It is unusual to think of the video gaming industry as having had a time before the first Mario game, Super Mario Bros. which was released in 1985. While much of what came before, particularly in the platforming genre, was contained in arcade machines, there were a number of games that helped to inspire the Super Mario Bros. franchise that is so widely known and beloved today.

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The platforming genre is one of the earliest in video gaming, focusing on traversing a 2D or 3D world and getting from point A to point B, usually past a series of obstacles, puzzles, or enemies. Mario and the vast array of games connected to him have inspired much of the genre, but there are a few games that helped to inspire Mario to begin his journey to the top of the gaming world.

6 Donkey Kong

An obvious place to start is with the game that technically introduced Mario. While this isn’t technically from a time before Mario, it came when the character was still known purely as Jump Man, and before the Mario franchise had kicked off. Released in 1981, Donkey Kong featured Jump Man attempting to save Pauline from Donkey Kong in the first of many great games based on the big ape.

The giant ape would throw barrels down slopes, forcing Jump Man to jump over the barrels, between platforms, and climb up ladders in order to reach them. This game coined the term “climbing game” which was used to describe the genre before platformer was coined, and it is considered one of the very first if not the first proper platform game in existence. It was also one of the earliest arcade games to feature different stages, helping lead to the different levels that almost every platform game since has used. Due to such an early release, Donkey Kong is one of the longest-running video game franchises.

5 Space Panic

If anyone wants to argue about Donkey Kong being the first platform game, then the example of one that predates it they will likely use is Space Panic. This game was released in 1980, a year earlier than Donkey Kong, and featured a character attempting to climb ladders and dig holes to dispose of the aliens in his way, as he attempted to climb to the top of the screen.

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Several of the ideas in Space Panic, such as defeating enemies along the way to victory and trying to solve puzzles by figuring out how to get the aliens into holes, were the earliest concepts of what would later become the puzzle platformer genre, making Space Panic a legendary game in terms of inspiring different genres. Donkey Kong may be better remembered, but Space Panic got there first in climbing between platforms to try and get to the top. Space Panic has been forgotten and possibly deserves a reboot soon.

4 Pitfall

A game that was significant to the genre for several reasons, Pitfall was an Atari 2600 game that became one of the best-selling of all time on the console. It featured a character, named Pitfall Harry, exploring a jungle and trying to find treasure within it, although the game was limited in each run to 20 minutes.

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Not only was Pitfall one of the very first platform games for a home console, but it was also the direct precursor to side-scrolling games, featuring gameplay that allowed a new screen to appear when Harry moved to the edge of the previous one. Players were simply attempting to score as many points as possible while jumping, swinging, and climbing to find treasure and avoid enemies.

3 Miner 2049er

Another Atari-2600 game that was released in 1982, Miner 2049er was split into two separate cartridges for the console release so that more levels could be included. Six different ones were available in total, all featuring Bounty Bob attempting to traverse a mine in order to find the evil miner that he has chased there.

Miner 2049er was huge upon release, and in 1984 it was called the most widely played home electronic game of all time by Video Magazine. The cultural influence this game had was massive in the early 80s, and if not for the release of Super Mario Bros. in 1985, Miner 2049er wouldn’t have been so totally forgotten about today. The game even featured early ideas such as collecting gear that would allow Bounty Bob to defeat enemies on the screen, as well as having lifts and cannons throughout different levels.

2 Quest For Tires

1983 saw the release of the ColecoVision console, though it didn't last very long, and with it came Quest For Tires, which was not only one of the first games to get a release on many different platforms but also one of the very first to feature proper side-scrolling in a platformer. Players controlled a caveman named Thor who was charged with rescuing his girlfriend, simply known as Cute Chick.

This managed a number of things, including allowing players to get used to the level by starting out simple and then adding more obstacles and enemies as the level went on. The side-scrolling nature of the game in addition to this ramping-up style made for the beginnings of what games like Super Mario Bros. would resemble in years to come.

1 Pac-Land

One of the final huge releases before Super Mario Bros. hit the market in 1985 was Pac-Land, which featured one of the first attempts at genre-shifting in a franchise, taking Pac-Man, whose first arcade game was released in 1980, and trying to shift the action into a platform style for this new arcade game released years later, which can still be played today.

Pac-Land was another revolutionary title, as Pac-Man attempted to reach the end of each stage by getting past the classic enemy ghosts or getting a pellet and eating them while they remained blue, a classic power-up. Containing a depth-of-field that would become the norm for the genre in years to come, Pac-Land was a huge upgrade for the platform genre, which would get the biggest break it would ever have the next year with Super Mario Bros.

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