ChronoFive
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Setting the scene
Nintendo's 1983 Famicom success in Japan could not yet reverse America's video-game crash tied to Atari's E.T. surplus; designer Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka needed a polished platformer to bundle with the redesigned Nintendo Entertainment System.
What happened
Super Mario Bros. was released in Japan on September 13, 1985, introducing scrolling worlds, power-ups, and Mario's sprint from Brooklyn plumber to Mushroom Kingdom hero against Bowser.
Why it still matters
The game revived the video-game industry after the 1983 crash when it reached American living rooms in 1985 bundles; Mario's jump physics and Koji Kondo's theme became lingua franca of interactive entertainment across forty years of sequels.
Background
The game revived the video-game industry after the 1983 crash.