Game 439: Super Mario Bros.

 

I really don't need to cover Super Mario Bros. It's certainly one of the most covered games of all time already, and it certainly meets my own whale exclusion criteria of games that I already played to death.

But I'm replaying it - and giving it a write-up anyway. This is a monumentally important game to me personally, and, I suspect, to many of my readers. And unless there is a surprise upset, this is likely going to be my GOTY 1985.

It is funny to me, that for myself and most U.S. gamers who had it, Super Mario Bros. represents the beginning of an era, but Nintendo designed to be the end of one. The Famicom had been out in Japan for a few years already, and Nintendo felt they were reaching the limits of what could be done with its 40KB ROM cartridges. The Disk System expansion kit would soon expand that limit to 128KB and add on-disk saving, allowing bigger, better games, and Super Mario Bros. was to be the last cartridge hurrah, pushing the soon-to-be obsolete format to its limit. But in the U.S., these next-generation Nintendo games came to cartridge anyway, thanks to mapper chips and battery-backup RAM, leaving the Disk System a Japan-only curiosity.

I remember the day, this must have been around 1988, that a friend showed me "Nintendo." I had never heard of it before, never seen Atari, and was only vaguely familiar with arcade games such as Pac-Man and Pole Position, but what I saw was a wired remote control that made a little man run and jump across the television screen. A game played on the television screen! Then he showed me another Nintendo function - shooting ducks that flew across the screen with a toy gun that could somehow "hit" the images it was aiming at. The concept amazed me, and soon I had a Nintendo of my own, including the Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt pack-in cartridge.

It's somewhat ironic that for being such a personally important game, one that made "Nintendo" synonymous with "video games" in my mind for years, and despite owning one for the better part of ten years, I never actually played the original Super Mario Bros. on it that much. I played it for about a year, and I don't think I ever beat world 4. Afterward, newer NES games made it look primitive. I'd rent one almost every week, and I rarely looked back.

The first time I seriously revisited the game and finished it proper was with the 1993 SNES re-release Super Mario All-Stars. After that, the Gameboy Color Deluxe version offered a more content-complete package, but at the expense of screen size and resolution. In the decades since, I've come to prefer the NES original, which has been accurately emulated for quite a long time now, and better appreciate it not just as a foundational title, but as a polished and pure platformer.

Super Mario Bros. is an all-time excellent game, and you don't need me to tell you that. I'm honestly not sure what I can bring to the table here. It's been decompiled, analyzed, scrutinized, hacked, speedrun, slowrun, coinrun, historied, chronicled, blogged, vlogged, flogged, AI-trained, you name it.

I realized that there's one thing I never accomplished in the original version of the game - I never beat the second quest, which you unlock after finishing world 8-4:

So, what I did is that I finished the game normally to unlock it - this is not an easy task! Unforgiving gameplay and limited lives make this the second-most difficult mainline Mario game of all time, after its Japan-exclusive sequel. The secret Warp Zones can bring you back to the later levels quickly, but skipping them means more chances to earn extra lives on the easier levels. In my winning game, I reached world 8 with ten spare lives, and used most of them.

This also allows you to start on any of the game's eight worlds, effectively granting me unlimited continues. So below is a complete playthrough of Super Mario Bros.' hard mode, with no save states except for one made at the title screen with the hard mode unlocked, no warp zones, and authentic, mostly unrehearsed gameplay, save for a few false starts that I edited out. I play cautiously, I make errors, and probably miss out on some of the warp pipes, secret coin blocks, 1-ups, and coin heavens, because I don't remember where they all are. Truth be told it's probably not all that interesting to watch, but it's here.

 

World 1-1

Super Mario Bros.' World 1-1 has got to be the most famous level of all time, in any video game ever. Most of Mario's lessons are learned here, in an organic, self-paced fashion - the controls, the physics, the powerup system, the basic enemies and their behaviors, the secrets, even the cycle of death and rebirth. Even speedrunning is eventually learned here - a skilled player can blow through it in well under a minute, and for all the times you'll revisit this stage, you'll want to. The level, and the iconic music that plays with it, are seared into our collective brains.

Hard mode makes one change that affects this level - the easily squashed goombas are replaced with sturdier, fire resistant buzzy beetles. If you're good enough to unlock hard mode in the first place, then 1-1's hard variant should be no problem, but later levels will put buzzy beetles in inconvenient places.

World 1-2

In my view, World 1-2 is nearly as iconic as World 1-1. You get your first scenery change and your first music change - both things that were not taken for granted back in 1985 - and your first warp zone, which most players will probably use. Piranha Plants also appear for the first time here, and in fact are programmed to spawn in every vertical pipe from now to the end of the game, except for when memory limits make it impossible. 1-2's design takes a decidedly claustrophobic approach, fitting the subterranean theme, in contrast to 1-1's openness.

The organically-taught gameplay lessons continue. Low-hanging ceilings make it riskier to jump on enemies. Brick patterns can be chiseled away to your advantage when you are Super Mario. Running increases your maximum jumping height by a little bit, letting you reach platforms that are otherwise just out of reach. Little Mario can fit in spaces that Super Mario can't, but Super Mario can make his own ways through them by breaking walls - there's always a way forward. Super Mario can break through to the ceiling and break the level's bounds, and this is no oversight - do it again at the level's end and you're rewarded with a multi stage-skipping warp zone.

The one hard mode change change here, apart from the addition of buzzy beetles, is the elevator platforms toward the end become narrower - this threw me off on my first failed (and edited out) attempt.

 

World 1-3

 

The first time I reached this level, I thought the bluffs were giant mushrooms. Whatever they are, there's a lot more jumping from surface to surface than we've seen in the prior levels - for the first time there is no solid ground. Flying turtles appear, and can help clear some of the high jumps by giving Mario a bit extra hang time, but it's nothing like the bounce in later games. Hard mode throws bullet bills into the mix too, but they're not much of a problem if you take your time.

 

World 1-4

 

Every world concludes with a castle stage of lava pits and fire traps, with Bowser waiting for you at the end of it. This introductory castle is the simplest of the eight, but I consider it the most iconic one - even if most players wind up skipping it. In any of them, though, powerups are both rare and risky to try to collect. Hard mode adds more fire traps - getting through the final gauntlet without taking a hit is not easy! And then, after weaving through several fireballs, you'll see Bowser at the end - being bigger than your usual enemies and covered in spikes, you'll instinctively understand that this is a special enemy who you shouldn't try to jump on. This time, he's easy enough to just jump over.

 

World 2-1

 

2-1 introduces two new things - a secret, easily missable magic beanstalk that takes you to the coin heaven bonus stage, and an unmissable springboard that you need to use to get over the final wall. In Miyamoto's fashion, we see it here for the first time in a manner so that you must use it to move forward, but suffer no consequences for mistiming the push-off; you just try it again until you get it right. Later levels with this gadget won't be so forgiving.

With more Koopas and more barriers on the ground than before, 2-1 also teaches you an important lesson - kicked shells in enclosed spaces will ricochet off the walls forever, or at least until you jump on the shell to stop it, which will endanger you if you miss. If you're brave enough to follow a kicked shell in the open, you might learn that you get a 1-Up if it collides into enough enemies in a row - and might immediately lose it if you're not fast enough to jump over that kicked shell when it ricochets off a barrier and right back into you.

Hard mode just adds the usual buzzy beetles which make little difference.

 

World 2-2

 

Mario's first ever water stage! Excerpts from this one get reused for some of the bonus levels moving forward. Bloobers and Cheep-Cheeps are deadly to touch, but vulnerable to fire, which works underwater for some reason. Otherwise, avoiding them can be challenging, given the weird water physics and the fact that they can swim right through walls. A number of coins are temptingly placed in a series of pits - beware the invisible undertow which can drag you right down.

Hard mode does indeed make things even harder, with twice as many Bloobers and Cheep-Cheeps to deal with.

 

World 2-3

 

Ugh, flying fish. They wouldn't be so bad, except that they have a tendency to spawn right below/behind you when you aren't moving and come at you pretty fast, and if you aren't in the air when they touch you, they can kill you even if looks like they're touching your feet. Overall it is better to keep moving and trust your reflexes/memory to react to whatever comes up ahead, though this is risky too.

Hard mode adds some flying Koopa Troopas and even more Cheep Cheeps.

 

World 2-4

 

Bowser's second castle is much like the first. The biggest change is the addition of an elevator shaft, and hard mode narrows the platforms and adds more spinning fire traps.

Bowser also added a low-hanging ceiling over his lava bridge to make it harder to jump over him. But if you can anticipate his jumps, you can run under him instead.

 

World 3-1

 

Nighttime falls over the Mushroom Kingdom as we introduce... the Hammer Bros! These guys move unpredictably and toss barrages of deadly hammers at you in a high parabolic arc, making it suicide to try to bop them in the head. On top of that, the hammers' hitboxes are oversized, leading to unfair deaths by passing hammers that don't even look like they should be touching you.

Usually, the H.B.s appear on multi-tiered brick platforms where you can wait out their patterns and pass them the safest way - underneath them. Usually. This time, a starman powerup trivializes the first and only encounter of the level.

 

World 3-2

 

A mostly flat breather level, but there sure are a lot of Koopa Troopas to kick around! Take care that their shells don't ricochet back into you.

 

World 3-3

 

Here we see for the first time scale platforms which lift one end upward as you step on the other - and in hard mode the platforms get narrower. Mess up by allowing it to lift out of your reach, and you can still take the lower, more difficult road forward. Another scale platform near the end can be used to reach the flagpole.

 

World 3-4

 

Bowser's third castle is the usual gauntlet of pits and fire traps. Hard mode makes no changes at all; it's easier than the first two castles.

 

World 4-1

 

Day breaks and Lakitu comes to be a nuisance by throwing infinity spiny-shelled Koopas at you. I remember dreading him so many years ago, but honestly, he's not so bad if you don't dawdle - they move pretty slowly, and the level design is flat and simple. Hammer Bros are much worse! But still, he makes it inconvenient to hang back and collect the coins and powerups, and can occasionally complicate your jumps by dropping a spiky foe on the other side. Hard mode has no effect on this stage.

 

World 4-2

 

This underground stage - only the second one in the game so far - is most notable for a well-hidden magic beanstalk that leads straight to a World 8 warp pipe, effectively skipping over 75% of the game if you also used the warp zone in 1-2. But I'm not here for that.

There's a decent number of powerups and coins down here too. You can get a fire flower a few screen-lengths in, which will take care of everything except a few ensconced Buzzy Beetles and some moderately tricky elevator platform jumps near the end.

 

World 4-3

 

Hope you're comfortable with manipulating scale platforms, because this level will make things difficult for you in a hurry if you aren't.

 

World 4-4

 

Bowser's fourth castle scales back on the fire traps and introduces something much worse - mazes! Take the wrong path at any of the splits and you'll loop around endlessly until you guess correctly, in which case you'll find Bowser. Later versions of the game will play a chime to indicate whether your guesses are right or wrong, but here, your only way of knowing is if it dawns in on you that the level is just repeating itself.

At least this maze isn't too bad - but don't worry, the worst is yet to come. Pity the player who guesses the correct path here the first time and doesn't even realize what's going on, setting them to be all the more confused when they reach the real maze.

 

World 5-1

World 5 opens with a mostly flat level with no coins, no powerups except a hidden starman near the midpoint, and lots of enemies - primarily Buzzy Beetles when on hard mode. Near the end, you're introduced to a pair of Bullet Bill-launching cannons aimed right at a chasm, complicating the leap somewhat, but more importantly, teaching you that you'll need to be prepared to deal with this situation henceforth.

World 5-2

The Hammer Bros are back, and they're not screwing around. First you've got one guarding a staircase, and honestly the most reliable way to get past him may simply be to take a hit; a Super Mushroom right before him ensures this is possible. Three more await on tiered brick platforms, and can be beaten with patience, skill, and a bit of luck.

Apart from that, 5-2 has a number of interesting platforming challenges. You get more cannons, arranged in more positions and in different combinations of other threats. One warp pipe takes you to an extended underwater sequence which can be deadlier than the level portion that it skips. A long jump near the end glides over a tricky Pirahna Plant placed right in the middle of the chasm. The usual staircase at the end is broken, and has Paratroopas bouncing down the intact steps like Slinkies, which you'll need to jump over without landing in the death gaps between.

Worlds 5-3, 5-4

These are simply the harder variants of 1-3 and 2-4, repeated. Hard mode does not make them extra-hard.

World 6-1

Lakitu is back, and wants to make a stage otherwise barren of enemies interesting for you. He's marginally more threatening than before thanks to the more challenging terrain, but overall isn't too bad. Hard mode has no effect on this stage at all.

World 6-2

Pirahna plants. Lots of pirahna plants. And lots of secret areas, with lots of coins. Having a fire flower powerup will make your life easier! Unfortunately, one of the secret areas is underwater, where it's easy to lose it.

World 6-3

A cool, wintery palette colors this stage where you'll have to jump on precarious platforms of all types, while Bullet Bills launch from off-screen.

World 6-4

 

This is the hard variant of 1-4 repeated. Only now Bowser throws hammers at you when you get close. Which isn't too horrible, actually - just stick close enough for them to sail over you and dash under when he jumps. The timing is easier than a Hammer Bro thanks to his floatiness.

World 7-1

Oh my. We're looking at a big difficulty spike here - a level full of cannons, Paratroopas, and Hammer Bros, sometimes all at once. Bullets come high, bullets come low, bullets come mid-height, nowhere is safe! This is where I got my first game over in the uploaded video, though I partly blame coffee jitters.

Worlds 7-2, 7-3

Two more hard level variants; the underwater 2-2 and flying fish hell of 2-3.

World 7-4

This is the second castle maze, and this one's evil. You could easily run the timer out trying to brute force the solution, wrapping around endlessly until you correctly guess the exact path you need to take in order to escape. I know this because I did, multiple times, during my normal mode playthrough. But when you know, traversing it isn't too bad. Neither is Bowser.

World 8-1

No more messing around! There are no checkpoints anywhere in this last world, powerups are scarce - there's none in 8-1 except a hidden starman - and the jumping challenges are both unforgiving and varied. Lots and lots of single-tile gaps dot the landscape; they can be crossed without jumping if you run fast enough... until you run into a bunch patrolled by Paratroopas. This level, in particular, is so long that running out of time is a credible threat.

World 8-2

Lakitu is back again, only now the level isn't so barren of other enemies. You want to deal with spiny shells while also trying to hop around batteries of Bullet Bills, platoons of Paratroopas, and tricky jumps over great chasms flanked by Pirahna Plants? No, you don't. Kill Lakitu at the earliest opportunity and finish the level before another one comes.

Ahh.

A not-so-secret 1-Up revealed, but you have to keep up over dangerous terrain to catch it.

A pair of bricks dare you to check them for secrets.

One of the trickiest jumps in the game. You have to hit the broken ground running with enough momentum to clear the big gap ahead.

Danger and death in all directions.

World 8-3

Lots of Hammer Bros. patrol Bowser's battlements. This is your last chance to get a fire flower, and trust me, you want one - the first two pairs of H.B.s guard a secret powerup each, and if you can collect both without taking a hit, dealing with the rest of them will be a cinch. If not, trying to get past them all as little Mario will be hell, and Bowser's final castle will be even worse.

Snagging the first one before it falls

Found the second!

Hammer time's over, punk!

The closer you get to Bowser, the worse shape the end-level staircases are in!

World 8-4

If you brought a fire flower here, you've got one chance to use it, because if you die or take a hit, there's no way to get it back, and Bowser and his last minion become way more difficult. And if you don't know exactly what you're doing, then you're probably not making it on your first try. Hopefully you either do know what you're doing, or else brought plenty of spare lives.

Bowser's last castle is another maze - this time a maze of warp pipes, and the castle isn't so harmless otherwise. Miss the correct pipe and the castle loops back on itself. Take the wrong pipe and you go back to the start.

At least the maze isn't too hard to figure out. The first pipe after a lava pit is generally the one you need to take.

An invisible coin block lets you reach the floating warp pipe.

 

Oh no. More flying fish!

Keeping Fire Mario healthy in this underwater section is harder than it looks.

A lone Hammer Bro awaits you near the end. If you have fireballs, you can make toast and finish the game.

If not, then good luck sneaking past them. It's doable, but I have no strategy that works consistently.

He jumped. I tried to run under. Didn't work.

Bowser throws hammers and breathes fire now.

GAB rating: Good

That's right - double harpoons. Ever since I introduced GAB to the format, I'd been waiting for a game that I can enthusiastically rate a degree higher than harpoon-earning whales Pac-Man, Zork, Star Raiders, etc. And this is it. Is Super Mario Bros. the pinnacle of design? No. Is it the best game ever made as of its own release date? Yes!

It's not perfect - some of the levels are filler, five of them are repeats, the 7-4 castle maze was a horrible idea, and the castles generally could have stood to be a bit more generous with powerups. Hitboxes can be wonky, with Mario passing through large enemies, and getting killed by hammers that don't even touch him.

But it's amazing just how much Super Mario Bros. gets right for such an early game with so little before it to reference - not just in terms of its subliminal teaching level design whose lessons continue well past the famous first stage, or its fluid, intuitive controls and physics, which are perfectly suited to the demands of the levels, but little things too, which you might not even notice, yet go a long way toward making it feel good to play. For instance, did you know that there is special logic that detects when Mario jumps and touches the corner of an overhead brick with his shoulder, rather than his head or fist, and subtly nudges his jumping trajectory around it? The payoff - an action game that gives you more freedom of control than anything before it, that challenges and rarely feels sloppy or unfair, goes to show the value of Miyamoto's priorities; playtesting, playtesting, more playtesting, and making sure that everything works in service of the game feel. Super Mario Bros. is, perhaps, the world's first super game.