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Super Mario Bros. for NES (Last Updated 4/8/21)

In case you don’t know Super Mario Bros. is a side-scrolling adventure game and “NES” stands for “Nintendo Entertainment System.” It can be played 1 player or 2 players, but when playing 2 players the 2 players alternate, they don’t play simultaneously.

The different ways you can play this game are: buy the standalone NES cartridge or the cartridge that also has Duck Hunt and it should work in any system that plays NES games. Buy the Super Game 500 in 1 Multicart for NES, the Ultimate NES Remix 154 in 1 Multicart for NES, the Super Games 150 in 1 Multicart for NES, The 100 Best Videogames 143 in 1 Multicart for NES, or the Pocket Games 30 in 1 Multicart and they work in original NES systems and all Retron systems except the Retron 5 and they’re what we have and they work great in our Retron 2. It’s not on the Super Game 400 in 1 Multicart for NES. Buy the standalone GBA cartridge (from the Classic NES Series) or the NES Classics 150 in 1 Multicart for GBA and it should work in any system that can play GBA games and even the NES Classics 150 in 1 Multicart for GBA will surprisingly work in a Retron 5. Buy Super Mario All Stars for SNES or the Wii. Buy a NES Classic Edition as it’s one of its built-in games.

Super Mario Bros. is the most classic of all classic NES games as it came bundled with each NES system when they used to be sold in stores and there’s also more ways to play it than any other NES game and it also holds the world record for most money paid for a videogame at $660,000 for a rare still factory sealed copy that was in excellent shape.

In the game they’re called “worlds” not “levels” but I just call them “levels” as I feel it’s less confusing.

The easiest way to beat the game is: Level 1-1 Get mushroom. Go down tube 4. Level 1-2 Get Fire Flower. Run along ceiling and take warp to Level 4-1. Level 4-1 Get extra life up high and it’s in an invisible box. Go down tube 3. Level 4-2 Hit invisible boxes by box with vine but not invisible box right below box with vine and take vine warp to Level 8-1. Go down tube 5. Get star. Do the tricky jump without holding B. Level 8-2 Use spring to get extra life. Get mushroom if need it. Hold down B for tricky jump. Go down tube 4. Level 8-3 Get mushroom in top row of bricks if need it. Get Fire Flower in next top row of bricks if need it. Level 8-4 Go down tube 3, then hit an invisible box to jump up to high tube, then go down first tube after jumping lava. Jump over Bowser and touch the axe or shoot him with 3 or 4 fireballs and you beat the game.

After beating the game you can press B to go back to the title screen and press Start for the Second Quest which is an almost exact copy of the first quest but is a slightly harder version of the same game so Goombas are now Buzzy Beetles and elevators are not as wide and you start with 3 lives no matter how many lives you had and as little Mario even if you were big Mario and with 0 coins even if you had some coins. After you beat the Second Quest the Second Quest just repeats over again.

A more fun way to play the game 2 players than 2 players alternating is to do a “Mario Challenge” where you play until you run out of lives then your friend plays until he runs out of lives and whoever got the farthest is the winner and if one or both of you beat the game then you continue on and see how far you can get in the second quest starting on Level 1-1. For a Mario Challenge whoever is better at the game should go first as this gives an advantage to the less-good player because then they can “scout ahead” and “see how it’s done” and “learn from any mistakes” of the better player.

Continue Game Play:
You can continue game play after you run out of lives by holding A right before dying, right as you’re dying, right after dying, at the game over screen, or at the title screen then while still holding A press Start at the title screen. This will have you continue from the first of the series of levels you ran out of lives on so for example if you ran out of lives on Level 8-4 you will then start on Level 8-1 and you will have 3 lives and be little Mario even if you were big Mario when you died and with 0 coins even if you had some coins when you died.

Level Select:
For the Second Quest when you’re at the title screen you can select a level, how it works is every time you press B it goes up a full series of levels by one starting from Level 1-1 so if you want to start on Level 8-1 for example press B 7 times then press Start, and there will be no noise and nothing on the screen to indicate you did it right until after you press Start and see what level you’re starting on. The princess hints that you can now do a level select after you beat the game with her message when you beat the game which reads: “THANK YOU MARIO! YOUR QUEST IS OVER. WE PRESENT A NEW QUEST. PUSH BUTTON B TO SELECT A WORLD” but button B is also the only button that unjams the screen and gets you back to the title screen and with no sound and nothing on the screen to verify correct entry of the code the illusion is that maybe you can’t select a level when really you can. When you beat the game if you want to start on Level 8-1 the simplest thing to do is just do the continue game play code as it will then make you start on Level 8-1.
After pressing B once to unjam the screen with the message from the princess and when at the title screen:
To start on Level 1-1 press Start.
To start on Level 2-1 press B, Start.
To start on Level 3-1 press B(2), Start.
To start on Level 4-1 press B(3), Start.
To start on Level 5-1 press B(4), Start.
To start on Level 6-1 press B(5), Start.
To start on Level 7-1 press B(6), Start.
To start on Level 8-1 press B(7), Start.

99 Lives:
On level 3-1 there’s 2 turtles walking down steps at the end of the level and if you keep jumping on the left edge of the second one just right it will keep giving you an increasing amount of points then go to giving you an extra life with each jump and you can get up to 99 lives this way.

Level -1:
At the end of level 1-2 if instead of running along on top and taking a warp if you go to the tube before the 3 warp tubes and keep jumping while holding duck by the end of the top of the tube and pressing against the wall you eventually will slide through the wall and then there’s a tube you can go down and then you will be trapped in a never ending water level called level -1 that you can never get out of until you run out of lives or hit reset on your system.

Jumping Over the Flagpole:
At the end of level 3-3 you can use an elevator to jump over the flagpole and then you will have an endless repeating wall of a castle behind you and no matter what you do you will eventually run out of time and die unless you reset your system.

Game Genie Codes (for North American version):

SXIOPO Infinite lives for both players
AATOZE Start players 1 & 2 with 9 lives
IATOZA Start players 1 & 2 with 6 lives
AATOZA Start players 1 & 2 with 1 life
VATOLE Start player 1 with 8 lives and player 2 with 3 lives
APZLGK Super jump from a standing start only
TPZLTG Super jump from running only
GPZUAG Super jump from turbo running only
APZLGG Mega-jump from a standing start only
APZLTG Mega-jump from running only
GAZUAG Mega-jump from turbo running only
YAZULG Moon Gravity from a standing start
YAZUIG Moon Gravity from a running start
YAZUYG Moon Gravity from turbo running only
OZTLLX + AATLGZ + SZLIVO Always stay big
YSAOPE + YEAOZA + PEAPYA Start on World 2
YSAOPE + YEAOZA + ZEAPYA Start on World 3
YSAOPE + YEAOZA + LEAPYA Start on World 4
YSAOPE + YEAOZA + GEAPYA Start on World 5
YSAOPE + YEAOZA + IEAPYA Start on World 6
YSAOPE + YEAOZA + TEAPYA Start on World 7
YSAOPE + YEAOZA + YEAPYA Start on World 8
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