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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.”

Discussion  2 comments

Rick S

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.

Tom Robertson

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.

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