NES Mario Madness

My memories of Mario on the NES
On
May 21, 2008
I can remember way back when I was in 3rd grade and still did not have a Nintendo system after pleading with my parents to buy me one, it was not the cost that was the issue but the fear that I would become a couch potato and never see the light of day again. All of a sudden I was diagnosed with appendicitis and had to have my appendix removed and was now confined to the walls of my house for a week or so, when I came home from the hospital there was a package for me in my bedroom next to my television. I limped over still in pain from the operation and opened it up, to my amazment it was the Nintendo syaytem I had alwasy wanted and the beginning of my love for Super Mario.

My father hooked it up for me and I started to play Super Mario Brothers for the first time. I was amazed with the graphics, the different enemies and at the time the complexity of the game. This was the first game I had ever played besides games for my ATARI so you can imagine how much I loved this game. I would spend hours playing this game during my recovery from surgery to the point where I would get a headache and my parents kept telling me to turn off the Nintendo because it was so hot they thought it was going to explode. I remember turning the game on in the "wee" hours of the night and sneaking a few hours of playtime in trying not to wake my parents up in the next room over. It took me a few weeks of hardcore playing but a finally did beat the game and felt an amazing sense of victory pass over my body.

As time went on my parents purchased new games for me like Adventure Island, Lifeforce, Master Blaster, Legend of Zelda, Wizards and Warriors and many other good games but none stuck in my heart like Mario. Then I was the advertisment for Super Mario Brothers 2 and almost needed heart surgery after this one. The graphics were even better than the first one and the worlds almost seemed unimaginable to me and spent hours thinking about how this new Mario game was going to be. I pleaded with my parents to buy it for me and after a few days of being an annoying little jerk they did and I loved even more than the first one.

The setup was totally different than the first one and I found it amazing, not only can you play as Mario but you also had the option of playing as Luigi, Toad or the Princess each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Mario was an all around good character decent speed and pulling speed which I refer to as the abitiity to pick up objects in the game either to claim them or to use them as weapons. Luigi was about the same but had an amazing ability to jump with his little feet flashing before your eyes. Toad was my least favorite character but had the highest ability picking up objects which is important for gaining chances for gambling in between worlds to gain lives. When I say gambling I mean the slot machine chance in between levels...in my opinion a real nice touch but only for this mario game none other. I know it was wierd at the time me being a boy but my favorite character to play as was the Princess. She had an amazing ability to hover for short distances which help dramatically throughout the game.

A stage ending boss called birdo makes her first appearence during this game, her main defense in shooting eggs out of her mouth and or fire in which you have to grab the eggs and throw them back at her. Birdo for some reason is a Mario character that stuck in people's minds when talking about the game. People spoke of the level ending boses but Birdo always seemed to make her way into the conversation. It is amazing how a simple pre-ending boss could be the topic of conversation whenever you spoke about this game. I think she is a very good minor boss and adds a nice touch to mario 2.

As I played on through the levels passing through the Ice World, Desert World and stright through the last world to meet Wart, a huge toad which you have to defeat in order to beat the game. Again not a very hard boss to beat but I thought he was pretty neat looking at the time. My favorite part of this game was the final ending, they would go through the character log showing all the characters and their names. The music during the ending credits for some reason I loved, it was very peaceful and I thought a very nice touch to the mood and setting for an ending or a Mario game. Well after I had beaten this game I started playing the other games I had waiting for my next Mario world to explore which could not come soon enough. I again was watching television when the comercial came on for Super Mario 3. I started jumping up and down and grabbed my mom and asked her if I could get this. I remember this event until this day, I saw the comercial in the beginning of the week and had report cards on Friday and my mom said if I did good we would drive right to the store and buy it. Those few days were terrible, not only did I not have the game to play while my school mates were playing it but there was a chance that if I did not do well on my report card I was not going to get it. Well Friday came my report card was good and off to Toys R Us we went.

By the time I got home I had the game out of the box, ran to my NES and shoved it in. The game opened up with amazing graphics and music. I was still a little surprised that I could not pick characters like SMB2 but I would get over it.

As I played the game I was amazed with it, I could not believe I could chose what world I wanted to play in each level, that I could keep items for use later on in the game. There were all types of gambling available in mushroom huts and a go fish like game to play. It was amazing and I could not get enough of this excitement.

I could turn into a raccoon or a frog and even a big boot. Then there was the magic flutes, only if I knew when I first started that when in warp land, if I blew another flute it would take me to the very end but anyway this allowed warping to occur. Once again like in SMB2 there was gambling involved but instead of a slot machine for 3 in a row you had to line up a slot machine of 3 sections to make a picture of a star, flower or mushroom which would then relate to how many extra guys you had won. Each of the level ending bosses were actually King Koopas kids and they were really not that hard but very fun to play against. As I played through water world, big world, pipe world, sky world all the way to the last level I had loved every second of it.....minus not being able to save your progress since it is a long game(especially when you don't know about the warp flutes). Koopa was really no big deal and I beat him with ease, getting to him for this game was the real challenge. But like the firsttwo Mario games I had beaten this Mario as well, I loved every minute of playing this game and rank it as one of the best Mario games ever. WII's Mario can not compare to the good old days, complexity and graphics are not what make a good game, its connecting the needs of the games with the evolution of the storyline and for the first three mario games they hit a home run. Thanks NES......Oh i fogot, to all you readers out there, when your at your local store grab a Super Mario Power UP drink, you won't throw fire but it makes you feel like a kid again.

Thank you for your time and hoped you enjoyed.
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