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.
SMB 3 was a big deal when it came out. Not only was the game a delight to play, but they had a whole ass movie where they “debuted” the game at the end of it. The whole movie was pretty much a long Nintendo commercial showing different games and the power glove and all. The end was a video game competition and SMB 3 was the surprise game. They even showed where to get the first warp whistle.
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.
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.
This universe came about because they would design fun gameplay first and then write an absurd story around it.
The “reasons” for things were usually dictated by gameplay and the stories reflected that.
It’s why Katamari Damacy is one of my favorite games, because it took that notion and really ran with it. It’s story is as absurd and over-the-top as the gameplay of rolling up objects to make stars in the sky. The gameplay is absurd and not in any way reflective of any reality except the reality of the game world itself.
The Mario series has always kept that ethos as well. The stories have grown and changed as long as the Mario gameplay has, each a response to a new set of moves, and at one point the move from 2D to 3D, all of it forever changing the path forward and the details of the canon Mario universe.
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.
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.
Age of empires II is one of my first experiences as a child playing games. I used to play it on a computer in the back of my mother’s pharmacy. A friend of mine was a huge fan, but I truly sucked at it.
Later I bought Lord of the Rings: the Battle for Middle Earth II, and to this date this is the only RTS that I actually enjoy playing a lot (I later also played the first one which is also amazing).
Still, I played Age of Empires II a lot, mostly the tutorial levels and the early missions of Jeanne d’Arc. I think the micromanaging and constantly having to do multiple things at once (like constantly making new units, etc.) were to much for me (and it still is). Still, a classic in gaming history and a part of my childhood!
Loved AoE II. I still play it on occasion, and I grew up playing it with cheat codes (there’s some silly ones). I think it still holds up well to this day, even with my nostalgia glasses off.
If you’ve never played it, my only caveat would be to expect the AI to not compare to modern iterations. “Balance” in campaign missions sometimes comes in the form of giving the AI an unfair advantage, but everything can be overcome, and you can always save-scum your way to victory. It’s fun, and I definitely recommend a play if you are into retro gaming or RTS’s.
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