Super Mario Bros. played with eyes closed

by John Bardinelli { May 1st 2007 at 10:15PM }

We've seen the original Super Mario Bros. beaten in five minutes, listened to countless remixes of the theme song, and gawked at gigantic mosaics made out of fridge magnets. This stunt takes the Mario-shaped cake, however. A Japanese television show (why can't American TV be this ... interesting?) features a man playing the first level of Super Mario Bros. with his eyes closed. Every jump and every enemy nailed without fail. He even realizes he missed a coin in one of the sub-worlds and goes back to grab it. That's dedication (craziness), folks.

Check out a slightly more impressive video after the break. This guy plays the first two levels of the game with his eyes closed and his back turned. If he did it underwater while drinking a glass of milk, we'd worship him.

Tags: nes, nintendo, stunts, supermariobros

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Fatass of Kickassness @ May 1st 2007 10:19PM

SMB for DS? I want.

Bjorn @ May 1st 2007 10:24PM

Somehow not as impressive ... A guy I went to grade school with beat mario 3 in just over 3 hours ... Did I mention he was completely blind?

Ken @ May 1st 2007 10:22PM

Man, I love the Japanese. They always seem happy and upbeat on their TV shows.

I want to move to Japan.

bb @ May 1st 2007 10:24PM

His eyes aren't closed! Just cause he has slanted eyes doesn't make his eyes closed. Jeez, you'd think Joystiq would be more racially sensitive.

Steve Tran @ May 1st 2007 10:24PM

lol @ the guy with the cowboy hat

Crazylink @ May 1st 2007 10:26PM

I think it's a NES Classics GBA cart.

kingofwale @ May 1st 2007 10:27PM

woah, that's one disturbing looking lady.

gir @ May 1st 2007 10:38PM

I can play the piano with my eyes closed.

Rubang B @ May 1st 2007 10:45PM

Yeah well I can read with my eyes shut!

These videos were the best things I've ever seen. I must try this. I wonder if I can do the water level, oooh......

bob @ May 1st 2007 10:54PM

second one is more impressive because it is an actual nes and not new hardware

gir @ May 1st 2007 10:56PM

I can drive with my eyes closed.

Don't try that while driving. Seriously I'm not joking.

laserboyjc @ May 1st 2007 11:16PM

almost as impressive as me having my eyes closed while currently beating Twighlight Princess with one hand, typing this comment with another, and rocking Guitar Hero with my feet...good try though

serotoninzero @ May 1st 2007 11:36PM

Eh, that's not that impressive. Honestly, how many times have all of you played those levels? I'd venture into the thousands. Maybe if they did some random level like 3-3 or 5-2. Those are levels that nobody plays because they skip them everytime. Those two levels only have a few points where you actually have any run-ins with bad guys anyway.

Tacoman @ May 1st 2007 11:20PM

man, Ame Talk was one of my favorite variety shows when I lived in Japan, they're always doing weird funny stuff like this, it's even better when they have Egashira 2:50 on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LKS3Jk757Y this is pretty typical of him.

BPM @ May 1st 2007 11:29PM

Crazylink, you are right (Well, if you want to be technical, it's the Famicom Mini version, since they're in Japan. :P).

GT:Spectre @ May 1st 2007 11:46PM

*11
Been there. done that.
I stayed up for 3 days playing DS/partying and i had to drive home.
ITS SO FUN SEEING THINGS WHEN YOURE GOING 50 ON A 30!

and. one more thing:

..The japanese girls (00:40). I'm going to japan damnit. nothing can stop me now.

n_revolution9 @ May 1st 2007 11:52PM

n00bs

TheMayor @ May 1st 2007 11:52PM

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

kronholm @ May 5th 2007 2:48AM

So uh, no one thinks that the 2nd video is a fake? Obviously he has a mirror on the pad, why else would he be holding it like that, in that angle as well, plus he's staring at it all the time...?

moosey @ May 2nd 2007 12:05AM

mexican game shows on telemundo are pretty damn crazy, seriously watch them sometimes

umm...hello?? @ May 2nd 2007 12:11AM

yeah, his eyes weren't closed...c'mon...lame. probably just good peripheral vision. would've been more impressive if he'd been able to count on time with the timer to get him some fireworks at the flagpole.

CubeGuy @ May 2nd 2007 12:16AM

I can do that. It's all a matter walking as far as you can, jumping, and running again.

...

But don't tell my friends. It's a neat party trick. =P

Yourself @ May 2nd 2007 12:58AM

2nd vid is fake^2. #19 is right, its really obviously hes looking at "something." 1st video was disappointing to. I have a feeling he was looking out of the corner of his eyes, why wouldnt he be blindfolded or anything? Damn Japs are so gullible. All we had to do was say "no seriously that's just a scout plane" and damn, goodbye Nagasaki.

PictureMERollins @ May 2nd 2007 1:20AM

how can you tell his eyes are closed...those eyes always look closed, yes?

Megaqwerty @ May 2nd 2007 1:21AM

Impressive.

Although I could easily record some footage, set it to play on a TV, grab a controller, turn around, switch on the camera and do the same thing as in the second video.

Anticrawl @ May 2nd 2007 2:44AM

Hmm, I have some serious doubts. I can see someone memorizing the times and enemy placements. That's for sure, but this video is extremely shady. Noone holds their controller like that, and you notice when he gets into a more hairy situation or any spot that seems less believable he cocks the controller even more towards his face. When he knows he's beaten it he's put his hands down.

I also believe anyone who has played enough smb to play without looking would still exhibit some great skill over someone who never played it before even when he or she can't see.

The idea behind this video seems plenty belivable, there are less things to remember in a mario game than there are to cheat in a casino effectively and you can remember the placements to the beat of the level theme.

Navstar @ May 2nd 2007 4:13AM

Maybe (s)he has really good peripheral vision.

Emanuele @ May 2nd 2007 4:35AM

He makes a wrong jump too early at the end of the second level to go in the secret passage for jump worlds and so he have to finish the level without jump worlds!!!

byelaw @ May 2nd 2007 5:34AM

Dear TheMayor,

Thankyou for displaying the HD Key, the MPAA will now sue the ass off you because we're a load of twats. Please forward us which city you are mayor of, then we'll come and get you.

Lots of Love,
MPAA

Rubang B @ May 2nd 2007 8:23AM

(Disclaimer: I've probably played SMB1 more than every other game put together.)

After watching this video, I beat the first level with my eyes closed on my first try! So I've got that first video beat. But 1-2 sucks hard with no vision. I can even get the mushroom on 1-1 and then fireballs on 1-2 with my eyes closed, but I can't get on the roof yet. I'm so close. Expect me to upload a YouTube video soon and link to it here. I'm obsessed, and that makes me unstoppable.

s00pcan @ May 2nd 2007 9:06AM

Hey! You posted my video on there. Kotaku didn't, so I'm impressed!

s00pcan @ May 2nd 2007 9:37AM

Rubang B, you'll probably get the second level within a week, but doing them both in a row took me months of practice. Look forward to seeing you steal my thunder :P then we can have some kind of competition with new levels.

p3arl @ May 2nd 2007 10:04AM

HOLY SHIT THAT WAS I GUY!!!!!

NOWAI!!!

s00pcan @ May 2nd 2007 10:06AM

The reason I held the controller up that high was so that you people could see it better. The first friend I showed it to even said the same thing about there being a mirror. Imagine if it wasn't even on the screen, I would have even more people complaining about a "second person" playing it.

I wish I could play it on my pc with a 360 controller instead of a stupid nes that never works, but I have to eliminate as many of these ideas people have about ways it could be fake as I can.

Neil @ May 3rd 2007 2:19PM

I used to be able to beat the first level of spider-man/x-men arcades revenge on snes with my eyes closed.

Keits @ May 2nd 2007 1:04PM

In my grade school, 1-5, we had a 'special' class with a few 'special' kids in it. Autism, and whatnot, you know?

One of them beat SMB1 with his back turned over and over again. Not just the first two levels. He used the warps, but he still beat it flawlessly without looking every single time.