Saturday, February 10, 2024

PrinceWatercress plays Super Mario Bros. - The Short Play


This was a pain in the butt to pull off, but I got it done. Here's the whole game completed in eight levels and in around ten minutes.


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.

World 4-1



This is the first level where you will meet Lakitu. Lakitu will move around in the sky and throw down Spinys, and the Spinys will move towards you. The only way to defeat them is with Koopas or fireballs due to their spiny shells.

There is a Mushroom/Fire Flower at the start.

At the four ? blocks that are side by side, the hidden 1-Up will be directly above the third ? block, assuming you've done what it takes to make it show up.

The third pipe in the level leads to a underground coin room with a hidden Mushroom above the pipe. Leaving this area takes you to the next pipe and to the end, but you'll miss out on the last set of ? blocks, where you'll find an easier to get Mushroom/Fire Flower.

World 4-2



There is a Mushroom/Fire Flower in the last brick above the first three coins. After the three Goombas, there will be a hidden coin block in the ceiling five bricks away from where the "brick tunnel" ends and before the ? blocks.

After the ? blocks and the platform, there are some bricks. If you're big, hump straight up at the right edge of the pit, then go two tiles forward and jump straight up. Go another tile forward, jump straight up, then climb up the blocks you just uncovered and hit the left-most brick. You'll uncover a vine, and if you climb up it, you'll find a path leading the Warp Zone for Worlds 6, 7 and 8.

World 8-1



The dark turtle-shaped enemy is a Buzzy Beetle. The Buzzy Beetle is much like a Koopa, but it cannot be defeated with fireballs. Not surprisingly, this enemy became a mainstay of the Mario series.

The 1-Up for this area is above the first Buzzy Beetle, assuming you've warped here from the vine warp in World 4-2.

The fifth pipe (which has two coins in the air to the right and the three Goombas after it) leads to an underground coin room. The exit takes you to the next pipe over, so you won't be missing much aside from a bunch of coins and a coin block near the exit.

There are no power-ups here; just the invisible coin block and the coin block above it between the block walls and the Starman shortly afterwards. Be ready to jump and survive.

World 8-2



Lakitu strikes at the beginning.

Jumping straight up at the springboard solely after the beginning reveals another 1-Up. Unlike the 1-Ups in Worlds 2-1 through 8-1, this one shows up no matter what.

There is a Mushroom/Fire Flower in the right brick after the double Bullet Bill cannon set. The brick next to the cannon on the block is a coin block.

After this, you'll need to make a big leap over a big pit. The best way to do this is start at the left edge of the pipe, run to the right and jump at the very edge. If you have enough speed, you'll barely make it. You can also jump to the second narrow piece of ground, then jump to the right from there. Either way, you'll want to maintain momentum and make sure you land the jumps.

The pipe immediately after this leap takes you to another underground coin room with a coin block, but you'll want to take it. Even though you'll came back out from the next pipe over, you'll miss out on having to deal with three green Para-troopas. 

World 8-3



There are a lot of Hammer Brothers in this area. The first two sets guard Mushrooms/Fire Flowers. If you're small and need power-ups, this is your last chance to get them. The first one is in the second to last brick on the rope on the top row of bricks; the second one is the second brick on the top row.

Shortly after the second set of Hammer Brothers, you can kick a Koopa to get rid of a few more Hammer Brothers, but after the next pipe, you won't have that luxury. Be ready to run under them if you're small. Also, watch for the coin block hidden in the foreground wall near the end. The fact that this stage has foreground walls before the castle is cool.

There are three pipes here, but none of them lead to anything. 

World 8-4




Thankfully, this one is easy to memorize. Run straight off the edge at the start to get past the first lava pit, then take the platform over the second lava pit and enter the first pipe you see after that.

From here, keep heading right until you see a pipe in mid air. There is a hidden block to the left of the pipe; hit it from underneath to reveal it, then get down that pipe.

You'll then have to make your way to the right while dealing with Cheep-Cheeps flying out from the bottom of the screen. When you leap over the lava pit here, enter the first pipe after it. This will take you to the underwater area. Watch out for fire bars and Bloopers as you make your way to the exit.

From here, be ready to get past a Hammer Brother and keep going right until you reach Bowser. If you beat him with fireballs, he will be the real Bowser and he will not change on his way down. Once you hit the axe, you'll save Princess Toadstool! You've just beaten Super Mario Bros. in only eight levels!

No comments:

Post a Comment