LogFAQs > #973625365

Watching my niece play the original Super Mario Bros for about 20 minutes really made me appreciate how well designed it is. She was 10 or 11 and doesn't really play video games, except for occasionally mobile or maybe PC. So, first thing was to learn how to hold a controller and get used to the dpad moving around. Once she figured out how to move, the next obstacle was that first goomba. She needed to learn to jump - but just any jump is fine. At some point, she landed on top of the goomba and learned, that that could defeat him. The next obstacle is getting over the first pipe. She needed to learn that just pushing the jump button wasn't enough to get over it, and she needed to hold the jump button, and also push right after this to get over the obstacle. So, that's several of the basics down. In a time before tutorials, this is the next best thing - slowly being presented with one thing at a time to teach you about what you can do, given your limited options. Next, is the goombas between the pipes, where you need to learn to move and jump with better timing - so put together everything you know. She didn't think to hit those question blocks to go for the mushroom, so that is something I did point out to her, and I think I also had to point out that holding the button made you jump higher.

I think this progression was something a lot of us went through when Mario 1 was one of the first games we played. It's just easy to forget the little ways it tries to make itself as playable as possible without consulting a manual. If I had to pick its biggest flaw in this respect, it's probably the warp zones. I remember once I learned about them, I always wanted to warp straight to world 8, and died pretty quickly there. It would've been better to play through the game without them and learn and get better at the game in a better progression.