To hell with the sun
"what if we made a more direct sequel to the first mario bros but it wasn't ball crushingly difficult right out the gate and there was a sweet world map with like roaming enemies and you have an inventory for items and there's like cool minigames and stuff?"
-Nintendo Miyamoto
It's absolutely incredible what they were able to squeeze out of NES in '88. The world map gives you a great sense of progress and adventure and that trick they pull in world 5 got me pogging. Packed to the brim with secrets. Get ball crushing near the end but does a great job of slowly ramping up the challenge. Farm coins in the first world 7 fortress and you'll be fine.
