Top 20 NES Super Mario Moments: Number 1

1: Wart

today's post courtesy of deathbytroggles

Bosses, especially in NES games, fall into one of two categories. They're either insanely easy once you determine the trick to beating them, or they're insanely hard, requiring perseverance and multiple hits. Wart is neither of those. While there are strategies to defeating him and avoiding getting hit, there's no automatic road to victory. On the other hand, it is very possible to get very good at defeating him, taking no to minimal damage. In a way, he's like Mike Tyson.

He wants to eat your children

Wart's castle is tough enough to get through, and then beating him is another stressful task. Ultimately, it's one of the most rewarding moments for the entire console. And that doesn't even include one of the most elaborate, fun endings you'll see in the 8-bit era.

Newhart just had to copy this idea

Top 20 NES Super Mario Moments: Number 4

4: Open Sesame

today's post courtesy of deathbytroggles

At the end of nearly level in SMB2 you are faced with the impossible large face of a hawk. Once you've completed the level he opens his large gape and invites you inside to play at the casino.

This one's gotta pay off soon!

Top 20 NES Super Mario Moments: Number 6

6. Stop! Hammer Time

today's post courtesy of deathbytroggles

Once you get the hang of things in Super Mario Bros. the game becomes pretty easy. Enemies have predictable patterns, and with a little patience, there's little in the way of challenge outside of timing your mad dash for every Bowser visit. But there's one area of the game that never gets easy and to this day still makes me nervous.

Oh, and there's bullets.

The Hammer Bros drunkenly move and jump, with no predictable pattern that I've noticed (other than they have a limited left to right movement), and just when you think it's safe to dash through, one of them jumps down. Or one of the eight zillions hammers they throw smashes in your face. You can kill them by jumping on them, which is practically suicide (i.e. a hammer to the crotch) or hitting the brick below them, which is harder than it seems given their unpredictability.

If you only have a couple of lives left by the time you get to 8-3, it's time to do a lot of praying.

My kingdom for some fireballs!

Top 20 NES Super Mario Moments: Number 7

7: Take A Walk In Someone Else's Shoes

today's  post courtesy of deathbytroggles

The original game just had big Mario and fire-breathing Mario. I was honestly content with the addition of Raccoon Mario, and then the game had to bust out Frog Mario and Oh-My-God-There’s-Medusa Mario.

Heart of Stone

But then we get to some random middle-of-the-road level in Sky World. And there’s Goombas just hangin’ out in shoes. And after coming down from the ‘shrooms bender you tentatively jump on one, killing it and finding yourself with a brand new shoe. You literally become indestructible while in it, unless you commit suicide by jumping down a bottomless pit.
I, along with several million other kids, clamored for Kuribo’s Shoe to be in more levels. But that really would have killed its charm.

Hey, do you hate me?

Top 20 NES Super Mario Moments: Number 9

Number 9: Inception

today's post courtesy of deathbytroggles

So this dreamworld in SMB2 also has a subworld beneath it, and instead of Mal trying to kill you, it has energy bar mushrooms and coins that can be played in the extra life lottery that all good dreams have.

Mario's Totem

If you throw the dream-within-a-dream potion near a snake pot, you can go down the snake pot (that's not as fun as it seems). Most of the time, it just wakes you up. But one time while sabotaging my sweet deep sleep I plunged down a pot and wound up halfway through the game. Yeah! Finding the others was a bunch of fun and more satisfying than  simply climbing a ceiling or a vine.


Of course, when I play it now, I never use the warp zones, as I want to experience the whole game. But when you're eight years old and you want to beat the game faster than you brother, you look for any advantage you can take.

The Dangers of Taking Too Much Ambien

Top 20 NES Super Mario Moments: Number 11

Number 11 : Source Code

today's post courtesy of deathbytroggles

Plumbers, upon birth, are granted the great fortune of being able to die twice and still continue their existence. It doesn't matter how, either. Fall down a pit? Second chance. Hit by a bullet? No problem. Run out of an arbitrary amount of time presumably set by the Koopa Gods? Just wind back the clock. Of course, it's likely those things will happen to plumbers more than just three times during the span of their careers. They can earn more chances to fuck up. Why, the St. Peter of plumbers takes 100 gold coins in exchange for a second life. He also takes poisonous mushrooms.

    Don't try this at home kids. You will die.

Top 20 NES Super Mario Moments: Number 13

13: LASERS!!!!

today's post courtesy of deathbytroggles

I remember when I was 11 years old and got to the final castle in SMB3 for the first time. I was so excited, and so nervous. So nervous, in fact, that I literally tiptoed over each square, terrified of what might be coming. As it turns out, tip-toeing is not the best strategy.

Somehow, though, I was able to avoid instant death. I just wish there were more surprises like this throughout the game.

Top 20 NES Super Mario Moments: Number 15

Number 15: Here Comes The Sun And I Say It's Not Right‏

today's post courtesy of deathbytroggles

With some moderate exceptions, most of Super Mario Bros 3 is pretty easy, especially if you've accumulated extra lives in the many easy ways the game gives you. Anyone who was able to win either of the first two games no doubt walked through this one with ease. That is until they got to World 8.

The design of level 8-2 is not terribly complicated, especially compared to the airships and the dungeons you'll be visiting. There aren't many enemies other than some Venus Fire Traps. As you can see, there are some bouncy musical notes you have to jump across. But Mario has done that as early as World 1.

And then this fucker shows up.

Later I learned you can skip most of this level (along with the melodic pit of death) by falling down some quicksand near the beginning. Until then, this moment was one of the greatest challenge between me and
sloppy seconds with Princess Peach.

Top 20 NES Super Mario Moments: Number 16

Number 16: Addition By Subtraction‏

today's post courtesy of deathbytroggles

Prior to the internet, glitches were insanely popular. It felt like you had a special secret that few people had: breaking a game programmed by gods. Of course, I learned about glitches from Nintendo Power. Still, breaking a game could often be more fun than trying to win it outright. And there's nothing more fun than trying to enter Super Mario Bros' "minus world", if your idea of fun is trying to make awkward jumps forty-eight times in a row while the clock of death is winding down.

Alternate Cover for "Off The Wall"

Compared to other glitches in NES games, your reward is more than just seeing something funky. You actually get to see an underwater level not in the actual game. It's never-ending and there's no way to escape it, but nobody goes to minus world on accident.

You can't take it with you

Top 20 NES Super Mario Moments: Number 17

17: They Might be Giants

Today's post to us courtesy of deathbytroggles .

The most annoying world in Super Mario Bros. 3 is hand-down world three. Plumbers apparently are terrible swimmers, and navigating underwater is only marginally less frustrating than killing off all four ninja turtles in two minutes. The designers felt a frog suit would be a nice bone to toss at gamers, but it's barely an improvement underwater, and a nightmare when back on land.

A satisfying meal in three...two...one...

So after surviving World 3, I was hoping for something a little breezier, and drier.

BAHHHH!!!!!