Super Mario Bros.

Last Updated: October15th, 1999

Name: Super Mario Bros.
System: NES
Genre: Action
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release date: 1985
Age rating: N/A
Players: Two; alternating

Instruction Manual - Review by James

The Basics

Jump
Press A. The longer you hold it down, the higher Mario will jump.
Duck
Press Down on the Control Pad. You can go down certain pipes by ducking while on top of them.
Run
I cannot stress this enough: Hold down the B button as you press Left or Right on the Control Pad to make Mario run. You cannot beat the game if you walk all the time. Also, if you're running and you press A to jump, Mario will jump higher and longer. Again, this is critical if you want to beat some of the harder stages; there are some gaps that are impossible to jump over if you don't take a running leap.
Note: I hold down B during 99% of the game. If you find this too difficult, keep practicing. Once you master this technique, you'll notice yourself doing it for other Mario games, and eventually you'll never go back to your previous style of play.
Shoot fireballs
Press B when you are Fiery Mario.
Swim
Press A to swim.
Duck and slide
While running, press and hold Down, B, and whatever direction you were walking on the Control Pad. Mario will duck and slide. This is useful for getting under narrow spaces.
Moonwalk
If you duck and slide, and end up with Blocks directly above you, when you let go of Down, Mario will stand up (duh). But he will be in front of the Block, so the game will slide Mario to the right until he's cleared all the Blocks.
Climb Vines
Touch a Vine and press Up on the Control Pad.

World 1

1-1
Going down the fourth pipe leads to a secret coin room. When you come out of the secret room you'll be near the Flagpole. You can find an invisible block containing a 1-Up Mushroom if you go sixth-block-lengths away from the fourth pipe and jump up. It is possible, although difficult, to get the 1-Up and still be able to go down the fourth pipe.

1-2 Warp Zone
There is a 1-Up Mushroom over the last block on the right of the platform with 6 coins above it. If you're Super or Fiery Mario, quickly break the Block to the right of the 1-Up that just sprouted so the Mushroom drops down so you can collect it. If you're small Mario, not to worry -- just follow the 1-Up Mushroom and it will drop down over the pit with the elevator lifts. A well-timed jump can nab that 1-Up. However, if you were small and followed the 1-Up that far, you have passed the first pipe which leads to a secret coin room.
To find the Warp Zone in this stage, get on the second set of elevator lifts, ride it up a bit, then jump on top of the ceiling to the right. Continue to the right, and you will find the game's first Warp Zone! Here you can warp to Worlds 2, 3, or 4.

1-3

1-4
There are 6 hidden blocks containing 1 coin apiece hidden in the first wide-open area of this stage. Be wary of Bowser's fireballs!
To get past Bowser, jump over him or run under him when he jumps. Touch the axe thingie and the bridge will retract, and Bowser will fall into the lava. You can also kill Bowser with 5 fireballs. If you kill him with fireballs, you'll get a cool 5,000 and reveal a Goomba that was disguised as Bowser!

World 2

2-1
If you have warped to this level, there is a hidden 1-Up Mushroom down in the area with the first Koopa Troopa. Go under the Bricks but stand one block left of them. Jump to find an Invisible Coin Block, then jump straight up off of that to reveal the hidden 1-Up.

2-2
The first water level. Fiery Mario makes this level a whole lot easier.

2-3
Keep moving, and keep an eye on the Cheep-Cheeps above you so you can dodge them easier. If you stand in one spot too long, a Cheep-Cheep will land on you. Remember that Cheep-Cheeps can be stomped on while they are out of the water!

2-4
Bowser is really a Koopa Troopa.

World 3

3-1
If you have warped to this level, there is a hidden 1-Up Mushroom above the bridge.

3-2

3-3

3-4
Bowser is really a Buzzy Beetle.

World 4

4-1
You will bypass most of the level if you go down the third pipe. If you have warped to this level, there is a hidden 1-Up Mushroom above the ninth ? Block.

4-2 Warp Zones
There are two Warp Zones in this stage! Use the same technique as in 1-2 to find the warp to World 5. Finding the warp to Worlds 6, 7, or 8 is a bit tricker. After the first elevator lift, there is a pit and three Brick Blocks above you. There are four hidden coin blocks under the three Blocks above you, but the only two you need to hit are the ones under the second and third Brick Blocks. Jump on the stairs you just made and hit the first Brick Block to sprout a Vine. The Vine leads to the second Warp Zone.

4-3

4-4
This stage is a maze. The correct path is as follows: Take the upper route, go up the stairs, then take the bottom route.
Bowser is really a Spiny.

World 5

5-1
If you have warped to this level, there is a hidden 1-Up Mushroom in the gap between a 3-block-high wall and 2 Brick Blocks.

5-2

5-3
Look familiar? This stage is the same as 1-3, except the lifts are smaller.

5-4
Look familiar? This stage is the same as 2-4, except there's more Fire Bar thingies.
Bowser is really a Lakitu.

World 6

6-1

6-2
Directly above the sixth hill in the background there are 2 hidden coin blocks. Once you find one, jump on top of it and jump straight up to find the other one. Get on the second one and take out Lakitu, and you should be Lakitu-free the rest of the way.

6-3

6-4
Look familiar? This stage is the same as 1-4, except there's more Fire Bar thingies. Yes, the hidden coins are in the exact same places.
Bowser is really a Bloober.

World 7

7-1
If you have warped to this level, there is a hidden 1-Up Mushroom above the second pipe.

7-2
Look familiar? This stage is the same as 2-2, except there's more enemies.

7-3
Look familiar? This stage is the same as 2-3, except there's Koopa Troopas.

7-4
This stage is a maze. The correct path is as follows: Bottom route, middle route, top route, take the top route over the Fire Bar. Then take the top, middle, then top again.
Bowser is really a Hammer Brother.

World 8

8-1
This stage is LONG; keep running. Don't spend too much time killing enemies and/or collecting coins; you may run out of time at the end. Going down the fifth pipe leads to a secret coin room, but it doesn't really save you any time.
If you have warped to this stage, there is a hidden 1-Up Mushroom above the second pipe.

8-2
Jumping straight up off the Springboard reveals a 1-Up Mushroom. Try to collect it, you'll need a few extra tries to get through this stage ;)

8-3
This stage is arguably the hardest one in the game... if you're not Fiery, that is... :)

8-4
Another maze! The correct path is as follows: Go down the first pipe after the lava, go down the first pipe suspended in mid-air (there is an Invisible Coin Block to the left of it which makes a great stepping-stone), go down the first pipe after the lava, swim through the water, take out the Hammer Brother and continue to the right to find Bowser. Be careful! Going down wrong pipes will take you back to the beginning of the stage.
Bowser is really... Bowser!

The Review Below is by: Harnold

Super Mario Bros. is Mario's first side-scrolling adventure, and the first time (of many) that Bowser captures Princess Toadstool. Lots of new skills are introduced here, like swimming, fireball throwing, vine climbing, etc. Mario can now defeat enemies by jumping on them, and there are many power-ups to aid him in his quest. The Super Mushroom changes Mario into Super Mario. As Super Mario, he can now break blocks by hitting them from underneath. Getting touched by an enemy will change him back to normal (Small) Mario, instead of taking a life away. The Fire Flower gives Mario the ability to shoot fireballs. Fiery Mario is quite powerful, but he earns less points for fireballing an enemy compared to stomping on them.

Objective: Save Princess Toadstool.

If Super or Fiery Mario gets hit by an enemy, he will be invincible for a few seconds as he reverts to small Mario. Take advantage of this.
Jump on many enemies in a row without touching the ground, and/or kick turtle shells into multiple enemies for loads of points. For each enemy you get in a row, the point values go up like so: 100 - 200 - 400 - 800 - 1,000 - 2,000 - 4,000 - 8000. Every enemy after 8,000 points is a 1-Up.
In World 3-1, at the staircase before the Flagpole, there are two Koopa Troopas. Let the first one by, and get all the way to the right on a step as you can. Jump straight up to stomp the second one. If done correctly (a quick, short jump usually does the trick), Mario will hit off the Koopa Troopa (duh), and will start a cycle of bouncing the shell off the step and landing on the shell again. If you don't touch the ground, your points will rack up, and you'll eventually get 1-Ups. If for some reason you land again, just press A and the cycle will start again. Try not to get more than 120 (or something like that; I don't know the exact number) extra lives or your game will end.
Try smashing Brick Blocks everywhere; there are lots of hidden 10-Coin Blocks.
Every x-1 stage has a hidden 1-Up if you've warped to it. Although you can't warp to 1-1, it has a hidden 1-Up in it anyway.
In water levels, the Bloobers can't hurt you as long as you're walking on the sea floor.
If you touch the flagpole when the last digit of the timer is a 1, 3, or 6, fireworks will go off, giving you 500 points each. The number of fireworks you get matches the last digit on the timer. To stop the timer with 6 as the last digit, stand on the left edge of the top of the stairs, and when you see the last digit on the timer drop from 0 to 9, do a running jump off the stairs. You will get 5,000 points on the Flagpole plus 3,000 points total for the six fireworks.
Kill Bowser with fireballs to earn 5,000 points.
Warp Zones
- World 1-2 - Use the lifts after the Red Koopa Troopa to jump on the "ceiling" of the level. Continue right to find the Warp Zone, where you can warp to Worlds 2, 3, or 4.
- World 4-2
  1. There are many places where you can get on the ceiling and go all the way to the right (á la World 1-2) to find the Warp Zone to World 5.
  2. After the part with the 3 Goombas and seven [?] blocks, there will be a pit. In the first of the three blocks on the other side is a vine which takes to Warp Zone, but there are four invisible blocks under it, that when hit in the wrong order can make access to the vine impossible for Super or Fiery Mario. Get to the other side and stand on the last block before the pit, on the ground. Jump to hit the first invisible block. Next, go two blocks to the right and jump to hit the second invisible block. Move one more block to the right, and jump again. Now, use the third and second blocks as steps to reach the 3 Brick Blocks above you. The one all the way on the right holds a Vine. Now if you want an extra coin, drop down and jump up between the first and second invisible blocks to reveal yet another invisible block.

The good guys
- Mario - The hero of our story.
- Luigi - Mario's brother.
- Mushroom Retainer - Held captive by Bowser in every x-4 World except 8-4.
- Princess Toadstool - Held captive by Bowser in World 8-4.

Items
- Super Mushroom - Transforms small Mario to Super Mario. Super Mario can break bricks by hitting the bottom of them.
- Fire Flower - Transforms Super Mario to Fiery Mario, giving him the ability to shoot fireballs. (Also transforms small Mario to Super Mario.)
- Starman - Gives Mario temporary invincibility. Any enemy touched during this time gets killed.
- 1-Up Mushroom - Adds one life to Mario's total lives in reserve.

Killing Bowser in 3-4 with fireballs reveals that he was really a Buzzy Beetle. Buzzy Beetle's first appearance as an actual enemy is in 4-2 (and he can't be killed with fireballs).
When you climb a Vine into a secret area, get back on the Vine, climb up to the top and keep holding Up on the Control Pad. This creates a weird effect, like Mario is dancing on the Vine!
If you jump over any Flagpole (it's possible in 3-3 or in any level with Game Genie codes), you won't find anything special. The level goes on forever, there are no obstacles/enemies, and you have to wait for time to expire to get out of it.

Graphics: 2.5
Graphics get better in future Mario games.
Sound: 3.5
Catchy overworld theme :)

Play control: 3.9
Less manueverabilty in the air compared to future Mario games.

Challenge: 4.5
Bad play control + creativity of Shigeru Miyamoto = tough game.

Satisfaction: 4.5
This game got me hooked on Mario.

Design: 2.7
Some levels repeat, except you'll see more enemies.

Replay value: 4.5
SMB was my first Nintendo game, and I still play it.

Overall: 3.7
Great game to play when you are bored. A classic; I recommend it.

+
Very addictive.
-
Keeping the continue code a secret probably lessened the replay value for lots of players.

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