The_Crosby_Show wrote: Mario>Zelda

Not a chance in Hades.

Zelda was much better than Mario.

On topic, Mario 3 was the best of the 3, but Mario 2 was definitely the hardest to "beat", by far.

I always thought Mario 2 was the easiest to beat. Then again, I remember developing some VERY GOOD timing on the 1-up slot machine you'd do between stages and most games get a lot easier when you've racked up 50+ extra lives.

I believe there was one level (3-1, I think), where you could harvest about 10 coins (at least with Toad and maybe Mario...the weaker characters probably wouldn't have time to pull up that many) TWICE. I vaguely recall getting over 30 extra lives just on that level a couple of times.

*This bit of video game bragging brought to you by COOL STORY BRO, INC (all rights reserved).

For me the easiest was the second, followed by the third. I never beat the first one.

I hated that thing that shot eggs out of its mouth... Particularly the one that puked fire as well. Damn thing always tricked me.

Jump on the egg, pick it up, and chuck it back at him!

With no "warping" I think the order of difficulty goes...

Mario 2, Mario 1, then Mario 3.

Mario 1 got easier if you could figure out the turtle on steps extra lives thing.

^^^ You can do it in level 3-1 and level 7-1 I believe with a hard shell beetle (much harder)...I'm buying a NES on Ebay and I'm going to beat Mario 2 and 3. I hate the digging levels in Mario 2...they get me every time.