Board 8 > Mario

(+) Yeah! (+)

Fiop posted...

Another nice thing about the All Stars version is you can get the bonus worlds easily on one play through. I didnt realize they were that hard to get in the original. Imagine trying to do that in the NES days without turning it off.

It was a disk system game so it saved how many times you had finished it

Im getting close to beating world 8. Played for about an hour this morning and had a couple runs go halfway through 8-4. I think the toughest part for me is the jump to the pipe directly beneath you where the red piranha plant tends to pop up right as you jump. Fortunately theres a power up right there so you can afford to eat a hit, but I often have trouble hitting the jump.

Aw hell yeah I beat world 8. And I did so with my wife watching which normally people watching screws with my concentration. I also beat world 9 on my first try but I did lose a life to fake Bowser in 9-3. Now I have to beat this damn game seven more times to unlock worlds A-D.

Not gonna lie I look forward to being done with this game.

Now that youve seen World 9, you can start using Warp Zones to finish faster. You can go 1-2 to World 4 and 5-2 to World 8. Both of those levels have multiple warp zones though so youll need to find the right one. None of them are backwards ones so dont worry about that.

World 9?? lordy. never beating that game in my life.

WazzupGenius00 posted...

Now that youve seen World 9, you can start using Warp Zones to finish faster. You can go 1-2 to World 4 and 5-2 to World 8. Both of those levels have multiple warp zones though so youll need to find the right one. None of them are backwards ones so dont worry about that.

I will absolutely use Warp Zones to unlock Worlds A-D. Ive beaten those worlds once before and used the warp zones after my first proper playthrough then as well, but its been more than a decade. Thanks for refreshing my memory on which levels contain the Warp Zones!

jcgamer107 posted...

World 9?? lordy. never beating that game in my life.

You absolutely could do it. Seriously. Its not an easy game, nor is it always fun, but its very much doable with practice. Is there a certain point you got stuck in the past?

Now that its occurred to me Ill have to play Galaxy as Luigi, 3D World as all characters, etc. for 100%, I am really debating just biting the bullet and doing a Luigi playthrough here. Hm.

WazzupGenius00 posted...

It was a disk system game so it saved how many times you had finished it

You mean Famicom Disk system? That's interesting that they would do it that way. Was SMB1 also disk-based in Japan? I would've thought with all the similar assets from SMB1, that it would've been cartridge based like that one, though I'm not too familiar with how the Famicom Disk system worked.

wallmasterz posted...

Its not an easy game, nor is it always fun

I'm out!

I don't think I even got halfway through it. I was very tilted the first time I got trapped into having to warp backward

Oh yeah, I dont blame you there. This game is just plain mean sometimes. I am not sure Ill succeed in my goal of playing through all the mainline games, but this felt like the biggest hurdle despite having beaten it once before 10-15 years ago.

jcgamer107 posted...

World 9?? lordy. never beating that game in my life.

world 9 isn't actually hard. it's kind of like the last special level in SMW, where you have a bunch of coins spelling out a message thanking you for playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jzI_EmwSB4

also I guess it's referencing the minus world glitches from smb 1 (the color palette/swimming in the air/looping infinitely until you die)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riaf2vwMzMo

Its true, world 9 is very easy. The only tricky part is theres a fake Bowser in 9-3 and you dont have a lot of room to get past the stairs its guarding.

Yes I know I already mentioned this earlier. Sorry lol

In news unrelated to my Super Mario mainline series adventures, last weekend my 7 year old stepdaughter saw the icon for smash bros ultimate and asked what it was. It turned into me teaching her to play, and her having an absolute blast, then my 2 year old daughter held a controller and played a video game for the first time. We had to take it from her eventually because she kept pausing and going to the switch home screen lol but it was super cute. Then my wife ended up giving it a try to appease our 7 year old and she loved it too. She doesnt game very much but we played for hours last weekend.

Can you just play the Super Mario All Stars version where you can go straight to World 9 and A-D without the dumb beating the game 8 times requirement?

IMO All-Stars is inferior in basically every way. It looks like shit, sounds like shit, and they fucked up the physics too.

All-Stars is fine for SMB2 and 3 but for the first two games it sucks

I could, but for this mainline series playthrough Im trying to play the original versions or ports of each game. One day Id like to play all the remakes as well and I have already played some of them (SM64DS for example) but that would be a separate undertaking. Im looking forward to revisiting Lost Levels one day in All-Stars, I think it will be more fun.

WazzupGenius00 posted...

IMO All-Stars is inferior in basically every way. It looks like shit, sounds like shit, and they fucked up the physics too.

All-Stars is fine for SMB2 and 3 but for the first two games it sucks

@WazzupGenius00 this is interesting, Ive never seen this take before. I do tend to prefer playing the original version of games and not just letting remakes stand in for them, I think they should be treated as separate experiences rather than one replacing the other. Due to the difficulty of Lost Levels, I do think it would be way more fun if your progress was saved after each level, which is the main thing that appeals to me about the All-Stars version. But Im going to keep this in mind for one day when I inevitably play through All-Stars. Not really excited to hear they changed the physics.

I forget if there are other minor differences, but the big thing they messed up is what happens when you break a block from underneath. You keep moving upward for a moment instead of immediately bouncing back downward, which can mess you up if youre running.

WazzupGenius00 posted...

It looks like shit

I get everything else but this is baffling to me

I think most folks shared their experiences with Lost Levels, but I didnt ask about the original SMB. I know its extremely likely everyone has played it and most beaten it, but any fun Super Mario Bros. stories to share?

Used warp zones to get back to world 8. I will probably just give an update once a day until I unlock World A. Im hoping to get this tedious requirement completed this weekend.

I never had a problem with any of that and really love the All-Stars version. Didn't even realize the physics were any different. I played it first though of course so maybe that's why.

But I went back and beat the original version at one point. Yeah, definitely didn't have the patience to unlock the bonus worlds in it. Saving only after each world was actually a pretty fun challenge (though fucking brutal for worlds 7 and 8)

Thats cool Blur, Im looking forward to doing All-Stars one day.

Well folks you can throw an asterisk next to this Lost Levels playthrough if you wish. I decided life is short and my video gaming time is limited so Im doing something I would absolutely never do otherwise - using Nintendo Switch Onlines rewind feature to breeze through the remaining playthroughs. I think I beat it eight times legit the first time I played Lost Levels, but its just feeling way too tedious to do normally, so Im gonna take advantage of this QoL feature. Obviously wont do it for beating World A-D the proper way but man, it is way more fun just breezing through these levels with zero frustration.

Three stars down, five to go. Then I can get back to, yknow, actually playing.

Edit: Not criticizing anyone who plays this way, its just something I personally wouldnt feel satisfied doing. But I dont mean to give the impression of approving of gate keeping.

https://youtu.be/L3MgWV3yqk0

This guy set a goal to beat Lost Levels in 30 minutes or less. Second video in a series where he tries to learn the speedrun strats of every mainline Mario with the goal of beating them all in a single day eventually. Seems he kinda let the series die but wanted to share this while Im working my way through Lost Levels.

World A unlocked. I actually had more fun than I expected racing through the game seven times using warp zones and the rewind feature. It reminded me of the joys of sprinting through a level holding down the run button as much as possible, and there are times where landing an improbable jump or narrowly dodging an enemy then chaining such feats together make you feel like a Mario god.

Im hoping to beat the remaining four worlds this weekend. Ive done it once before but it was on the Wii VC well over a decade ago. I think Ive mostly shaken off the rust, though.

World A beaten. Its not at all as hard as some of the later worlds in the main game. I found A-1 and A-2 most annoying simply due to the Hammer Bros. A-3 is a flying cheep cheep level but youre running on the clouds instead of on a bridge, and its seriously easier than 2-3 of SMB if you ask me.

I've never played worlds A-D. I saw the best the game 8 times requirement and was like "no thanks". I might actually try it someday using warps zones and the rewind feature though

Yeah @mzero, I dont blame you for not wanting to beat this game eight times. Its one of the most ridiculous level unlock requirements I know of in gaming, granted I know way less about gaming than most folks here. Maybe Id feel differently if I were a kid in the 80s with only my Famicom Disk System and time to kill. I remember having some trouble with World C and D when I beat smb2j before, so Im curious to see how that goes.

I was a pixel away from beating world B but I messed up running underneath Bowser the first time I made it to B-4. B-1 and B-2 are this games equivalent of layups. B-3 on the other hand is a slightly tricky athletic stage that wouldnt be so tough if it werent for, possibly, the hardest jump (as Mario) in the game. You have to nail the timing and momentum to clear. Or you can skip the jump if you hit the green spring with enough momentum but every time Ive done this theres a red koopa waiting to walk into me at the exact same second I land. Just need to practice a bit more then I should have world B behind me. Still a little annoyed I didnt just do it the first time I got to B-4, though.

World B beaten. First time I made it back to B-4 I got it done. Now I recall World C is full of wind shenanigans. Great

Game #2 - Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (1986)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/2/AARMM-AAEpQu.jpg

My suffering has finally ended. Worlds C and D beaten. Total play time: 14 hr., 4 min. Compare to Super Mario Bros. total play time: 2 hr. 15 min.

First of all, fuck this game. Second of all, I plan to never play the FDS version again in my lifetime. Theres something wrong when Ive now legitimately beaten all 13 of this games worlds twice now and have yet to beat or even play some other beloved mainline games. Playing this game again was probably the biggest unappealing aspect of a full Super Mario mainline play through for me, and Im relieved to have it done.

I struggled with World C. World D, I think I got a single game over in D-1 and the first time I beat D-1 I finished on that set of lives. I had some close calls getting through D-4 but yeah, World C was considerably tougher for me.

I think I may do a ranking once I play through all the games so wont go too in-depth with thoughts but yeah, not a huge fan of this one. Next up will be Super Mario Bros. 2 / USA, a game Ive played many times over the years, starting when I picked it up at a flea market as a kid, but somehow never beat. Ive only ever gotten as far as 7-1. Interestingly enough when I tried to play all the mainline Super Mario games several years ago, my attempt stalled out here. Gonna sleep now (midnight here) and start SMB2 tomorrow after work.

Wow the difference between smb2j and USA is refreshing. I am stopping for the night at 6-1, Ive got five extra lives and havent used any continues yet. Once Im good at getting extra lives from the bonus game this ought to be an easy game to clear. Maybe I can do it on this run but Im guessing therell be some bullshit I have to learn in the last five levels. Ah well I will take my lumps if it means getting through this game at a nice quick pace.

I struggled a bit with world 4 (ice) and the crab boss who throws rocks but Ive got the boss fight down now, I think. My highlight was beating 5-1 first try with no falls as Mario. Ive actually played the whole game as Mario so far and have no plans to change things up now.

For those following along, time to share if youve played/beaten SMB2 and any fun stories.

My thought is that Mario is the worst character. Luigi and Peach can take shortcuts the others can't (or at least can't easily). If you're going to use Mario, why not just use Toad and get the extra run speed and pulling speed? I don't think Mario's jump advantage over Toad lets him get to a lot of places that Toad can't. For jumping-focused levels I'm using Luigi or Peach anyway.

I found Peach fairly useful for the ice sections in world 4. Luigi's probably the best overall, since you can skip over big sections with him. I'd normally just stick to Toad and Peach, though, with an occasional Luigi.

Thats fair. At some point I just got it in my head to only play as Mario in all of the games, unless there are additional level(s) locked behind playing as someone else. Eventually one day Ill want to replay these games, possibly even Lost Levels, and if I do Ill play as someone other than Mario.

Peach is so OP in that game

Still on my first attempt, I lost a ton of lives in world 6 only to beat it with no continues or extra lives remaining. Proceeded to die in 7-1. That hurts lol

I feel confident Ill beat this game this time around especially if I can get a little more consistent with getting 1-ups from the bonus game. This is refreshing after the Lost Levels, both in terms of reduced difficulty and the differences in mechanics.

Mario 2 was always such a weird game, naturally because it wasn't really "Mario" game. And yet it's had a lasting legacy on the franchise as a whole.

Ultimately, I think it was probably the right move for it to be Mario 2 in the U.S. rather than the Lost Levels.

The initial concept for the game was as a Mario game but with vertically scrolling levels rather than horizontal, plus all the major creatives of the Mario games worked on it except for Tezuka. It was pretty much a "Mario" game all along

Well, I made it to Wart for the first time yesterday. I was having a good run, I made it to 5-3 with a dozen lives, and I lost 11 of them on 5-3. Brutal. I hadnt used any continues yet and I got some extra lives on the bonus game when I cleared 5-3 but yeah, losing to the final boss stings in a game that does nothing to save your progress. At least in SMB and SMB2j beating a world means youre done with it for good. But I suppose this is a reasonable price to pay in a game thats this generous with extra lives and checkpoints.

Wart gave me a bit of trouble. I made it with two lives and I couldnt get him down. Im hoping to make a run tomorrow night and Im further hoping thatll be the run.

If memory serves SMB3 allows you to continue from the start of the world youre in. So each world cleared works as kind of a permanent checkpoint. Thatll be nice if Im remembering correctly.

When I beat SMB2, I was too far to the left when Wart died and couldn't reach the door, so I was just stuck in that room for eternity. This is a known glitch so I just wanted to warn you

Get wrecked Wart you fat ugly toad bastard. Super Mario Bros. 2 has been beaten! As with the other games, it was a warpless run. I used Mario only. Its not every day you beat a game in a franchise you love for the first time, but sadly theres quite a few mainline Mario games Ive never beaten. Cross this one off the list! SMB3, which I have never beaten without one toot on a whistle to take myself to a far away land, Im coming for you.

I got to 7-2 with something like 24 lives. I finished with eight >_> I struggled a bit with Wart. It took some time to get used to dodging his bubble attack and grabbing a vegetable at the same time, and the timing of waiting for his mouth to open. I wasnt even keeping track of how many hits I landed so when he went down it was such a relief!

MZero posted...

When I beat SMB2, I was too far to the left when Wart died and couldn't reach the door, so I was just stuck in that room for eternity. This is a known glitch so I just wanted to warn you

Thank you SO MUCH for this warning I made sure to avoid it, I wanted to see those credits roll and I did. Thats a seriously annoying glitch.

Game #3 - Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/7/AARMM-AAEq7D.jpg

I 100% approve of the decision to make Super Mario Bros. USA the western SMB2. I dont know that Id play it again as Mario but I would like to do runs with the other characters some day. Total play time: 9 hr, 36 min.

And now theres only one NES/FDS title left to conquer. LFG!

Ah, Mario 3, truly one of the finest games of all time. Some might argue even the best of the 2D Mario games.

I recently replayed it for GotM Replay, though I made copious use of save states and rewind on the NES Mini to sand off the difficulty. Still, I did do a complete run though, beating every single stage.

That game is just filled with so much wacky shit, many of it "one off" stuff that's literally only in one stage. You never know what you're going to see next! I was also struck by how short many of the stages are; you'll blast through many in under a minute.

Thankfully, I remembered a lot of the tips/tricks from the game, as there's some stages that are puzzle-y in nature, or at the very least the path is non-obvious.

Recently every time I try to replay Mario 3 I get like 3-5 worlds in and bounce off of it. I think I just don't have the patience for replaying entire worlds and stuff anymore lol but also I just feel like I don't like it as much as I used to

World, on the other hand, I replayed last year and it still slaps

Good job. Mario 2 USA is one of my faves and Wart is one of my fave Mario boss fights.

Seanchan posted...

Ah, Mario 3, truly one of the finest games of all time. Some might argue even the best of the 2D Mario games.

I recently replayed it for GotM Replay, though I made copious use of save states and rewind on the NES Mini to sand off the difficulty. Still, I did do a complete run though, beating every single stage.

That game is just filled with so much wacky shit, many of it "one off" stuff that's literally only in one stage. You never know what you're going to see next! I was also struck by how short many of the stages are; you'll blast through many in under a minute.

Thankfully, I remembered a lot of the tips/tricks from the game, as there's some stages that are puzzle-y in nature, or at the very least the path is non-obvious.

Nice job! Im glad you enjoyed your recent replay. I remember it fondly and am excited to revisit.

MZero posted...

Recently every time I try to replay Mario 3 I get like 3-5 worlds in and bounce off of it. I think I just don't have the patience for replaying entire worlds and stuff anymore lol but also I just feel like I don't like it as much as I used to

World, on the other hand, I replayed last year and it still slaps

Its funny, a few years ago I played SMB3 and made it deep into world 3, but got a game over. I had played it for a while and wasnt in the mood to replay the levels I had cleared, so I put it down and never went back. So I feel you here. On the other hand, I truly feel relieved that SMB3 saves your progress after each world. It was disappointing to lose all my progress when I got all the way to Wart for the first time a couple days ago :( Itll be nice feeling like I made progress each time I beat a world.

As for World. Im ashamed to say Ive barely played it. We jumped from NES to N64. I did have the GBA version but maybe got a few worlds in? I dont recall the location of a single secret exit. Im going to try doing it without a guide so you all should have fun following along. Thats my most shameful blind spot in the series.

jcgamer107 posted...

Good job. Mario 2 USA is one of my faves and Wart is one of my fave Mario boss fights.

Thank you sir. It was cool finally beating a game I first played 25 years ago.

Also, I found my 2DS and I do have Super Mario Land downloaded just as I remembered, so thats good news. With SMB3, World, SML2 on NSO and 64 + Sunshine in 3D All-Stars, New Super Mario Bros. (DS) is the first game to which I dont yet have access. Ive got some time to worry about that.

Don't forget about Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island!

Seanchan posted...

Don't forget about Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island!

Been debating whether to include it or save it for playing through the Yoshi games in the future. Leaning towards excluding the same way I plan to exclude SML3 which Id include in a Wario series playthrough. Although I know Yoshis Island is a little bit different because Miyamoto considers it part of Mario mainline, and it got a handheld port just like the other mainline games. Most likely skipping for now though. But I plan to play all the Yoshi games eventually.

Game #4 - Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/2/8/AARMM-AAErDg.jpg

Oh hey it makes way more sense to indicate moving on to the next game this way.

SMB3 may be the first game I ever played after SMB and Duck Hunt. Unlike SMB2, my dad had this along with his NES. I remember playing a lot and I mean a LOT of SMB3. I wasnt very good. As a kid most of my runs stalled out during worlds 5 and 6. My dad showed me where to find the warp whistles, though, and I often used them to play around in whatever world I felt like visiting. Especially because if you grab the two warp whistles in world 1 and make it to world 2, you can go anywhere you please.

I also distinctly remember wanting to play this game when I received the worst video game related punishment of my life - no video games for a week. I dont remember what I did to deserve it (or should I say dEsErVe iT as if any child deserves such cruel and unusual punishment) but I certainly remember the punishment.

My cousins cousin (unrelated to me) is about 10 years older than me. She visited one summer and I recall watching with absolute fascination as she made it to Bowser and took him down. The game was interesting too.

As usual, itll be a Mario only, warpless run, no rewind, no reloading saves. Only using saves to keep my game going across multiple sessions.

In the spirit of this mainline series playthrough I also dont plan on using any P-Wings or Jugems Clouds to cheese/skip levels. There is nothing wrong with using them, the game gives them to you, but I want to face each level head on. Other items are fair game.

Planning to start tonight and excited to do so.

I beat world 1 and 2 last night without losing a life. This trend will not continue in world 3, I am confident of that. Hopefully with 21 lives I can get my way through world 3 even if its ugly.

This game is great but man compared to SMB2 I am struggling with jumping and movement a little bit. Im still getting used to it so a lot of my jumps dont feel precise at all and there are a few times during the athletic levels in world 1 where being raccoon Mario bailed me out.

I remember struggling more on World 3 as a kid. Seems like there is a difficulty spike there. I think the way the mini-castles work does present a decent alternative to starting the world over every time. If you clear a mini-castle, its lock remains clear so you can jump ahead forward with pipes without needing to play all the levels again. World 3 has two mini-castles, so that's two chances to save progress.

Although, if you get all the way to the end and then die on the airship, that will cause the airship to go somewhere, so if that happens after a game over, you may need to replay some levels after all. Kind of a funny system, heh.

3 and World still top 20 games of all time, maybe even top 10. Played through them so many times.