About Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. is the 1985 platform game that started the Super Mario series. Nintendo R&D4 developed it, Shigeru Miyamoto directed and produced it, he and Takashi Tezuka designed it, and Koji Kondo wrote the music. It came out for the Famicom in Japan in September 1985, reached North America on the NES soon after and arrived in PAL regions in 1987.
You play as Mario, or as his brother Luigi when a second player joins, crossing the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Princess Toadstool from King Koopa, later called Bowser. Each level scrolls to the right and ends at a flagpole. Question-mark blocks hide coins and power-ups: the Super Mushroom makes Mario bigger and lets him break bricks, the Fire Flower lets him throw fireballs and the Starman makes him briefly invincible. There are eight worlds of four levels each, and every world ends in a castle where the Bowser on the bridge turns out to be a decoy until the eighth. It has sold more than 58 million copies.
How it runs in your browser
Pressing Play opens supermarioplay.com in a new tab. The site doesn’t say who runs it, and its banner promises “the original Super Mario Bros game,” but what loads isn’t Nintendo’s NES code. The game frame is titled Full Screen Mario, the name of a 2013 fan remake known for its level editor. It is written in JavaScript and draws on an HTML canvas, so there is no emulator, no ROM file and nothing to install, and you don’t need an account.
Because the levels are rebuilt in code, the remake has extras the cartridge never had. Under the game sit Map Select, where you can jump to any of the 32 levels, a random map generator, a level editor, options, a sound switch, full screen and a key mapping menu.
On 3 November 2026, in desktop Chrome, the game loaded straight into World 1-1 with the Super Mario Bros. logo over the level and ten lives on the counter. We didn’t play past that point.
Controls and devices
The site lists the keys. The arrow keys or W, A, S and D move Mario, with Up or W to jump, and holding the jump longer sends him higher. Shift or Ctrl fires and sprints, P pauses and M mutes. The game’s code also maps a gamepad, but the site doesn’t mention controllers, so treat one as untested.
Phones get a separate mobile version of the game with on-screen buttons. We haven’t tried it on a phone or a Chromebook.
Who it’s for
It suits anyone who searched for Super Mario Bros. online and wants a quick run through World 1-1 without setting up an emulator, and players who like to skip ahead with the level picker. If you want to compare it with Nintendo’s 3D era, Super Mario Galaxy also runs in a browser, and Super Mario Kart ZX is a fan remake of the first Mario Kart.
Is Super Mario Bros. Free, Safe and Official?
Can I play Super Mario Bros. online for free?
Yes. supermarioplay.com runs a fan-made remake of the game free in a browser tab, with nothing to download and no account. It isn’t made or endorsed by Nintendo.
Is this the original NES game or an emulator?
Neither. The site calls it the original, but the game is Full Screen Mario, a JavaScript remake that rebuilds the levels in its own code instead of running the NES cartridge. That’s why it can also make random maps and has a level editor.
Does Super Mario Bros. work on a phone?
The site sends phones a separate mobile version with on-screen buttons. We haven’t tested it on a phone, so a computer with a keyboard is the safer choice.
