When you think of Mario, you think of Nintendo. The two are linked so firmly in your mind it’s almost impossible to think that the beloved character’s games ever showed up on other systems. But it has happened — and more than once.
Donkey Kong (1981-1988)
The first Mario game (though he was only known as “Jumpman” at the time) was released on nearly every system in existence after the arcade proved to be such a hit.
Intellivision
ColecoVision
Atari 2600
TRS-80
Atari 8-bit
TI-99/4a
IBM PC Booter
Commodore 64 (Ocean)
Commodore 64 (Atarisoft)
Commodore VIC-20
MSX
ZX Spectrum
Amstrad CPC
Atari 7800
Donkey Kong Jr. (1982-1988)
Mario was relegated to villain status for this one; but like its forebear, it was released across many different systems in the early days of video game home consoles.
Atari 2600
ColecoVision
Commodore 64
Atari 8-bit
Atari 7800
Intellivision
Mario Bros. (1983-1988)
A lot of people seem to forget that there was a Mario Bros. game before Super Mario Bros. took off like no game before it.
Apple II
Atari 2600
Atari 5200
Amstrad CPC
Commodore 64 (Atarisoft)
Sinclair Spectrum
Atari 7800
Commodore 64 (Ocean)
Atari 8-Bit
Mario Bros. Special (1984)
NEC PC-8801
Instead of a straight port, this version of Mario Bros. was retooled with new levels and gameplay.
Punch Ball Mario Bros. (1984)
NEC PC-8801
Imagine if you were playing Mario Bros. and had a ball you could punch to stun enemies. That would be this game.
Super Mario Bros. Special (1986)
NEC PC-8801
This version of Super Mario Bros. comes with new levels and enemies (some even returning from Donkey Kong).
Hotel Mario (1994)
CD-i
While the Zelda CD-i games that came out of Nintendo’s 90s deal with Philips are arguably more famous, this Mario-themed puzzle game exists as well.
Mario Teaches Typing (1991)
PC
This Interplay-made game was Nintendo’s quite successful attempt to get into the typing game business.
Super Mario Bros. & Friends: When I Grow Up (1991)
PC
This game for young kids is more a colouring book than anything else.
Mario is Missing (1992)
PC
In this edutainment title, Luigi must use his knowledge of real world geography to find and save the missing Mario.
Mario’s Time Machine (1993)
PC
Much like Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?, this game uses the Mario series as a vehicle to test kids’ real world history knowledge.
Mario’s Early Years! Fun with Letters (1994)
PC
The first of three edutainment games to teach preschool-age children.
Mario’s Early Years! Fun with Numbers (1994)
PC
The second of three edutainment games to teach preschool-age children.
Mario’s Early Years! Preschool Fun (1994)
PC
The third of three edutainment games to teach preschool-age children.
Mario’s Game Gallery (1995)
PC
Mario is a dirty cheater when it comes to these classic board games.
Mario Teaches Typing 2 (1996)
PC
Because kids in the ’90s were such slackers, we have a second game to teach the wayward youth of that time how to type.
Comments
8 responses to “The Times Mario Wasn’t A Nintendo Exclusive”
I played the hell out of Donkey Kong on the Atari 400.
Loved that game.
I remember the original Donkey Kong on the Intellivision. It’s one of my earliest memories of playing a video game.
I played the heck out of it at the time, and I only discovered years later that the Intellivision port actually sucked major balls and was one of the worst ports of the game on any system. I mean…just LOOK at it compared to all those other versions. Yeesh.
Colecovision Donkey Kong was the best Donkey Kong. Even as a tiny little kid at the time I could still see that. And it made me sad, because I had the Atari 2600 🙁
I didn’t really have anything to compare it to. I’d never seen the arcade original or any other ports of the game at the time.
I’d played the arcade version a few times and I’d seen Colecovision in the shops. In terms of graphics, it crapped all over the Atari 2600, but Atari had a better (or at least bigger) selection of games.
But then, the Colecovision had a plug-in module that would let it play Atari 2600 games as well. (Extra cost, I think.)
Coleco basically sold the Colecovision on the basis of Donkey Kong (just as Intellivision used their sports titles.) The difference between DK on the Coleco and pretty much every other gaming console at the time was as night and day.
Of course, the version of DK everybody wanted was the Game & Watch version. Not as pretty as the Coleco, but PORTABLE! … and Nintendo-branded, ergo irrelevant for this article.
Ah, the Intellivision. I really loathed that controller, but it was the only entertainment I had when I went to my grandparents place. They had an Amstrad PC as well, but I wasn’t allowed to play it because it had Leisure Suit Larry on it.
DONKEY KONG JR! Oh man, memories. Was first game my Dad ever bought me. Thanks Dad, it was awesome.