Gaming

Does anyone remember the Super Mario Land series for Gameboy? This series was so strange, but I still loved playing them on car rides.

The games felt surreal, it seemed so novel playing a mario game where you pilot a submarine and shoot at enemies, or when giant easter island heads are enemies in the game.

It's kind of funny how Mario has evolved over the years, it doesn't sound so out of place anymore. I'm pretty sure there are Moai statue enemies in Mario Odyssey funny enough.

Mario being such a big part of my childhood makes it sad that stuff takes like 100 years to enter public domain.

I wish it was 20 years.
Imagine how much easier fan games, modding, and emulation/preservation would be!

Galaxy was amazing!

Super Mario is today what Mickey Mouse wishes it still was: a joyful, universally recognizable character deeply entrenched in the childhood of millions.

There is a special place in my heart for the infamously strange Super Mario Bros 2. Many connoisseurs will justly mention that it is merely a reskin of the lesser known Doki Doki Panic. What is often left out is that Doki Doki Panic was created as well by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and that it originally contained references to its previous work on Mario, such as the POW blocks. In the long run, I feel that Nintendo of America’s decision to adapt DDP as SMB2 for the occidental plebs boosted the series with several charming monsters, a more interactive world, as well as multiple playable characters. We owe Bobombs, Shyguys and Ninjis to this very title.

Super Mario Bros. 3 was the first game I ever played, waaaay back in the early 90s. That hooked me into gaming for life, and every few years, I do a no warp playthrough of the game that started it all for me.

Then, a few years later, I tried Super Mario 64 in a Toys R Us. It blew my mind and I absolutely had to have an N64.

I despise Nintendo's business practices, but there's no doubt they had a formative influence on my childhood.

I'm a 2D Mario guy. Everything 8 and 16 bit is awesome, except the crying baby island simulator one.

64 was of course amazing. Sunshine I like only because they tried something different. I never finished it though.

Imma get some hate for this: Galaxy and Odyssey aren't that good. I did like Galaxy 2 a little though. I did finish Odyssey but man it has to be one of the most gimmick driven games in the series. Crap ton of one use only power ups.

New Super on Wii, and especially newER on Wii are a lot of fun (which is cheating but whatever lol). The WiiU game though? Oof huge fail.

The catsuite 3D land game is interesting to me. It has a ton of really great ideas, and lots of fun sections. But it falls flat overall somehow. I can't put my finger on it. Good memories with it though.

Honorable mention: Yoshi Story on the 64. That game was great.

Edit. Wonder has been out for awhile. Still haven't played it. I actually completely forgot about it.

My favorite game in the series was Super Mario 3. I first played it on the SNES when it was part of the Super Mario All Stars cartridge. I really liked the levels, especially the variety of landscapes and the secrets you could find if you had the right powerup.

Super Mario World is just as good imo. Everything I liked about 3 and more, plus the star road levels, that was a good game.

The most recent game I loved was Yoshi's Wooly World on the WiiU. Excellent art style and super fun levels, especially the unlockable bonus levels.

Oh and let's not forget Legend of the Seven Stars. That was a fun and bizarre story.

That being said, does anyone else think the Mario universe is just fucking weird? How did the creators come up with Italian plumbers who can jump really high saving a Princess from an oversized turtle in a fantasy land with walking mushrooms? Who thought that was a good idea? What inspired them? I think the only reason it became popular was because Super Mario on the NES was one of the first decent games, and most players were kids who didn't care about the game's universe and narrative beyond saving the princess.

If Mario wasn't the first popular platformer in the 80s and was instead introduced today, nobody would take it seriously. Since we all grew up with Mario, it's a thing we accept as is. Of course high jumping Italian plumbers discovered the mushroom kingdom and rescued their princess from Bowser, again and again and again. Of course little dudes with mushroom heads are ruled by a blond haired human. Of course giant pipes are a normal mode of transit. Of course goombas and koopa troopas are the baddies.

Seriously, how did this universe come about?

My favorite Mario game is the original Donkey Kong.

I am a late fan of this series. I used to have a Gameboy color as my first gaming device, but never actually sat down to play a Mario game fully until Super Mario Odyssey on the Switch. I really liked it, but it wasn't a 10/10 for me like for other people.

For me the unexpected match came in the form of Super Mario 3D World. Something about the simplicity of the level design (short levels with 3 collectibles each) combined with the amazing coop make this an all time favorite game of mine. I also adore the music and general tone and creativity. It really had an almost therapeutic effect on me, I've seen more immediate effect on my mood than any of the anti depressants I've tried :D.

I have Wonder but it's a bit to strange at times for my tastes (even though it is incredibly creative it isn't as relaxing as 3D World was for me)

I was pleasantly surprised by Super Mario Wonder. It had the same feel of fun and variety that the older games did.

Obligatory video on what counts as a super Mario game

https://youtu.be/XejJ6PzPtEw?si=UUMS7t97Y2dfu5kP

And the sequel

https://youtu.be/-Ddmjcy3lEs?si=J0lTDEMydwgPj_z2

Super mario 2 and those spitting eggs, I loved it.

Died to the very first goomba. Have been getting my revenge ever since.

I highly recommend Mario Maker 2 to everyone who hasn't tried it, especially if you have kids with an interest in learning game design. It's a great tool.

It's a series where a dragon kidnaps a princess, and a plumber from New York must save her. To do so, he must gather mushrooms by hitting bricks while jumping with his fist, jump on turtles to make them hide in their shell, and dodge fire breathing plants.

In the most recent 2d incarnation, the fire breathing plants will sing at you.

The people who made this were on a lot of drugs.

Super Mario 64 has to be my favourite (and is also the most recent one I've tried). When that came out it rocked my world, and I didn't even have my own N64 at the time. I would play at friends' houses or Toys R Us.

There was a Canadian TV show called Video and Arcade Top 10 and they would frequently give games away. I wrote to them explicitly requesting SM64, and a year later it just showed up in the mail.