Current Events > How did people beat Super Mario Bros 2 Japan, in the 80s?

(+) Yeah! (+)

before any save states. I went through it this weekend on Switch. I finally got to World 8, still need to finish it. But it was a struggle even with save states. I never would have even finished World 1 probably if I had to play it on original hardware with limited lives

That game is ruthless. Any gamers who were playing it on Famicom back in the day, who actually finished it, must be gaming gods

Less microplastics in body

you have one game. games are expensive. birthday is once a year. you get like 2 or 3 games a year max. your options are play video games, watch tv, or go outside. no internet or phone to distract you like no. you have a lot of time to just play the same game over and over again. you git gud.

A lot of practice... and strategy guides.

the infinite 1-up trick still works

it's not a particularly difficult game, though. it's definitely challenging but it's not at the top of the famicom library or anything. learning how to accelerate backwards makes some segments way easier and playing super patient really helps

the big hurdle is learning how to control mario. he's pretty stiff and the original never really demanded much out of the player so you never really had to control mario in tight situations

furb posted...

you have one game. games are expensive. birthday is once a year. you get like 2 or 3 games a year max. your options are play video games, watch tv, or go outside. no internet or phone to distract you like no. you have a lot of time to just play the same game over and over again. you git gud.

Yep, and most didn't even have cable, so you had basic channels. Hell, I think my family had 1 tv at the time.

You increase your skill. Playing Megaman zero and going for S rank, z saber only was grueling.

Because it's not that damn hard. What is this confirmation bias shit where a literal dude who works in a warehouse goes "this is too hard" and now the ENTIRE INTERNET thinks this comfortably easier-than-average game is some omega level Pantheon of Hollowness garbage?

I mean gracious, its own predecessor was a much harder game.

I played 1 and 2 on the original hardware and I agree. Shit was pretty hard.

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

Because it's not that damn hard. What is this confirmation bias shit where a literal dude who works in a warehouse goes "this is too hard" and now the ENTIRE INTERNET thinks this comfortably easier-than-average game is some omega level Pantheon of Hollowness garbage?

I mean gracious, its own predecessor was a much harder game.

You just make bizarre posts all the time, huh?

How is mario 1 harder than mario 2? That doesnt even make sense

Because it was made for SMB Super Players that got skills.

People dun got gud.

anttttt posted...

learning how to accelerate backwards makes some segments way easier

Accelerate backwards?

You kids are too young.

We would leave consoles on for weeks if needed. I think our Windows 95 would go months before getting shut down.

CervusCanadensi posted...

You kids are too young.

We would leave consoles on for weeks if needed. I think our Windows 95 would go months before getting shut down.

I remember leaving my GameCube on until it unlocked Mewtwo in Super Smash Bros Melee

It did have saves. It was in the Famicom Disk System which allowed saving.

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

I mean gracious, its own predecessor was a much harder game.

This is a blatant lie.

Even Nintendo of America thought SMB2J/Lost Levels was too hard (not to mention the fact that it was a Mission-Pack Sequel), and thus they chose to reskin Doki Doki Panic instead as SMB2.

ssb_yunglink2 posted...

You just make bizarre posts all the time, huh?

How is mario 1 harder than mario 2? That doesnt even make sense

Almost exclusively because of the Hammer Bros. In 2, they're constantly moving forward,meaning you can easily run under the hammers and the enemy in a single pass. In 1, they frequently reverse direction in midair and land on you as you try to pass under. And by frequently I mean they ruined about 20 years' worth of my runs at the game.

I think he was mistakenly thinking of Mario 2 USA?

Solar_Crimson posted...

This is a blatant lie.

Even Nintendo of America thought SMB2J/Lost Levels was too hard (not to mention the fact that it was a Mission-Pack Sequel), and thus they chose to reskin Doki Doki Panic instead as SMB2.

No, Howard Phillips thought it was too hard. And at the time he was literally just a guy who worked in a warehouse at NoA. And was the only person they asked.

This was standard procedure for Nintendo at the time. Ask this one guy named Howard Phillips, who worked in a warehouse, if they should localize games. Why they chose him, I don't know.

But it certainly never bounced off of NoA suits or QA proper.

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

Because it's not that damn hard. What is this confirmation bias shit where a literal dude who works in a warehouse goes "this is too hard" and now the ENTIRE INTERNET thinks this comfortably easier-than-average game is some omega level Pantheon of Hollowness garbage?

I mean gracious, its own predecessor was a much harder game.

It's a hard game compared to the original, but I agree that anyone can beat it with a little practice. However, half the Internet thinks the TMNT dam level is boarderline unbeatable and it makes the game one of the hardest on NES, even though that level is pathetically easy compared to areas 4-6. Sometimes I think the casual NES gamer has no concept on what is *really* hard.

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

No, Todd Howard thought it was too hard. And at the time he was literally just a guy who worked in a warehouse at NoA. And was the only person they asked.

This was standard procedure for Nintendo at the time. Ask this one guy named Todd Howard, who worked in a warehouse, if they should localize games. Why they chose him, I don't know.

But it certainly never bounced off of NoA suits or QA proper.

I think you mean Howard Phillips.

kelemvor posted...

It's a hard game compared to the original, but I agree that anyone can beat it with a little practice. However, half the Internet thinks the TMNT dam level is boarderline unbeatable and it makes the game one of the hardest on NES, even though that level is pathetically easy compared to areas 4-6. Sometimes I think the casual NES gamer has no concept on what is *really* hard.

When it comes to the TMNT dam, I think the only explanation is that one or a handful of people played the game, didn't realize they could switch turtles for some reason and posted on the Internet about it being extremely hard, and the rest of the Internet just repeated them without ever having actually played it.

Because yeah, I've never beaten it without switching, but if you do switch, it's actually one of the easiest parts of the game. Actually, the part of the dam level that everyone forgets about (the platforming part) is a lot trickier, though levels 3-6 are much harder still.

rick_alverado posted...

I think you mean Howard Phillips.

Thanks. I always get those guys mixed up because at least one of them has another guy with the same name.

Scardude posted...

You increase your skill. Playing Megaman zero and going for S rank, z saber only was grueling.

LOL. To add to this, going for 100 points after each mission and doing this on both normal and hard mode.

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

When it comes to the TMNT dam, I think the only explanation is that one or a handful of people played the game, didn't realize they could switch turtles for some reason and posted on the Internet about it being extremely hard, and the rest of the Internet just repeated them without ever having actually played it.

Because yeah, I've never beaten it without switching, but if you do switch, it's actually one of the easiest parts of the game. Actually, the part of the dam level that everyone forgets about (the platforming part) is a lot trickier, though levels 3-6 are much harder still.

Doing it solo is not that hard after some practice.
Just before the ten minutes mark;
https://youtu.be/-fZ6kcFBZ4w?si=cqK4FL91HETUwwOA

I would say that Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan) is harder than Super Mario Bros., and both are reasonably difficult, but there's definitely quite a few NES games that are more difficult than either. NES games I've beaten that I consider harder than both of them would be Zelda 2, Castlevania, Blaster Master (which I consider the hardest game I have ever beaten for any system), Ninja Gaiden 1, 2, 3, and maybe Mega Man. There's possibly others as well, those are just off the top of my head.

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

Almost exclusively because of the Hammer Bros. In 2, they're constantly moving forward,meaning you can easily run under the hammers and the enemy in a single pass. In 1, they frequently reverse direction in midair and land on you as you try to pass under. And by frequently I mean they ruined about 20 years' worth of my runs at the game.

I never had a problem. With them. The final stage was thr only thing I couldn't get by as a kid without someone telling me how to do it.

As an adult I could breeze through the og in 0 minutes or less and that was after nearly 20 years of not touching the game and just a day or so of practice to memorize things

Ninja gaiden 3 was definitely a sweat-fest on the NES, even more so since so many companies back then got in the habit of increasing the difficulty for north american versions of games for the sole purpose of getting people to rent the games more/actually buy the game. (The rpg "americans brains might hurty hurt so lets give them this easy mystic quest final fantasy game and a easier version of FF4" was more the exception then the rule. Everything else we was getting like contra hard corps and one hit deaths compared to having HP points like in the JP version was rough, lol).

Yeah imo both ninja gaiden 3 and castlevania 3 (NA) were a good deal harder than lost levels.

by playing it until they beat it.

Foppe posted...

Doing it solo is not that hard after some practice.
Just before the ten minutes mark;
https://youtu.be/-fZ6kcFBZ4w?si=cqK4FL91HETUwwOA

I never had trouble with the dam, it was the jet pack laser guys in the technodrome that would shred me. Never got to the end, but could always get to the last level without too much trouble.

ablegator posted...

I never had trouble with the dam, it was the jet pack laser guys in the technodrome that would shred me. Never got to the end, but could always get to the last level without too much trouble.

The last corridor?
The secret is to go slow.

Mad-Dogg posted...

Ninja gaiden 3 was definitely a sweat-fest on the NES, even more so since so many companies back then got in the habit of increasing the difficulty for north american versions of games for the sole purpose of getting people to rent the games more/actually buy the game. (The rpg "americans brains might hurty hurt so lets give them this easy mystic quest final fantasy game and a easier version of FF4" was more the exception then the rule. Everything else we was getting like contra hard corps and one hit deaths compared to having HP points like in the JP version was rough, lol).

Yeah imo both ninja gaiden 3 and castlevania 3 (NA) were a good deal harder than lost levels.

Yeah, with the limited lives and continues in the North American version of Ninja Gaiden 3, I had to train myself to be able to get up to the first infinite life trick without any game overs, from there I would max out my lives (unfortunately that was only 9, compared to the over 100 in Ninja Gaiden 1), then get to the next infinite life trick (hopefully without any game overs, but that was more iffy), and then from there get to the end of the game to actually beat it. Gameplay wise I actually found it easier than the first two games, but those limited continues meant I couldn't just get good enough at each individual stage to slowly progress, I had to actually master the bulk of the game.

Foppe posted...

The last corridor?
The secret is to go slow.

Yep. Like tapping the D-pad instead of holding it slow.

The average Joe could master difficult platformers when it was one of his only options to waste time. No internet to doom scroll endlessly.

rick_alverado posted...

Yeah, with the limited lives and continues in the North American version of Ninja Gaiden 3, I had to train myself to be able to get up to the first infinite life trick without any game overs, from there I would max out my lives (unfortunately that was only 9, compared to the over 100 in Ninja Gaiden 1), then get to the next infinite life trick (hopefully without any game overs, but that was more iffy), and then from there get to the end of the game to actually beat it. Gameplay wise I actually found it easier than the first two games, but those limited continues meant I couldn't just get good enough at each individual stage to slowly progress, I had to actually master the bulk of the game.

I actually learned that the limited continues in the western version was because of game rentals. Japan has never allowed game rentals. It's illegal there I think. They were mad that Americans would rent instead of buy, beat the game and move on. So they tried to make it very hard to beat that game in 3 days or whatever. By making it much harder than in Japan

SMB2 JP was "annoying hard." Trial and error bullshit, easy to beat with repetition but why would you want to? SMB2 USA is fantastic

People always get this weird combination of arrogant and humble when they discuss their gaming feats. "What? Thing A lots of people say was hard? That was easy. Thing B, now that was hard."

Somehow undervaluing the difficulty of the first thing they did and how they might just actually be pretty damn good at it and then wanting to be praised for something else almost immediately.

"It's not hard, you just have to try it over and over a lot" is a great example. That's called learning how to do something guys, it's what you do when you learn something new.