Source · Primary · interview

Iwata Asks: Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary, Vol. 5, p. 1 (Using the D-pad to Jump)

Iwata, Satoru and Nintendo Co., Ltd. 2010. “Iwata Asks: Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary, Vol. 5, p. 1 (Using the D-pad to Jump).” Iwata Asks, Wii, Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary, Vol. 5, p. 1. Nintendo Co., Ltd.

Cite as
Iwata Asks, SMB 25th, Vol. 5 p. 1
Original
https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mario25th/4/0/
sha256
baf076186abbb8165b2c8b6f6605d912d435e55534aae72666400bd35d25c2bc
Archived
https://web.archive.org/web/20240724010838id_/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mario25th/4/0/
Accessed
2026-10-26
Licence
© Nintendo; quoted briefly for research and criticism
Credit
Nintendo Co., Ltd.; interview by Satoru Iwata with Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Toshihiko Nakago and Koji Kondo.
Notes
Opens the volume of interviews with the four original developers; the page's footnote dates Super Mario Bros. to September 1985 and discusses the February 1985 specification and the SRD prototype.

Cited on

Claims (4)

Nintendo dates the release of Super Mario Bros. to 13 September 1985.Vol. 5, p. 1, note 1Interview
Nintendo names the game's original developers as Shigeru Miyamoto, who wrote its specifications; Takashi Tezuka, a designer in his first year at Nintendo when the first plans were drawn up; Toshihiko Nakago, president of SRD, the contractor whose programmers built it; and Koji Kondo, whom Miyamoto appointed to sound.Vol. 5, p. 1, openingVol. 5, p. 1Vol. 5, p. 1, note 4Vol. 5, p. 1Interview
Around December 1984 Miyamoto had SRD's programmers make a test of a Mario about twice the size of the one in Mario Bros., who jumped when a button was pressed. Tezuka recalls that at first only a square moved, and Nakago that the sky was still black in the test and turned blue after the background could scroll sideways.Vol. 5, p. 1, Using the D-pad to JumpVol. 5, p. 1, Using the D-pad to JumpVol. 5, p. 1, Using the D-pad to JumpVol. 5, p. 1, Using the D-pad to JumpInterview
Miyamoto's specifications are dated 20 February 1985, and the game was on ROM about six months later. They have Up on the d-pad jump and A attack with items, and Mario flying a rocket; a later drawing by Tezuka put him on a cloud, which wasn't used.Vol. 5, p. 1, Using the D-pad to JumpVol. 5, p. 1, Using the D-pad to JumpVol. 5, p. 1, Using the D-pad to JumpVol. 5, p. 1, Using the D-pad to JumpVol. 5, p. 1, Using the D-pad to JumpInterview