DAY 50 / GAME 50
Super Mario Brothers 3
Ok, 50th post! May as well be something big! So how about a blanket favourite? Super Mario Brothers 3. I never had a Nintendo, our first system was a Sega Genesis. But I remember playing Super Mario at other people's houses and I remember how excited everyone was about the release of Super Mario Brothers 3.
Eventually, with the release of Super Mario All Stars on the SNES, I had the opportunity to put some real time into it. Super Mario 1 was good, but basic. It got the job done. Super Mario Brothers 2 was a weird departure from 1; super fun on it's own, but was missing a bit of the Mario feel. Mario 3 however, was about as polished as the Mario platformer could get on an 8 bit system.
It really had it nailed down. There were a ton of levels, each divided nicely into 'worlds' with their own theme. There was a bunch of variety, providing a real draw to getting into the later worlds and little mini-games loaded into the 'overworld' map between levels. You could play 2 player, which worked out a lot nicer than just taking turns as in previous games. Since you could use the map to pick levels and collect powerups individually. Graphically it really pushed the system. I'm a little surprised still how nice it looked on the original NES. I think this was just one of those examples of stylistic choices that really don't try to do something the system can't do and instead push within the limits so that it's visually readable and not messy. Mario 3 also really introduces a whole slew of great characters. Here we got to see more than just 3 different baddies with minor variations. We saw Piranha Plants, Chain Chomps, that big angry sun and a whole ton of dudes whose names I can't recall.
Great game or not, it was just one of those staple games most everyone from the time has enjoyed at one point or another. It's become basic gaming knowledge for everyone; everyone knows raccoon tails make you fly and as long as you get into a giant wind-up boot you're pretty much safe from anything underneath you. Denise and I have had some great times going through this one together. And yet, we still can't beat the last world. Nice thing is, 5, 10, maybe 20 years from now we'll still pick this one up and perhaps we'll beat it then.
Super Mario Brothers 3
Ok, 50th post! May as well be something big! So how about a blanket favourite? Super Mario Brothers 3. I never had a Nintendo, our first system was a Sega Genesis. But I remember playing Super Mario at other people's houses and I remember how excited everyone was about the release of Super Mario Brothers 3. Eventually, with the release of Super Mario All Stars on the SNES, I had the opportunity to put some real time into it. Super Mario 1 was good, but basic. It got the job done. Super Mario Brothers 2 was a weird departure from 1; super fun on it's own, but was missing a bit of the Mario feel. Mario 3 however, was about as polished as the Mario platformer could get on an 8 bit system.
It really had it nailed down. There were a ton of levels, each divided nicely into 'worlds' with their own theme. There was a bunch of variety, providing a real draw to getting into the later worlds and little mini-games loaded into the 'overworld' map between levels. You could play 2 player, which worked out a lot nicer than just taking turns as in previous games. Since you could use the map to pick levels and collect powerups individually. Graphically it really pushed the system. I'm a little surprised still how nice it looked on the original NES. I think this was just one of those examples of stylistic choices that really don't try to do something the system can't do and instead push within the limits so that it's visually readable and not messy. Mario 3 also really introduces a whole slew of great characters. Here we got to see more than just 3 different baddies with minor variations. We saw Piranha Plants, Chain Chomps, that big angry sun and a whole ton of dudes whose names I can't recall.
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