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Super Mario Bros 1 is hard as shit

Amory

Amory

Member
First video game I ever played. I've tried thousands of times (though most of the time half-heartedly) to beat this son of a bitch and I still haven't done it. It's so unforgiving!

- Even if you're fire Mario, one hit and you're small Mario
- If a fire flower pops out of a ? block and you get hit before you can collect it, you only get credit for a mushroom
- no backtracking
- 1-ups are few and far between, so coins are actually relevant for maybe the only time in the the series
- Especially in the later castles, the jumps you need to make to beat bowser are crazy precise
- Fuck bloopers.
- Fuck bullet bill and the hammer bros.

Nearly everyone's played this game, but I don't think I've ever met anyone who beat it.

Today I decided I'm gonna beat this game once and for all. For now I'm using the warp zones (I'm not even really sure if it's such a big advantage. I mean I know it is but you're just setting yourself up in the later worlds with fewer lives) and if I manage to do it I'll try without. Farthest I've made it is 7-2.

How about you, gaf? Beat SMB1? How old were you?
 
if you're using the warp zones correctly, you should never touch world 7
 
Beat it as a kid, it did feel kinda hard at the time though, but I found the other games I got to play back then even more unforgiving so yeah.
 
I technically beat it for the first time like 10 years ago through the "South Park Mario" "mod", however it did have a save function.

I beat the real Super Mario Bros. months ago on 3DS, but to be fair I used the save states.

I have never beaten Super Mario Bros. the way it was meant to be: on a single seat in a marathon like all many kids of the 1980s did.

My respect for them.
 
One of the games that really got me into videogames as kid. I used to beat it over and over and have recently beat it on the 3DS even though the button configuration sucks a whole lot.

and lol at never meeting anyone thats beat it.
 
In college I saw my friend beat it in under 7 minutes. (using the warp zones of course).

Just hold B and Right and time those jumps perfectly...
 
I hate how easy it is to get 1-ups in recent Mario games. Especially since you can save and continue if you run out of lives anyway, Mario might as well be invincible.
 
Toke Jopic? In case it isn't it was the first game I beat in 1987 after 5 months of playing. The fact that the game actually had an end blew my mind at the time and made me into an obsessed game-finishing machine, renting 8 and 16 bit games every weekend, and beating most of those games in that same weekend. (Gotta get my monies worth)
 
I never had an NES when I was a kid (a little too young for it) but for my birthday last year, I decided to buy myself one and a bunch of games including Mario.

I had played it before, of course, but it was a different experience on a real NES. It did strike me as pretty difficult though! I challenged myself to beat it without warping or continuing.

Took a few nights, but I managed it. It felt really satisfying, because as I played I could see myself getting better and better at it, and eventually I won! Had to stay up late on a school (work) night to do it. Felt awesome.

It can be done!
 
It's not so bad if you know how to stockpile a bunch of lives with the 1-Up trick. If you don't manage to do that, World 8 actually does become pretty difficult.
 
Wario64 said:
Most gamers today can't even finish level 1. Pathetic.

http://www.p4rgaming.com/majority-of-gamers-today-cant-finish-level-1-in-super-mario-bros/
Click to expand...

What the actual fuck?

We watched the replay videos of how the gamers performed and saw that many did not understand simple concepts like bottomless pits. Around 70 percent died to the first Goomba. Another 50 percent died twice. Many thought the coins were enemies and tried to avoid them. Also, most of them did not use the run button.
Click to expand...

This is a joke, right?

EDIT: Yeah, okay.
 
Manu said:
That was a joke article.

If you're using wap zones it should go like this: 1-1, 1-2, 4-1, 4-2, 8-1 and then just play until the end. I could beat the game in 15 minutes aproximately by doing that.
Click to expand...

Have you ever played the arcade version? Was much harder. The 4-2 warp only has world 6 from going up the vine.
 
this is the saddest thread I've ever seen. in 1985 and 86, elementary school kids beat this effortlessly.

I could do it (using warp zones) in 15 minutes.
 
What the hell? Kids were able to beat this easily back in the days. The only hard/annoying part are those endless loop patterns you gotta avoid..
 
I can beat the game in a matter of minutes with or without warping. It's not really that hard, but then again...I've played it a lot. But I don't ever remember thinking it was very hard.

The GameBoy Color version is pretty hard, though, but that's mostly due to the far more limited view range in it. VS Super Mario Bros. also changes things up and can get pretty hard.

The Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 (also known as The Lost Levels and Super Mario Bros. for Super Players) is fucking hard, though. I think it took me ten hours of non-stop gameplay to finish it.
 
I bought an NES with SMB a couple of months back.

Completed it in half an hour without using warps, completed SMB3.

People who say the old Mario games are hard are lying through their teeth, or are just embarrassingly bad at video games.
 
shuri said:
What the hell? Kids were able to beat this easily back in the days. The only hard/annoying part are those endless loop patterns you gotta avoid..
Click to expand...

I will say that very few people actually finished it from 1-1 to 8-4 without warping. just too time consuming, and there's some weird levels in there.
 
This game isn't hard as shit. It isn't a hand holding "everyone can win" game, it actually has a challenge and you have to master it. It really isn't a big challenge though as far as I am concerned. Play SMB2j for a challenge. If you are having trouble use the warps and remember to hold down B when you get game over so you can restart from that world.
 
KDash31987 said:
I can beat the game in a matter of minutes with or without warping. It's not really that hard, but then again...I've played it a lot.

The GameBoy Color version is pretty hard, though, but that's mostly due to the far more limited view range in it.

The Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 (also known as The Lost Levels and Super Mario Bros. for Super Players) is fucking hard, though. I think it took me ten hours of non-stop gameplay to finish it.
Click to expand...

I pwned the GameBoy Color one too along with the Lost Levels. People think I'm crazy when I tell them that for some reason. Didn't seem too bad. Same goes for Jak 2 actually.
 
It brings to light something that bothers me about modern games. Back then SMB1 was considered a "kids game," where as now days it would be a hardcore game. Modern "kids games" oversimplify mechanics, dumb down difficulty and generally make the game almost play itself. Developers underestimate the audience playing their games. I was 7 years old when I beat SMB1. Yeah it was challenging, but not impossible. It demanded my full attention and made me a better player.
 
games are about fun not about hard. That's worth remembering. I don't see it as 'pathetic' that people are used to easier games today. Maybe a little disappointing but that's only because I've been gaming for a while. I'm not worried about a lack of hard games moving forward seeing as how I start most games at the hardest difficulty level instead of complaining about it

I think that the old school Mario games pose a decent challenge but nothing that can't be overcome by someone who enjoys the game enough to see it through the end. I could never beat the original Mario as a kid but today it's a damn cakewalk. Super Mario Bros. 3 gets somewhat difficult toward the end but there isn't a Mario game that's anywhere near as challenging as most NES games.
 
Team Vernia said:
Exactly. Kids today wouldn't be able to handle Rygar and Battletoads for sure.
Click to expand...

kids back then weren't beating those two either.
There were some games that we're just "fuck you" hard for no real reason that no one got past.

some people might tell you that they beat Abadox. those people are liars.
 
Trying to beat SMB is a joy.

Collecting coins is so rewarding as you earn lives to give your self a better chance at getting farther.

The simplicity is amazing, and yet it isnt extremely hard like some other NES classics, or even....other games. It

The mechanics of SMB are pure bliss to me and to this day the game doesnt age for me. It still feels like the same game every time I boot it up.

I LOVEEE smb.
 
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