Mario Bros. & POW

[Mendon]

After playing a few rounds of Mario Bros. this morning before the football games start, it got to thinking: how often while playing the game do you use the POW button? I found myself hardly using it at all as more often than not it turned a serious situation into a deadly one. Course that's probably just me and not using it properly.

 

Just curious

 

Mendon

[ubersaurus]

Generally I only use it when I want to do alot of damage quick. It's almost useless when you get all the flies on the screen, as unless your timing is good, you just wasted a POW hit.

[chrisbid]

its more important as a safe island as only fireballs can reach you there

[Tempest]

I tend to use it up right away on the higher levels. If I leave it till later on I forget about it and never use it. POW is a very easy way to knock down a bunch of crabs (sidesteppers?) when they're all on the level right above the POW. If you use it when they're towards the top of the screen, you'll never get up there in time to knock them off.

 

Tempest

[Video]

I rarely use the Pow Button at all. You have to use it twice for the crabs, the flys are iffy, and the turtles would be flipped back over if you used it for crabs.

 

Over all, it's not needed on the earlier levels, and on the later levels, where you do need it, it's not very useful (to me) because most feature multiple types of charactures at once.

[Mendon]

I'm trying a new tactic with it where I get rid of the POW button as soon as possible to see how far I get without it. I've hit POW by mistake a couple times while jumping to avoid a nasty and when you get several "mad" crab's running around after hitting the button (along with bouncing fireballs), it kinda changes the speed of the game

 

Mendon

[Voch]

In the arcade version (and I do this on the 2600 version, too), I'll use the POW on the second sidestepper level to quickly get rid of the first two sidesteppers. I'll wait right under the POW and when they're a level above me I'll do a double-POW to flip 'em over.

 

Other than that the POW is generally in the way for me.

 

Voch

[Video]

Every version of the game that I know of, you can stand on the Pow button. But you cannot on the 2600 version.

 

Can you do this in MarioBros Arcade? Anybody know?

[davidbrit2]

It comes in pretty handy when you've got about 2 or 3 Slipices about to raise hell with the floors, or if you're on the bottom floor with all manner of hellishness converging on your location.

[SS]

Every version of the game that I know of, you can stand on the Pow button.  But you cannot on the 2600 version.  

 

Can you do this in MarioBros Arcade?  Anybody know?

 

I just fired up MAME to give it a try. The answer is yes but it's hard to get to. If you jump from the bottom level onto the POW, you tend to skid right off of it. In order to stand on the thing, you have to jump from the second level from a run just as you are about to drop off the ledge. Like I said, it's kinda hard to do successfully so I wouldn't think that it's a very usable strategy in the arcade version.

[Video]

Oops, I meant the 2600 version of Mario Bros Arcade. It's for sale (or was) in the Atari age store.

[SS]

Oops, I meant the 2600 version of Mario Bros Arcade.  It's for sale (or was) in the Atari age store.

 

Can't do it on either the original or the hack. You jump right through the button from the top.

[Mendon]

Really interesting reading all the strategies and "quirks" that you guys have posted. Never ceases to amaze me all the things that people find in a game. Even when at first the game might appear to have a "basic" premise and "basic" gameplay, people seem to find new things that add to the enjoyment of it.

 

Mendon