This star, as its name says, grants Mario invincibility for a short time. The last item to talk about is the invincibility star. Coins are used for different things from replenishing health, unlocking secret areas, or giving Mario an extra life depending on their color. There are four different types of mushrooms that have appeared over the years, most of them making Mario either bigger or smaller and one granting an extra life. Flowers allow Mario to throw either a fireball or an ice ball. Those are things Mario does, but what about the things within the game that grant him other abilities? Again, these are simple things that can be lumped together as “items.” Players interact with these items-By Jumping and touching-and depending on the item, a different thing happens. New Super Mario Bros U (image from ) You Get an Item, and You Get an Item. If you were to count them separately, that is six game mechanics, all consisting of one main theme-Mario jumping-but they are completely different and utilized for different reasons.

Mario can jump regularly, slide down a wall, jump from one wall to another, spin jump to attack or break things, twirl to help glide a little bit farther and even perform a ground-pound to trigger things or trigger certain enemy mechanics. Breaking down Mario’s mechanics, we see just how elementary they are-he jumps. By basic mechanics, I mean exactly that: they are simple, but if we make the most of them we may start to understand the formula Nintendo has perfected. Simply put, the basic mechanics, the level design, and the years of polish and branding are why we will always admire the levels from any of the Super Mario games. How is a game with basic mechanics one of the first games we can recall when talking about our childhoods? Why are we able to pick up any of these games and instantly feel gratified and accomplished? There are several things we could learn from the franchise as a whole, but I want to focus on one or two that are the most prevalent to us developers no matter our experience – mechanics and level design.

After more than a dozen titles from the Super Mario franchise, it is clear that Nintendo has perfected their formula.

Super mario bros world 1-1 puzzle