growing up

So why haven't there ben a million Mario games in the past million years? i was playing new super mario bros. and thinking this to myself. there are a lot of games that are sidescrolling action platformers, but what is it about mario that makes him so friggin popular? it certainly isnt because plumbers are hip. Let's see if i can count the genuine mario games, excluding party games, sports games, and edutainment games. i believe that the New Super MArio Bros is in fact the 5th side scrolling Italian plumber adventure (not counting game boy games). And to my own surprise i find myself being able to state all the differences to each one, even being that i tend to distaste the popularity they have accrued. they were pretty much garbage until 3, and the real gold is mario World on SNES. NEW SMB does not have the ability to fly, but instead you get to rock a blue turtle shell and go crazy with it. The DS was a fine platform for this game because, in my opinion every 3D mario game has been trash, and it also eliminates that annoying 2-player take-turns gameplay that nobody really liked anyway. the only multiplayer allowed is for fierce battling and wacky minigames.

another thing i find interestign about mario is that i cannot remember a time when i did not just know where everything was in a mario game.then when i was about 18 or so i decided to try and get 100% in SMW, not realizin gjust how much of a feat it really was.... there were many hidden levels and paths in that game, and if you wanted to change the season to fall you better have been ready for a fight. the first three mario games were wrote to me in all of my memories regarding them. it dawned on me one day that maybe that was the only reason i even like them: they were easy and i knew them like the back of my hand.

So, in comes new SMB for the DS, i am ripe with skepticism and ready to talk about how terrible mario is in general, and to go on about how much this new title will just fall into a useless category that everyonew ill love for no good reason. and to my pleasure and chagrin i noticed that i really, really... REALLY enjoyed playing it. it is about a hundred thousand times easier (im struggling to keep my lives... at 99) but its got just the right amount of sameness and differentness to be a really remarkable title. and now that i am not blessed with teh ignorance of carelessly running through games, it is STILL tons o fun. i am currently resting on th efinal castle having gotten every single giant gold coin in previous levels. some of them were painstaking, but i wanted to have them all. the gap between mario games has been so great, that in the span between mario world and new smb i have grown out of turning on a game and just playing it from the beginning every time until i remember everything abou thte first twelve levels for the rest of my life. i am running these boards through a fine sifting device and takign all the treasure available to me. from warp cannons to hidden mushroom houses to alternate exits, i am tearin this game about a hundred new assholes, and i am seriously enjoying every minute of it.

so i guess what i am saying, is sorry everyone for bitching about mario sucking.. it was just my way of conveying that i needed a fresh new mario fix that wasnt something i had played a million times over to the point of full memorization. (seriously tho this game is gooood)

-mvp