Super Mario was first released on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and it revolutionized the gaming industry due to its simplistic level design and mechanics. The NES was released in 1983 and the game is still talked about today. Due to the console being so old this game was very limited in what it could be and because of this the art style is made up by 8 bit sprites. However this style today is very iconic and memorable even to later generations such as myself. The games main mechanic is running and jumping which could be done by the player quite easily due to the simplicity of the Nintendo controller.
As the controller did not have many buttons the mechanics of the games did primarily come down to running as jumping as this was the play players would navigate through the level. Due to the character within the game being so iconic he is still around today. Some of these games are just sequels to this original game but it has also spawned many different spin offs that have completely different mechanics such as Mario Kart & Mario Galaxy. Super Mario kart used to be played using the buttons on a controller however this has evolved into motion controls such as in the Wii and Wii U. All of these different titles were created because of the success of the simple 2D plat-former.
As the consoles have developed the games have seemed to improve in some aspects, as the newer super Mario bros games can be played on Co-op with friends. Due to this series being so old I Believe that the target audience could potentially be any and all ages for this franchise due to when they release new games there may be older players who are still fans of the game but the developers may also aim towards bringing in younger audiences to play the game to further increase the amount of players.
joshforrestnextgen 