I said I'd do a write-up everyday!

I'm running a little late on this one so I'll quickly talk about the greatest tutorial level in the history of all videogames ever: Super Mario Bros 1-1.

This one screen is an entire tutorial

A good tutorial teaches you everything you need to know through the gameplay, and not by just telling you and expecting you to do them. The VERY FIRST SCREEN of SMB 1-1 has everything you need to know. It presents 3 types of blocks to hit. But how do you know you are supposed to hit them? Well, there is also a Goomba quickly moving to the left. WHAT EVER SHALL YOU DO??!?! The obvious answer is to jump. You just learned jumping is the main part of gameplay without any text or voice over telling you. Once jumping is in your arsenal of gaming abilities, you'll want to try them out on those previously mentioned blocks. You discover the first '?' block gives you a coin. The next brick block you find is unbreakable. Next block is another '?', will this one be different??!? WILL IT BE THE GREATEST THING OF ALL TIME!!?!? IT IS, THE ALL POWERFUL MUSHROOM! The mushroom pops up, you hit the next brick block to discover that the mushrooms can be pushed up from underneath. You hit the next one for another coin. The last block you still can't break, but by then, you have a got the mushroom. And the first thing you try is to hit that block again. NOW YOU CAN FINALLY BREAK IT, HAPPY TIME. The final block of the intro screen is way up above. This is where you learn that blocks can be stood on, and thus completes a completely subtle and hidden tutorial level within the first screen.

Now, it may seem obvious that you can break blocks and jump on top of them, but this was one of the first platformers ever and videogames were still new to a lot of people. The genius of this game, is in it's level design. One could say the popularity of Super Mario Bros stems from how easy it is to play immediately, as it teaches the player how to play without them ever knowing it. IT IS THE BEST LEVEL DESIGN EVER AND IT SHOWS HOW IMPORTANT A FIRST LEVEL CAN BE! No game should use a tutorial with the characters telling me to press buttons, or big signs to read. Everything can be explained through gameplay, no matter how complicated.