Super Mario Bros. 1985

Is it still worth playing?

Nintendo's 1985 side scrolling platformer for the Famicom, produced by Shigeru Miyamoto with music by Koji Kondo, which reached North America later that year. Mario sets out to rescue Princess Toadstool from King Koopa. You move right to a flagpole in every stage, avoiding enemies and pits, and question blocks yield coins and power ups such as the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower and Starman. There are eight worlds of four stages each, with underwater stages, warp pipes and bonus areas, and finishing the game unlocks a harder replay. You lose a life by taking damage while small, falling or running out of time, and two players alternate as Mario and Luigi. Alongside the NES, it is credited with reviving the video game industry after the 1983 crash. Level design, enemy placement and precise physics, with a difficulty that ramps steadily, are why it still plays well.