I, like countless others, have the fondest of memories of my time spent playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. So many have experienced similar grand times, and the game’s reputation is so great, in fact, that even some teens of today playing it for the very first time are well-aware of its existence and excited at the chance to try it.
But there’s also some bad memories, as well. More specifically, remembering all of those times we got to World 6 or 7 or even 8 after hours of trying, and then died on our final life, sending us back to the start again. As we learned of the various shortcuts this became a tad bit less painful, but still frustrating nevertheless.
But what if I told you there was a little secret Super Mario Bros. was hiding these past 30 years that would have made things much easier on us?
Some of you old school gamers might already be aware of this, but for most of us, especially those who were very young when first playing Mario, it will likely comes as a bit of a shock to learn that there was actually a way to continue playing from where you lost your last life instead of completely starting over from the start.
That’s right! If you were on World 7-2 when you got the infamous GAME OVER screen seen above, all you had to do when you got back to the main screen is hold the A button and then press start. Simple as that. Instead of going back to World 1-1, you would instead start at World 7-1, and you could continue trying to beat the game from there.
I’ve played Super Mario Bros. more times than I could possibly recall over the past three decades, and I still fire it up from time to time for some good nostalgic fun. But never ever did I know it was possible to start from where I had lost my last life. And, if the majority of comments on the Reddit thread I learned of this trick on are any indication, many others were just as unaware as I was.
If you too are stunned by this revelation, you’re likely feeling a little blindsided and depressed. It’s OK—Super Mario Bros. is still out there. This sounds like a mighty fine excuse to go and play it again.
although I didn’t have that in the front of my mind, somehow I think I knew that, way back when, and used it
Comment by Rabbi Joseph Kolakowski — January 23, 2015 @ 11:10 am
Never knew the trick. Still beat the game.
Comment by UNCARING1 — January 23, 2015 @ 12:13 pm
And what about getting near infinite lives when a turtle was caught on stairs? the technique may take a few tries, but it makes playing the game easier when you have so many lives that death becomes irrelevant.
Comment by Andrew Douglass — January 23, 2015 @ 8:45 pm
Maybe it’s because I was there during the Nintendo revolution in the 80s when tricks and secrets were passed down via good old fashioned mouth talking but this wasn’t a secret 28 years ago. We all did it. I look forward to your Konami code Contra article soon.
Comment by Uncle Bug Music — January 23, 2015 @ 11:15 pm