🎮 Play Mario Bros. Online (Atari 2600)

Mario Bros. is Nintendo’s 1983 arcade game, playable here in its Atari 2600 version. You guide Mario — or, in two-player, Luigi — through a single-screen underground sewer, clearing waves of enemies. The core mechanic sets it apart from later Mario titles: you cannot stomp enemies from above. Instead, bump the platform beneath an enemy by jumping into it from below to stun it, then run to it and kick it off the screen before it recovers.

How to Play

Each wave ends when every enemy is cleared. Use the arrow keys to move and Spacebar to jump. To defeat an enemy: position yourself on the platform below it, jump up to hit the floor directly underneath — this flips the enemy over — then quickly reach it and kick it away. Stunned enemies recover if left too long and return moving faster than before.

The POW block at the centre of the screen stuns every enemy on-screen when hit from below. It resets each wave but can only be struck three times per stage — use it wisely.

Player 1: arrow keys to move, Spacebar to jump. Player 2: F/H to move left/right, A to jump. F11 = Select, F12 = Reset, Alt+P = Pause.

Tips

• Sidesteppers (the crabs) require two hits to stun: the first turns them red and speeds them up, the second flips them — kick immediately after the second hit.
• Never leave a stunned enemy to recover; once it rights itself, it moves faster for the rest of that entire wave.
• Save the POW block for moments when several enemies are clustered near a platform edge — one hit can clear multiple at once.