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Review of the VS. Super Mario Bros Set by DMG-Dreams
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A while ago, the site got a new section dedicated to Famicom and NES, and all of it became possible thanks to Ruslan — the main person behind this whole thing. He sent me an absolutely insane package: consoles, cartridges, accessories — everything needed to do reviews with real photos and first-hand impressions.
One of those cartridges turned out to be especially interesting. It was VS. Super Mario Bros. — the first finished project by the DMG-Dreams team.
This was their debut release — the one they actually managed to complete and bring to life. But why did they choose the arcade version specifically?
The answer is two words: arcade cabinet.
History of the arcade cabinet
Back in 1985, Nintendo of America was still a small, low-profile company focused mostly on distributing arcade games.
No one could have imagined that the Nintendo Entertainment System would revive the console market in America. Only the massive success of the Famicom in Japan made it seem like it might be worth trying in the US.
And to show you how cautious they were: Nintendo picked small shops around New York and offered them almost unbelievable terms — they would set up displays and buy back any unsold stock.
At the time, Nintendo’s staff worked out of a worn-down rented warehouse in Hackensack, New Jersey. They also had to deliver products themselves, build game displays, and set up test kiosks in stores.
Even Minoru Arakawa himself could stand in a store and talk people through a new game.
Sure, it was a test launch, and the results were considered promising. But we’re talking about the NES! To understand how little Nintendo believed in the US console market: in January 1984 they launched the Nintendo VS. System — an arcade platform that started receiving popular Japanese games, including Super Mario Bros.
Arcade machines were insanely popular in both Japan and America at the time. In the ’80s, arcades were practically on every corner. So the idea of making a universal arcade system was completely logical for Nintendo.
The concept was genuinely cool: a single platform where you could swap games easily — basically a real “console inside a cabinet.” And then Nintendo would release special Vs. UniSystem game packs.
If a game got old for arcade visitors, you could replace it with a new one in minutes — literally by swapping a single board.
In mid-1986, Nintendo’s warehouse received packs for VS. Super Mario Bros.
That’s how the arcade version was born — different from the familiar home release. And since an arcade machine needed “coin-eating” tricks and extra challenge, VS. Super Mario Bros. was made much tougher. In practice, it’s a separate, unique variation of the classic game — and for a long time, regular home players couldn’t even try it at all.
What’s more, the developers added hardware-level difficulty customization. By flipping a couple of switches on the board, an operator could make the game harsher — for example, changing the extra life reward from 100 coins to 250.
Years later, the game’s ROM was adapted for home consoles and showed up online. But let’s be honest: VS SMB is exactly the kind of thing you want to see not just in an emulator, but as a real physical release. That’s what the DMG-Dreams team did — they turned an ultra-rare arcade version into a proper cartridge.
The set
You can immediately tell this was the DMG-Dreams team’s first project. The set is nice-looking, but very modest — even by the standards of original cartridges, let alone the team’s later releases.
Still, the build quality is genuinely top-notch. The board from Kukupuku is completely new, and the finish looks better than Nintendo’s own manufacturing from that era.
Another highlight is the poster — Kashchey spent over 50 hours redrawing it. It looks like a fully authentic promotional poster from back in the day.
The only downside: the manual is in English only.
Epilogue
For a collector — or anyone who simply loves rare releases — this set is a real find.
VS. Super Mario Bros has always been somewhere on the edge of Nintendo history, but now we finally have a chance to put this arcade rarity on the shelf. It’s no longer just a ROM image sitting in a folder — it’s an actual physical release, with a box, a board, and even a poster.
