, our family had already owned three home computers; around the time Nintendo-Mania really began to heat up, I had my own Commodore 64. While Nintendo cartridges cost $30-$40 each, computer games, thanks to disk-swappers and bulletin board systems, were free. For each game my Nintendo-owning friends purchased, I downloaded a hundred.
And yet, there was one game I didn’t have, and seemingly never would: Super Mario Bros. Each time I showed my computer system to a neighborhood kid or classmate, they always asked the same question. “You got Mario on this?” No matter how many disks I had or games I showed them, there was always one I would seemingly never have.
No. I didn’t have Mario.
I had things that were close, though. The most famous Super Mario Bros. clone for the Commodore 64 was the Great Giana Sisters, which was infamously modified by a cracking group named Abyss to resemble Super Mario Bros. It did, in the way those cheap knock-off sunglasses at the flea market resemble more expensive brands. It was Mario…ish. The main character kind of looked like Mario and you collected things that were round like coins, but… it wasn’t really Mario. Not really.
The good news was, everybody who owned an NES owned a copy of Super Mario Bros., so there were plenty of opportunities for me to play it… just not at my house. It bugged me so much that in 1991, I bought a used NES from a kid who was upgrading to a Super Nintendo just so I could play Super Mario Bros. (and its sequel, Super Mario Bros. 3) in my bedroom. I still owned my Commodore 64 and had acquired literally thousands of games by then, but next to it on my computer desk sat a used NES with a small collection of games.
It took almost 35 years, but finally, and out of the blue, the Commodore 64 has had its come-uppance.
Last week, a programmer named ZeroPaige announced they he was releasing a port of Super Mario Bros. for the Commodore 64. I’d heard rumors for years that this was in the works, but there are always things in the works — until they come out, I tend not to pay them much mind. Many of those projects never see the light of day, and some of the ones that do weren’t worth the wait.
This, however. Wow.
WOW.
It’s Super Mario Bros. For the Commodore 64. It’s really Super Mario Bros.!
There are few companies that protect their intellectual property as fiercely or aggressively as Nintedo (Star Wars would be a close second), and Mario’s parent company swooped in as quickly as a flying Goomba, issuing DCMA cease-and-desist (takedown) notices to every website they found hosting the ROM. Didn’t matter that it was free, didn’t matter that it was for a computer system that Super Mario Bros. was never sold for, didn’t matter that the game was 34 years old — when Nintendo’s lawyers speak, it’s a good idea to listen.
A few people have replied with snark. “What did you expect?” And, they have a point. Some have suggested using an original character instead of Nintendo’s mascot wouldn’t have attracted the big N’s attention. Then again, I say, those people missed the point. I, and lots of people who grew up using Commodore computers in the mid-80s, were led to believe that the Commodore 64 was simply incapable of running as complicated and advanced as Super Mario Bros.
You proved ’em wrong, ZeroPaige. You proved them all wrong.