From:  Mark R. Voss                                    June 8, 1989
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Four Secrets to the Game...

S U P E R    M A R I O    B R O T H E R S

Created by Nintendo, Inc.

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Secret One  (The World Select Function)

When you first see the opening screen for Super Mario Bros. (with the
1 Player, 2 Players options), you can <select> the world you want to
begin in by pressing the B key.  As you press the B key, you will see on
the top of your screen that the world numbers change.  So if you want to
begin your game in World 8 instead of World 1, just press the B key
seven times.  One word of caution, though.  If you do 'jump ahead' by
doing this, the game will be much faster, and the Evil Mushrooms will be
replaced by the Buggy Beetles, which can't be destroyed by fireballs.
So your game will be harder.  Even if you press the B button and keep
pressing it until you go back to World One, your game will still be
hard.  So if you already pressed button B but you decided you don't want
to play a hard game, you'll have to press Reset on your Nintendo system.
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Secret Two  (The Number of Firebursts)

Do you know how the number of firebursts at the end of each scene is
determined?  It's simple:  either 1, 3 or 6 firebursts will go off at
the end of each scene.  (Or none, of course)  It all depends on the
number your time ends in at the end of each scene.  If the last number
of your time is a 1, one fireburst will go off.  If it is a 3, 3 blasts
will occur; and if it is a 6, a grand total of 6 firebursts will
explode.  So if your time left is 206, you get 6 firebursts.  If it's
311, 1 fireburst will go off.  If it's 193, 3 firebursts go off.  But
you get no firebursts if your time ends in any number besides 1, 3, or
6.  Simple, huh?
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Secret Three  (The Turtle Off the Step)

This is probably the worst kept secret.  Every avid Mario Bros. player
knows about this, and it has downright frustrated many of them.
Mastering it is not easy.  For those of you who don't know about it,
maybe I should <explain> it!  Hee hee!  When you come to the very end of
World 3, Level 1  (the flight of stairs),  you'll see two green turtles
coming down the stairs.  Now kill the first one.  He'll only get in the
way.  The second one is the one you want to 'play' with.  Place Mario
(or Luigi) on any given step below the approaching turtle.  When the
turtle falls down to the next step (the step above Mario), jump up.
I haven't yet mastered this, but about half of the time (ALL of the time
for you experts), Mario's feet will ricochet off of the turtle's shell,
fall back down and ricochet again off the shell, then ricochet again and
again, until eventually you start hearing repeated jingles and a bunch
of '1UP' floating figures appearing, meaning that you are collecting
gobs of extra Marios as he repeatedly jumps up and down off of the
shell.  Once you get this going, it is incredibly easy.  You don't have
to do a thing - not even touch your game controller in any way, nor none
of its buttons.  Just sit back and watch Mario bounce off of the shell.
It usually doesn't last too long, though, as Mario will eventually fall
back onto his original step.  But just jump up again and occasionally
you can get this process going again.  Most of the time, however, just a
simple floating '400' or '500' will appear.  But if you master this, it
becomes very easy to do, and the only thing stopping you from collecting
the maximum of 130 Marios is the time left.
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Secret Four  (The Path Through World 8, Level 4)

For those of you who eventually reach the very last scene, World 8,
Level 4; you will find it is a literal warp maze.  Here is the path you
take to get through it:

1)  When the scene first appears, place Mario on the very last step of
    the staircase, hold down the B button, and press the A (jump) key
    while pressing the left arrow key.  Mario should just barely make it
    across the lake of lava.  Then run along and jump over the first
    small pot.  Then jump over the second one as well, being careful to
    avoid the mushroom people.  (Kill them if you want to)  Next you
    come to a lake of lava with a floating beam on the surface.  Land on
    the beam, then jump off it to the right, landing on the surface.
    You come to another tunnel.  This one you want to go down.

2)  Then you re-appear in another area of the scene.  Press the B
    button, running real fast to the next pot.  Jump over the surface of
    this pot, and holding the B button, jump as far as you can, over the
    beetles.  Jump up on the next pot, and then jump in the air over the
    two (maybe one) hopping turtles.  Then get on the next pot to the
    right of them.  (All the while being careful to avoid the Mario-
    eating plants protruding from certain pots).  Now the next thing you
    want to do is to jump over the small lake of lava to the left of the
    pot in the air.  You will see two hopping turtles coming toward you.
    It is not worth it to try and crush them and knock them away.  About
    90% of the time, one of them will get you.  So what you want to do
    is <jump back> over the lake of lava and land on the top of the pot
    on the very left of your screen.  Let the hopping turtles come; they
    will sadly end up hopping into the lake of lava, and it will be safe
    for you to proceed.

3)  Then jump up to the left of the pot in the air.  A previously-
    invisible coin box will appear.  Jump up on the coin box and up to
    the surface of the pot.  Press the down arrow key.
    Remember World 2, Level 3 with the flying bugs?  Well, here they are
    again.  There aren't that many as you previously ran into, but they
    are still unpredictable.  Keep jumping over the pots until you come
    to another lake of lava.  Go down the tunnel of the first pot past
    the lake of lava (and be careful to avoid the bugs!)

4)  Now you come to the water.  This is extremely easy, however,
    especially considering how those white jellyfish-like creatures
    cannot do a thing to you as long as you walk along the bottom
    surface of the lake (of water, not lava).  Just be careful to avoid
    the firearms (in water?)  and land on the floor of the lake before
    the white things can get to you.  In a short while, you will come to
    the exit.

5)  From the easiest part of the game's last scene, we go to the hardest
    part.  If you don't have firepower, consider yourself screwed.  You
    have to conquer a lone hammer-throwing turtle which appears past the
    next pot you exited the water from.  If you know of a trick to
    easily conquer this turtle, I'm glad for you, cause I don't.  If you
    don't either, you'll just have to jump up in the air, hope you don't
    bump into any flying hammers on the way down, and land on top of the
    turtle, killing him.  Good luck in this endeavor.

6)  You may wonder why there is only one hammer-throwing turtle.
    Usually they come in pairs.  Well... this is no exception, because
    guess who lies beyond the first hammer-throwing turtle and the lake
    of lava?  That's right:  the big, thorny fire-spitting mama of a
    turtle that's guarding the Princess.  He, too, is wielding scores of
    hammers (as well as spitting disappearing and re-appearing flames)
    that you'll have to maneuver Mario past.  Of course, if you're big,
    just run into the hammer, or a flame, and become small.  While
    you're flashing, you can run past the giant thorny turtle, jump on
    the axe, and save the princess.  And, of course, if you have
    firepower, you can give him a taste of his own medicine.
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If I find anymore secrets incorporated into Super Mario Bros., I'll type
up and upload another file.

I hope this file will be helpful to you or your kids.

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