Posts Tagged ‘mario’
The Little Plumber That Could
It was 30 years (and one day) ago today that the video game Super Mario Bros. premiered on the Famicom (aka NES) console in Japan. We also got it over here in America the same year, but at the time the bookkeeping on release dates of games was quite poor. If you really want to learn the messed up system and why we cannot exactly pinpoint the release, please check out Frank Cifaldi’s amazing piece on the topic, but suffice to say the Nintendo official October 18, 1985 release date is suspect. Controversy over when the plumber exactly appeared is an academic’s interest at best because there’s no denying that since 1985 we now have a video game equivalent to Mickey Mouse. Even more interesting is that beyond being a marketing giant and notable face for the company Nintendo, Super Mario Bros. was neither the first appearance (or even the second) of the plumber, but it was the most important one starring him. In fact, I might even say it was the most significant video game in history.
Mario’s Side Gig
Of all the mascots that exist in video game history, Nintendo’s classic plumber Mario definitely has the most robust and best quality spin-off titles around. If you’re imagining sports games on the Wii, this is not that episode, instead we’re discussing the great ways in which Mario was utilized to introduce us to everything from go kart racing to basic paint and music creation programs.
Podcast: It’s-a Me!
This week we have special guest Eli “Sodoom” (@sodoom) from Knuckleballer Radio on to celebrate Nintendo’s world famous plumber. Instead of discussions about the actual games we’ve all played, we delve into the snags in development, cultural significance, and multiple games that never saw the light of day. Mario has a clean release record but plenty of care and scrapping of ideas went into his games.
Retro Game Challenge: Super Mario Bros.
Console: NES
Released: September 1985
Developer: Nintendo Creative Department
Publisher: Nintendo
Instruction Manual: Not necessary – Link
Difficulty: Easy
Played it as a child? Yes
Value: $5.79 (used), $1,000.00 (new) (pricecharting.com)
Other Releases: Yes – SNES (Super Mario All-Stars), Gameboy Color (as Super Mario Bros. Deluxe), Gameboy Advance (Nintendo Classics), Wii (Super Mario All-Stars Wii)
Digital Release? Yes – Virtual Console for both Wii and 3DS
Podcast: Project Revolution?
The Secret Technology to the Wii’s Insides
Fred and Rob “Trees” from EZ Mode Unlocked get together to help Nintendo bury the Wii. A console that soared above the clouds in sales and destroyed the hearts and souls of most core gamers, it has become the official punching bag of this generation. As usual, we discuss the myriad of titles the console had to offer in probably our largest list of titles and longest podcast yet on the site.
Head to Head: Super Mario Bros. 2
Ask anyone who grew up playing NES games and they will tell you that Super Mario Bros. 2 was somewhat of an anomaly. It is completely unlike the other games in the series, complete with an Arabian theme, veggie-pulling, the option to select one of four protagonists, and Bowser (King Koopa) is nowhere to be seen. Fortunately for Nintendo it blended right in with sequels to various other popular franchises in the console, including the radically different Zelda II: Adventures of Link and Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. As a seven-year-old gamer back then I shrugged it off and said, “why not?” It may shock you to discover that the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is not actually the intended sequel to the original Super Mario Bros., nor is it in Japan. The true Super Mario Bros. 2 is better known as Lost Levels in America and our Super Mario Bros. 2 began life as the game Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic! and based on a Saturday morning cartoon in Japan and was later re-worked, improved, and re-released as Super Mario Bros. USA. Both versions of Super Mario Bros. 2 are as different as two games can get and thus warrant a head to head.
Feature: Mascots
Mascots, you have to love them. No, wait, you don’t. For the most part mascots have been one of the dark spots on a game publisher’s marketing blitz. At first there was only one iconic mascot, Mario from Super Mario Bros., and frankly he was an accidental mascot that Nintendo had never imagined would become its poster child. After Mario other companies were consistently trying to establish mascots no matter the negative cost to the consumer. Mario is an exception not because he’s a particularly good or mistakenly genius mascot, he’s just iconic because his game was the catalyst to the return of video games after the crash of 1983. During the mid 80s Nintendo established a handful of strong franchises that are beloved by many fans and despite Mario being the “leader” per se, he’s definitely not alone when Nintendo wants to sell a product. I would argue that Link (from Legend of Zelda), Kirby (from Kirby’s Dream Land), Pikachu (from Pokemon), and to certain extent Donkey Kong (from Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Country) and Samus (from Metroid). Much like Disney, Nintendo brings with it a cast of characters and franchises that all assist the overall brand in creating long running quality games. Everyone wanted to have that same wonderful family in the 90s (all of the above named characters had at least one title on the NES by 1992), but they seemed to miss the point that these characters were not created to be mascots, they just happened to get popular enough to become mascots.
Friday at the Movies: The Wizard
Video games and movies, you would think the two would go hand-in-hand, but unfortunately given that the film medium is a passive experience and the gaming medium is an active experience, the hybrid of the two usually goes horribly (and laughably) wrong. This segment will be our weekly realm to appreciate the more “classic” medium of film (thanks to the large number of hits my Prometheus review received). Of course, whenever possible I will review a “video game” movie.
This movie poster is exactly like the gaming magazines fo the time, busy as hell.
Oh, The Wizard, how I love you so despite what anyone tells me. Sure, it’s nothing more than a big commercial for Super Mario Bros. 3 and a blatant ripoff of Rain Man, but that doesn’t change the fact that I love this movie to death. Before the Internet, we gamers would soak up any and all forms of information on video games and due to the lack of content available to us (magazines cost money, you had to be registered for newsletters, and we couldn’t linger in the gaming area of Sears forever). I had a subscription to Nintendo Power and I knew that SMB3 would eventually grace our shores, but Japan got the game a whopping year and a half before us! As soon as they revealed that the game was going to be featured in the movie, it was an instant must see for my friends and I. It’s pretty hilarious too, because in the movie the big reveal is that the finals for the Nintendo World Championship would feature this game and everyone goes crazy given that it’s a never before played game. As an audience, we all knew the game would be in there and shredded through the first 90 minutes of exposition to get to that point. When Jimmy played those legendary first few levels of SMB3, though, the entire pathetic journey was well worth it. For fans of the film, how the hell does Haley know everything about this “unseen” game as Jimmy plays along, including what the flute does?
Super Mario Land 3D: Not Your Father’s Mario
While I’m perfectly capable of giving a review of this title, its merits and setbacks hold more value to me in a comparison to the series as a whole instead of a single title of the generation. This is not a retrospective either, I’m more than happy to compare the timeline of the series if my content slims to that point.
We’re Sorry, but Your Princess is in Another Castle
As a gamer who has been conquering Bowser Koopa – back then we called him “King Koopa” – in 1987 when I unboxed my first NES, the Super Mario franchise is as dear to me as gaming. Needless to say that for better or worse, I have at one time or another owned every Nintendo console and thoroughly completed any part of the Super Mario platforming series. As the years carried on I grew older and more mature, as did the Super Mario series. One thing always remained consistent: each new release on a Nintendo platform played to the strengths of the hardware. Super Mario Land 3D is no exception; it thwarts bold statements that the 3D hardware doesn’t enhance a game just like Super Mario Galaxy did for motion controls on the Wii. It is not, however, Super Mario Bros. 3 meets Super Mario Galaxy, not in the least.
Generation Gap Pt 5: “Last” Gen
This installment will conclude our Generation Gap coverage. Please note that upcoming coverage on handhelds, arcades and microcomputers will follow. A lot happened just over a decade ago – the gaming market changed and one strong competitor bowed out as another took to the plate.
Fifth Generation – 1999 – Present (technically)
Sega Dreamcast – Launch Price: $199.99 – Released: 1999
Launch dates are getting more technical by this time, so from a Japanese standpoint the Dreamcast was a 1998 launch but we didn’t get it here until much later in September 1999. Although it is a 128-bit system, consoles had stopped toting the strength of “bits” and instead focused on a sleek design – most likely because Sony did it with Playstation and it worked. Dreamcast was Sega’s final nail before bowing out of hardware manufacturing and has been argued to also be its best offering. Regardless, the Dreamcast was definitely ahead of its time. It featured things that no console would dare launch without today and basically had the same features that Microsoft would include in its console just a few years later. A few years, that’s the difference between success and failure.
Until the Dreamcast most video game consoles were specified hardware that was far behind PCs. By all accounts the Dreamcast was a simplified PC, even running Windows CE, a modified version of the operating system that would be put to greater use on later pocket PCs. The Dreamcast had a built-in modem on all consoles, which supported the earliest form of online console gaming and provided a web browser service to those fortunate or rich enough to afford the high cost of long phone calls. Furthermore a keyboard attachment allowed players to truly use their console as an Internet device and even gave way to early MMOs on the console. Memory cards included LCD dot matrix screens and were called “visual memory units” or VMUs that not only held data but gave the player on-the-go mini games and Gigapet-style games. Aside from that Dreamcast boasted higher storage with the proprietary GD-rom format (1.2 GB of storage space), impressive graphics, and a slew of solid titles.
Gaming History 101 