Are you going to cover Mario Bros. before Super Mario Bros., or just skip straight to the NES title? Either way, I assume that if you’re going to make the jump (do you see what I did there) from the arcade to the console, you’ll be dealing with the immense changes in the game brought about by the immense changes to Mario’s jump. Mario Bros. did serve as a sort of half-way point between Donkey Kong’s Castlevania-like low fixed arc and the rather sophisticated Newtonian jumps of Super Mario Bros., but other than that it may not be worth your time. Whatever you choose to do, I look forward to it!

Your caveat about having no confidence in bringing anything new to the table is well-taken, but I think your writing is both enjoyable and succinct enough to justify chiming in; and anyway, some things need to be re-told. Academics spend most of their time saying things that have already been said.