The Art of Teaching

Teaching a player to play the game is almost always essential, given if they don't know how to play, they won't get very far. However, games do not always need lengthy tutorials to let the player know what to do. The first level of the first Mario platformer is a perfect example of teaching without a tutorial.

Primarily, the controller used for Mario only had 8 buttons, so players did not have many combinations of buttons with which to experiment. Mario starts level 1-1 at the left of the screen, indicating the player is going to be moving right. At the very least, the player knows the goal is right, and at all costs, move right. Also notable is the emptiness of the screen at the time. The terrain is flat, with only a few decorations in the background. This gives the player time to experiment with the 8 buttons he has.

Then, after moving right, the player sees the first hazard- a goomba. For the goomba, there are a few signs it might be an enemy- the angry eyes and the fact he is moving left. Here, the player has no choice but to jump or die. If he dies, it is a short trip back to start, and if he survives, it is proven he knows how to jump.

After that, there are the question blocks, which encourages the player to hit them and see what happens. If the player hits a question block, out comes coins or a mushroom. While clear that the coins provide points, the mushroom that spawns might seem dangerous to players. After all, a mushroom-shaped enemy just tried to kill them. However, the mushroom itself is difficult to avoid. It will either intersect with Mario's jump path as he goes to the pipe, or if the player lets it fall down, trying to jump over it will only cause Mario to hit the blocks above him and fall into the mushroom. To avoid the mushroom would require a round-about way that most new players wouldn't try.

Next on the list are the pipes, which indicate the capabilities of Mario's jump- maximum height and maximum length. Moreover, between the pipes are more goombas, an indication of how goombas move in the game. If the player falls into the pit accidentally, they are also shown that they can bounce on a goomba's head to kill it.

With the player being forced to jump several times over, the game presents a new obstacle- a hole in the ground. It is a fairly easy jump, but if the player jumps too early, the game provides a hidden block to prevent death from the very poor timing.

There is much more to the first level of Mario. The whole map is made with a purpose to teach or test the player before sending them into the dangers of the world. Even without written or spoken tutorials, the player can learn how to play the game with careful placement of objects in the world.