The Most Hidden Powerup in Super Mario Bros.

[@Kosmicd12]

I just made a Patreon, and added the join button to become a member here on KZbin. I appreciate all of your support, even (especially!) just watching the videos! Just wanted to add these as options to give you further ways to support, if you feel so inclined. Thank you! www.patreon.com/kosmicd12 kzbin.info/door/6esFMAIud24sYSHfHGzPhgjoin

[@thechugg4372]

Finally someone is talking about those hidden 1-up I thought everyone was insane or I had a broken copy of the game when I stumbled upon a 1-up that didn't exist.

[@Reth_Hard]

Hey, can you tell me where I can find this ASM file? --> 1:14 I'd like learn more about 6502 ASM code and I guess it could help me because of all the comments beside the code! (I tried to find it with Google but I only found the the normal ASM code without or with very little annotation)

[@Kosmicd12]

@@Reth_Hard gist.github.com/1wErt3r/4048722

[@blueflame-070]

does this work for vs. super mario? i've found a hidden 1up once on 1-5... in the normal place but have never seen it ever again... and i usually collect every coin for top score. would be great if i could consistently get that lol

[@Reth_Hard]

@@Kosmicd12 Thank you!

[@SummoningSalt]

Inject me with more Kosmic scripted content

[@pouyanchakameh8594]

Why do I hear existential space music

[@juliab1954]

bwaaaaaaawwwwww

[@TeraunceFoaloke]

@@pouyanchakameh8594 because the salt was summoned

[@JsAwesomeAnimations]

I summon salt!

[@dylenoyer94]

Wow the fabled summoning salt has made an appearance!!

[@TofuRabbit]

Oh my god i KNEW i was not crazy, i found some of these hidden one ups locations and it would confuse the heck out of me when sometimes they just, weren't there. This is some decade year old mystery solved for me, thank you for making this video lmao

[@alexwhitewood6480]

The one 3-1 drove me crazy!

[@Jouzou87]

I am not crazy! I know he didn't spawn those 1-ups! 3-1, one after 2-4, as if I could ever make such a mistake.

[@SnoopSqueak]

jumping at EVERY pixel across every bridge like "I know it was here... it was here!!" never knew why until today

[@lstchance87]

I feel you I have older brothers and when we would be playing all I know was that sometimes a one up would be there. It took me for ever to figure out that they showed up when I played alone but when we played together they wouldn't be there. The reason I was always trying to collect every coin or break every brick my brothers would rush through the levels. It wasnt until my oldest brother saw me get a hidden one up that he actually started believing me and the only reason he got to see it happen is because we played rps to see which of us would take our other brothers turn. I felt so vindicated.

[@filipe.estima]

​@@SnoopSqueakThat's like an evil joke from the programmers. I bet those guys were laughing their asses off when commenting among themelves about how hard would it be for players to figure out these rules. Japanese programmers can be mean!

[@MrCheeze]

Wow, I had no idea that there was such a little known mechanic in such well understood game. I guess part of the reason for the obscurity is that most people know about all the warp zones long before they start paying much attention to hidden 1-ups other than the first one. "All 1ups" seems like a mildly interesting speedrun idea, if only for having to actually pay attention to coins for once in the "Pod Worlds".

[@Kosmicd12]

Yeah! All 1-ups is my absolute favorite category extension. Feels like it really adds some extra content to the game/run! www.speedrun.com/smbce#All_1UP_Mushrooms

[@Yoshikarter1]

Meanwhile, I've been curious to know where all of the invincibility stars are in all of the games.

[@ViIvaNunner]

had the same idea about it being an interesting run idea, and oh dang, there actually is a speedrun of this? sweet

[@hmm4214]

@@Kosmicd12 Woah, getting all 10 one-ups has always been my favorite way to play this game, and still I didn't know a category extension existed for it, lol

[@GigsTaggart]

there is a similar mechanic in smb3. get nearly all coins in 1-4 for a pwing house. surprised that wasn't mentioned.

[@Eight-Bytes]

HOLY SHIT SO I'M NOT CRAZY FOR THINKING SOMETIMES THEY'RE NOT THERE. I would always pass by the one bridge in the night level and remembered the hidden 1-Up, but sometimes it wouldn't show up so sometimes I felt like I was remembering it wrong, or it was a different level entirely. Super informational video, now I know how the mechanics work.

[@wton]

Finally I get why sometimes I couldnt grab de 1UP on the 3-1 bridge! It drove me crazy when I was a kid. Nearly 30 years after I find peace of mind. Thanks Kosmic!

[@ChompsOnTheLoose]

SAME! I had started to believe I imagined it lol. So cool!

[@BB-te8tc]

As a kid, I knew about these 1UPs and the fact that they weren't always there, but I wrongly assumed it had something to do with whether you used warp zones or not. Very cool!

[@arturomail]

Exactly! I knew they were there when you warped, but gone when you went world by world… except when they sometimes appeared.

[@TheRenegade...]

Technically it is related to warp zones

[@corrineholman9343]

I actually knew this one! I think it’s because as a kid I was obsessed with NES and noticed that sometimes I’d get the hidden 1-ups and sometimes not. Then I’d keep track of what I did differently and narrowed it down to -3 coins. I never looked for exact values, but I just kinda collected them all to test my theories. Great vid! Reminded me of a lot of old memories and it’s definitely something I think most people would never connect.

[@Kosmicd12]

That is VERY impressive!

[@corrineholman9343]

@@Kosmicd12 Thank you! It really boils down to just how charming this game is, to where people can notice minute details like that from playing it so much, and suddenly it sparks a whole experiment that kinda blows your mind with the level of detail they put into it. And when you figure out what makes it tick, it’s just that much more satisfying.

[@BagOfMagicFood]

Good for you! I just read it on the Internet about a decade ago.

[@Neremworld]

I knew about it too from my childhood but I didn't know there was a possibility that it wasn't there. If I couldn't find it I just figured I forgot where it was and would eventually give up. This down explain a lot.

[@LordBarros]

Accurate. I played the game at 6 years old when it first came out. I knew about every hidden 1-up except for 7-1. Mind blown.

[@adamriddiough4440]

Same! That's the only one I had never seen before...

[@Karl_Kampfwagen]

That one is a 50-50 chance, depending on if you took damage in a certain timeframe... If you warped, that flag is changed to "on'... and if you played all levels (no warp), it depends on coin counts and damage counters/flags. My sister thought I was crazy... She said the 1-up would always be there... It's a game... Blah-blah-blahhhh.... I got to 7-1, and there was no hidden block. At that moment... I knew; I had f***ed up. If you're good at finding power-ups and retaining them: go for World 7, so you have a fighting chance with a FireFlower against your Foes. If you are a Kamikaze and enjoy trying to win when the odds are stacked against you, warp to World 8, and make a run for it. The fire-spitting chompy plants are assholes, and they can jump between platform levels, too. They're like the Hammer Bros, chompy plants and fire piranhas had an orgy, with the sole purpose of making a killing machine to murder anyone who tries to cross the stage area.

[@OikPoinFive]

@@Karl_Kampfwagen its weird how in the original SMB 1 for nes (1985) whatever world you warped to you got a free guy in that first level like world 2-1 or 3-1 but like he said here, if you did not warp you had to collect a certain amt of coins. you would think it be the other way around: if you do not warp you get the free guy automatically on the first levels (2-1, 3-1) because u are taking the longer way to the end of the game

[@Arioksu]

It's funny to mention that, according to the Super Mario Bros. set in RetroAchievements, the 1-up on stage 7-1 is the least collected hidden 1-up in the game (with 3.81%). Followed by 6-1, 8-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-1, 2-1, 8-2, 1-2, and obviously 1-1.

[@mateuszszulecki5206]

Yeah, World 7 in general is kinda obscure.

[@AndrevusWhitetail]

Thank god i mastered that set! Interestingly enough the other hard achievement (the bestiary one where you use a koopa shell to beat every enemy type in the game) still gets people asking questions to this day.

[@patrickburns4821]

shut...that was my life line...the 1 up in 7-1 kept me in the game! lol

[@k-leb4671]

There's a hidden 1-up in 8-2?

[@Gideon_Judges6]

@@k-leb4671 I think somehow he's confuses and including ones found in the visible bricks. Not the same as hidden 1ups here (invisible until you hit them).

[@KCzz15]

Reminds me of the 7 hidden powerups in Super Mario Bros 3. In that game once per world there's a stage with a lot of coins that are very hard to collect, and if you collect enough of them from those worlds in spawns a toad house with one of the rarest powerups in the game in it. One of the two types of powerup spawns exclusively there and is mentioned in the manual, when I was much younger I could never figure out the mystery of how to spawn that one powerup and nobody I knew figured it out either.

[@mikeroagreschen5350]

I know what you're talking about... I think I remember reading something in the Nintendo Power strategy guide for the game about how it's done, but I don't remember what that was. So yeah, I'm no help at all.

[@Ringcaat]

To this day I have never been able to collect the required number of coins in stage 7-2 to get the white mushroom house. Apparently it requires skilled use of the frog suit, and I could never get far in that piranha-filled stage as a frog.

[@grunkleg.2934]

I love when games include these seemingly useless mechanics that serve mostly as knowledge checks. I think my favorite of these is the Cat-Eye Circlet in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, an item you find in the Catacombs that claims to have benefit of healing you when you get hit with a "cat" attack. Some of the item descriptions in SotN flat out get things wrong, so perhaps this could be a mistranslation. It actually isn't a mistranslation, but it may as well be. Functionally, you heal from two decently easy to dodge attacks from one type of witch enemy which spawns in a single area in the entire game that's very out of the way (literal opposite end of the map) and isn't even required to beat the game

[@TheMAZZTer]

The great thing about the Mario 35 limited time game was that it encouraged you to find all the hidden powerups as they gave you an advantage.

[@jruler93]

Yeah, if you could get a stage besides 1-1.

[@bigchungus7870]

Mario 35 only existed for 35 minutes lol

[@Lisinfilm]

Yeah Mario 35 taught me every single coin and 1-up location in the game

[@smk7500]

Cuz of that game I went from never knowing anything past 1-2 to knowing every cloud zone and castle maze path

[@NeviTheLettyFan]

It was such a great game Limited time games are a plague

[@nonamelegend_vapor]

The 1UP mushrooms in 2-1 and 4-1 (and sometimes 3-1) haunted me forever. Sometimes they were there, sometimes not. Now I know why. Thanks for the closure, my man

[@MegAmi24]

3:22 I'm gonna be real, for years I thought it was impossible to do this and the screen always seemed to scroll just far enough for me to be unable to enter the pipe every time I've tried, seeing you casually pulling it off blew my mind

[@that_one_shiny_eevee]

i thought this too, just a shorter period of time since im younger

[@uknownada]

SMB1 is the only Mario game I've never beaten, but I almost always try this when I play. I've played probably a hundred times since I was 5. I managed to do that ONCE a few years ago, and I was so shocked. It's really easy to screw up.

[@fangier0]

I could do it but it's really hard for me.

[@goekhanbag]

@@uknownada How can you beat SMB2 (J) without beating SMB1?

[@uknownada]

@@goekhanbag Simple. I never played it. B)

[@Pixelcraftian]

Can’t believe I learnt something new about the OG Super Mario Bros. in 2022, amazing stuff :D

[@Pinkio]

well i learnt about 4:54.798 being the current world record for the speedrun

[@zaku28]

I got so curious about this when you mentioned a 1-up that only appears after getting all the coins in a level, I'm glad you covered this in more detail!

[@raphaelsylla876]

I remember as a kid aiming to get all coins in each stage and checking "suspicious" locations for hidden blocks - and I just noticed the pattern after finishing several games back then. And i aimed NOT to skip any level as well. So I vividly remember getting all those hidden 1 ups indicated and this "suspicious-ness" in Mario Bros which I carried as new versions of the game was released helped me a LOT in finishing the new releases during those times. There's no internet, from where I am it is quite hard to get a guide as I have to save up on my allowance just to purchase one if I badly need one, and I may have been the only kid in our neighborhood who has access to video games as my dad is also a gamer growing up. Oh boy, this sure brings back a TON of childhood memories as we play the game together every Friday and Saturday nights and I'm allowed to stay up late playing with my dad. RIP to my dad.

[@19Szabolcs91]

I played the GBC version SMB Deluxe a lot as a kid, specifically the score attack mode, and the powerups always spawn there. So I knew about the locations for the most part (not the 7-1 and 8-1 ones though), but not the mechanics of how to make them spawn in the original, until much much later.

[@tacosunbirth]

I think the hidden Yoshi Eggs in that game were way tougher to find than any of the 1-UPs in the base game

[@wariolandgoldpiramid]

@@tacosunbirth that would be why we have the Yoshi Egg Hints in the Toy Box.

[@tacosunbirth]

@@wariolandgoldpiramid Even that wasn't enough sometimes tho

[@19Szabolcs91]

@@tacosunbirth True, although you did get that hint mini game thing that shows their location vaguely.

[@dr.corvusbeulenpest4536]

@@19Szabolcs91 the game oftentimes also hints where the egg is located by setting a distinct "landmark" within the level, close to the egg. For example, in 2-3, the game adds an additional cloud, and in some other levels, it can raise the background fence or modify the bushes.

[@MaximRecoil]

I first started playing this game in 1986 when I was 11 at my cousin Mike's house, who was also 11. There was no common knowledge about SMB at the time because the NES had only been available nationwide in the US for a week or two when Mike got one, and we didn't know anyone else who had one yet. For example, Mike hadn't even tried going down a pipe, climbing a vine, or jumping up on top of the ceiling before I suggested those things, the latter of which led to us discovering the warp zone in world 1-2. Once we discovered warp zones we only played 1-1, 1-2, 4-1, 4-2, and 8-1 through 8-4. Once I got my own Nintendo in '88 or '89, I continued playing like that. So for decades I only knew about the invisible block 1UP mushrooms in 1-1 and 4-1 (I never knew about the one in 8-1 until just now, from watching this video). Then, about 10 years ago I decided I should beat the game without using any warp zones, and to my surprise, the one in 4-1 wasn't there. I asked about it on a forum, and was told that I have to collect all the coins in 3-3 in order for the 4-1 1UP to be there. So I tried that and it worked.

[@Nick-ym4gh]

my dad tought i was crazy when i told him that this 1 up is not there all the time in 3-1; i tried different things and thought it has something to do with entering the pipe in the same stage; thanks for clearing that up!

[@curseyoujordanshow]

I 100% noticed that sometimes the hidden 1-ups aren't there, but never had the slightest clue as to why. I always assumed it was just a game glitch rather than there being something the player actually had to do. And funny enough, I think that 7-1 hidden mushroom might be the only one I never knew about, so you're probably right. This is great to finally have revealed after all these years!!

[@pokepowerz4]

I love learning about how the game works internally and going through the code to explain things. Keep up the good work, you're scripted content is always great.

[@ViIvaNunner]

this is so weird; i cant even imagine why itd be like this that being said; now i kinda wanna see an all hidden 1-up speedrun. since it requires all the coins, and a few 1 ups in weird spots, i think itd be fun to see at least a semi optimized run to get every one of them

[@MarMaxGaming]

great idea! all 1 ups run!

[@Alex_Off-Beat]

Fun Fact: SMB3 also uses a similar mechanic to spawn secret Toad houses. It has coin ships that use similar mechanics to the fireworks/flag 1-up from SMB2j, as well.

[@Kosmicd12]

Oh are those the red toad houses? I didn't know about how those work. I did know about the coin ship thing! It's like score + time remaining or something?

[@NrgSpoon]

@@Kosmicd12 I believe they're white and bob back and forth. (Blue with white spots in All-stars?) They're the ones that give P-wings in odd numbered worlds and Anchors in even ones. The first you need to get enough coins in 1-4, the auto-scroller, and you won't get enough if you don't know where all the multi-coin blocks are. The world 2 one is also tough, since you need to grab a lot while a P-Switch is running, with the moving platform over the long shallow lake.

[@reillywalker195]

@@Kosmicd12 White Toad Houses appear when you get enough coins in a specific level of a world. Those levels are 1-4, 2-2, 3-8, 4-2, 5-5, 6-7, and 7-2. Odd-numbered worlds have P-Wings while even-numbered worlds have Air Anchors, being the only way to get Air Anchors. Coin Ships have more specific requirements: 1) Be in World 1, 3, 5, or 6. 2) Have your coins be a multiple of 11 greater than 0. 3) Have the tens digit of your score match the digits of your coins upon finishing a level. This usually means the time on the clock needs to be even, but it can be odd if you need 50 points to make your score's tens digit match your coins.

[@Alex_Off-Beat]

​@@Kosmicd12 It's actually worse than the flagpole 1up, Your time remaining has to be even, your coins need to be a multiple of 11, and the tens digit of your score needs to be the same as your coins. Also it only works in Worlds 1, 3, 5, and 6! No clue how they expected people to figure that out...

[@stevenglowacki8576]

@@Alex_Off-Beat Because it was in Nintendo Power! I recall the general gist of what NrgSpoon mentioned to get the white ship to spawn, though the details were obviously hazy 30 years later.

[@WilliamPorygon]

Your answer is exactly what I would've said, even when I go through the game warpless I always forget where the 7-1 1-up is because of the difficulty of getting 6-3's coins and the unintuitiveness of where the 1-up is placed. I never did figure out the pattern on my own, I only learned how the mechanic worked after reading a guide on the internet many years ago. When I was a kid I thought the fact that they didn't show up sometimes was some sort of glitch because it was so cryptic! And I was not aware there was actually 2 coins leeway for the 2-1 block, so I did still learn something from this video after all.

[@OikPoinFive]

ever try the arcade version of smb 1 called versus smb1?! getting the coins in 6-3 is way harder! cause its a completely new level (taken from world 4-3 from SMB 2 Japan) not only that but the arcade 6-3 world is harder than Lost Levels/SMB2 Japan's 4-3.

[@TheMightyGiantDad]

I think I knew about literally ALL of these powerups EXCEPT 7-1. Excellent video as always!

[@josue1996jc]

same here, i always had this feeling that i had 1 hidden 1-up left xd and finally know why xd

[@BlkBeltMama]

This was one game that I would play with my younger brother for hours and hours when we were in high school. We found all the 1ups and all the warps. We played the game from world 1 to the end straight through. Not easy when your parents have only one tv, we had to keep the console on because it didn't save back then. It was our favorite game. So when I play it in front of my kids they can't believe I can actually play a game. I normally don't play video games. These old Mario Brother games are my favorite! It was nice to see someone talk through the game, brought back memories playing it and finding all the hidden treasures! 😄

[@FlankingLinex]

When I was, like, 6 I used to have my mom help me with some of the jumps (I didn't understand running). She was the one that noticed the 1-Up in 2-1 was only there sometimes - now I know why!

[@MisteriosX23]

Your mom is a genius

[@piotrtoborek2442]

@@MisteriosX23 Noticing the fact doesn't take a genius, figuring out the reason why - does :P

[@gwgux]

I can honestly say I never knew about the 1-up in 7-1 so it gets my vote as well. Good coverage on how the 1-ups work! I didn't know about how that mechanic worked either.

[@artey6671]

Damn, I wonder how the developers came up with such a strange idea. It reminds me of the AVGN episode for Little Red Hood where he said something like "imagine if you had to collect exactly X coins". Well, he wasn't far off.

[@xt1988]

I already knew their positions but I finally have the reason why they don't appear sometimes ! as they are always guaranteed after a warp I always believed that doing the castle before automatically removes the next 1up, great video !

[@Mallory16]

That was indeed the last 1-up mushroom I found in the game, after realizing that one must exist in the level.

[@MarMaxGaming]

well that's hardcore, some serious sherlock holmes stuff haha! never been 1-up hunting in Mario Bros... just tried to beat it once in a while!

[@Yoshi348]

I seem to remember at least one contemporary guide (or contemporary to all-stars, just as likely) pointing them as warp-only powerups, because that got lodged in my brain as a fact at some point, so they got it partially correct. They seemed to really like this mechanic, since not only is there the * blocks in World, there's also the white mushroom houses in 3 with a very similar trigger.

[@BagOfMagicFood]

Yep, I remember an online fan guide claiming they required warping too, because who would draw a connection between extra life mushrooms and some other level's coin collection?

[@boriszakharin3189]

Funny, I seem to remember the exact opposite, that no hidden one-ups would work once you've used even a single warp zone

[@HazhMcMoor]

In a way it's quite true. I guess majority of people who get these are because of warping instead of collecting all coins in pod level lmao.

[@flibidydibidy]

Awesome breakdown! I remember someone in your chat a while ago asking how 'long' super mario bros. is. Not necessarily in terms of time, but in terms of pixels / blocks. That might be a fun thing to figure out! It's not really infinite if you get over the flagpole because you run out of time and die eventually. Some things you'd have to figure out would be how you handle shared areas (like how when you come out of a pipe normally in an underground level you actually end up back in 1-1), and how some levels are identical. Mazes in the castle levels. hmm. Might be a fun problem! Keep up the great work :-)

[@HaydenTheEeeeeeeeevilEukaryote]

oooo im really curious about this, i hope somebody covers it id also like to see multiple answers, like “how long normally”, “how long including beyond the flagpole”, etc

[@Opanker_]

If you didn't die, it would still keep going

[@gyroninjamodder]

How does running out of time to explore mean that more of the world doesn't exist?

[@HaydenTheEeeeeeeeevilEukaryote]

@@gyroninjamodder true, plus there are mods to disable timer so i wonder what would be displayed as you just kept going

[@finneganmanthe8984]

For the one at 0:24 you don’t actually need to do that to grab it; for some reason jumping and grazing on the 2x5 block in the right gives you enough height to get it. Try it the next time you’re in 1-2. Smb1 physics is weird

[@Bismuth9]

I feel like I've always known about the coin requirement but I have zero idea where I got the information from. I guess just word of mouth between kids? One thing I learned is exactly where and how much leeway there is for coins. I knew there was "some leeway sometimes" for coins but I didn't know it was 2 coins exclusively in 1-3 and nowhere else.

[@Kosmicd12]

Yeah I don't know how i learned either. Maybe from Barnowl on SRL lol. One time i missed a coin in 1-3 and it was still there in 2-1. Thought you could only miss 1 for a while

[@matheuscabral9618]

sorry for being a bit off topic, but do you guys know why koopas can walk backwards sometimes? (happened to me today I was super confused)

[@Kosmicd12]

@@matheuscabral9618 happens when you take damage... Near a firebar? Can't remember the other condition

[@Bluesine_R]

@@Kosmicd12 Do any of you know how this hidden 1-up block mechanic works for Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels? There is a hidden 1-up block in the first level of each world like in the first game, but you don't have to collect every coin in the third level of the previous level for it to spawn. If you game over and start from the beginning of a world, the hidden 1-up block is always there. However, sometimes the 1-up block isn't there when I play normally, so clearly The Lost Levels has its own mechanic that makes the hidden 1-up blocks spawn. Thoughts?

[@Kosmicd12]

@@Bluesine_R I think you need 10 coins every time, or something. Haven't confirmed it

[@whamer100]

i need more technical breakdowns of smb1, im loving these

[@classicomfy]

The true most hidden powerup is the friends we made along the way

[@brakbrakley3298]

Those little one-on-ones you could do in SMB3 almost lost me some friends!

[@SAZERU]

shoutouts to simpleflips

[@MarMaxGaming]

lol nice

[@RavenMobile]

Fascinating. As a kid I worked out that each world had a hidden one up on the first level, and that it wouldn't appear if you used a warp to get to the level, or used A+Start to jump to the world. I thought it was a guaranteed bonus if you had played through the previous world. I don't remember ever seeing it not appear when I had beaten the previous world, so I guess I was just good at collecting coins.

[@RavenMobile]

Apparently the one up does appear if you continue on a world, but I don't remember it behaving that way.

[@RavenMobile]

At the end of the video it says that you can get the one up if you warp, but that makes no sense -- you can't get the coins on the previous level 3 if you warp.

[@Kosmicd12]

It's automatically there every time you warp

[@pejnismiggle]

Very interesting set of requirements for them to spawn. Definitely thought I was going crazy sometimes when the 1-up over the bridge with the 3 Goombas wouldn't spawn sometimes. As for that 7-1 1-up, That's the only one I didn't know about.

[@staudinga]

The visual "Rick" joke made me laugh out loud. Well done. Also for some reason I was ready for some kind of intro music after the introduction. Just seemed primed for it when the screen faded to black.

[@nicholasharvey1232]

I've known about the coin collecting in the previous -3 stage for a while. But I never knew that you couldn't run across that one-block gap in 5-1 if the 1-up block was there! While Kosmic did mention that SMW had 1-ups earned from collecting coins in the form of Lucky Blocks, it's well worth mentioning the secret Toad Houses in SMB3 as well, which are tied to your coin counts from specific stages in the game (namely, 1-4, 2-2, 3-8, 4-2, 5-5, 6-7, and 7-2). It seems that getting various rewards for thorough coin collecting was a tradition in the early Mario titles.

[@AdamSmithNES]

I'm 38 and have been playing SMB since I was 5. Didn't know about the 1up in 7-1 until I played NES Remix on WiiU, and they basically tell you exactly where it is.

[@HobbesandCalvinFan]

It's really fascinating that such an old and iconic game as "Super Mario Bros." can still have rather obscure knowledge to be learned.

[@rogerszmodis]

I figured out the condition for them to appear when I was a kid and kept it to myself. One of my friends rage quit and threw his controller at his tv after seeing me get the one ups and them just not being there when he tried. his mom yelled at him. Classic memory.

[@litigioussociety4249]

I maybe stumbled upon the ones other than world 1 when I was a kid, but I don't remember, so I was oblivious to all the hidden 1ups, or that they're not always there. I'm really curious about the one on 9-1.

[@OikPoinFive]

does the -3 pod world coins thingy effect world 1-1's one-up?! i mean when you go through the coins within 7-3 and beat the entire game and get the new harder quest in smb begins. can it remove 1-1's free guy? i am assuming no.

[@viyami]

4:24 You know you're on twitch too much when you hear "pod world" said "pog world" and I really prefer the latter, so that's what it officially is now.

[@sienadigz8395]

You should play cat mario

[@AppleCorp3]

The only one I did not know about was the one in World 7 so right off the bat, I agree with you on the most hidden. Until now, I always assumed the 1-Up was only there if you warped…sort of a reward for finding the Warp Zone.

[@tacosunbirth]

I knew the location of every 1-UP besides the World 7 1-UP, so I gotta agree with ya, Kosmic, however what about the hidden Yoshi Eggs? I'm not kidding, there are places where there are hidden Yoshi Eggs! Check out the Yoshi-Egg hunt from the version of SMB1+2J called Super Mario Bros. Deluxe on the Gameboy Color! that was my first video game I ever played and beat, and it's what got me into Mario and especially SMB1. There is a bonus mode in that game where every level from the original game has 6 hidden red coins and a hidden Yoshi Egg, these can be brutal to find!

[@ayjanu]

You know, I've been playing this game since I was three years old (around 1988 or so), and now I'm 37, but I never knew about this. Probably because I tended to collect as many coins as possible, and only had the 2-1 1-up mushroom not appear, like, once or twice. Something like that. I also knew about all of the other hidden 1-ups, except for, you guessed it, the 7-1 1-up. So you taught me something new, and for that, you've earned a new subscriber. This is one of the many, many things I love about the NES library - after all these years, it's still giving up its myriad of secrets.

[@evadecaptcha]

I remember when I was a kid, I would get superstitious about it, experimenting with all kinds of different things. Can't jump too high, don't kill the koopas, don't walk too far right, etc, etc lol. Now we know, none of that mattered. Thanks Kosmic!

[@jimb3750]

I used to think (in 1990) it was because it was only available on the first jump on a bridge. I told that to a mom and she disproved it by her 4 year old jumping around randomly and collecting it.

[@goatbone]

This was truly mindblowing. I will say I did notice back in they day the hidden blocks appearing after warping, and not appearing sometimes when not warping.

[@stevenwhuntva]

So, as kids my friends and I must have essentially always gotten the right amount of coins for most of these because we were convinced that you just couldn't get them if you warped.

[@elaynet382]

Can confirm, the 7-1 block was the only 1-up in the game i wasn't aware existed, and i didn't know about the weird -3 coin mechanics. Great video!

[@Cousin_n1cky]

Back when Mario 35 was a thing, I would always farm the 7-1 1up on it. Thanks to that game I actually knew about all of these, wish they brought that back.

[@Jahanoudis]

I remember finding the 1up in 7-1 by accident when I was a kid. I was fire Mario and I knew the pipe goes down so I jumped so mario could go down the pipe with one of those special statues (like when you get a power up). So I revealed the 1up and went down the pipe and freaked our that I found a hidden feature we didn't know about for years

[@AndrewMooreMar]

Always loving this hidden trivia about classic games! Are these also on the All Stars version?

[@Eggerhexe]

It's been a while but I am fairly sure it had identical game mechanics, just better graphics. Maybe you don't lose trajectory after unpausing, but the general rules apply otherwise.

[@anactualmotherbear]

When I was a kid, they said the trick was that the hidden 1-up in the first stage of each level would only show up if you warped there. Since that worked consistently, it was believed that was the only way. I knew that wasn't the case though, because sometimes I got the 1-up without warping!

[@greatscott8680]

It's amazing that people are STILL finding things in this game after nearly 4 decades.

[@Planetdune]

This is not a recent find and has been known for many years.

[@607]

You mean individual people that have been playing the game since it came out?

[@greatscott8680]

@@607 No. I just mean things are still being discovered for a game that was released back in the '80s no matter who plays it or for how long.

[@607]

@@greatscott8680 Well, that's irrelevant to this video. The exact requirements for the spawning of x-1 1-up blocks has been known for many years. In fact, I figured most people watching this video would know it, but judging from the comments I might be mistaken.

[@lukebrindax7465]

Nintendo starting out with crazy ways to make things appear in game, based on certain conditions, and then perfected it when they made every copy of Super Mario 64 Personalized.

[@yungwappenlese]

Loved this video, I always was asking myself why the 1ups are spawning sometimes and why not + I think you are right that the 1up in 7-1 is the hardest powerup to find

[@GamingJoey]

Wow, thought this video was gonna be clickbait, but actually learned something new about SMB1

[@orangehatmusic225]

By far the most hidden powerup is the small fire mario trick.

[@TaranAlvein]

What a very interesting video. I didn't know about all of those 1-UPs, and I'm fairly certain I've never seen the one in World 7 before, so I can agree with that one as a solid choice for the most-hidden collectible in the game.

[@Radar_of_the_Stars]

I don't think I've ever gotten a hidden 1-up outside of world 1 or 2

[@BuzzNBen]

I knew about these hidden 1up mushrooms, but didn't know about the coin requirement to get them. I figured they only spawned if you took the warp zone, which seemed counterintuitive to me since you'd need them MORE if you don't use warps.

[@dmk12345]

Wow, that’s hidden.

[@DyrianLightbringer]

For me, the 1-up in world 4 holds the title for the 1-up skipped most often in levels I play. Yeah, I never find the 1-up in world 6 or 7, either, but I almost never play those worlds to begin with.

[@zero0karaoke]

I had no idea that it was tied to coin collection. I guess it makes sense considering the coin collection requirements in Mario 3 to get those bonus stages to appear on the map. And when it comes to 10-coin blocks the one thing I can say about the 10-coin blocks is everyone tends to use 10-coin blocks a little differently

[@brinmat]

Gah. I was always so confused by that. 3-1 is the one I remember being most confused by. It makes sense now. I was always a collector, but the flying Cheep Cheeps in 2-3 (and other bridge levels) annoyed me so sometimes I'd just run through quickly. It fits in retrospect, but I don't think I ever would've figured out it was tied to a completely different level in a previous world. Thank you for explaining this. Subscribed!

[@vinterbjork4128]

I never knew this! And it’s not the first of april!

[@DavidWonn]

Way back in the day, a friend of mine theorized that pressing Up on the digital control cross would influence whether or not an invisible 1-up would spawn at its usual location. We never could confirm or disprove any influence it had.

[@jvon3885]

How else has tried to break every brick in every level?

[@1bootliz]

Me! Every time I played I loved collecting every coin and smashing as many blocks as physically possible. Which is probably why I remember finding all or nearly all of these hidden 1-ups. It literally never occurred to me to wonder why they weren't there sometimes; I would just think "Game logic, sometimes things just happen or don't happen." Which is what makes these videos all the more fascinating!

[@emishimaru-sama6449]

4:43 Using Metroid Prime soundtrack as background here was a sexy thing to do.

[@Alcam211]

2:48 Didn't you say that the 1-1 1Up always spawn?

[@stevenglowacki8576]

If you hit it and then die and replay, it won't be there.

[@Dragon_Ryder]

It definitely bothered me that sometimes those 1-UPs weren’t there, but I guess I thought it was random, just like everything else. And learning about framerules when watching SMB speedruns kinda solidified that theory for me. This absolutely blew my mind. You got me to click with the powerup thing, and then surprised me with something I didn’t know I needed. Love your videos as always.

[@pingpongpung]

WARNING: 1:19 TO 2:20 IS AN AD!!!!!

[@k.2167]

thanks for the time stamps!

[@YellowpowR]

I can't believe you were right, that I did indeed learn something new about Super Mario bros. that I had not heard of before. And it isn't some weird glitch or exploit, it's an actual mechanic in the game! The cryptic-ness of secret mechanics like this in old game is so interesting to me.

[@casmx7300]

Am I the only one that doesn't consider 1-ups 'Power Ups'? I mean, extra lives are nice, but they don't actually power Mario up. Is this an intentionally misleading, clickbait title? An argument of semantics? Or am I the odd man out and in the minority that doesn't consider a 1-up a 'Power Up' where the majority of the gaming community actually does?

[@calemr]

It gives him the power to come back from the dead? Sounds pretty powerful to me.

[@2ThumbsUpInc]

It's not a power-up, but it's still an item.

[@JaggerG]

I agree it isn't one, but I can accept someone saying it is one, so I don't consider it bait at all. After all, I found the info legitimately surprising and interesting.

[@lmn_godie2598]

I think you're just dense

[@eddyheaddrascal1858]

Maybe if by "Power-Up" everyone just means "an item you can collect that aren't coins". To me, I agree, powerups have to be abilities or affect your current life.

[@TheBrewdonkey]

Super Mario Brothers. There's a period after Bros. which means it's an abbreviation.

[@cfisher2447]

2:20 skip the vullshit

[@LongTailCat3]

thanks but sorry i did my slef

[@thebrokedad858]

I knew there was some hidden mechanic behind 1-up blocks appearing, but I had no idea what it was. As for what was the most hidden, I think it's definitely the one in 7-1. I've been playing SMB1 for years, and it's the only one I don't remember finding.

[@Mercerenies]

In the days of SMB35, I managed to stumble upon all of the invisible 1-ups during matches in all of the worlds *except* 7-1 (prior to that game I was only aware of the 1-1 secret). So, at least anecdotally, I have to agree that the 7-1 one is the most obscure.

[@green929392]

I wasn't aware of 7-1s, all the others I remember collecting while playing myself at some point

[@felix52282]

I've spent years wondering about the last 1-up. I honestly would a never known that before watching this. Cool now I know

[@ODISeth]

I made a video showing all of the hidden 1up locations when Mario 35 dropped cause they were all essential to play that game at a high level. But Mario 35 didn’t have any of that spawn flag jank going on behind the scenes, the 1ups were always guaranteed to be there. It’s really cool to see what all the conditions are here in the base game!

[@infinitelybanta]

Super interesting, as always. Also wanted to add that this was a very natural, smooth script read, you’re getting very good at this type of video!

[@BusyMEOW]

I've always wondered why some hidden 1ups never spawned..

[@Tolinar]

1:20 you're going to talk about the Phantom 1ups that don't always spawn, right?

[@Rocky2418]

Wow. I'm a 40-year-old who's played Mario games my whole life, and I never knew about this. I'll have to tell my older brother about it as well.

[@Topbeehler]

I am sharing this with my siblings! I've seen these before growing up but never was able to understand why. I actually found the one in world 7 as a kid but when I told my brothers they never believed me. When I tried to show them it was not there ever. I didn't know I could warp at a young age also and since I could never get these to work again I simply looked stupid. Now I know I am not stupid, at least now about this. You just solved a mystery for me over 20 years old!

[@marcw6875]

Interesting video. I used to think that they didn't appear if you walked past the spot at all and then went back to it.

[@connorlikesartandstuff2763]

Joke?

[@justarandomdood]

:O super paper Mario music in the intro, let's go :D

[@yoshicraft6470]

I actually knew about this kinda. I knew that the hidden 1ups needed some convoluted method to obtain, but I couldn't remember what they were. I remember telling somebody a long time ago who was (and still is) remaking smb1 (and now TLL as well) in a mario fan game about it, he then told me he had no idea about it and then said he didn't know how he could impliment it.

[@FreakEating]

I noticed, playing as a kid, that sometimes the invisible 1ups wouldn't always show up. There was no way to explain it, but I knew sometimes if I died mid-level they wouldn't show. Now I know. Thanks!

[@DblTap317]

This makes so much sense. I was confused at first that these might not be there. They always were there for me every time, but that's because I was ocd obsessed with getting every coin and block possible on every level

[@smellthel]

Love the Paper Mario Wii soundtrack you used!

[@run2thestore]

I suspected whether they were there or not had to do with coins, but I never narrowed it down exactly. I assumed it had to do with how many coins you had going into the stage, i.e. an odd or even number. That's really interesting to know it ties back to the -3 levels.