The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!
I’m going on a trip to Italy, so no better time to discuss my favorite fictional Italian plumber: Mario!
Let’s discuss the Super Mario series. What is your favorite game in the series? What aspects do you like about it? What doesn’t work for you? Are there other games that gave you similar feelings? Feel free to share any thoughts that come up, or react to other peoples comments. Let’s get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
Previous entries: Deus Ex, Stardew Valley, The Sims, Half-Life, Earthbound / Mother, Mass Effect, Metroid, Journey, Resident Evil, Polybius, Tetris, Telltale Games, Kirby, LEGO Games, DOOM, Ori, Metal Gear, Slay the Spire
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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.
I remember my first time finding the ceiling path in the Pyramids in SML1. I just decided to try to see if I could jump up to the ceiling tiles, skip passed the enemies.
It blew my little mind when it worked. I could do that. Where else could I do that‽ The entire game just changed! I lost hours trying to make the stupidest jumps, just to see if I had found another one.
Hahaha that brings back memories. I definitely remember trying all sorts of jumps that got me killed just to see if there were more secrets like that.
The first game kinda falls flat, but they put out a pretty solid sequel with the second game.
The second game feels like where they found their footing before leaning into wario with the third game, but I still enjoyed the first because of how unique it felt at the time.
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.
It’s time Nintendo brings back the scary flying mask enemies. Love SMB2!
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.
Super Mario World 2 is a really amazing game in both the mechanics and graphics. The game did some awesome stuff with both. It really set the way for Yoshi being a main character instead of a side character as well. Don’t sleep on it because the baby crying is annoying.
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 liked that movie.
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)
Long time fans of the 2d games really enjoy Wonder as the movement mechanics moved back to a faster feel from pre-New Super Mario Bros. My favorite will probably always be Super Mario World because the movement is the most responsive in that game and I also like to play ROM hacks for it and that community is wild.
New Super Mario Bros ended up with a sluggish movement by comparison and dominated 2d Mario for decades.
The big draw for many people in Mario is movement mechanics and that’s why Odyssey is so popular as well. The 3d platforming with Cappy just feels right. Like a missing extension that we never new we didn’t have.
3D World is one of my favourites. Really chilled game. Apart from Champions Road. Fuck that level!
That is the last level I still have to beat. Every o once in a while I’ll play it with a friend for a few hours, I’m sure we’ll make it one day!
Obligatory video on what counts as a super Mario game
https://youtu.be/XejJ6PzPtEw?si=UUMS7t97Y2dfu5kP
And the sequel
I was pleasantly surprised by Super Mario Wonder. It had the same feel of fun and variety that the older games did.
Died to the very first goomba. Have been getting my revenge ever since.
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.
Wow I love this story, I used to watch that show all the time! I can still hear the theme song as if I just watched it yesterday. That was super cool of them to send you a copy. I hope you still have it!
Still got it! Agreed, the music is iconic. Nicholas Picholas was a great host too. I just looked him up and apparently he’s a radio host now.
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.
