On the genius design of Super Mario Bros’ World 1-1, which teaches players how the game works without needing a tutorial. “In order to pass this first little guardian, the player must learn that the A button makes Mario jump.”
Advertise here with Carbon Ads
This site is made possible by member support. 💞
Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.
When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!
kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.
Beloved by 86.47% of the web.
Comments 2
There is an option to play an audio commentary in the game Portal that describes how the levels were designed to teach the game to players. Very similar vibe, and crazy interesting.
Nothing really to teach you that you can go down pipes or hold down b to run faster (and jump higher). Pre internet, these were just things learned from other kids and passed around in my experience.
If you feel like this comment goes against the grain of the community guidelines or is otherwise inappropriate, please let me know and I will take a look at it.
This thread is closed for new comments & replies. Thanks to everyone for participating!