By 1988, Nintendo had recreated the video game industry in its own image. The video game industry’s collapse five years prior had sent arcades on a death spiral and allowed for the rise of the home console. Consoles promised consistency, and nothing offered more of that than Super Mario Bros. The Italian plumbers had taken the world by storm in 1985, and the split-sequel nature of SMB2 had introduced a wider cast of characters to America.
