this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2025
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I was in my mid 30s when I found out that you could hold some button when continuing after game over in Super Mario Bros to continue in the world you died.
We just got gud and abused the turtle shell stair 1up.
After completing the game, when you're sent back to the title screen, you can also press B to select which world to start on. The World 1-1 in the HUD changes, then you have to do the continue trick - hold A and press Start.
I can finish the game on one life without warps, but I've never once been able to get the 1ups from a Koopa shell.
Edit: Another fun one is to play a bit of Tennis, eject the cart and insert SMB without powering off the system, then reset and do the continue trick. Tennis changes the memory value that SMB uses to tell which world you are continuing on, so you can play "weird worlds" like 63-1 that are generated from non-level data. Reset doesn't clear all RAM. ๐
You could do what now?
I am legitimately angry to only be learning this now
It was in the manual
What am I missing?
https://archive.org/details/Super-Mario-Bros-Manual-NES-1985/page/n2/mode/1up
Look at it this way. Didnโt you have more fun losing over and over, never completing the game and being stained permanently with that empty feeling of defeat?
I watched a video recently about tool assisted Speedruns which actually educated me on why this worked. An issue with the sound card and the way user input was handled allowed certain button combinations to cause Random Code Execution. It's actually possible to beat one of the Mario games (can't remember the name right this second) on the first frame using this method, but it requires a ridiculous amount of inputs
Super Mario World can be forced into a state where it will run arbitrary code
What's the CVE?
Whelp.. that was wild!
Whelp I was today years old when I found out about this...
Wait, what? Which button?
Edit: apparently hitting start + a on the menu screen after you lost your last life.
Hold A while you press Start instead of just pressing Start. This is one of those old games that actually required pressing Start to begin lol.
I don't understand why they did that. Does anyone know why?
Press start to start playing. Press select to select which mode. Makes sense to me.
Right. But the GUI the user is served has only one possible action, which is leaving that screen. The rest of the buttons were set up to do nothing. "Press any button" style screens make a lot more sense. Although I'd rather be sent to an actual menu immediately when opening a program.
I get what you're saying and I'm not disagreeing. I'm just trying to view it through a lens of a generation that doesn't have the accumulated life experiences of operating such screens.
Which button?! Tell me!
Edit: ah, nevermind, someone just did. Sorry for the reaction.
"Dont worry guys I found the solution" aah comment