I've loved video games for almost my whole life, so it's very gratifying to learn about ways video games can teach me some really important lessons (while also being incredibly fun).

Here's a fantastic breakdown of the masterful design of Super Mario Bros. level 1-1 (thanks Internet Archive).

It walks through how the level is designed from the very start to elegantly teach the user how to play the game as they play it. There are lessons in progressive disclosure and about simulating the player's mindset as they encounter new information.

There's also a very interesting concept of "verbs," or important ways the user is meant to change the game state. In Super Mario Bros, the most important verb is "jump." In fact, it's so important that it gets its own button. This has some interesting implications for product design - a helpful exercise would be cataloguing the "verbs" of customers and making the most important ones are well understood and easily accessible at all times.

Here's one breakdown of the first encounter with goomba:

in order to pass this first little guardian, the player must learn that the A button makes mario jump. the nes pad being as clean and clearly-designed as it is – the A button big and bright and concave, an invitation to touch – it’s not hard to discover the jump button with a little experimentation.[2] there are several possible outcomes of mario’s first attempt to jump the goomba: one is that the mario might fall short and land on its head, in which case the player learns that jumping on enemies lets mario defeat them. another: remember that first ? block, which is now likely overheard. jumping the goomba, mario might bump his head on the block, causing it to stop flashing and a coin pop out. the player learns to activate ? blocks by jumping mario into them from below.

note how long this mushroom’s path to mario is: the player is given the opportunity to observe the mushroom’s behavior before mario interacts with it. and note, second, that unlike mushrooms later in the game that mario must chase down, this mushroom comes to mario: if the player has mario hit the block and do nothing else, mario will still get the mushroom.
finally note that, in the tight space under that floating platform, if mario tries to jump over the speedy mushroom like he did the goomba, he’s likely to bump his head and be knocked back down into the shroom, whereupon the player will learn that it’s a desirable thing to touch after all.