I don't think Super Mario Bros was ever considered particularly difficult or punishing at the time. It was just designed for an audience that had less access to videogames. They'd rather repeat the same levels with the prospect of seeing a new one than breeze through the game they paid $25 for ($60 in today's money) in 2 hours.
It wasn't punishing for the time. That's not my point. My point is that being able to save games so that you don't have to replay hard content when you fail has made it so easy for the current generation of gamers that there are a lot who bemoan games that really aren't that hard comparatively. In Elden Ring, you only have to beat each boss once, and you have a save point right nearby to fight the boss without fighting almost anything else beforehand, so if you die, you're right back into it. In SMB, If you struggle on level 7-3 and then die on level 8-3, you start back at 1-1 and have to master them both again (provided you don't warp).
