The GameBoy Advance version of this game was the bane of my childhood. I loved and hated it at the same time, loved it for how good it was and hated it for how difficult it was. I never played it on the NES though, and if childhood me had seen that you can't save on the NES, he would surely have flipped out. I was a little worried about the difficulty going in actually. But it turned out to be not only fine, but more than fine. First of all, this game is a lot easier than both Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2, which is positive in the NES era as you can't save on these cartridges. I felt like this game was the most well-designed out of the three though. It gives you a ton of 1-Ups, which really help to make the game manageable. So I managed to beat the entire game in one sitting, and it was a thrill ride that I absolutely loved. This is probably the best game I've played so far for the NES, and I can't wait to try out more games to see what they have in store!