Old Game, New Trick: Gamers Find Awesome Glitch in Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. is arguably the most popular video game of all time. The mid-’80s side-scroller brought gaming to the masses by mixing accessible controls with a surprising number of tricks to track down.
And though the game is roughly 30 years old, gamers are still discovering some of the title’s funky little secrets.
RetroCollect, a site dedicated to old-school gaming, recently published a clip of what appears to be a never-before-seen glitch from the Nintendo classic — and a handy one at that.
Assuming the video is legit and not some elaborate ruse created by a gamer with too much time on his hands, the trick is pretty nifty. First off, you’ll need to play a two-player game and beat the game. That will allow you to play a second quest in which the enemies are slightly different (which explains why Mario is hopping over Buzzy Beetles instead of Goombas in the video).
From RetroCollect:
“First, you must first take player one’s Mario to the second level of the game and throw away your first life. With Luigi taking over, player two must traverse all the way to World 5-2 and find the hidden beanstalk block halfway through the stage. Once there, Luigi must start climbing the vines, however, he must await - and take on the chin - an incoming projectile from one of the Hammer Bros. Upon being hit, once player one resumes control of Mario, the beanstalk from World 5-2 will start growing in World 1-2, providing all you need to infinitely kick shells for unlimited bonuses.”
So, to summarize, the oft-neglected Luigi must sacrifice himself so that his glory-hound brother can score unlimited lives and play forever. Typical.
Will this discovery change the way games are made, played, or marketed? Well, no. But it does serve as a reminder to developers and studios that the best games will inspire players to hunt high and low for tricks and glitches far into the future.
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