title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: Parrado wore three pairs of jeans and three sweaters over a polo shirt. He wore four pairs of socks wrapped in a plastic shopping bag. They had no technical gear, no map or compass, and no climbing experience. Instead of climbing the ridge to the west which was somewhat lower than the peak, they climbed straight up the steep mountain. They thought they would reach the peak in one day. Parrado took the lead and the other two often had to remind him to slow down, although the thin oxygen-poor air made it difficult for all of them. During part of the climb, they sank up to their hips in the snow, which had been softened by the summer sun.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: It was still bitterly cold, but the sleeping bag allowed them to live through the nights. In the documentary film "", Canessa described how on the first night during the ascent, they had difficulty finding a place to put down the sleeping bag. A storm blew fiercely, and they finally found a spot on a ledge of rock on the edge of an abyss. Canessa said it was the worst night of his life. The climb was very slow; the survivors at the fuselage watched them climb for three days. On the second day, Canessa thought he saw a road to the east, and tried to persuade Parrado to head in that direction. Parrado disagreed and they argued without reaching a decision.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: On the third morning of the trek, Canessa stayed at their camp. Vizintín and Parrado reached the base of a near-vertical wall more than one hundred meters (300 feet) tall encased in snow and ice. Parrado was determined to hike out or die trying. He used a stick from his pack to carve steps in the wall. He gained the summit of the high peak before Vizintín. Thinking he would see the green valleys of Chile to the west, he was stunned to see a vast array of mountain peaks in every direction. They had climbed a mountain on the border of Argentina and Chile, meaning the trekkers were still tens of kilometres from the green valleys of Chile. Vizintín and Parrado rejoined Canessa where they had slept the night before. At sunset, while sipping cognac that they had found in the tail section, Parrado said, "Roberto, can you imagine how beautiful this would be if we were not dead men?" The next morning, the three men could see that the hike was going to take much longer than they had originally planned. They were running out of food, so Vizintín agreed to return to the crash site. The return was entirely downhill, and using an aircraft seat as a makeshift sleigh, he returned to the crash site in one hour.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: Parrado and Canessa took three hours to climb to the summit. When Canessa reached the top and saw nothing but snow-capped mountains for kilometres around them, his first thought was, "We're dead." Parrado saw two smaller peaks on the western horizon that were not covered in snow. A valley at the base of the mountain they stood on wound its way towards the peaks. Parrado was sure this was their way out of the mountains. He refused to give up hope. Canessa agreed to go west. Only much later did Canessa learn that the road he saw to the east would have gotten them to rescue sooner and easier.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: On the summit, Parrado told Canessa, "We may be walking to our deaths, but I would rather walk to meet my death than wait for it to come to me." Canessa agreed. "You and I are friends, Nando. We have been through so much. Now let's go die together." They followed the ridge towards the valley and descended a considerable distance.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: Parrado and Canessa hiked for several more days. First, they were able to reach the narrow valley that Parrado had seen on the top of the mountain, where they found the source of Río San José, leading to Río Portillo which meets Río Azufre at Maitenes. They followed the river and reached the snowline.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: Gradually, there appeared more and more signs of human presence; first some evidence of camping, and finally on the ninth day, some cows. When they rested that evening they were very tired, and Canessa seemed unable to proceed further.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: As the men gathered wood to build a fire, one of them saw three men on horseback at the other side of the river. Parrado called them, but the noise of the river made it impossible to communicate. One of the men across the river saw Parrado and Canessa and shouted back, "Tomorrow!" The next day, the man returned. He scribbled a note, attached it and a pencil to a rock with some string, and threw the message across the river. Parrado replied:


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: Sergio Catalán, a Chilean "arriero" (muleteer), read the note and gave them a sign that he understood. Catalán talked with the other two men, and one of them remembered that several weeks before Carlos Páez's father had asked them if they had heard about the Andes plane crash. The "arrieros" could not imagine that anyone could still be alive. Catalán threw bread to the men across the river. He then rode on horseback westward for 10 hours to bring help.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: During the trip he saw another "arriero" on the south side of Río Azufre, and asked him to reach the men and to bring them to Los Maitenes. Then, he followed the river to its junction with Río Tinguiririca, where after crossing a bridge, he was able to reach the narrow route that linked the village of Puente Negro to the holiday resort of Termas del Flaco. Here, he was able to stop a truck and reach the police station at Puente Negro.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: They relayed news of the survivors to the Army command in San Fernando, Chile, who contacted the Army in Santiago. Meanwhile, Parrado and Canessa were brought on horseback to Los Maitenes de Curicó, where they were fed and allowed to rest. They had hiked about over 10 days. Since the plane crash, Canessa had lost almost half of his body weight, about .


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: When the news broke out that people had survived the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, the story of the passengers' survival after 72 days drew international attention. A flood of international reporters began walking several kilometers along the route from Puente Negro to Termas del Flaco. The reporters clamored to interview Parrado and Canessa about the crash and their survival ordeal.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: The Chilean Air Force provided three Bell UH-1 helicopters to assist with the rescue. They flew in heavy cloud cover under instrument conditions to Los Maitenes de Curicó where the army interviewed Parrado and Canessa. When the fog lifted at about noon, Parrado volunteered to lead the helicopters to the crash site. He had brought the pilot's flight chart and guided the helicopters up the mountain to the location of the remaining survivors. One helicopter remained behind in reserve. The pilots were astounded at the difficult terrain the two men had crossed to reach help.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: On the afternoon of 22 December 1972, the two helicopters carrying search and rescue personnel reached the survivors. The steep terrain only permitted the pilot to touch down with a single skid. Due to the altitude and weight limits, the two helicopters were able to take only half of the survivors. Four members of the search and rescue team volunteered to stay with the seven survivors remaining on the mountain.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: The survivors slept a final night in the fuselage with the search and rescue party. The second flight of helicopters arrived the following morning at daybreak. They carried the remaining survivors to hospitals in Santiago for evaluation. They were treated for a variety of conditions, including altitude sickness, dehydration, frostbite, broken bones, scurvy, and malnutrition.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: Under normal circumstances, the search and rescue team would have brought back the remains of the dead for burial. However, given the circumstances, including that the bodies were in Argentina, the Chilean rescuers left the bodies at the site until authorities could make the necessary decisions. The Chilean military photographed the bodies and mapped the area.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: Upon being rescued, the survivors initially explained that they had eaten some cheese and other food they had carried with them, and then local plants and herbs. They planned to discuss the details of how they survived, including their cannibalism, in private with their families. Rumors circulated in Montevideo immediately after the rescue that the survivors had killed some of the others for food. On 23 December, news reports of cannibalism were published worldwide, except in Uruguay. On 26 December, two pictures taken by members of Cuerpo de Socorro Andino (Andean Relief Corps) of a half-eaten human leg were printed on the front page of two Chilean newspapers, "El Mercurio" and "La Tercera de la Hora", who reported that all survivors resorted to cannibalism.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: The survivors held a press conference on 28 December at Stella Maris College in Montevideo, where they recounted the events of the past 72 days. Alfredo Delgado spoke for the survivors. He compared their actions to that of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, during which he gave his disciples the Eucharist. The survivors received public backlash initially, but after they explained the pact the survivors had made to sacrifice their flesh if they died to help the others survive, the outcry diminished and the families were more understanding. A Catholic priest heard the survivors' confessions and told them that they were not damned for cannibalism (eating human flesh), given the "in extremis" nature of their survival situation. The news of their survival and the actions required to live drew world-wide attention and grew into a media circus.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: The authorities and the victims' families decided to bury the remains near the site of the crash in a common grave. 13 bodies were untouched, while another 15 were mostly skeletal. Twelve men and a Chilean priest were transported to the crash site on 18 January 1973. Family members were not allowed to attend. They dug a grave about from the aircraft fuselage at a site they thought was safe from avalanche. Close to the grave, they built a simple stone altar and staked an orange iron cross on it. They placed a plaque on the pile of rocks inscribed:


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: They doused the remains of the fuselage in gasoline and set it alight. Eduardo Strauch later mentioned in this book "Out of the Silence" that the bottom half of the fuselage which was covered in snow was still untouched by the fire in his first 1995 visit. The father of one victim had received word from a survivor that his son wished to be buried at home. Unable to obtain official permission to retrieve his son's body, Ricardo Echavarren mounted an expedition on his own with hired guides. He had prearranged with the priest who had buried his son to mark the bag containing his son's remains. Upon his return to the abandoned Hotel Termas with his son's remains, he was arrested for grave robbing. A federal judge and the local mayor intervened to obtain his release, and Echavarren later obtained legal permission to bury his son.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: The survivors' courage under extremely adverse conditions has been described as "a beacon of hope to [their] generation, showing what can be accomplished with persistence and determination in the presence of unsurpassable odds, and set our minds to attain a common aim".


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: The story of the crash is described in the Andes Museum 1972, dedicated in 2013 in Ciudad Vieja, Montevideo.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: In 1973, mothers of 11 young people who died in the plane crash founded the Our Children Library in Uruguay to promote reading and teaching. Family members of victims of the flight founded Fundación Viven in 2006 to preserve the legacy of the flight, memory of the victims, and support organ donation.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: The crash location attracts hundreds of people from all over the world who pay tribute to the victims and survivors and learn about how they survived. The trip to the location takes three days. Four-wheel drive vehicles transport travelers from the village of El Sosneado to Puesto Araya, near the abandoned Hotel Termas del Sosneado. From there, travelers ride on horseback, though some choose to walk. They stop overnight on the mountain at El Barroso camp. On the third day, they reach Las Lágrimas glacier, where the remains of the accident are found.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: In March 2006, the families of those aboard the flight had a black obelisk monument built at the crash site memorializing those who lived and died.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: In 2007, Chilean "arriero" Sergio Catalán was interviewed on Chilean television during which he revealed that he had leg (hip) arthrosis. Canessa, who had become a doctor, and other survivors raised funds to pay for a hip replacement operation. Sergio Catalán died on 11 February 2020 at the age of 91.


title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

text: Over the years, survivors have published books, been portrayed in films and television productions, and produced an official website about the event.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Players control Mario, or his brother Luigi in the multiplayer mode, as they traverse the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Princess Toadstool from King Koopa (later named Bowser). They traverse side-scrolling stages while avoiding hazards such as enemies and pits with the aid of power-ups such as the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Starman.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The game was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka as "a grand culmination" of the Famicom team's three years of game mechanics and programming, drawing from their experiences working on "Devil World" and the side-scrollers "Excitebike" and "Kung Fu" to advance their previous work on platforming "athletic games" such as "Donkey Kong" and "Mario Bros." The design of the first level, World 1-1, serves as a tutorial for platform gameplay.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Super Mario Bros." is frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time, with praise for its precise controls. It is one of the best-selling games of all time, with more than copies sold worldwide. It is credited alongside the NES as one of the key factors in reviving the video game industry after the 1983 crash, and helped popularize the side-scrolling platform game genre. Koji Kondo's soundtrack is one of the earliest and most popular in video games, making music a centerpiece of game design. The game began a multimedia franchise including a long-running game series, an animated television series, an , a live-action feature film and another upcoming animated feature film. It has been re-released on most Nintendo systems. Mario and "Super Mario Bros." have become prominent in popular culture.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: In "Super Mario Bros.", the player controls Mario, the protagonist of the series. Mario's brother, Luigi, is controlled by the second player in the game's multiplayer mode and assumes the same plot role and functionality as Mario. The objective is to race through the Mushroom Kingdom, survive the main antagonist Bowser's forces, and save Princess Toadstool. It is a side-scrolling platform game where the player moves to the right to reach the flagpole at the end of each level.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The game world includes coins for Mario to collect and special bricks marked with a question mark ("?"), which when hit from below by Mario may reveal more coins or a special item. Other "secret", often invisible, bricks may contain more coins or rare items. If the player gains a Super Mushroom, Mario grows to double his size and gains the ability to break bricks above him. If Mario gets hit in this mode, then instead of dying he turns back to regular Mario. Players start with a certain number of lives and may gain additional lives by picking up green spotted orange 1-up mushrooms hidden in bricks, or by collecting 100 coins, defeating several enemies in a row with a Koopa shell, or bouncing on enemies successively without touching the ground. Mario loses a life if he takes damage while small, falls in a bottomless pit, or runs out of time. The game ends when the player runs out of lives, although a button input can be used on the game over screen to continue from the first level of the world in which the player died.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Mario's primary attack is jumping on top of enemies, though many enemies have differing responses to this. For example, a Goomba will flatten and be defeated, while a Koopa Troopa will temporarily retract into its shell, allowing Mario to use it as a projectile. These shells may be deflected off a wall to destroy other enemies, though they can also bounce back against Mario, which will hurt or kill him. Other enemies, such as underwater foes and enemies with spiked tops, cannot be jumped on and damage the player instead. Mario can also defeat enemies above him by jumping to hit the brick that the enemy is standing on. Mario may also acquire the Fire Flower from certain "?" blocks that when picked up changes the color of Super Mario's outfit and allows him to throw fireballs. A less common item is the Starman, which often appears when Mario hits certain concealed or otherwise invisible blocks. This item makes Mario temporarily invincible to most hazards and capable of defeating enemies on contact.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The game consists of eight worlds with four sub-levels called "stages" in each world." The final stage of each world takes place in a castle where Bowser is fought above a suspension bridge; the first seven of these Bowsers are "false Bowsers" who are actually minions disguised as him, whilst the real Bowser is found in the 8th world. Bowser and his decoys are defeated by jumping over them and reaching the axe on the end of the bridge, although they can also be defeated using a Fire Flower. The game also includes some stages taking place underwater, which contain different enemies. In addition, there are bonuses and secret areas in the game. Most secret areas contain more coins for Mario to collect, but some contain "warp pipes" that allow Mario to advance directly to later worlds in the game without completing the intervening stages. After completing the game once, the player is rewarded with the ability to replay the game with changes made to increase its difficulty, such as all Goombas in the game being replaced with Buzzy Beetles, enemies similar to Koopa Troopas who cannot be defeated using the Fire Flower.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: In the fantasy setting of the Mushroom Kingdom, a tribe of turtle-like creatures known as the Koopa Troopas invade the kingdom and uses the magic of its king, Bowser, to turn its inhabitants, known as the Mushroom People, into inanimate objects such as bricks, stones and horsehair plants. Bowser and his army also kidnap Princess Toadstool, the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom and the only one with the ability to reverse Bowser's spell. After hearing the news, Mario sets out to save the princess and free the kingdom from Bowser. After traveling through various parts of the kingdom and fighting Bowser's forces along the way, Mario reaches Bowser's final stronghold, where he is able to defeat him by striking an axe on the bridge suspended over lava he is standing on, breaking the bridge, defeating Bowser, freeing the princess and saving the Mushroom Kingdom.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Super Mario Bros." was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka of the Nintendo Creative Department, and largely programmed by Toshihiko Nakago of SRD Company, Ltd. The original "Mario Bros.," released in 1983, is an arcade platformer that takes place on a single screen with a black background. Miyamoto used the term "athletic games" to refer to what would later be known as platform games. For "Super Mario Bros.", Miyamoto wanted to create a more colorful "athletic game" with a scrolling screen and larger characters.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Development was a culmination of their technical knowledge from working on the 1984 titles "Devil World", "Excitebike" and "Kung Fu" along with their desire to further advance the platforming "athletic game" genre they had created with their earlier games. The side-scrolling gameplay of racing game "Excitebike" and beat 'em up game "Kung-Fu Master", the latter ported by Miyamoto's team to the NES as "Kung Fu", were key steps towards Miyamoto's vision of an expansive side-scrolling platformer; in turn, "Kung-Fu Master" was an adaptation of the Jackie Chan film "Wheels on Meals" (1984). While working on "Excitebike" and "Kung Fu", he came up with the concept of a platformer that would have the player "strategize while scrolling sideways" over long distances, have aboveground and underground levels, and have colorful backgrounds rather than black backgrounds. "Super Mario Bros." used the fast scrolling game engine Miyamoto's team had originally developed for "Excitebike", which allowed Mario to smoothly accelerate from a walk to a run, rather than move at a constant speed like in earlier platformers.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Miyamoto also wanted to create a game that would be the "final exclamation point" for the ROM cartridge format before the forthcoming Famicom Disk System was released. "Super Mario Bros." was made in tandem with "The Legend of Zelda", another Famicom game directed and designed by Miyamoto and released in Japan five months later, and the games shared some elements; for instance, the fire bars that appear in the "Mario" castle levels began as objects in "Zelda".


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: To have a new game available for the end-of-year shopping season, Nintendo aimed for simplicity. The team started with a prototype in which the player moved a 16x32-pixel square around a single screen. Tezuka suggested using Mario after seeing the sales figures of "Mario Bros". The team chose the name "Super Mario Bros." after implementing the Super Mushroom power-up. The game initially used a concept in which Mario or Luigi could fly a rocket ship while firing at enemies, but this went unused; the final game's sky-based bonus stages are a remnant of this concept. The team found it illogical that Mario was hurt by stomping on turtles in "Mario Bros." so decided that future "Mario" games would "definitely have it so that you could jump on turtles all you want". Miyamoto initially imagined Bowser as an ox, inspired by the Ox King from the Toei Animation film "Alakazam the Great" (1960). However, Tezuka decided he looked more like a turtle, and they collaborated to create his final design.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The development of "Super Mario Bros." is an early example of specialization in the video game industry, made possible and necessary by the Famicom's arcade-capable hardware. Miyamoto designed the game world and led a team of seven programmers and artists who turned his ideas into code, sprites, music, and sound effects. Developers of previous hit games joined the team, importing many special programming techniques, features, and design refinements such as these: ""Donkey Kong"s slopes, lifts, conveyor belts, and ladders; "Donkey Kong Jr."s ropes, logs and springs; and "Mario Bros."s enemy attacks, enemy movement, frozen platforms and POW Blocks".


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The team based the level design around a small Mario, intending to later make his size bigger in the final version, but decided it would be fun to let Mario change his size via a power-up. The early level design was focused on teaching players that mushrooms were distinct from Goombas and would be beneficial to them, so in the first level of the game, the first mushroom is difficult to avoid if it is released. The use of mushrooms to change size was influenced by Japanese folktales in which people wander into forests and eat magical mushrooms; this also resulted in the game world being named the "Mushroom Kingdom". The team had Mario begin levels as small Mario to make obtaining a mushroom more gratifying. Miyamoto explained: "When we made the prototype of the big Mario, we did not feel he was big enough. So, we came up with the idea of showing the smaller Mario first, who could be made bigger later in the game; then players could see and feel that he was bigger." Miyamoto denied rumors that developers implemented a small Mario after a bug caused only his upper half to appear. Miyamoto said the shell-kicking 1-up trick was carefully tested, but "people turned out to be a lot better at pulling the trick off for ages on end than we thought". Other features, such as blocks containing multiple coins, were inspired by programming glitches.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Super Mario Bros." was developed for a cartridge with 256 kilobits of program code and data and 64 kilobits of sprite and background graphics. Due to this storage limitation, the designers happily considered their aggressive search for space-saving opportunities to be akin to their own fun television game show competition. For instance, clouds and bushes in the game's backgrounds use that same sprite recolored, and background tiles are generated via an automatic algorithm. Sound effects were also recycled; the sound when Mario is damaged is the same as when he enters a pipe, and Mario jumping on an enemy is the same sound as each stroke when swimming. After completing the game, the development team decided that they should introduce players with a simple, easy-to-defeat enemy rather than beginning the game with Koopa Troopas. By this point, the project had nearly run out of memory, so the designers created the Goombas by making a single static image and flipping it back and forth to save space while creating a convincing character animation. After the addition of the game's music, around 20 bytes of open cartridge space remained. Miyamoto used this remaining space to add a sprite of a crown into the game, which would appear in the player's life counter as a reward for obtaining at least 10 lives.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: During the third generation of video game consoles, tutorials on gameplay were rare. Instead, players learned how a video game worked through being guided by level design. The opening section of "Super Mario Bros." was therefore specifically designed in such a way that players would be forced to explore the mechanics of the game in order to be able to advance. Rather than confront the newly oriented player with obstacles, the first level of "Super Mario Bros." lays down the variety of in-game hazards by means of repetition, iteration, and escalation. In an interview with "Eurogamer", Miyamoto explained that he created "World 1-1" to contain everything a player needs to "gradually and naturally understand what they're doing", so that they can quickly understand how the game works. According to Miyamoto, once the player understands the mechanics of the game, the player will be able to play more freely and it becomes "their game."


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Nintendo sound designer Koji Kondo wrote the six-track score for "Super Mario Bros.", as well as all of the game's sound effects. At the time he was composing, video game music was mostly meant to attract attention, not necessarily to enhance or conform to the game. Kondo's work on "Super Mario Bros." was one of the major forces in the shift towards music becoming an integral and participatory part of video games. Kondo had two specific goals for his music: "to convey an unambiguous sonic image of the game world", and "to enhance the emotional and physical experience of the gamer".


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The music of "Super Mario Bros." is coordinated with the onscreen animations of the various sprites, which was one way which Kondo created a sense of greater immersion. Kondo wasn't the first to do this in a video game; for instance, "Space Invaders" features a simple song that gets faster and faster as the aliens speed up, eliciting a sense of stress and impending doom which matches the increasing challenge of the game. Unlike most games at the time, for which composers were hired later in the process to add music to a nearly finished game, Kondo was a part of the development team almost from the beginning of production, working in tandem with the rest of the team to create the game's soundtrack. Kondo's compositions were largely influenced by the game's gameplay, intending for it to "heighten the feeling" of how the game controls.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Before composition began, a prototype of the game was presented to Kondo so that he could get an idea of Mario's general environment and revolve the music around it. Kondo wrote the score with the help of a small piano to create appropriate melodies to fit the game's environments. After the development of the game showed progress, Kondo began to feel that his music did not quite fit the pace of the game, so he changed it a bit by increasing the songs' tempos. The music was further adjusted based on the expectations of Nintendo's playtesters.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Kondo would later compose new music for new "Super Mario Bros." ice, desert, and nighttime level themes that appeared in the 2019 level-creator game "Super Mario Maker 2".


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Super Mario Bros." was first released in Japan on Friday the 13th of September 1985, for the Family Computer (Famicom). It was released later that year in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Its exact North American release date is debated; though most sources report it was released in October 1985 as a launch game, when the NES had a limited release in the US, several sources suggest it was released between November 1985 and early 1986.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The arcade port for the Nintendo Vs. System debuted in London in January 1986, and was released in other countries in February 1986. It was the first version of "Super Mario Bros." to receive a wide international release, and many outside of Japan were introduced to the game through the arcade version. The NES version received a wide North American release later that year, followed by Europe on May 15, 1987.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: In 1988, "Super Mario Bros." was re-released along with the shooting range game "Duck Hunt" as part of a single ROM cartridge, which came packaged with the NES as a pack-in game, as part of the console's "Action Set". This version of the game is extremely common in North America, with millions of copies of it having been manufactured and sold in the United States. In 1990, another cartridge, touting the two games as well as "World Class Track Meet", was also released in North America as part of the NES "Power Set". It was released on May 15, 1987, in Europe, and during that year in Australia as well. In 1988, the game was re-released in Europe in a cartridge containing the game plus "Tetris" and "Nintendo World Cup". The compilation was sold alone or bundled with the revised version of the NES.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Super Mario Bros." has been ported and re-released several times. February 21, 1986 was the release of a conversion to Famicom Disk System, Nintendo's proprietary floppy disk drive.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Vs. Super Mario Bros." is a 1986 arcade adaptation of "Super Mario Bros" (1985), released on the Nintendo VS. System and the Nintendo Vs. Unisystem (and its variant, Nintendo Vs. Dualsystem). Existing levels were made much more difficult, with narrower platforms, more dangerous enemies, fewer hidden power-ups, and 200 coins needed for an extra life instead of 100. Several of the new levels went on to be featured in the Japanese sequel, ""


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The arcade game was not officially released in Japan. Illegal coin-op versions made from a Famicom console placed inside an arcade cabinet became available in Japanese arcades by January 1986. Nintendo threatened legal action or prosecution (such as a fine or threatening a maximum sentence of up to three years in prison) against Japanese arcade operators with coin-op versions of the game. Japanese arcade operators were still able to access illegal coin-op versions through 1987.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Outside of Japan, "Vs. Super Mario Bros." was officially released for arcades in overseas markets during early 1986, becoming the first version of the game to get a wide international release. The arcade game debuted at the 1986 Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) show in London, held in January 1986; this was the first appearance of "Super Mario Bros." in Europe. The arcade game then received a wide international release for overseas markets outside of Japan in February 1986, initially in the form of a ROM software conversion kit. In North America, the game was featured in an official contest during the ACME convention in Chicago, held in March 1986, becoming a popular attraction at the show. It soon drew a loyal following across North American arcades, and appeared as the eighth top-grossing arcade video game on the US "Play Meter" arcade charts in May 1986. It went on to sell 20,000 arcade units within a few months, becoming the best-selling Nintendo Vs. System release, with each unit consistently earning an average of more than $200 per week. It became the thirteenth highest-grossing arcade game of 1986 in the United States according to the annual "RePlay" arcade chart, which was topped by Sega's "Hang-On". In Europe, it became a very popular arcade game in 1986. The arcade version introduced "Super Mario Bros." to many players who did not own a Nintendo Entertainment System.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The game was re-released in emulation for the Nintendo Switch via the Arcade Archives collection on December 22, 2017. Playing that release, Chris Kohler of Kotaku called the game's intense difficulty "The meanest trick Nintendo ever played".


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: A remake of the game titled "Super Mario Bros. Special" developed by Hudson Soft was released in Japan in 1986 for the NEC PC-8801 and Sharp X1 personal computers. Though featuring similar controls and graphics, the game lacks screen scrolling due to hardware limitations, has different level designs and new items, and new enemies based on "Mario Bros." and "Donkey Kong".


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: A handheld LCD game under the same name was released as a part of Nintendo's Game & Watch line of LCD games.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Several modified variants of the game have been released, many of which are ROM hacks of the original NES game.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: On November 11, 2010, a special red variant of the Wii containing a pre-downloaded version of the game was released in Japan to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Several graphical changes include "?" blocks with the number "25" on them.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Super Luigi Bros. is a redux of the game, featured within "NES Remix 2", based on a mission in "NES Remix". It stars only Luigi in a mirrored version of World 1–2, scrolling from left to right, with a higher jump and a slide similar to the Japanese "Super Mario Bros. 2".


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Super Mario Bros. 35 was a 35-player battle royale version of the game released in 2020 that was available to play for a limited time for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Super Mario All-Stars, a compilation game released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, features a remade version of "Super Mario Bros." alongside remakes of several of the other "Super Mario" games released for the NES. Its version of "Super Mario Bros." has improved graphics and sound to match the SNES's 16-bit capabilities, and minor alterations to some of the game's collision mechanics. The player can save progress, and multiplayer mode swaps players after every level in addition to whenever a player dies. "Super Mario All-Stars" was also re-released for the Wii as a repackaged 25th anniversary version, featuring the same version of the game, along with a 32-page art book and a compilation CD of music from various "Super Mario" games.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: sometimes referred to as "Super Mario Bros. DX", was released on the Game Boy Color on May 10, 1999 in North America and Europe, and in 2000 in Japan exclusively to the Nintendo Power retail service. Based on the original "Super Mario Bros.", it features an overworld level map, simultaneous multiplayer, a Challenge mode in which the player finds hidden objects and achieves a certain score in addition to normally completing the level, and eight additional worlds based on the main worlds of the Japanese 1986 game "". It is compatible with the Game Boy Printer. Compared to "Super Mario Bros.", the game features a few minor visual upgrades such as water and lava now being animated rather than static, and a smaller screen due to the lower resolution of the Game Boy Color.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: It was released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2014. In Japan, users who registered a Nintendo Network ID on their Nintendo 3DS system between December 10, 2013, and January 10, 2014, received a free download code, with emails with download codes being sent out starting January 27, 2014. In Europe and Australia, users who registered a Nintendo Network ID on a Nintendo 3DS system between December 10, 2013, and January 31, 2014, received a free download code, with emails with download codes being sent out from February 13 to 28, 2014. It was released for purchase on the Nintendo 3DS eShop in Europe on February 27, 2014, in Australia on February 28, 2014, and in North America on December 25, 2014.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: GamesRadar+ placed the game at number 15 in its list of the greatest Game Boy games of all time, explaining that Nintendo could have simply ported the game but instead they expanded on it. The staff opined that the only downside was the camera in the game. Jeremy Parish of USGamer praised the game, comparing it more favorably to "Super Mario All-Stars", which he said basically just improved the graphics from 8-bit to 16-bit. Instead he praised "Super Mario Bros. DX" for adding "considerably more" to the original games like the secret unlockable bonus, the addition of "The Lost Levels", new objectives, modes, and multiplayer mechanics, along with the ability to play with Luigi's reduced friction and higher jumping physics. He described it as "a comprehensive overhaul" of the whole "Super Mario Bros." video game. Additionally, Kevin Webb of "Game Informer" named the game as one of greatest Game Boy games of all time. The "Esquire" staff ranked it as the 9th greatest Game Boy game.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: As one of Nintendo's most popular games, "Super Mario Bros." has been re-released and remade numerous times, with every single major Nintendo console up to the Nintendo Switch sporting its own port or remake of the game with the exception of the Nintendo 64.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: In early 2003, "Super Mario Bros." was ported to the Game Boy Advance as a part of the Famicom Minis collection in Japan and as a part of the NES Series in the US. This version of the game is emulated, identical to the original game. According to the NPD Group (which tracks game sales in North America), this became the best-selling Game Boy Advance game from June 2004 to December 2004. In 2005, Nintendo re-released this port of the game as a part of the game's 20th Anniversary; this special edition of the game went on to sell approximately 876,000 units.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: It is one of the 19 unlockable NES games included in the GameCube game "Animal Crossing", for which it was distributed by Famitsu as a prize for owners of Dobutsu no Mori+; outside of this, the game can't be unlocked through in-game conventional means, and the only way to access it is through the use of a third-party cheat device such as a GameShark or Action Replay.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Super Mario Bros." is one of the 30 games included with the NES Classic Edition, a dedicated video game console. This version of the game allows for the use of suspension points to save in-game progress, and can be played in various different display styles, including its original 4:3 resolution, a "pixel-perfect" resolution and a style emulating the look of a cathode ray tube television.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: In November 2020 a new version of the Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. was released, which features the original NES version of the game with some modifications. It starts with the A button, adds the "unlocking" of hard mode after completing the normal game (which was originally lost when the NES is turned off), and adds an "infinite Mario" mode which starts the game with unlimited lives if the A button is held at the title screen.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Super Mario Bros." has been re-released for several of Nintendo's game systems as a part of their Virtual Console line of classic video game releases. It was first released for the Wii on December 2, 2006, in Japan, December 25, 2006 in North America and January 5, 2007, in PAL regions. The release is a complete emulation of the original game, meaning that nothing is changed from its original NES release. This version of the game is also one of the "trial games" made available in the "Masterpieces" section in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", where it can be demoed for a limited amount of time.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: A Nintendo 3DS release of the game was initially distributed exclusively to members of Nintendo's 3DS Ambassador Program in September 2011. A general release of the game later came through in Japan on January 5, 2012, in North America on February 16, 2012, and in Europe on March 1, 2012. The game was released for the Wii U's Virtual Console in Japan on June 5, 2013, followed by Europe on September 12, 2013, and North America on September 19, 2013.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Super Mario Bros." was immensely successful, both commercially and critically. It helped popularize the side-scrolling platform game genre, and served as a killer app for the NES. Upon release in Japan, copies were sold during its September 1985 release month. Within four months, about copies were sold in Japan, grossing more than , equivalent to at the time (which is inflation-adjusted to $ in ). The success of "Super Mario Bros." helped increase Famicom sales to units by January 1986. By 1987, copies of the game had been sold for the Famicom. Outside of Japan, many were introduced to the game through the arcade version, which became the best-selling Nintendo Vs. System release with 20,000 arcade units sold within a few months in early 1986. In the United States, more than copies of the NES version were sold in 1986, more than by 1988, by mid-1989, more than by early 1990, nearly by April 1990, and more than by 1991. More than copies of the original NES version had been sold worldwide by 1994, and by April 2000, for which it was awarded the Guinness World Record for best-selling video game of all time.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Altogether, excluding ports and re-releases, 40.24 million copies of the original NES release have been sold worldwide, with 29 million copies sold in North America. Including ports and re-releases, more than units had been sold worldwide. The game was the all-time best-selling game for more than 20 years until its lifetime sales were ultimately surpassed by "Wii Sports" (2006). The game's Wii Virtual Console release was also successful, reaching number 1 by mid-2007, and at an estimated 660,000 units for outside of Japan and Korea in 2009. In August 2021, an anonymous buyer paid for a never-opened copy of "Super Mario Bros." according to collectibles site "Rally", surpassing the sales record set by "Super Mario 64" the previous month.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Clare Edgeley of "Computer and Video Games" gave the arcade version a positive review upon its ATEI 1986 debut. She felt the graphics were simple compared to other arcade games (such as Sega's "Space Harrier" at the same ATEI show), but was surprised at the depth of gameplay, including its length, number of hidden secrets, and the high degree of dexterity it required. She predicted that the game would be a major success. In the fall of 1986, "Top Score" newsletter reviewed "Vs. Super Mario Bros." for arcades, calling it "without a doubt one of the best games" of the year and stating that it combined "a variety of proven play concepts" with "a number of new twists" to the gameplay. The arcade game received the award for the "Best Video Game of 1986" at the Amusement Players Association's Players Choice Awards, held during their first US national competition in January 1987 where the game was popular among arcade players.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Reviewing the NES version, the "Video Game Update" segment of "Computer Entertainer" magazine in June 1986 praised the "cute and comical" graphics, lively music and most of all its depth of play, including the amount of hidden surprises and discoveries. The review said it was worthy of "a spot in the hall of fame reserved for truly addictive action games" and was a "must-have" NES game. In early 1987, "Top Score" reviewed the NES version, noting that it is mostly the same as the arcade version and stating that it was "a near-perfect game" with simple play mechanics, "hundreds of incentives" and hidden surprises, an "ever-changing" environment, colorful graphics and "skillfully blended" music.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "The Games Machine" reviewed the NES version upon its European release in 1987, calling it "a great and playable game" with praise for the gameplay, which it notes is simple to understand without needing to read the manual and has alternate routes for problems that can occasionally be frustrating but rewarding, while also praising the "splendid" graphics and sound. In 1989, "ACE" called it the "undisputed king of cutesy platform-style arcade adventures" and that the "game is crammed with secret levels, 'warps' and hidden treats such that you never tire of playing it." They listed it as the best NES game available in Europe. "Computer and Video Games" said this "platform/arcade adventure" is one of "the all-time classic video games" with "a multitude of hidden bonuses, secret warps and mystery screens." They said the graphics and sound are "good, but not outstanding, but it's the utterly addictive gameplay which makes this one of the best games money can buy."


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Retrospective critical analysis of the game has been extremely positive, with many touting it as one of the best video games of all time. "Nintendo Power" named it the fourth best NES game, describing it as the beginning of the modern era of video games and "Shigeru Miyamoto's masterpiece". "Electronic Gaming Monthly" ranked it first on its list of the "Greatest 200 Games of Their Time". "Official Nintendo Magazine" also award the game first place in a 2009 list of greatest Nintendo games of all time. "IGN" included it in its lists of the best 100 games in 2005 and 2007. In 1997, "Electronic Gaming Monthly" named the "All-Stars" version of "Super Mario Bros." the 37th best game of all time. In 2009, "Game Informer" named "Super Mario Bros." the second greatest game of all time, behind "The Legend of Zelda", saying that it "remains a monument to brilliant design and fun gameplay". The "Game Informer" staff also ranked it the second best in their 2001 list of the top 100 games. In 2012, "G4" ranked "Super Mario Bros." the best video game of all time, citing its revolutionary gameplay and its role in helping recover the North American gaming industry from the video game crash of 1983. In 2014, "IGN" named "Super Mario Bros." the best Nintendo game, saying it was "the most important Nintendo game ever made". In 2005, "IGN" named it the greatest video game of all time. In 2015, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted "Super Mario Bros." to its World Video Game Hall of Fame. In 2017, Polygon ranked it the eighth best "Super Mario" game, crediting it for starting "this franchise's habit of being an exception to so many rules". In 2018, "Business Insider" named it the second best "Super Mario" game.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Several critics have praised the game for its precise controls, which allow the player to control how high and far Mario or Luigi jumps, and how fast he runs. "AllGame" gave "Super Mario Bros." a five-star rating, stating that "[T]he sense of excitement, wonder and – most of all – enjoyment felt upon first playing this masterpiece of videogame can't barely be put into words. And while its sequels have far surpassed it in terms of length, graphics, sound and other aspects, "Super Mario Bros.", like any classic – whether of a cinematic or musical nature – has withstood the test of time, continuing to be fun and playable" and that any gamer "needs to play this game at least once, if not simply for a history lesson". Reviewing the Virtual Console Release of the game, "IGN" called it "an absolute must for any gamer's Virtual Console collection." Darren Calvert of Nintendo Life called the game's visuals "unavoidably outdated" compared to newer games, but mused that they were impressive at the time that the game was released.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The Game Boy Advance port of "Super Mario Bros." holds an aggregate score of 84 on Metacritic. Many critics compared the port to previous ports of the game such as "Super Mario Deluxe" and "Super Mario All-Stars", noting its seeming lack of brand new content to separate it from the original version of the game. Jeremy Parish of "1up.com" called the game "The most fun you'll ever have while being robbed blind," ultimately giving the game a score of 80% and praising its larger-scaling screen compared to "Deluxe" while greatly criticizing its lack of new features. "IGN" Craig Harris labeled the game as a "must-have," but also mused "just don't expect much more than the original NES game repackaged on a tiny GBA cart." GameSpot gave the port a 6.8 out of 10, generally praising the gameplay but musing that the port's graphical and technical differences from the original version of the game "prevent this reissue from being as super as the original game."


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The Game Boy Color port of the game also received wide critical appraisal; "IGN" Craig Harris gave "Super Mario Bros. Deluxe" a perfect score, praising it as a perfect translation of the NES game. He hoped that it would be the example for other NES games to follow when being ported to the Game Boy Color. GameSpot gave the game a 9.9, hailing it as the "killer app" for the Game Boy Color and praising the controls and the visuals (it was also the highest rated game in the series, later surpassed by "Super Mario Galaxy 2" which holds a perfect 10). Both gave it their Editors' Choice Award. "Allgame" Colin Williamson praised the porting of the game as well as the extras, noting the only flaw of the game being that sometimes the camera goes with Mario as he jumps up. "Nintendo World Report" Jon Lindemann, in 2009, called it their "(Likely) 1999 NWR Handheld Game of the Year," calling the quality of its porting and offerings undeniable. Nintendo Life gave it a perfect score, noting that it retains the qualities of the original game and the extras. "St. Petersburg Times" Robb Guido commented that in this form, "Super Mario Bros." "never looked better." The "Lakeland Ledger" Nick S. agreed, praising the visuals and the controls. In 2004, a Game Boy Advance port of "Super Mario Bros." (part of the Classic NES Series) was released, which had none of the extras or unlockables available in "Super Mario Bros. Deluxe". Of that version, "IGN" noted that the version did not "offer nearly as much as what was already given on the Game Boy Color" and gave it an 8.0 out of 10. "Super Mario Bros. Deluxe" ranked third in the best-selling handheld game charts in the U.S. between June 6 and 12, 1999 with more than 2.8 million copies in the U.S. It was included on Singapore Airlines flights in 2006. Lindemann noted "Deluxe" as a notable handheld release in 1999.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The success of "Super Mario Bros." led to the development of many successors in the "Super Mario" series of video games, which in turn form the core of the greater "Mario" franchise. Two of these sequels, "Super Mario Bros. 2" and "Super Mario Bros. 3", were direct sequels to the game and were released for the NES, experiencing similar levels of commercial success. A different sequel, also titled "Super Mario Bros. 2", was released for the Famicom Disk System in 1986 exclusively in Japan, and was later released elsewhere as a part of "Super Mario All-Stars" under the name "". The gameplay concepts and elements established in "Super Mario Bros." are prevalent in nearly every "Super Mario" game. The series consists of over 15 entries; at least one "Super Mario" game has been released on nearly every Nintendo console to date. "Super Mario 64" is widely considered one of the greatest games ever made, and is largely credited with revolutionizing the platforming genre of video games and its step from 2D to 3D. The series is one of the best-selling, with more than 310 million units sold worldwide . In 2010, Nintendo released special red variants of the Wii and Nintendo DSi XL consoles in re-packaged, Mario-themed limited edition bundles as part of the 25th anniversary of the game's original release. To celebrate the series' 30th anniversary, Nintendo released "Super Mario Maker", a game for the Wii U which allows players to create custom platforming stages using assets from "Super Mario" games and in the style of "Super Mario Bros." along with other styles based around different games in the series.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The game's success helped to push Mario as a worldwide cultural icon; in 1990, a study taken in North America suggested that more children in the United States were familiar with Mario than they were with Mickey Mouse, another popular media character. The game's musical score composed by Koji Kondo, particularly the game's "overworld" theme, has also become a prevalent aspect of popular culture, with the latter theme being featured in nearly every single "Super Mario" game. Alongside the NES platform, "Super Mario Bros." is often credited for having resurrected the video game industry after the market crash of 1983. In the United States Supreme Court case "Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association", the Electronic Frontier Foundation submitted an "amicus" brief which supported overturning a law which would have banned violent video games in the state of California. The brief cited social research that declared "Super Mario Bros", among several others, to contain cartoon violence similar to that found in children's programs such as Mighty Mouse and Road Runner that garnered little negative reaction from the public.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Because of its status within the video game industry and being an early Nintendo game, mint condition copies of "Super Mario Bros." have been considered collectors items. In 2019, the auction of a near-mint, sealed box version of the game was sold for just over $100,000 US dollars, and which is considered to have drawn wider interest in the field of video game collecting. A year later in July 2020, a similar near-mint sealed box copy of the game, from the period when Nintendo was transitioning from sticker-seals to shrinkwrap, went for , at the time the highest price ever for a single video game.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: Video game developer Yuji Naka has cited "Super Mario Bros." as a large inspiration towards the concept for the immensely successful 1991 Sega Genesis game, "Sonic the Hedgehog"; according to Naka, the general idea for the game first materialized when he was playing through "Super Mario Bros." and trying to beat its first level as quickly as possible, and thought about the concept of a platformer based around moving as fast as possible.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Super Mario Bros." has served as inspiration for several fangames. In 2009, developer SwingSwing released "Tuper Tario Tros", a game which combines elements of "Super Mario Bros." with "Tetris". "Super Mario Bros. Crossover", a PC fangame developed by Jay Pavlina and released in 2010 as a free browser-based game, is a full recreation of "Super Mario Bros." that allows the player to alternatively control various other characters from Nintendo games, including Mega Man, Link from "The Legend of Zelda", Samus from "Metroid", and Simon Belmont from "Castlevania". "Mari0", released in December 2012, combines elements of the game with that of "Portal" (2007) by giving Mario a portal-making gun with which to teleport through the level, and "Full Screen Mario" (2013) adds a level editor. In 2015, game designer Josh Millard released "Ennuigi", a metafictional fangame with commentary on the original game which relates to Luigi's inability to come to terms with the game's overall lack of narrative. "Super Mario Bros." is substantial in speedrunning esports, with coverage beyond video gaming and a specific version for "Guinness World Records".


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The "Minus World" or "World Negative One" is an unbeatable glitch level present in the original NES release. World 1-2 contains a hidden warp zone, with warp pipes that transport the player to worlds 2, 3, and 4, accessed by running over a wall near the exit. If the player is able to exploit a bug that allows Mario to pass through bricks, the player can enter the warp zone by passing through the wall and the pipe to World 2-1 and 4-1 may instead transport the player to an underwater stage labeled "World -1". This stage's map is identical to worlds 2-2 and 7–2, and upon entering the warp pipe at the end, the player is taken back to the start of the level, thus trapping the player in the level until all lives have been lost. Although the level name is shown as " -1" with a leading space on the heads-up display, it is actually World 36–1, with the tile for 36 being shown as a blank space.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The Minus World bug in the Japanese Famicom Disk System version of the game behaves differently and creates multiple, completable stages. "World -1" is an underwater version of World 1–3 with an underwater level color palette and underwater level music and contains sprites of Princess Toadstool, Bowser and Hammer Bros. World -2 is an identical copy of World 7–3, and World -3 is a copy of World 4–4 with an underground level color palette and underground level music, and does not loop if the player takes the wrong path, contrary to the original World 4-4. After completing the level, Toad's usual message is displayed, but Toad himself is absent. After completing these levels, the game returns to the title screen as if completed, and is now replayable as if in a harder mode, since it's higher than world 8. There are hundreds of glitch levels beyond the Minus World (256 worlds are present including the 8 playable ones), which can be accessed in a multitude of ways, such as cheat codes or ROM hacking.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The "Super Mario Bros." series has inspired various media products. In October 1985, Tokuma Shoten published the book "Super Mario Bros: The Complete Strategy Guide". Its content is partly recycled from "Family Computer Magazine", plus new content written by Naoto Yamamoto who received no royalties. It is Japan's best-selling book of 1985 at 630,000 copies sold. It is also Japan's best-selling book of 1986 with 860,000 copies by January 1986, and a total of . Nintendo of America later translated it into English as "How to win at Super Mario Bros." and published it in North America via the Nintendo Fun Club and early issues of "Nintendo Power" magazine.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: The 1986 anime film "" is acknowledged as one of the first feature-length films to be based directly off of a video game, as well as one of the earliest "isekai" anime. The live-action "Super Mario Bros." film was released theatrically in 1993, starring Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi. The American animated television series "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!" ran from 1989 to 1990, starring professional wrestler Lou Albano as Mario and Danny Wells as Luigi. An animated film based on the series created by Illumination Entertainment is currently in production.


title: Super Mario Bros.

text: "Super Mario Bros." was adapted into a pinball machine by Gottlieb, released in 1992. It became one of America's top ten best-selling pinball machines of 1992, receiving a Gold Award from the American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA).


title: Pretty Woman

text: Pretty Woman is a 1990 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall, from a screenplay by J. F. Lawton. The film stars Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and features Héctor Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy (in his final performance), Laura San Giacomo, and Jason Alexander in supporting roles.


title: Pretty Woman

text: The film's story centers on Hollywood prostitute Vivian Ward and wealthy businessman Edward Lewis. Vivian is hired to be Edward's escort for several business and social functions, and their relationship develops during the course of her week-long stay with him.


title: Pretty Woman

text: The film's title "Pretty Woman" is based on the 1964 song "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison. The original screenplay was titled “3,000,” and was written by then-struggling screenwriter J.F Lawton. It is the first film on-screen collaboration between Gere and Roberts; their second film, "Runaway Bride", was released in 1999.


title: Pretty Woman

text: Originally intended to be a dark cautionary tale about class and prostitution in Los Angeles, the film was re-conceived as a romantic comedy with a large budget. It was widely successful at the box office and was the third-highest-grossing film of 1990. The film saw the highest number of ticket sales in the US ever for a romantic comedy, with Box Office Mojo listing it as the number-one romantic comedy by the highest estimated domestic tickets sold at 42,176,400, slightly ahead of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (2002) at 41,419,500 tickets. The film received mixed reviews, though Roberts received a Golden Globe Award and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance, which catapulted her to stardom. In addition, screenwriter J. F. Lawton was nominated for a Writers Guild Award and a BAFTA Award.


title: Pretty Woman

text: Edward Lewis, a high-powered corporate raider from New York, buys and dismantles struggling companies, selling off the assets for profit. He wants his girlfriend Jessica to accompany him during a business trip, but fed up with being his "beck and call girl", she breaks up with him. Leaving a business party in the Hollywood Hills, Edward takes his lawyer's Lotus Esprit sports car and accidentally ends up on Hollywood Boulevard in the city's red-light district. There he encounters sex worker Vivian Ward. As he is having difficulties driving a manual transmission car, he pays Vivian to drive him to the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Edward then impulsively hires her for the night, and despite some awkwardness, finds her charming and has sex with her.


title: Pretty Woman

text: The next day, Edward asks Vivian to play his girlfriend that week at a series of business events he is attending while attempting a takeover of shipbuilder James Morse's company. Edward offers Vivian $3,000 and a new wardrobe for six days. Vivian excitedly accepts, but when she attempts to go shopping on Rodeo Drive, she is turned away by the rude, snobbish saleswomen and turns to Barney, the hotel's manager, for help. He teaches her proper etiquette and arranges for her to buy a cocktail dress for an important business dinner that evening. At the dinner meeting Edward introduces Vivian to James and his grandson David; the latter is being groomed to take over the company after his grandfather dies. The business meeting does not go well and James and David are unimpressed by Edward wanting to buy and sell off their company. Edward is impressed by Vivian's transformation and opens up to her, revealing details about his personal and business life, including his turbulent relationship with his late father, Carter, from whom he was estranged at the time of his death.


title: Pretty Woman

text: When Edward's attorney, Phillip, suspects Vivian is a corporate spy after seeing her talking to David at a polo game, Edward reveals how they met. Phillip later crudely propositions Vivian for her services after Edward is finished with her. Vivian is hurt and furious at Edward for exposing her. Edward apologizes, revealing he was jealous of Vivian talking to David and realizes Vivian's straightforward personality is rubbing off on him. Edward takes Vivian by private jet to see "La traviata" at the San Francisco Opera. The story of a sex worker who falls in love with a rich man moves Vivian. She later breaks her "no kissing" rule while having sex with Edward. After mistakenly believing Edward is asleep, Vivian admits she loves him.


title: Pretty Woman

text: His return to New York imminent, Edward offers to help Vivian get off the streets and suggests putting her up in a nice condo and giving her an allowance, promising to visit her regularly. Vivian is offended by the offer, as Edward is still treating her like a sex worker, and recalls a childhood fantasy of being rescued from her abusive home by a knight on a white steed. Edward meets with James but, changed by his experience with Vivian, chooses to work with him to save his company instead of dismantling it. Phillip, furious that Edward's new direction has cost him a fortune, goes to the hotel to confront him but finds only Vivian. Blaming her for Edward's changing character, he attempts to rape her. Edward arrives and punches Phillip, then fires him.


title: Pretty Woman

text: With his business in Los Angeles complete, Edward asks Vivian to stay with him one more night, but only if she wants to, not because he is paying her. She gently refuses and leaves. Edward re-thinks his life, and while being driven to the airport has the chauffeur detour to Vivian's apartment building. He climbs out through the white limousine's sunroof and ascends the fire escape to rescue Vivian just like the knight in her fantasy.


title: Pretty Woman

text: The film was initially conceived as a dark drama about prostitution in Los Angeles in the 1980s. The relationship between Vivian and Edward also originally involved controversial themes, including Vivian being addicted to drugs; part of the deal was that she had to stay off cocaine for a week. Edward eventually throws her out of his car and drives off. The original script by J.F. Lawton, called "3000", ended with Vivian and her prostitute friend on the bus to Disneyland. Producer Laura Ziskin considered these elements detrimental to a sympathetic portrayal of Vivian, and they were removed or assigned to Kit. The deleted scenes have been found, and some were included on the DVD released for the film's 15th anniversary. In one, Vivian tells Edward, "I could just pop ya good and be on my way", indicating her lack of interest in "pillow talk". In another, she is confronted by a drug dealer, Carlos, then rescued by Edward when the limo driver Darryl gets his gun out.


title: Pretty Woman

text: Though inspired by such films as "Wall Street" and "The Last Detail", the film bears a resemblance to Pygmalion myths: particularly George Bernard Shaw's play of the same name, which also formed the basis for the Broadway musical "My Fair Lady". It was Walt Disney Studios then-president Jeffrey Katzenberg who insisted the film be re-written as a modern-day fairy tale and love story, as opposed to the original dark drama. It was pitched to Touchstone Pictures and re-written as a romantic comedy. The title "3000" was changed because Disney executives thought it sounded like a title for a science fiction film.


title: Pretty Woman

text: Casting of the film was a rather lengthy process. Marshall had initially considered Christopher Reeve, Daniel Day-Lewis, Kevin Kline, and Denzel Washington for the role of Edward, and Albert Brooks, Al Pacino and Burt Reynolds turned it down. Pacino went as far as doing a casting reading with Roberts before rejecting the part. Sam Neill, Tom Conti and Charles Grodin tested for the part along with Roberts. Gere initially refused but when he met with Roberts, she persuaded him and he eventually agreed to play Lewis. He reportedly started off much more active in his role; but Garry Marshall took him aside and said "No, no, no, Richard. In this movie, one of you moves and one of you does not. Guess which one you are?"


title: Pretty Woman

text: Julia Roberts was not the first choice for the role of Vivian, and was not wanted by Disney. Many other actresses were considered. Marshall originally envisioned Karen Allen for the role; when she declined, auditions went to many better-known actresses of the time including Molly Ringwald, who turned it down because she felt uncomfortable playing a prostitute. Winona Ryder auditioned, but was turned down because Marshall felt she was "too young". Jennifer Connelly was also dismissed for the same reason. Emily Lloyd turned it down as it conflicted with her shooting for the film "Mermaids". Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields, Uma Thurman, and Kristin Davis auditioned for the role of Vivian.


title: Pretty Woman

text: Meg Ryan, who was a top choice of Marshall's, turned it down as well. According to a note written by Marshall, Mary Steenburgen was also among the first choices. Diane Lane came very close to being cast (the script was much darker at the time); they had gone as far as costume fittings, but due to scheduling conflicts she could not accept. Michelle Pfeiffer turned the role down, saying she did not like the script's "tone." Daryl Hannah was also considered, but believed the role was "degrading to women". Valeria Golino declined, doubting it would work with her thick Italian accent. And Jennifer Jason Leigh had auditioned. Lea Thompson unsuccessfully auditioned for the role as she thought the film was a drama. When all the other actresses turned down the role, 21-year-old Julia Roberts, a relative unknown, with only the sleeper hit "Mystic Pizza" (1988) and the yet-to-be-released "Steel Magnolias" (1989), for which she would be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, won the role of Vivian. Her performance made her a star. J.F. Lawton, writer of the original screenplay, has suggested that the film was ultimately given a happy ending because of the chemistry of Gere and Roberts.


title: Pretty Woman

text: Veteran actor Ralph Bellamy, who plays James Morse, appears in his final acting performance before his death in 1991. Jason Alexander, who had also recently been cast for his role as the bumbling George Costanza in "Seinfeld", was cast as Philip Stuckey. A VHS copy of "Pretty Woman" would appear in Seinfeld's apartment in later seasons of "Seinfeld" as a homage to Alexander's participation in the film.


title: Pretty Woman

text: The film's budget was substantial, at $14 million, so producers could shoot in many locations. Most filming took place in Los Angeles, California, specifically in Beverly Hills, and inside soundstages at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. The escargot restaurant the "Voltaire" was shot at the restaurant "Rex," now called "Cicada". Scenes set in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel lobby were shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Filming commenced on July 24, 1989, but was immediately plagued by problems. These included Ferrari and Porsche declining the product placement opportunity for the car Edward drove, neither firm wishing to be associated with prostitutes. Lotus Cars saw the placement value, and supplied a Silver 1989.5 Esprit SE (which was later sold).


title: Pretty Woman

text: Shooting was a generally pleasant, easy-going experience, as the budget was broad and the shooting schedule was not tight. While shooting the scene where Vivian is lying down on the floor of Edward's penthouse, watching reruns of "I Love Lucy", Garry Marshall had to tickle Roberts' feet (out of camera range) to get her to laugh. The scene in which Gere playfully snaps the lid of a jewelry case on her fingers was improvised, and her surprised laugh was genuine. The red dress Vivian wears to the opera has been listed among the most unforgettable dresses of all time.


title: Pretty Woman

text: During the scene in which Roberts sang to a Prince song in the bathtub, slid down and submerged her head under the bubbles; she emerged to find the crew had left except for the cameraman, who captured the moment on film. In the love scene, she was so stressed that a vein became noticeable on her forehead and had to be massaged by Marshall and Gere. She also developed a case of hives, and calamine lotion was used to soothe her skin until filming resumed. The filming was completed on November 30.


title: Pretty Woman

text: In its opening weekend, the film was at number one at the US box office, grossing $11,280,591 and averaging $8,513 per theater. Despite dropping to number two in its second weekend, it grossed more with $12,471,670. It returned to number one at the US box office in its sixth weekend and was number one for three weeks. It was in the Top 10 movies in the US for 16 weeks. In Australia, it was number one for 12 weeks and was number one for nine consecutive weeks in the UK. It has grossed $178,406,268 in the United States and $285,000,000 in other countries for a total worldwide gross of $463,406,268. It was the fourth highest-grossing film of the year in the United States and Canada and the third highest-grossing worldwide. The film was Disney's highest-grossing film ever, surpassing "Three Men and a Baby", and remains Disney's highest-grossing R-rated release.


title: Pretty Woman

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 66% based on 73 reviews, with an average rating of 6.10/10. The website's critical consensus states, ""Pretty Woman" may be a yuppie fantasy, but the film's slick comedy, soundtrack, and casting can overcome misgivings." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Pretty Woman

text: Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film a D, saying it "starts out as a neo-Pygmalion comedy" and with "its tough-hooker heroine, it can work as a feminist version of an upscale princess fantasy." Gleiberman also said it "pretends to be about how love transcends money," but "is really obsessed with status symbols." On its twentieth anniversary, Gleiberman wrote another article, saying that while he felt he was right, he would have given it a B today. Carina Chocano of "The New York Times" said the movie "wasn't a love story, it was a money story. Its logic depended on a disconnect between character and narrative, between image and meaning, between money and value, and that made it not cluelessly traditional but thoroughly postmodern."


title: Pretty Woman

text: The soundtrack features the song "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison, which inspired its title. Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love", originally released in December 1987, reached No. 1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in June 1990. The soundtrack also features "King of Wishful Thinking" by Go West, "Show Me Your Soul" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, "No Explanation" by Peter Cetera, "Wild Women Do" by Natalie Cole and "Fallen" by Lauren Wood. The soundtrack has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).


title: Pretty Woman

text: The opera featured in the film is "La Traviata", which also served as inspiration for its plot. The highly dramatic aria fragment that is repeated is the end of ""Dammi tu forza!"" ("Give me strength!"), from the opera. Roberts sings the song "Kiss" by Prince while she is in the tub and Gere's character is on the phone. Background music is composed by James Newton Howard. The piano piece Gere's character plays in the hotel lobby was actually composed and performed by him. Entitled "He Sleeps/Love Theme", this piano composition is inspired by Bruce Springsteen's "Racing in the Street".


title: Pretty Woman

text: A stage musical adaptation of the film opened on Broadway on July 20, 2018, in previews, officially on August 16 at the Nederlander Theatre. This follows an out-of-town tryout at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, which will run from March 13 to April 15, 2018. The musical has music and lyrics by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance; the late Garry Marshall and J.F. Lawton wrote the book; and Jerry Mitchell is the director and choreographer. The Chicago and Broadway casts featured Samantha Barks, in her Broadway debut as Vivian and Steve Kazee as Edward. Barks finished her run as Vivian on 21 July 2019 and was replaced by Jillian Mueller the following evening, with Brennin Hunt, of ‘Rent’ fame, assuming the role of Edward. Orfeh portrayed Kit, and Jason Danieley played Philip Stuckey. Eric Anderson portrayed the role of Mr. Thompson and Kingsley Leggs played the role of James Morse.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: Ethel Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll ("née" Whigham, formerly Sweeny; 1 December 1912 – 25 July 1993) was a Scottish heiress, socialite, and aristocrat who was most famous for her 1951 marriage and much-publicised 1963 divorce from her second husband, Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: Ethel Margaret Whigham was the only child of Helen Mann Hannay and George Hay Whigham. Her father, the son of Scottish lawyer and cricketer David Dundas Whigham, was chairman of the Celanese Corporation of Britain and North America. George Hay Whigham was a self-made millionaire: although his family was well-connected, they were not wealthy. Margaret spent the first fourteen years of her life in New York City, where she was educated privately at the Hewitt School. Her beauty was much spoken of, and she had youthful romances with Prince Aly Khan, millionaire aviator Glen Kidston and publishing heir Max Aitken, later the second Lord Beaverbrook.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: In 1928 the future actor David Niven, then 18, had sex with 15-year-old Margaret during a holiday at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. To the fury of her father, she became pregnant as a result. She was taken into a London nursing home for a secret abortion. "All hell broke loose," remembered her family cook, Elizabeth Duckworth. Margaret did not mention the episode in her 1975 memoirs, but she continued to adore Niven until the day he died. She was among the VIP guests at his London memorial service.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: In 1930 Margaret was presented at Court in London and was known as the debutante of that year. Shortly afterwards, she announced her engagement to Charles Guy Fulke Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick. However, the wedding did not take place because she preferred Charles Francis Sweeny (1910-1993), an American businessman and amateur golfer from a wealthy Pennsylvania family. Her numerous early romances included an affair with Prince George, Duke of Kent.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: On 21 February 1933, following her conversion to Roman Catholicism, Margaret married Sweeny at the Brompton Oratory, London. Such had been the publicity surrounding her Norman Hartnell wedding dress that the traffic in Knightsbridge was blocked for three hours. For the rest of her life, Margaret was associated with glamour and elegance, being a firm client of Hartnell, Victor Stiebel, and Angele Delanghe in London before and after the Second World War. She was one of a series of society beauties photographed as classical figures by Madame Yevonde.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: She had three children with Sweeny: a daughter, who was stillborn at eight months in late 1933; another daughter, Frances Helen (born 1937, who married Charles Manners, 10th Duke of Rutland), and a son, Brian Charles (1940–2021). Before these pregnancies, she suffered eight miscarriages.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: In 1943, Margaret had a near-fatal fall down a lift shaft. "I fell forty feet to the bottom of the lift shaft", she later recalled. "The only thing that saved me was the lift cable, which broke my fall. I must have clutched at it, for it was later found that all my fingernails were torn off. I apparently fell onto my knees and cracked the back of my head against the wall".


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: The Sweenys divorced in 1947. After the end of her first marriage, Margaret was briefly engaged to a Texas-born banker, Joseph Thomas of Lehman Brothers, but he fell in love with another woman and the engagement was broken. She also had a serious romantic relationship with Theodore Rousseau, curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who was, she recalled, "highly intelligent, witty and self-confident to the point of arrogance". That romance also ended without the couple formalising their liaison, since the mother of two "feared that Ted was not 'stepfather material'". Still, she observed in her memoirs, "[W]e continued to see each other constantly."


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: On 22 March 1951, Margaret became the third wife of Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll. She wrote later in life:


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: In fact, Margaret was not mentioned in Porter's original version of "You're the Top". The lyrics were later anglicised for the British version of the song by P. G. Wodehouse, who changed two lines from "You're an O'Neill drama / You're Whistler's mama!" to "You're Mussolini / You're Mrs Sweeny".


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: According to Lyndsy Spence, a biographer of the Duchess, the Duke of Argyll forged a deed of sale (sometimes called a deed of gift, thus offering various items from Inveraray Castle as security) before their marriage in exchange for her money used to restore his family home at Inveraray, and wiretapped her car. The Duchess herself forged letters to sow doubt about the fatherhood of Ian Campbell, the Marquess of Lorne, and Lord Colin Campbell, her husband's sons from his second marriage to Louise Timpson; and she even tried to acquire a newborn baby she could pass off as her husband's rightful heir.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: Within a few years, the marriage was falling apart. The Duke was known to be addicted to alcohol, gambling and prescription drugs, and was described as physically violent and emotionally abusive by his first two wives, whose money he tried to use to maintain Inveraray Castle. He suspected the Duchess of infidelity and, while she was in New York, engaged a locksmith to break open a cupboard at their Mayfair home, 48 Upper Grosvenor Street. The evidence discovered resulted in the 1963 divorce case, in which the Duke accused his wife of infidelity and included a set of Polaroid photographs of the Duchess naked, save for her signature three-strand pearl necklace, in the company of another man. There were also photographs of the Duchess fellating a naked man whose face was not shown. It was speculated that this "headless man" was the Minister of Defence Duncan Sandys (later Lord Duncan-Sandys, son-in-law of Winston Churchill), who offered to resign from the cabinet.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: The Duchess counter-petitioned the divorce, accusing the Duke of committing adultery with her stepmother, Jane Corby Wigham. She dropped her case the day of the hearing due to lack of a witness, and later had to pay a judgment of £25,000 to her stepmother, who sued her for libel, slander, and conspiracy to suborn perjury.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: A list of as many as 88 men with whom the Duke believed his wife had consorted was produced. The list is said to include two government ministers and three members of the British royal family. The judge commented that the Duchess had indulged in "disgusting sexual activities". Lord Denning, who was called upon by the government to track down the "headless man", compared the handwriting of the five leading "suspects", (Duncan Sandys; Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.; John Cohane, an American businessman; Peter Combe, a former press officer at the Savoy Hotel; and Sigismund von Braun, brother of the German scientist Wernher von Braun) with the captions written on the photographs. It is claimed that this analysis proved that the man in question was Fairbanks, then long married to his second wife, but this was not made public.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: Granting the divorce, Lord Wheatley, the presiding judge, said the evidence established that the Duchess "was a completely promiscuous woman whose sexual appetite could only be satisfied with a number of men". He continued: "Her attitude to the sanctity of marriage was what moderns would call 'enlightened' but which in plain language was wholly immoral." Many of the men the Duchess was alleged to have slept with were homosexual; she was unwilling to divulge this as sexual acts between men were illegal in the United Kingdom at the time.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: The Duchess never revealed the identity of the "headless man", and Fairbanks always denied the allegation. Long afterwards, it was claimed that there were actually two "headless men" in the photographs, Fairbanks and Sandys, the latter identified on the basis of the Duchess's statement that "the only Polaroid camera in the country at that time had been lent to the Ministry of Defence". In 2013, the daughter-in-law of the 11th Duke, Lady Colin Campbell, stated that the "headless man" was an American executive named Bill Lyons.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: The Duchess wrote a memoir, "Forget Not" (published by W. H. Allen Ltd in 1975) which was reviewed negatively for its name-dropping and air of entitlement. She also lent her name as author to a guide to entertaining. With her fortune diminished, she opened her London house at 48 Upper Grosvenor Street, which had been decorated for her parents in 1935 by Syrie Maugham, for paid tours. Her extravagant lifestyle and ill-considered investments left her largely penniless by the time she died.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: In 1978, Margaret's debts forced her to move from Upper Grosvenor Street and relocate with her maid to a suite at the Grosvenor House Hotel. In April 1988, on the evening after the Grand National, she appeared on a Channel 4 "After Dark" discussion about horse racing "so she said, to put the point of view of the horse", later walking out of the programme "because she was so very sleepy". In 1990, unable to pay the hotel bills, she was evicted and, with the support of friends and her first husband, moved into an apartment.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: Margaret's children later placed her in a nursing home in Pimlico, London. The Duchess died in penury in 1993 after a bad fall in the nursing home. Her funeral, a requiem mass, was held at Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street in Mayfair. She was buried alongside her first husband, Charles Sweeny, who had died only four months earlier, in Brookwood Cemetery in Woking, Surrey.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: Margaret had asked Charles Castle in 1974 to write her biography, but reneged. He then published "The Duchess Who Dared – The Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll" in 1994. It was reprinted in 1995 by Pan Books, and in 2021, to coincide with the TV series "A Very British Scandal", by Swift Press.


title: Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

text: The Duchess once told "The New York Times": "I don't think anybody has real style or class any more. Everyone's got old and fat." She described herself as "always vain". Another quote gives an insight into her personality: "Always a poodle, only a poodle! That, and three strands of pearls!" she said. "Together they are absolutely the essential things in life."


title: Dead Sea

text: The Dead Sea (, "Yam hamMelaḥ"; , "Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū"), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.


title: Dead Sea

text: As of 2019, the lake's surface is below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth. It is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.2% (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water – 9.6 times as salty as the ocean – and has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea's main, northern basin is long and wide at its widest point.


title: Dead Sea

text: The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean Basin for thousands of years. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilisers. Today, tourists visit the sea on its Israeli, Jordanian and West Bank coastlines. The Palestinian tourism industry has been met with setbacks in developing along the West Bank coast.


title: Dead Sea

text: The Dead Sea is receding at a swift rate; its surface area today is , having been in 1930. Multiple canal and pipeline proposals, such as the scrapped Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, have been made to reduce its recession.


title: Dead Sea

text: The English name "Dead Sea" is a calque of the Arabic name "Bahr" or (), itself a calque of earlier Greek (, "Nekrá Thálassa") and Latin names () in reference to the scarcity of aquatic life caused by the lake's extreme salinity. The name also occasionally appears in Hebrew literature as "Yām HaMāvet" (), "Sea of Death".


title: Dead Sea

text: The usual biblical and modern Hebrew name for the lake is the (, ""). Other Hebrew names for the lake also mentioned in the Bible are the (, "Yām Ha‘Ărāvâ") and the (, "HaYām HaKadmoni"). In Arabic, it is also known as the (, "Buhayrat", "Bahret", or "Birket Lut") from the nephew of Abraham whose wife was said to have turned into a pillar of salt during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Less often, it has been known in Arabic as the from a formerly important city along its shores.


title: Dead Sea

text: Historical English names include the , from the biblical account of its destruction and from Greek and Latin. Because of the large volume of ancient trade in the lake's naturally occurring free-floating bitumen, its usual names in ancient Greek and Roman geography were some form of ( or , "Asphaltítēs" or "Asphaltítis Límnē"; ) or Sea (, "Asphaltítēs Thálassa").


title: Dead Sea

text: The Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST). This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the northern end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end.


title: Dead Sea

text: The Jordan River is the only major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools and quicksand pits along the edges. There are no outlet streams.


title: Dead Sea

text: The Mujib River, biblical Arnon, is one of the larger water sources of the Dead Sea other than the Jordan. The Wadi Mujib valley, 420 m below the sea level in the southern part of the Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, with an area of . Other more substantial sources are Wadi Darajeh (Arabic)/Nahal Dragot (Hebrew), and that ends at Ein Gedi. Wadi Hasa (biblical Zered) is another wadi flowing into the Dead Sea.


title: Dead Sea

text: Rainfall is scarcely per year in the northern part of the Dead Sea and barely in the southern part. The Dead Sea zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judaean Mountains. The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself.


title: Dead Sea

text: To the west of the Dead Sea, the Judaean mountains rise less steeply and are much lower than the mountains to the east. Along the southwestern side of the lake is a tall halite mineral formation called Mount Sodom.


title: Dead Sea

text: There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older hypothesis is that the Dead Sea lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the Red Sea Rift, or even of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence.


title: Dead Sea

text: During the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene, around 3.7 million years ago, what is now the valley of the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and the northern Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from the Mediterranean Sea. The waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay that is called by geologists the Sedom Lagoon, which was connected to the sea through what is now the Jezreel Valley. The floods of the valley came and went depending on long-scale changes in the tectonic and climatic conditions.


title: Dead Sea

text: The Sedom Lagoon extended at its maximum from the Sea of Galilee in the north to somewhere around south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea, and the subsequent lakes never surpassed this expanse. The Hula Depression was never part of any of these water bodies due to its higher elevation and the high threshold of the Korazim block separating it from the Sea of Galilee basin.


title: Dead Sea

text: The Sedom Lagoon deposited evaporites mainly consisting of rock salt, which eventually reached a thickness of on the old basin floor in the area of today's Mount Sedom.


title: Dead Sea

text: Approximately two million years ago, the land between the Rift Valley and the Mediterranean Sea rose to such an extent that the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long lagoon became a landlocked lake.


title: Dead Sea

text: The first prehistoric lake to follow the Sedom Lagoon is named Lake Amora (which possibly appeared in the early Pleistocene; its sediments developed into the Amora (Samra) Formation, dated to over 200-80 kyr BP), followed by Lake Lisan (c. 70-14 kyr) and finally by the Dead Sea.


title: Dead Sea

text: The water levels and salinity of the successive lakes (Amora, Lisan, Dead Sea) have either risen or fallen as an effect of the tectonic dropping of the valley bottom, and due to climate variation. As the climate became more arid, Lake Lisan finally shrank and became saltier, leaving the Dead Sea as its last remainder.


title: Dead Sea

text: From 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, Lake Lisan's level was to higher than its current level, possibly due to lower evaporation than in the present. Its level fluctuated dramatically, rising to its highest level around 26,000 years ago, indicating a very wet climate in the Near East. Around 10,000 years ago, the lake's level dropped dramatically, probably even lower than today. During the last several thousand years, the lake has fluctuated approximately , with some significant drops and rises. Current theories as to the cause of this dramatic drop in levels rule out volcanic activity; therefore, it may have been a seismic event.


title: Dead Sea

text: In prehistoric times, great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of Lake Amora. The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and squeezed the salt deposits upwards into what are now the Lisan Peninsula and Mount Sodom (on the southwest side of the lake). Geologists explain the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the bucket. When the floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces, the salt mounts of Lisan and Mount Sodom stayed in place as high cliffs (see salt dome).


title: Dead Sea

text: The Dead Sea has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), with year-round sunny skies and dry air. It has less than mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between . Winter average temperatures range between . The region has weaker ultraviolet radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays). Given the higher atmospheric pressure, the air has a slightly higher oxygen content (3.3% in summer to 4.8% in winter) as compared to oxygen concentration at sea level. Barometric pressures at the Dead Sea were measured between 1061 and 1065 hPa and clinically compared with health effects at higher altitude. (This barometric measure is about 5% higher than sea level standard atmospheric pressure of 1013.25 hPa, which is the global ocean mean or ATM.) The Dead Sea affects temperatures nearby because of the moderating effect a large body of water has on climate. During the winter, sea temperatures tend to be higher than land temperatures, and vice versa during the summer months. This is the result of the water's mass and specific heat capacity. On average, there are 192 days above annually.