It's that Mario game. Y'know, the one where you jump on Koopas and Goombas, grab the mushrooms and fire flowers, collect coins and beat Bowser. Yeah, that game. The first one where you did it. That game.
World 1-1
Left and Right let you move around, holding B lets you run, and pressing A lets you jump. Start pauses and un-pauses the game.
From left to right on the top of the screen, you'll see the current player and their score (in the case of a two-player game, where Player 2 is Luigi), the current amount of coins you have, the current level and the amount of time you have left. If you run out of time, you'll lose a life as soon as the timer reaches zero. The music gets faster at 100 seconds left to tell you that you are running low on time.
The beginning of the game is as much of a tutorial as you're going to get. Here, you'll learn that the moving mushroom with feet and angry eyes is a Goomba and that you need to stomp on it, and that touching it will kill you. By jumping up into the ? blocks from underneath, you can get coins. Collecting 100 coins will give you an extra life. One of the blocks contains a mushroom, which moves around and must be collected. This turns you from Small Mario to Super Mario. When you're big, you can hold Down to crouch, but you can break the bricks from underneath...something you could not do before.
Beyond that is a set of pipes. Here, you can learn how to run and jump. There are a few Goombas here. Try not to run into them. If you press Down on a pipe, you may be able to go down it. The fourth and last pipe leads to an underground coin room, one of many that you'll see in the game. When you go through the pipe to the right, you'll end up near the end...and I'll mention that part later.
Above the left side of the dark green hill after the last pipe is a hidden block that you can hit if you jump straight up. Inside is a mushroom with green spots instead of red ones. This is a 1-Up Mushroom that gives you an extra life. You'll only be able to get so many 1-Ups, so you'll need to learn how to stay alive.
To the right is two more Goombas. The ? block near them would usually contain a mushroom if you got hit between then and now, but if you're still big, you'll find a Fire Flower. You must be big to get the Fire Flower. If you're small, you'll get the Mushroom again, and you'll have to get it to get the Fire Flower. If you get hit while big, you'll be small again; if you get hit while small, you will lose a life and get sent back a bit. If you are small when you grab a Fire Flower, you'll be big again, but you won't be able to shoot fireballs until you grab another Fire Flower.
The Fire Flower makes you Fire Mario, and you can throw fireballs by pressing B. The fireballs can bounce and miss enemies from time to time, and the fireballs must make direct contact with the enemies to defeat them.
The turtle is called a Koopa. Jumping into it makes it retreat into its shell, but does not defeat it. If you move into the shell, you can kick it forward and defeat enemies. If you can defeat enough enemies with it by running after it and having it defeat enemies as it goes, you can get an extra life. Just don't let it hit you on the way back.
One of the bricks contains coins. If you keep jumping as quickly as possible, you'll get more coins; otherwise, you will get less.
Another brick will contain a flashing star. This is a Starman, and if you grab a Starman, you'll flash funky colors and special music will play. When this happens, you're invincible and you can defeat enemies just by moving into them. Be careful, as there are ways to die even while invincible. When the music returns to normal and you stop flashing, the Starman's powers have worn off.
There is a third Starman in the top ? block after where you can get the Starman.
The pit with no ground at the bottom is a bottomless pit. Falling in will instantly cost you a life, even if you are invincible.
You're at the end of the stage. When you reach the big set of stairs, you'll reach the flag. Jump into the flag to bring it down. The higher you are on the flag, the more points you will get.
World 1-2
Here, you'll enter your first underground area. Mario will walk into the pipe automatically; you'll have no control over him until you hit the next area.
There is a Mushroom/Fire Flower at the start. Past that is a brick with coins inside. Inside the coins afterwards is a Starman, which allows you to defeat a few enemies. You can find a hidden Fire Flower and a hidden coin block afterwards.
After the pit is a set of six coins. You'll need to make a running jump on some bricks in the air in order to get to them. If you're big, you can break the blocks above you and run on the ceiling, which is pretty cool. If you hit the brick above the right-most coin, you'll uncover a hidden 1-Up. Hit a few bricks to open up the ceiling first before getting it.
The plants that come out of the coins are Piranha Plants. You can only destroy them with fireballs as Fire Mario. If you are near or on the pipes, they will not show up; you'll need to be a little further back to get them to show up. You can still get hurt by running into them, so be cautious.
The first pipe leads to a coin room further underground. Exiting it will take you to the third pipe.
The platforms go from either top to bottom or bottom to top, and you do not want to be on them when they go all the way to the bottom. If they go all the way up, you'll be dropped back down. If you walk on the ceiling above the exit, you'll find the Warp Zone. With the three pipes here, you can skip to World 2, 3 or 4. We'll play those worlds later.
The Koopa with the red shell is the same as the ones with the green shell, except they turn around and go in the other direction when they reach a pit or the edge of a platform. The green shell Koopas just walk right off the edge and into the pit.
If your current time ends in a 1, 3 or 6, you'll get one, three or six fireworks, respectively, and you'll get points for each one.
World 1-3
Here, you'll be jumping from platform to platform. Be careful not to fall.
Some Koopas have wings and fly back and forth, either vertically or horizontally. These Koopas are called Para-Troopas. Others will jump up and down as they move forward, and you'll see the ones that do that later. Jumping on them once will clip their wings and make them a regular Koopa again. Jumping on them again makes them ripe for a kicking.
The lone ? block in this stage contains a Mushroom/Fire Flower.
There are a few platforms that move left and right above the bottomless pits. Take your time and make your move.
The castle at the end here is big and not small. What's going to happen now?
World 1-4
You're in a castle, that's what.
The pits have lava. Falling into them is obviously a no-no.
The lone ? block will contain a Super Mushroom/Fire Flower, but it's up to you if you want to get it, as below it is a fire bar, which will hurt to the touch. Take your time and time your jumps so you don't jump or move right into them. Fire bars can spin clockwise or counter-clockwise, so pay attention to where they go.
Eventually, you'll come across a wide open room, and if you jump around, you can find six invisible blocks. Each one contains a coin. Be careful around here, as fireballs will shoot out from the right side of the screen. They hurt.
You'll come across the bridge as well as a large turtle with a spiked shell. This is the great Koopa turtle king, Bowser. He will spit fireballs, and he will also move back and forth and jump occasionally. You'll need to make a running jump over him - or run under him - in order to get past him and grab the axe. By grabbing the axe, you will chop the bridge down and send Bowser into the lava. At the other side is a Mushroom Kingdom retainer, who will tell you that the princess is in another castle. From here, you'll head to World 2.
Another way to defeat Bowser is to be Fire Mario and throw fireballs at him, assuming that you can make it to Bowser as Fire Mario in the first place. When you hit him with enough fireballs, he will turn into a Goomba and fall down past the bottom of the screen. This is actually a glitch in the game, but Nintendo made it part of the lore by declaring that every meeting with Bowser until the end is with a fake Bowser created with a spell cast on a normal enemy, and that the spell is broken when you defeat the fake Bowser with the Fire Flower. You'll be able to turn Bowser into other enemies in other worlds.
