difficulty of the NES Super Marios - which did you beat?

[kisrael]

I was listening to https://www.earwolf.com/show/how-did-this-get-played/ about SMB2, and near the wrapup they mention how difficult this game was.

So, like, SMB2 was the only 2D Mario game I beat! (or maybe some DS stuff idk)

I came to the NES after SMB's heyday, so it's like... you don't have to play this game, you can kind of just "get it", and it kicks your butt, and then the stupid "pick a door maze" finished you off.
SMB3... it's such an expansive game. I watched my friend who I think could finish it, and I think the end run still looks intimidating.

 

But SMB2... you could stockpile some lives w/ the casino game, and learn how to finish up the final castle and it wasn't that bad, I thought.

(Also SMB2 and Mega Man 2 were such huge jumps in what video games could look like! My thought was "man games are now playable cartoons!")

So what do you think, which NES Mario was easiest, which was hardest? Did you beat any or all of them or none?

[Tempest]

SMW and the US version of SMB2 are probably the easiest.  I can beat both effortlessly.

 

The Japanese SMB2 is by far the hardest.  I beat it once (including all the extra levels) but I had to resort to save states to do it (on a real NES though).   

 

I was kind of surprised at how difficult SMB3 can get at times after playing it again last year.  I always it thought it was one of the easier ones when I was younger.

[Rhomaios]

For me, it would be 1 is easier than 3 which is easier than 2 (US, of course). SMB is easier to warp through most of the games and the layouts are easier to memorize. SMB2 is a delight in and of itself, but it really plays differently.

[kisrael]

16 minutes ago, Tempest said:

SMW and the US version of SMB2 are probably the easiest.  I can beat both effortlessly.

 

The Japanese SMB2 is by far the hardest.  I beat it once (including all the extra levels) but I had to resort to save states to do it (on a real NES though).   

 

I was kind of surprised at how difficult SMB3 can get at times after playing it again last year.  I always it thought it was one of the easier ones when I was younger.

I was thinking about SMW (not technically NES but still clearly a close cousin). I feel like I gave it the old college try a few years ago and got caught up a few levels before the ending, or somehow stuck.

And I guess Japanese SMB2 is technically Famicom again. But I KNEW that was the most difficult.

Even further afield... one of my badges of pride was muscling my way through Mega Man (the original) totally on my own. That was not a forgiving game!

And I always think about how much I leaned on the old black-covered players guide... that's what sold me a Nintendo, really, Metroid just looked so amazing. And I've never been brave enough to try a Metroidvania w/o a similar map, I just hate missable objects, but don't want to go searching. Oh, the manual also covered (half of) Zelda 2, which is another game I assume is easier than the other entries but then realize other folks feel differently, but that's because I beat it back in the day.

Ah, the time and focus to beat some of those Nintendo Hard games back in the day

 

[+jeremiahjt]

I think for me easiest would be the first one, then 3, and finally 2.  Part of the reason is that I did not have 2 as a kid.  I borrowed it from friends and played it plenty, but I owned Super Mario Bros. since I got my NES in 1987 or '88 and I got the third one probably some time in 1990, 1991 at the latest.  Those two games were some of my most played games back then, so I have a lot more experience with those two.

 

Now if we are talking about warpless, I would go 3 easiest, then the original, and 2 last.  I am honestly not sure I have ever beaten the second one warpless.  I probably have, but I am only about 75% sure.  Super Mario Bros. 3 may be the longest, but as long as I have the time I can always beat it warpless.

 

The only time I ever tried Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels I beat it.  Of course I was on a Super Mario Bros. kick at the time and I had gone through the three NES games, and then the remakes on Super Mario All-Stars.  I was in a Super Mario Bros. platforming rhythm the only time I ever played it and managed to get through it.

Edited May 25, 2021 by jeremiahjt
grammar

[TheGameCollector]

I played all these games a lot and still do. I'm definitely a pro at them and it's hard to decide which is easier than any of them anymore. 3 is harder for me just because there are so many more levels it takes a longer time to complete it. When I play, I never warp. I purposely try to clear every level even though in 3 you could go around and skip some. Japanese 2 is harder than the others for sure, but even that one I play all the way through on a regular basis. I even bought a restored FDS and the original floppy release of that game. I also got my seller to write All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. to a blank FDS disc (original copies are rare and expensive) and beat that. It featured a mix of levels from Super Mario Bros. and Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, some of which had item locations edited.

 

What I have the most trouble with is the Game Boy Color version of 1 & Japanese 2 - Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. The way the camera scrolls around and the slightly different physics throw me off a bit more, causing me to make more mistakes than on NES or SNES. I also don't really care for the Classic NES Series / Famicom Mini Series versions of 1 and Japanese 2 because of the squished graphics of the GBA's aspect ratio. They're more playable than the GBC version though.

[Tempest]

1 hour ago, TheGameCollector said:

When I play, I never warp. I purposely try to clear every level even though in 3 you could go around and skip some.

Same here.  Part of the fun is seeing all the levels and their unique designs.

[Lord Mushroom]

I have completed SMB, SMB 2 (non-Japanese) and SMW. I only played SMB 3 a little bit when I was a kid, and I haven´t played any other Super Mario platform games. I have played Mario Bros. on the Atari 2600 and a Mario Game & Watch, though.

[+atari2600land]

I beat SMB, SMB2, SMB3 and SMW (where I found the 96th exit suddenly after having 95 for years.)

[mbd39]

I've beat SMB, SMB2 (US), SMW and Yoshi's Island. I've beat the first two all the way through without warps. I can't remember whether I beat SMB3 using warps or not.

 

Those who think that SMB is too hard should try Adventure Island.

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by mbd39

[bradhig1]

^{I beat all three back in the day.}

[0078265317]

1 was the hardest.

[7800Knight]

I beat all three of the NES Super Mario Bros games; I could never beat the Lost Levels.

 

Anyone ever play the Super Mario Bros arcade game?  It was deliberately made harder than the console version (more money for arcade operators) and it inspired the Lost Levels!

[BawesomeBurf]

I've beaten 1 and the North American version of 2. SMB3 was always really hard for me and The Lost Levels is a poorly designed game IMO. One of these days I would really like to beat 3.

[Shawn]

All of them from the NES right up to those on the WiiU. Odyssey is neat but I've not played much of that title. My son has beat it though and he's now going back to get all the moons and star things.

[Gamemoose]

I beat all three, though SMB 3 was 30 years or so later on a 3DS liberally using the save state (no time to plow through the levels these days). SMB 1 I beat several times but haven’t gone back to 2 since I beat it. I think I have to rectify that.  I’ve hardly played SMB 2 Japanese.

 

Easy of play? Hmm….I’ll probably rank them in order of release. SMB is easiest as I’ve been regularly playing that since I first got a NES (and still have my original cart and system) in 1988. SMB 2 was harder if memory serves and being kinda fresh off 3-the last world is murder for me. 

[Cobra Kai]

When the games were contemporary, and I was much younger, I defeated all three NES games and SMW multiple times. I even beat VS Super Mario Bros at the arcade.

 

But, this is a perishable skill. Last year I tried to play through SMB 3 and failed at world 6. I was trying to go straight through without the warp flutes. I tried and tried but couldn't pass World 6, and this is the game in the series I've defeated the most times. Talk about disheartening.

[profholt82]

As a kid, I beat 1, 2 and 3 countless times. I mean, back then I only owned maybe a dozen games, so it got to the point that I could beat them without too much trouble. Nowadays, if I revisit one of the Mario games, I'm still decent, but I always get stumbled up somewhere. I popped in SMB3 earlier this summer for instance, and was able to cruise fairly easily up until world 8. A lot of the tricks and secrets came back to me as I went through the game as well. But in world 8 I went through most of my lives quickly, and wasn't even able to make it to the last level.

 

Those games definitely pack a challenge, it's just that I think for a lot of us, as kids who grew up with the NES games, the sheer amount of time that we put into our games dwarfs what most of us can do as adults. I mean, I wasn't a shut in or anything, I was in sports and activities and played outside with friends daily, but I still probably played an hour or two of Nintendo just about every day throughout elementary school. And probably much more on weekends when I could get a rental. I just don't put that type of effort into mastering games nowadays. 

[Tanooki]

Like you and the earlier post ...perishable skill, nice term.

 

I grew up with these as they all came out.  1985 was SMB1 for Christmas along with the 'pre' deluxe set which (with hogans alley) was bought on the side.  SMB2 and 3 I picked up for myself as well as SNES which came with SMB4/World in 1991.

 

I can still play all these at a fairly competent level, far better than someone who never has before or been super casual about it.  But of all of them SMB2 I think by far is the easiest, I can clear this one without too much drag, after that, it's a tough call.  All of them require a bit more competency, or at least with the original, a temperament for some rank level BS in world 8 pretty much alone needing some very precise moments and the dumb memorization of 8-4 route to the end.  That aside SMB1 isn't that bad.  SMB3 and World are the nastiest, especially if you want to not skip stages, as you can cut away a problem here or there on the path otherwise.

 

I just don't have the time to commit.  Who really does if you work 40 hours~, maybe are not single or have other commitments with friends/social life?  As kids it was easy, get the school crap done, and other than that, you had time, LOTS even if you had friends, bed time, etc.  We didn't have this internet bullshit in the way, no free ROMZ everywarez!  You know what we had then?  An allowance, or worse, presents only or rentals randomly(I never rented.)  That means you basically had a situation where you maybe averaged 2-4 games a YEAR or so, definitely not 8-10+ games a year (or month) with how it is now with even the remaining cheap second hand to just running some flash kit, rom box, pi bs, or other junk.  You maybe alone, or with the awesome print of NIntendo Power(etc)and friends learned every shred of the game becoming it's master.  There is no time anymore unless you're very single/double system centric and buy slow with calculated reason to have the space to truly make a game your bitch anymore.

[7800Knight]

In addition to the Nintendo NES trilogy, I have beaten Super Mario World and both Game Boy games, Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2.

On 8/5/2021 at 2:08 AM, BawesomeBurf said:

I've beaten 1 and the North American version of 2. SMB3 was always really hard for me and The Lost Levels is a poorly designed game IMO. One of these days I would really like to beat 3.

 

I have yet to beat the Lost Levels too.  With American, Canadian and European Mario fans, the Lost Levels has no middle ground - people either love it or hate it.

 

The fact that it is insanely difficult was a major turn-off for Western gamers; besides tougher enemies (especially the Hammer brothers), you had wind gusts that could help or hinder you, poison mushrooms, negative warps and a very-hard-to-control Luigi.

 

On the other hand, some Westerners genuinely like the game as it provides quite a challenge not unlike the arcade Super Mario Brothers.  Also, there are minor graphical enhancements such as the ground, clouds and mushrooms looking different.

 

 

[bubufubu]

2 hours ago, 7800Knight said:

I have yet to beat the Lost Levels too.  With American, Canadian and European Mario fans, the Lost Levels has no middle ground - people either love it or hate it.

 

The fact that it is insanely difficult was a major turn-off for Western gamers; besides tougher enemies (especially the Hammer brothers), you had wind gusts that could help or hinder you, poison mushrooms, negative warps and a very-hard-to-control Luigi.

 

On the other hand, some Westerners genuinely like the game as it provides quite a challenge not unlike the arcade Super Mario Brothers.  Also, there are minor graphical enhancements such as the ground, clouds and mushrooms looking different.

 

The fact is that Super Mario Bros. 2 was never released for the NES so there was no way for players outside Japan to judge its difficulty at the time.  Not in 1986.  Not in 1987.  Not in 1988.  Not in 1989.  Not in 1990.  Not in 1991.  Not in 1992.  It wasn't until  seven years later  that the US and Canada got an upgraded/altered version of the game for the Super Nintendo.  Not exactly the same thing.  And we're talking decades later until people could play it via emulation or the Virtual Console.  A totally different era.  The "too difficult for Western gamers" belief is nothing more than an unsubstantiated theory.  Howard Phillips is one fucking person.  He doesn't represent all Westerners.  Generations of gamers missed out on the opportunity to play it at the same time as the Japanese (i.e. during their youth and with context) so we'll never actually know how it would have been received and how well it would have sold.  Considering the fact that Super Mario Bros. sold pretty fucking well, there's more reason to believe that tons of parents would have bought the sequel for their kids, based on just the hype from its predecessor.  Mario was a phenomenon.  Even the reskin of Doki Doki Panic, which wasn't released until late 1988, sold well.  I'm supposed to believe that all Western kids would've cried to their parents that the game was too hard and not fun?  That the parents would have thrown out the game, publicly derided the company, and then swore to never buy another Nintendo product?  That this would have caused another video game crash and Nintendo would have gone out of business?  All because we didn't listen to one asshole consultant playing prognosticator?  Horseshit.

 

"Insanely difficult".  "Major turn-off".  Gimme a break.  People love to exaggerate.  As if all Famicom/NES games are meant to be easy enough for toddlers to beat.  You have to learn the game and then practice.  Back then, you could buy guides.  With all the secrets in Super Mario Bros. 2, that was prime material for several pages inside a Nintendo Power.  We also had a hotline number to call for tips.  If your parents balked at that, then you could ask your friends for help.  Hell, I once called a classmate and asked her to put her older brother on the phone so he could tell me where to find the Red Ring and Silver Arrows in Level 9 on the second quest.  You have to be resourceful.  Word of mouth was huge where I lived (especially for Super Mario Bros.  and The Legend of Zelda).  Had Super Mario Bros. 2 been released in the US by 1987, then I knew a bunch of guys who would have asked their parents to buy it and welcomed the challenge of beating it.

Edited September 27, 2021 by bubufubu

[7800Knight]

For what it's worth, the Japanese also complained about the insane difficulty.  Hell, even Shigeru Miyamoto disliked the difficulty spike!

[Cobra Kai]

Americans have long been at the mercy of marketer's discretion. Usually ending up bad for us. SEGA Saturn got it the worst IMHO.

[Tanooki]

1 hour ago, 7800Knight said:

For what it's worth, the Japanese also complained about the insane difficulty.  Hell, even Shigeru Miyamoto disliked the difficulty spike!

Adding to that, may have been the same translated interview from a decade ago or so now IGN had posted, but he also admitted as much that SMB2(USA) was his favorite of the 2D games too.  Something about the worlds, changes, the added mechanics and characters that went into the future games, various other creative unique things it had over the others.  Yet it's the one so many internet posers won't to crap all over as being the black sheep awful game, when it's the creators favorite, and when it added so much to the franchise that started there.  You know your trolls when this one comes up immediately as the bad game.

[7800Knight]

The Lost Levels was inspired by the Super Mario Bros arcade game, officially known as Vs. Super Mario Bros.

 

I remember encountering this a few times in the wild.  The game was ramped up in difficulty so that players would drop more money and arcade operators would rake in more profits.  Basically, the number of power-ups, 1-Ups and warp zones were reduced; the enemies were increased; the unlimited 1-Up tricks on the home console versions were removed; and new levels were added to make the game much harder.

 

Think that sounds harsh?  Arcade operators could be even more vicious!  There were dip switch settings to start the player with only TWO lives instead of the standard three, the timer can be set to run down faster and the coins required for extra lives can be from 100 to 150, 200 or even 250(!).

 

Ironically, some parts of this game can be harder the the NES Lost Levels.  Take World 6-3; like the Lost Levels, you have to bounce off a Koopa Troopa to make a jump.  This is even harder to pull off than in The Lost Levels because Mario does not get nearly as much extra height from a bounce as he does in that game, requiring near-perfect accuracy!