Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia

by Nintendo

Power Up!

Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia: The Official Guide to the First 30 Years is jam-packed with content from all seventeen Super Mario games--from the original Super Mario Bros. to Super Mario 3D World . Track the evolution of the Goomba, witness the introduction of Yoshi, and relive your favorite levels. This tome also contains an interview with producer Takashi Tezuka, tips to help you find every coin, star, sun, and mushroom--even explanations of glitches! With information on enemies, items, obstacles, and worlds from over thirty years of Mario, Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia is the definitive resource for everything Super Mario!

Genres: Video Games, Nonfiction, Gaming, Reference, Games, Art, Childrens

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2017

About the author

Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Nintendo is one of the world's largest video game companies by market capitalization. Founded on 23 September 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as cab services and love hotels. The word Nintendo can be roughly translated from Japanese to English as "leave luck to heaven".

Abandoning previous ventures in favor of toys in the 1960s, Nintendo then developed into a video game company in the 1970s, ultimately becoming one of the most influential in the industry and Japan's third-most-valuable company with a market value of over $85 billion. From 1992 until 2016, Nintendo was also the majority shareholder of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners.

As of 31 March 2014, Nintendo has cumulative sales of over 670.43 million hardware units and 4.23 billion software units. The company has created and released some of the best-known and top-selling video game franchises, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia covers all the Mario games from Super Mario Brothers to the present, including peripheral stuff like Mario Bros, Mario Tennis, and the like.

I first encountered Super Mario Brothers at the neighbor's house at the tender young age of ten. Since then, I've played quite a few Mario games. When this book went on sale for less than $20 bucks, it was time to take the plunge.

First off, I'll get my nitpicky things out of the way first. While called Birdo in Nintendo Power and in this book, the character in Super Mario Bros. 2 is actually called Birdetta as per the SMB2 credits. Secondly, Mike Tyson's Punch Out wasn't mentioned with the other games Mario appeared in even though Mario is clearly the referee.

Other than that, this thing is pretty sweet, giving an overview of every game with "Super Mario" prominently in the title, except for Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, though that was properly a Yoshi game. We get enemies, power ups, story overviews, and the like.

I could go into every game that is profiled but the book is what it says it is, for the most part: an encyclopedia of the Super Mario Bros. franchise. It's a fun coffee table book. I'll give the edge to Dark Horse's Zelda books since we all know Zelda is the superior franchise. 4 out of 5 stars.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comprehensive encyclopedia covers all things Mario. From the very first game up unto Super Mario U (no Odyssey!), each game receives a list of enemies, friends, power ups as well as a level by level explanation along with some fun tips and trips. The book is gorgeous and is recommended for any big fan of the Mario series. I especially liked the ending section that contained every single appearance Mario has made in other games, whether they are minor or just a mention.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. But no waluigi.

[Ankur · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book. As I child, I never had the opportunity to play any of the Mario games except for the original Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES. Even from just playing these two games, Mario became one of my favorite video game characters of all time which made me curious on other games which I never got to try and to get to know more about them.

This book completes the whole 30 years with all the games made from the original NES to 2015 with beautiful artwork, text taken from the original game manuals and enemy varieties, hidden secrets and also some fun and interesting trivia stuff which I never knew existed. Reading this made me feel missed out on so much of the games I never got to play and how much Mario got evolved with time and technology.Even if you are not a big fan of Mario, this book is beautiful with its neat pages, excellent design quality and good writing. Its a nostalgia trip for all the gamers who grew up with Mario in the 8 bit era and beyond.

Also, as a bonus there is never a great time to buy this book than now due to the 35th anniversary of Mario coming right around the corner this month with Nintendo announcing a slew of old games and new ones remastered for the Nintendo Switch console releasing in September 2020 and February 2021. When I got this book even though I never played those games I still loved reading it, but thanks to these games now getting remastered for the Switch I can finally play them and so it makes me more grateful that I bought this.

Overall, very highly recommended for Mario fans and casual gamers. This book is a great trip down memory lane.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book walks through Super Mario games that were released between 1985-2015. At first, it’s interesting to read the short excerpt on the game’s initial development and feel nostalgia about the early Mario games and characters. Each game gets its own section, which covers the characters you play as, the enemies you encounter, objects that help, descriptions of levels/worlds, and notable features. I only played the first few games, so the later sections didn’t resonate with me and started to feel repetitive. It made me appreciate the creativity behind building that world and its characters. I was hoping for more of a story, though, and it felt like reading a catalog. It also focuses on the games where Mario and friends go on quests, and only briefly mentions other significant games like Mario Kart.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed description of all of the Mario bro. iterations up to 2016, how the games timelines relate to each other, how the characters have evolved since the 1980s, and the many Mario Easter eggs in other Nintendo games

The eBook is about 250 pages and available for download through Hoopla. It’s a fun read to flip through and get a comprehensive history of the franchise. It is interesting to see how the “call to adventure” has changed or stayed the same through the years.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it had helpful hints for my games. I love it!

[Peyton Force · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is great

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was published before Mario Odyssey and the Switch in General and devotes a lot of time to promoting Super Mario Maker. It chronicles the journey of the Super Mario games starting with the introduction to the NES and how it evolved to a 3D world. There were some one page inserts about games such as Peach's solo adventure and the Mario Kart games, but it was mostly devoted to the main series game. Breaks down the characters, story, villains, and different worlds/levels for every game. A nice piece for collector's.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super Mario Bros. came out the year I was born so I guess it makes sense that I was destined to be a huge fan of the video games. I taught myself how to draw by creating my own versions of the characters from the games and my love of the traditional Mario games has never diminished with age. So getting a book like this which chronicles the 2D and 3D platformers was a no-brainer. I got this book as a Christmas gift without ever flipping through it because the book seemed like a foolproof gift.

Once I received it, I flipped through the book and wasn't hooked by it initially and in fact, I've had the book for over a year before I got around to reading it. It has a ton of small pictures from the games and doesn't feature quite as much art as I expected. This truly is an encyclopedia which contains one sentence descriptions of the enemies and items and levels from Mario games. That wasn't exactly what I was expecting/hoping for but once I got into reading this, I started to enjoy it more and more. The tips and hidden secrets section for each game is really nice and maybe the most valuable information included here. My only real complaint with the book is that a lot of the images are truly tiny and while this is good for games like Mario 64 where the graphics haven't aged well, in other places it was a bit of a bummer when the graphics are better and makes you want to skim instead of pore over all of the cool content in the book. All in all, this book is nice looking, fun to browse, and is a good coffee table. It isn't the ultimate book on Super Mario but perhaps Nintendo and Dark Horse have plans for that in the future.

[Nathan Dehoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

That's a pretty lengthy title, isn't it? I really wouldn't say it's an encyclopedia in the traditional sense, but more of an extensive guidebook. Not that that's a bad thing for someone who spent a lot of time reading instruction booklets and Nintendo Power guides. It covers the games in the main Super Mario series, meaning platformers with Mario as the main protagonist. Spinoffs (and whatever the Mario games predating Super Mario Bros. are--spinons, maybe?) are briefly referenced, and there's a list of every game in which Mario makes an appearance. The English edition was first published in 2018, but it doesn't list any games from after 2016. There's no mention of Odyssey, and there's an ad near the beginning for the first Super Mario Maker. For each game, there's an introduction, list of characters, power-ups, enemies, courses, and items, plus some extra trivia. Some of the information is taken directly from the original instructions, but there's no reference to Birdo's gender confusion. There are a lot of screenshots, mostly small, but I guess that goes without saying. You're not going to get a list of every obscure Shy Guy cameo like in the Super Mario Wiki, but it's still pretty cool. The two-page spread of the main characters has some fun depictions; I particularly like Bowser's pose. It is presumably a mistake to identify Larry as the leader of the Koopalings; that's usually Ludwig when it comes up at all.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a history of The Mario video games, Not A Cheat Guide!!
When i ordered this book from my library, I was hoping for a cheat guide to help me through the game, but i still enjoyed it. I did not click the spoilers switch since this book is information, not a narrative story. It begins with the first Mario games in the early 80s, and came to Nintendo switch. This book did help me through the video games, since it had listed all of the goals for each level, and some fun facts about the bosses, also it includes hints of how to win! Very informative fun book!!!😎

[Dave Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a fan of the Mario Bros. video game series, this was a fantastic and fun read. It covers the first 30 years of the franchise (1985-2015) with excellent breakdowns of the games with many illustrations and fascinating facts. It’s a great nostalgia binge and I would recommend it to anyone who has any interest in this game franchise.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely colorful images and fun descriptions and little facts!

I do wish there were more development notes and sketches for more of the games, but the trivia and descriptions provided are cute. Mostly, though, this includes a lot of screenshots from games, which is fun, but I'd have appreciated more official art and designs too.

Fun stuff, in any case!

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives a brief overview of each game including characters, items, and levels. Does not touch on anything part of the Nintendo Switch Era. Not that this is a bad thing just a heads up for anyone hoping Odyssey is included.

[Jon the · Rating 5 out of 5]

really good book

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read about the super Mario brothers games! Lots of great hints on how to beat the various super Mario brothers games.

[Allison DaRosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's informative, although it would be nice if they included info about secret exits in each level that has them. I rate this four and a half stars.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bwah ha ha ha!-bowser🎮🎮🕹️🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮

[Devon Sailor]

didn't even read it

[Veronica]

This is very good

[Tayler Morrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great encyclopedia. The whole family loves it.

[Peter Wolfley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible guide to the magical world of Mario. It’s been so fun to share my love of everyone’s favorite plumber with my son.

[Otto Bot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome guide

[Paula ϟ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive reference on every mario bros. game since the inception of the character. Detailed and nostalgic.

[Vindria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es como un pequeño museo de Mario en un libro xD

[SassieMolassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous and bright. A great nostalgic reminder of why I’ve been a fan almost my entire life.

[Juan Pablo Olivares Aubert · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a useful encyclopedia! so well made! never expected less from nintendo.

It covers all the super mario games released by the date of the release of the book. Amazing!

[James Kang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty handy 👌

[Federica Malpasso]

In realtà ho letto “Super Mario. Tutto iniziò con Mario” della RBA, ma fino a quando quel titolo non verrà inserito qui su Goodreads, farò affidamento su questo.

4 ⭐️ su 5.