Nintendo Reveals Why You Don't Actually Fight Bowser In Super Mario Bros.

Miyamoto spoke at a press conference at the end of the week, where he was celebrated as the first developer to win Japan's Order of Culture award. He was asked to share behind-the-scenes stories about making the game.

You do go head-to-head with Bowser, but not directly. Most players defeat him by heading for the end of the bridge and hitting the axe, which drops Bowser into the lava. The other option is to become Fire Mario and hit him with fireballs.

According to Miyamoto, the team struggled to create a proper battle with Bowser, which makes sense given how early games were and how limited the NES hardware was. He then thought about how Super Mario Bros. is about running to the right, and came up with the idea of jumping over Bowser instead of fighting him. When the team tried it during development, it turned out to be surprisingly fun. Miyamoto said:

I found it surprisingly fun when I tried it, and I was really happy when I realized that.

Miyamoto also previously detailed the origins of the dash mechanic in Super Mario Bros.

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