if you think this game “plays weird” and don’t get the hype i beg you to play 5 other NES platformers then come back, relax, and feel the lushness of the first true strand type game.

super mario bros is not the primordially simple jumping game it is often introduced as. platformers had ages to mature in the hypercompetitive arena of the arcade throughout the 70’s and early 80’s. aside from its understatedly elegant aesthetic, the ambition in SMB is in the elevation of movement from merely a mode of traversal to a gymnastic, expressive activity.

megaman, simon belmont, and ryu hayabusa are all transparently simple state machines— the amount of possible actions they can take is finite and countable. super mario bros did not invent momentum in platforming, nor was it the first to leverage the additional complications that a more involved system of movement entails. the friction between the player avatar and the ground. the acceleration from a dead stop to a full run. the short moment after taking your finger off the jump button before the character truly starts to fall. all the little intricacies and details compound to make mario a much more expressive vessel for a player to inhabit. what sets SMB apart is that the movement is honed to the extent it becomes even more natural than the comparatively simple systems of the above games.

mario’s body doesn’t literally move like the human form does, but negotiating the balance of a jump in mid-air, trying to establish steady footing on unhelpful terrain, and wheelin and dealing with newton’s first law in general is central to the human experience. in super mario bros, nintendo squarely refocuses the platformer from a cabaret of obstacles to a celebration of acrobatic motivity

and so, it became the bedrock upon which their castle was built

Não sei se seria exagero chamar esse aqui de jogo mais importante da minha vida. Acho que está ali empatado com Super Mario 64... e até ontem à noite eu meio que nem me lembrava dele. Foi só quando estava vendo alguns vídeos à procura de um outro game (Mario & Luigi, encontrado em todo santo computador na minha adolescência) que parei pra checar se não seria o primeiro Super Mario Bros., afinal de contas, quando--ei, esse aí é o jogo que passei a infância jogando no Dynavision! Que loucura, como não tinha adicionado ainda?!

Hoje em dia é uma outra experiência. Quase dá vontade de falar que lembro dele ser mais difícil, mas não é uma comparação justa: jogar isso aqui sem a opção de salvar do NSO e sem poder conferir algumas coisas, como o caminho certo em alguns dos castelos finais, devia mesmo ser uma experiência de outro mundo, e não no bom sentido. Mas eu adorava, então acho que dá pra dizer que é uma maravilha de qualquer jeito, em qualquer era.

A menos que a gente esteja falando do Lakitu. Lakitu, você é horrível e merece a PRISÃO. Você sabe o que fez.

Most NES games have aged like milk. This aged like milk but if you put a bunch of preservatives in it. If I played this in 1985 I would've cummed my little pants off. But I did not. I played it 39 years after the fact: when every single merit of this game has been triumphed tenfold. Thus, my pants remain firmly un-cummed in.

Ultimately, it was pretty fun to see where it all began. It was not fun to see how bullshit the hammer bros are, or how annoying the bloopers are, or how level 7-4 is the dumbest thing ever made by the hands of man.

I genuinely wanted to love this game, and I almost did, but i HATE the last two levels to the point where it docks a whole half star off for me. Hammer Bros are such annoying enemies to deal with and have such inconsistent behavior that after having to replay the levels of World 8 probably over 15 or more times, these enemies were the only thing that were killing me consistently anymore. They are so, so frustrating and while to some this may be an iconic aspect of the game, I just cannot stand it at all.

To me it's a real shame, because I think all the way up to the latter half of World 8, barring like... one of the Castle levels that randomly make you do an esoteric maze [which is what the final level decides to do as well for some god forsaken reason], this game is consistently solid, fun, and has fair but mildly challenging course design. Mario's physics are also a point of contention for some, but I personally find it fun how much weight all of Mario's movements have; it channels a similar appeal to Donkey Kong while just being that bit more maneuverable. I'd liken it to controlling a car just because of how much momentum Mario carries with each of his movements, which is especially fun to wrangle with in some of the tougher stages. It's not hard to understand why they changed it in future titles, but it certainly gives this game a unique feel from the rest of the Super Mario side scrollers which I appreciate so much. After all, this game's simple level design simply wouldn't work as well if it weren't for Mario just being that smidge difficult to maneuver through the stages. To me personally, it's a fantastic balance of restriction and control compared to past attempts with stuff like Wrecking Crew and Donkey Kong.

It also shouldn't be understated how revolutionary this game was for the time it came out, but for how many of these levels are bangers with that mindset, it makes the last few stinkers stick out even more in my opinion, and beyond some of the jank you may run into like with Bullet Bills shooting twice randomly, I feel like a lot of my actual 'fuck this game' moments can be traced back to either the Hammer Bros. or the Castle maze segments. Otherwise, once you get used to the physics, I think this still holds up as a classic game and achievement on all fronts.

Despite being a Nintendo fan since forever, I just recently played the OG, that many still consider a title that holds up

And in a sense yeah, it still is kinda decent, definitely not a bad time.
But as a platformer especially considering what will come up later... the original SMB is weird.
If we have to compare it to something I wanna say that Super Mario Bros is like..... the Formula 1 car of Mario Games.... lemme explain.

Racing cars tend to go all out: they tend to reach victory as quickly as possible, while also try to make riskier moves to give it all... but once they try to turn around they feel slower than anyone else, meaning that changing direction is kinda stiff, since turning a high speed going car is tough and may take some time.

I know it is a weird comparison, but Mario in SMB feels really similar to me: he is fast and you feel tempted to go forward at higher speed. The game kinda makes you want to sprint forward with less hesitation, for different reasons: you can't go back on the left side of the screen so going forward is your only option: whenever you exit pipes, piranha plants step where you were, as an indirect signal to suggest you to go forward; running at higher speed means you can potentially find hidden passages like the infamous pipes in 1-2, that makes you literally jump worlds. Jumping Cheep cheeps and Lakitus can be completely skipped if you just keep on running,

The issue is that the moment you hesitate..... ehhhh mario feels like a car that is struggling stopping: it's not and immediate top but it's slippery and extremely janky. I feel that enemies like Hammer Bros and Bloopers are so hated mainly because they tend to stop your flow and more likely kills you because of the wackier way you turn around.

Most of the levels are also linear, with the only exception being the castles with labyrinth like paths (which kinda sucks, I can't believe these have been brought back in some instances of NSMB Wii), meaning that you barely get this feeling of turning a car on the highway, but it doesn't mean I felt it kinda too much. I ain't sure if this is because of the version present on the NSO, or the fact I grew up with later titles before jumping on SMB, but regardless I felt the jankier controls way harder.

Not to mention that the variety of the levels, while of course revolutionary at the time, today ust feel too samey. I swear I remmeber playing a level in world 7 and being pretty sure it was the same I found in world 2 or something. Having all levels not changing that much compared to other titles also bland the whole mushroom kingdom together, and you feel kinda like you saw everything the game has to offer around the fourth world or something.

Overall of course SMB is a mile stone that everyone should try at least once, its importance cannot be overstated and so on,... but I feel it didn't age as well as other people may claim. Sorryyy.

This game holds a special place in my heart because it was the very first video game I played on a console. From the moment I picked up that controller and started guiding Mario through the Mushroom Kingdom, I was hooked.

Sure, I failed countless times along the way, but that didn't stop me from playing. There was just something about the gameplay, the music, the colorful world—it all came together to create an experience that was truly magical. And let me tell you, the feeling of satisfaction I got every time I finally beat a level was pure joy.

Super Mario Bros. isn't just a game; it's a masterpiece of gaming history. It's the kind of game that transcends generations, and I can't wait to introduce it to my future kids someday.