Posts Tagged ‘world’
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.
Gaming History 101 