The original Super Mario Bros for the NES, what a magical experience.

[CapnNostalgia]

Aye Mateys, I know 'ye be knowing the feeling I'm talkin' about. That unmistakable feelin' of playing Super Mario Brothers on the NES for the first time and feeling that amazing rush of "awe" come over 'ye as 'ye explore the mushroom kingdom for the first time. I remember being a young skallywag back in the late 80's when I first experienced the game and I'll never forget the night I brought home me' booty from the toy store which consisted of an NES (with Mario/Duck Hunt) and Skate or Die. I played Mario for hours and hours before even touching the other two games and to this day the good captain still regard that special feeling as the single most important moment in me' entire video gaming life. I actually had the pleasure of playing Super Mario Brothers in the arcade back in the late 80's as well, which took me by surprise when I saw it at an ol' pizza shop back by the port where we kept the S.S Retro because I thought it was console only. Ah, the sweet innocence of being a child back before the days of the internet. If you get a chance than by all means check out my piratey-esq review of SMB HERE

What kind of experiences do 'ye folks have with Super Mario Brothers on the NES? I'm sure many folks postin' here in the retro section of the forum be' around 30+, so many of you landlubbers should know these memories and feelin's in which Cap'n Nostalgia be talkin'. One thing the cap'n loves is how Nintendo has done a good job at keeping their classics games relevant in today's market with their virtual console on Wii, Wii-U, and 3DS, and how they find ways to bring these classics back time after time for new generations of treasure hunters to enjoy. And now they've brought back the Nintendo World Championships after 25 years or so with the NEX Remix release for the Wii-U and now gamers of all ages will be either discovering these classics for the first time or rekindling an ol' flame. The cap'n applauds the big "N" for their efforts.

Arrrgggh mateys, that be all from Cap'n Nostalgia fer now. Get back to work, the lot of ya!

[FieryReign]

The first time I played it was on one of those Playchoice arcade cabs at a Hills department store. Remember Hills? I was awful at it and thought I got pretty far when I made it to "the turtle". That game and Gumshoe were my first NES experiences until I finally got my R.O.B. set, which didn't come with SMB unfortunately. So I had to wait til my birthday to finally experience the full game. I could never get that 1-up trick to work for me. I probably still suck at it...

[Tanooki]

My mom however that worked out out west wrangled a test launch pre-feluxe system for christmas in 1985 along with also SMB and Hogan's Alley. Christmas was a mind blown experience since those were intentionally kept towards the back of the pile as the last things to find.

Details kept down everything got extreme use for that day and weeks to follow. I know I put hours a day into all of them, especially Super Mario Bros as it was fair, but also challenging and hard when you're like 8 and the only games you've messed with before are the occasional trips to the arcade with a few quarters. I never did recall ever seeing a game like it before, worlds that expanded and grew, changed as you moved along. Most the stuff to that point in the arcade were single or scrolling screen shooters, driving games, the usual Namco, Midway and Atari basics. It took quite awhile to take down Mario, and 8-3 sent me into fits considering how cheap those hammer bros were having no way to run under them like in the past stages. 8-4 was a panic when you'd hit the wrong level of platform or pipe to not get the BING and have to re-do the pattern over again too but it was fun. One would always wonder just how many stages there were and worlds to deal with having some nasty little mushroom snark you for not being the princess yet again as this was a decade before the internet really showed up in the home.

[retroman]

I can remember the first time I saw and played SMB. It was in the Arcade form at a local fleemarket or all places. I. like all of you, was floored by how awesome it was(still is). Then about a week later a friend of mine got a NES for his birthday and it came with SMB. I was floored again. How did they put a arcade game inside a home cartridge I thought. Well that was enough for me. I was sold. Saved up my money for months and went to Caldors(a store when I was a kid), and picked myself up a NES. One of my greatest memories as a kid. I played SMB all day and night with my brother. I finally had my dream video game system, and could put the old Intellivision to rest for awhile.

[Emperor Megas]

The first time I saw and played Super Mario Bros. it was a dedicated cabinet in a Time Savers in uptown New Orleans on Lowerline Street. It was sort of out of the way, as it was about a mile down from our regular hang out, which was another Time Savers closer to home that neighbored a Tastee donuts. Both had arcade machines with regularly rotated every few months.

Anyway, I wasn't floored the first time I played it, or really ever, honestly, though I did enjoy it, just not as much as shooters and action platformers which were my favorite genres at the time. The thing I remember being most amazed by was that you didn't die when you jumped on top of the 'Shell Creepers', which I stilled called them (since that's what they were called in the original Mario Bros.) until I got the NES version with a manual.

I enjoyed the game a lot more when I played it at home. I liked the NES controller better than the super clicky buttons and the short, 'slidey' joystick on the arcade cabinet.

I got an NES and a SMS the same Christmas, and I spent a LOT more time playing my Master system than my NES, so I didn't put the same time into SMB as everyone else. I honestly enjoyed Alex Kidd in Miracle World better. I don't think it's a better game at all, but I was just more a fan of it. I was in a unique situation where most of my closest friends owned a SEGA Master System, and only a few owned an NES. I didn't realize just how unusual that was until years later with the advent of the Internet. I suppose New Orleans was sort of like Brazil.

[Gentlegamer]

I'm a pirate, but Talk Like A Pirate Day isn't until September.

I think you can drop the character. Matey.

[The Adventurer]

My local greasy spoon dinner had a Super Mario Bros. Vs.* cabinet that I'm 99% sure I played before I got my NES Christmas 1989. It's hard to really nail down my first true impressions as I was 5 and I played Mario Bros a LOT during that time. It was definitly formative in terms of defining my overall gaming tastes going forward.

And the thrill of encountering new enemies and obstacles, and discovering new secrets, really captured my imagination.


* they also got a Castlevania Vs. cabinet at some point, which was also something that blew my 5/6 year old mind

[Tanooki]

It was a just a few years later I saw and played the arcade SMB game and I thought I'd enjoy it, but the NES tainted me. I had learned the game well enough I ended up just doing a lot of sloppy deaths and kills that it turned me off to it. I mean the game is fine and all, but I never liked it half as much as the NES game as it felt just cheap with the holes an enemy placement, clearly to nab up more quarters. I think that's why I've never bothered to MAME emulate it or get one of those warez carts retrozone made with the dipswitches. I did like the vs Castlevania game a good bit more.

[CapnNostalgia]

It was a just a few years later I saw and played the arcade SMB game and I thought I'd enjoy it, but the NES tainted me. I had learned the game well enough I ended up just doing a lot of sloppy deaths and kills that it turned me off to it. I mean the game is fine and all, but I never liked it half as much as the NES game as it felt just cheap with the holes an enemy placement, clearly to nab up more quarters. I think that's why I've never bothered to MAME emulate it or get one of those warez carts retrozone made with the dipswitches. I did like the vs Castlevania game a good bit more.

Aye, I've played the feared arcade version as well me' lad and shiver me timbers the game lashes out at 'ye somethin' fierce. It be yer gold she wants, nothin' more....nothin' less.

But she be fun regardless and playing it at the arcade was a fond memory, something Cap'n Nostalgia is sure he'll never experience again.

[wizardofwor1975]

I remember getting ZELDA II and SMB/Duck Hunt for Christmas in 1988. Prior to playing SMB I had extensively played The Great Giana Sisters on our C64. The Great Giana Sisters was released in '87 and was a virtual copy of SMB. In spite of their similarities I thoroughly enjoyed both games. Although, Zelda II completely eclipsed SMB in our household on Christmas morning back in '88 no doubt due to our prior extensive Great Giana Sisters experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMTdr026bZU

[sloan]

Got my Control Deck set with SMB for Christmas 1985. Felt like Bryan Adams, played it til my fingers bled, but it wasn't the summer of '69. While I had seen it on Playchoice 10 machines at Aladdin's Castle, I had never played it to that point. I made up for lost time.

[celerystalker]

I'm a pirate, but Talk Like A Pirate Day isn't until September.

I think you can drop the character. Matey.

Thank you. I like the idea here of sharing memories. Forum posts in character kinda turned me away at first.

I first played Super Mario Bros. and the NES on New Year's Eve, 1986. My parents had friends they'd get together with every New Year and play board games all night, and the host family had 2 sons. The oldest son had gotten an NES for Christmas, but was a teenager, so he had his own plans. He let my little brother and I play his NES that night while he was out. He had a few games: Kung Fu, Excitebike, Hogan's Alley, Ghosts 'n Goblins, and Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt (I can't remember if they were separate or the combo cart). We played all of the games, but I really gravitated to Super Mario, Kung Fu, and Ghosts 'n Goblins. I could get farther in Kung Fu, butI beat the first level oc Super Mario and of Ghosts 'n Goblins, while my brother was really into Excitebike.

We played all night until probably 3AM, and all the way home and as I fell off to sleep, those games just burned into my mind. We had an Atari 2600, and the next day I went to it to try and recapture the feeling from the night before. The closest thing we had to Super Mario Bros. was Pitfall, which had been my favorite game to that point... but it just wasn't the same. What I wanted to do and see and feel wasn't possible without an NES. I started saving my allowance immediately, pooling it with my brother's.

A year later, we still didn't have enough, but we had $100 or so saved up... but we got an NES Action Set for Christmas! We were able to use our savings over the next months to buy three games: Hogan's Alley, Super Mario 2, and a bit later Zelda II.

That night is as clear to me now as it was then. It was fun with my brother, snacks, and video games in a whole new way, and it was the first time I truly craved playing a game afterward. Loved it, and still do.

[CapnNostalgia]

Aye these be some wonderful stories, lads! The good captain is glad that there is a community of people out there that still hold onto and cherish their retrogaming memories. These be the kind of things that bring a tear to me' eye. 'Ye bunch of cod-faced deck washers are makin' me proud and reading these stories are takin' me back to when I was knee high to a grasshopper. Now it's time for Cap'n Nostalgia to fire up some NES and Atari VCS, enjoy yer' night fellow brethren.

Thanks mateys!

[Gentlegamer]

Don't forget to copy your reply over to Nintendo Age where you're also advertising your blog.

[Tanooki]

Wow they'll really like him over there. I know you're a pirate so it's probably common sense, but watch your back and your mouth over there as there's more rules than the ones posted.

[CapnNostalgia]

Thank you. I like the idea here of sharing memories. Forum posts in character kinda turned me away at first.

I first played Super Mario Bros. and the NES on New Year's Eve, 1986. My parents had friends they'd get together with every New Year and play board games all night, and the host family had 2 sons. The oldest son had gotten an NES for Christmas, but was a teenager, so he had his own plans. He let my little brother and I play his NES that night while he was out. He had a few games: Kung Fu, Excitebike, Hogan's Alley, Ghosts 'n Goblins, and Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt (I can't remember if they were separate or the combo cart). We played all of the games, but I really gravitated to Super Mario, Kung Fu, and Ghosts 'n Goblins. I could get farther in Kung Fu, butI beat the first level oc Super Mario and of Ghosts 'n Goblins, while my brother was really into Excitebike.

We played all night until probably 3AM, and all the way home and as I fell off to sleep, those games just burned into my mind. We had an Atari 2600, and the next day I went to it to try and recapture the feeling from the night before. The closest thing we had to Super Mario Bros. was Pitfall, which had been my favorite game to that point... but it just wasn't the same. What I wanted to do and see and feel wasn't possible without an NES. I started saving my allowance immediately, pooling it with my brother's.

A year later, we still didn't have enough, but we had $100 or so saved up... but we got an NES Action Set for Christmas! We were able to use our savings over the next months to buy three games: Hogan's Alley, Super Mario 2, and a bit later Zelda II.

That night is as clear to me now as it was then. It was fun with my brother, snacks, and video games in a whole new way, and it was the first time I truly craved playing a game afterward. Loved it, and still do.

Wow, that be one helluva good tale, matey! It's stories and moments in time such as this that bond us to our games and create memories that will last a lifetime and beyond. Great stuff 'ye ol' skallywag! I'm glad you got some time in with Zelda II back in the day, it still remains the Capn's all-time favorite NES game, and yes, I catch guff over that all the time. But those fish-cleaners end up walk in' the plank!

[celerystalker]

I really don't want to discourage posting at all, as this concept was a good conversation starter. Please just take this as a simple comment. The pirate thing isn't appropriate for a forum, especially when talking about personal memories. It's schtick, and it's inauthentic and will get annoying very quickly. By all means, post away, share your thoughts. Just... be yourself if you would. If your purpose is to be different to build a following, you're in the wrong place. If you want to have genuine conversation, by all means, tee off, it'd be great to have more active posters. Personally, though, I'm out on any more pirate-themed posts.

Always glad to meet another Zelda II fan, though. It's my favorite NES game as well.

[JoshDragon]

Classic video game for certain. I believe it was the first video game that I owned. Got it as a hand-me down from my uncle in around 1994. I loved the game, although I got Mega Man 2 later that year which pretty much made me forget about SMB 1 for a while.

What's interesting about SMB 1 is that pretty much everyone, who ever owned an NES, has played that game.

[XYXZYZ]

I'm just going to copy and paste my post from the "hard won victories" thread I made a couple years ago.

The first time I played Super Mario Bros. was in a department store, Hills I think. (Remember when we had stores besides Walmart?) It must have been 1986 or 1987, the Nintendo NES was getting hype all over the place. I knew my parents weren't going to go for a $200.00 thing at Christmas, so I didn't bother getting excited about it. But I played Super Mario Bros. for a few minutes... I thought it was the greatest thing ever. The side scrolling jumping guy was so intuitive, I understood it in a way I never understood things like Dig Dug and Pacman. But there were a lot of other kids lined up, and I didn't get a very long chance to play. That Christmas, my cousin got an NES, primarily for Ghostbusters as he was a Ghostbusters fan. But I was excited to play Super Mario Bros. again, that game was just magic. I played that game whenever I could, on my cousin's NES, in department stores, sometimes my grandparents would rent an NES when I would visit. I played other games, but Super Mario Bros. was the one that called me like a siren song. When I finally got my NES, I think it was in 1988 or 1989, I only had one game, the Mario/Duck Hunt pack-in. But that was fine with me, because only one game mattered... I played the hell out of it... slowly progressing further and further... discovering the warp to World 8 was exciting, was I close? No! The challenge of World 8 was much too great for me. My progress was soooo slow... I just couldn't save that damn princess no matter what. I recall one summer when my family went on vacation all over the south, two weeks without my NES. I met some kids on vacation who had an NES, and I watched another guy save the princess. I was eager to try it myself but I had to leave and didn't have my trusty joystick with me. We finally got back around to my Aunt's house, where my cousin had a cool new game called Goonies II. I said "This is cool, but I have a job to do." I dug out Super Mario Bros. and he wondered why I was playing that old thing. I knew I could do it now. I dug into that game, and it was like a trainwreck. I was playing worse than usual! I did not save the princess that day.

Now mind you I was not a bad video game player; the first games I finished were Contra and Life Force with the 30 lives codes. Granted that's not hard, but a decent first achievement, like training wheels. But I had since finished Megaman 2, Castlevania II, Double Dragon, Legend of Zelda and Zelda II (Which were both great challenges with their own story) Super Mario Bros 2, and several other games... and eventually, I finished Super Mario Bros. 3. But it felt so wrong... The ending to SMB 3, where the princess made the "our princess is in another castle" joke, just reminded me about my greatest failure. I had still not saved the original Princess. I don't remember much about the gaming I was doing at the time, just that the Super Famicom was big news in the video game magazines, and the Super NES just announced. The first Super Mario Bros. 4 screenshots had surfaced. But to me, it was called "I still haven't saved the first Princess Bros. 4" At some point I had given up, I was starting to get tired of SMB, everyone else had stopped playing it a long time ago. Like I said, I don't remember what games I was playing at the time, but one morning at my grandparents' house, I just felt like playing a little Super Mario Bros. Now, at this point I could get all the way to 8-4, but I still couldn't get through it. Anyway, on that morning I somehow slipped under that last hammer brother, and I charged directly at Bowser, stopped, ran under him and grabbed that axe.


It was not a feeling of great victory, but... it's like I actually couldn't believe it. I just sat there staring at the screen, "PUSH BUTTON B TO SELECT A WORLD"... there was no feeling of satisfaction, it just wasn't enough. If Goliath was going to fall, he was going to fall hard; hard enough to make a believer out of me. I reached up and tapped start on my NES Advantage, beginning world 1-1 of the second quest, the Goombas were all Buzzy Beetles now. I went through every world without warping. I saved the princess, finished the second quest. Then, I did it again, this time selecting another world with the B button. Then I did it again, without warping. And again, and again.... that morning, I saved the princess seven times in one setting. Then I felt an intense feeling of satisfaction. I didn't just conquer my greatest challenge, I mastered it!

[Gentlegamer]

I really don't want to discourage posting at all, as this concept was a good conversation starter. Please just take this as a simple comment. The pirate thing isn't appropriate for a forum, especially when talking about personal memories. It's schtick, and it's inauthentic and will get annoying very quickly. By all means, post away, share your thoughts. Just... be yourself if you would. If your purpose is to be different to build a following, you're in the wrong place. If you want to have genuine conversation, by all means, tee off, it'd be great to have more active posters. Personally, though, I'm out on any more pirate-themed posts.

Always glad to meet another Zelda II fan, though. It's my favorite NES game as well.

He's just advertising his blog, he posted the exact thread at Nintendo Age, signing up for both forums for this purpose.

http://beta.nintendoage.com/forum/me...hreadid=147611