Mario Bros.

Mario Bros. for Atari 5200 is Atari's 1983 cartridge adaptation of Nintendo's arcade platform game. Mario and Luigi descend into a pipe-filled stage to clear it of creatures emerging from the sewers. Each round ends when every active pest has been dealt with, then the next round begins with greater pressure.

The brothers cannot simply land on their opponents. They jump from below to strike a floor and flip a creature onto its back, then must reach it and kick it off the ledge before it recovers. Shellcreepers, Sidesteppers, and Fighter Flies demand different timing, while a final pest can accelerate as a round nears its end.

A POW switch between the lower floors can turn over every pest that is standing on a surface. It can be used three times before vanishing, and a new one appears after each coin phase. Those timed breaks fill the stage with collectible coins; collecting them all earns a special bonus.

Later rounds add Slipice, which freezes platforms into slippery ice, as well as orange and gold fireballs. Orange fireballs move between levels, while gold ones remain on a single level. The manual also awards points for flipping a pest, kicking one away, collecting coins, and striking certain hazards from below.

One player controls Mario, while a two-player game puts Luigi on the screen at the same time. The pair can cooperate by dividing the flipping and kicking jobs, or interfere with one another by reviving an opponent before a teammate can finish it. The 5200 version begins players with six lives and grants an extra life at 20,000 points.

The Atari 5200 controller moves Mario or Luigi left and right with the joystick, and its lower fire buttons make the character jump. START begins play, PAUSE freezes and resumes the action, RESET returns to the option screen, and the * key selects a one- or two-player game. Atari released the game as cartridge CX5247 for the system in 1983.