Super Mario Plush Dolls Get!

One of the first things I got for myself in the new year were some genuine Super Mario Plush Dolls in Barns & Nobles. I was really surprised to find these things in a book store. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't even looking for them. Yeah, I knew there were video game plush dolls out there, but I'd never actively sought them out. When I actually saw some, and some of Super Mario no less, I was ecstatic.

My mom didn't understand why I'd actually want something like these. This coming from a woman that has a glass shelf to display her collection of clowns. Clowns! (Not that there's anything wrong with that) As a huge Mario fan, how could I not be interested in Mario plush toys?

From what I saw, they had everyone but Mario (figures he'd be gone), but that was OK because Luigi has always been my boy. I just had to get Yoshi as well because he looked so cute.

When I get some more cash, I'm definitely going back to pick up more.

Arthur Has it Worse Than Mario

Tale as old as time. The princess has been captured! The kingdom is in peril! The guards suck at their jobs.

When most gamers think of rescuing a distressed damsel, the Super Mario Bros. games are probably the first that spring to mind. After all, the entire plot of these games revolves around saving a woman that can't seem to pick flowers without being whisked off by the clutches of evil. The Ghost 'n Goblins games may not have the same level of fame as the Mario platformers, but the overall goal is the exact same; Arthur must save his lady love, Prin Prin. But between the two of them, I honestly think Arthur has it much worse than the plumber.

Now Mario is a pretty humble guy. He goes to great lenghts to save Peach. He runs away from angry suns, makes insane leaps over pools of lava, all to be told that "Our princess is in another castle" a whoping seven times. Any other man would have thrown his hands in the air and stormed off, but not Mario, no. He just keeps on trucking and for what? A kiss on the nose and some cake. Those are some vastly slim rewards for such a bold display of courage. I wonder if Peach realizes how lucky she truly is. Most men would never brave such odds to rescue their girlfriend. They'd probably just get a new girl, one that isn't so high maitenence.

Mario also gets a sweet arsenal of power-ups to aid him in his quest. Fire flowers, super leaves, karibo's shoe, the metal cap, propeller suits, and on and on. The fact that Mario gets such cool toys to play with along the way helps make a harsh journey a little easier.

Arthur, like Mario is also a very down to earth fellow and is more than willing to risk life and limb to get his lady back. But sweet, merciful heavens, the road that lies ahead of him is BRUTAL! He has to go all the way down to hell, fight Satan, the lord of darkness, just to win the day. Oh and the minions that Satan throws at you? Sure, most of them may be easy to defeat but they come at you in droves. The enemies that Arthur faces are like cockroaches. It doesn't matter how many of them you kill, there's always more. In fact, some of them will come back in the very same place that you've killed them, right there on the screen!

Depending on the game, Mario is able to take a few hits before he falls. Arthur? One hit and he loses his armor and he's gotta run around in his underwear. After that next hit, Arthur becomes a corpse. So while rescuing your woman in your undies might get you more bravery points, it can also be pretty dangerous, especially when the entire underworld is after your head.

Yeah, Arthur gets some special weapons to help him out, but you'll be lucky if you can hang on to them long enough for them to do you any good. On top of the hordes of enemies you'll be dealing with, the levels themselves are no cake walk. I can remember playing Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts and dying more than 20 times on the second stage. I must have been on masochist mode because I kept on playing until I passed level three. The game did not get any easier.

Remember how I said you had to go down to hell to beat Satan? Well, after you get there and take him down, you're treated to the mother of all the-princess-is-in-another-castle tropes. It turns out the entire thing was an illusion, a trick by Satan. You wanna get your girl back? You gotta play through the whole game again. Yes, Virginia, Arthur quiet literally has to go to hell and back and back again in order to truly be victorious. Bowser never had Mario go through his entire quest twice! Most folks I imagine would just shut the game off after that and I would not think any less of them if they did. The truly dedicated (insane) would go through it all again, trounce Satan, and win back the Prin Prin. Really, Arthur, is this woman worth all that?

The fact that the Ghost 'n Goblin games are infuriatingly difficult, have constantly re-spawning enemies and an ultra cruel fake out, requiring you to beat the game two times just so you can win for real proves that Mario is on easy street compared to Arthur. Mario may have more games, but Arthur's few titles trump Mario's plethora when it comes to challenge. I guess love really does make you crazy.

Old School Meme

Nuff'. Said.

From XHunter's gallery at Capcom Unity.

Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition Get!

Against what I thought would be impossible odds (I never did preorder), I was able to secure a copy of Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition, and at Wal-Mart of all places. This was a game I originally intended to get at GameStop but I figured I'd try my luck elsewhere first.

I absolutely LOVE the packaging of this collection. The red box with the 8-bit Mario at the top just looks so cool to me. Simple but very effective. The Super Mario History Booklet comes with art (some unpublished) and notes from Shigeru Miyamato, Koji Kondo and Takashi Tezuka. You'll breeze through it in a couple of minutes, but it's still nice to look through, nonetheless. The Super Mario History Sound Track CD unfortunately isn't really anything to get excited about. There are only 20 tracks and half of those tracks are jingles and sound effects. Compared to the soundtrack that was released for the 20th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros. five years ago, this is a huge let down.

Some fans are viewing this collection as a total rip off. I mean, one could easily download the NES versions on the Virtual Console for a combined total of $21, where as this limited edition compilation costs $30. Of course you do get some decent extras and these are updated versions of classic platformers. Yeah, I already own them on the SNES cart, but the collector in me just couldn't pass this up. This is hardly the first time I've dropped down money for games I already own on a different system and it won't be the last. All told, I'm very satisfied with my purchase.


Screen from IGN and Super Mario Wiki.

Review: Pikmin

Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Real Time Strategy
System: GameCube (Also available on Wii)

Fun fact: Shigeru Miyamato (creator of Mario for the three of you that didn't know) likes to garden in his spare time. So it doesn't come as much of a surprise that his idea of a real time strategy games has no human soldiers to speak off (well, maybe one if you include the central protagonist). There are no tanks, bazookas or the usual types of weapons you find in a game like Command & Conquer or Advance Wars. In Pikmin, you wage war with small vegetable-like creatures. What they lack in size and artillery, they more than make up for in numbers and a well-crafted game.


While flying through space, Captain Olimar's ship, the Dolphin takes a hit from a meteor, which sends it spiraling out of control. When he comes to, the captain finds that his ship is a mere shell of it's former self, missing a grand total of 30 parts. The ship is capable of flying but without all of the proper pieces, it cannot maintain flight in space. To make matters worse, the planet that Olimar has crash landed on contains toxic air and his space suit's ability to keep out the poisonous oxygen will only last for 30 days. Fortunately for Olimar, the planet is teeming with friendly alien plant-like creatures known as Pikmin and they are more than willing to aid him in his quest for the missing ship pieces.

Pikmin come in three different types. Red Pikmin are the strongest fighters and are immune to fire. Yellow Pikmin can be thrown the highest and can carry bomb rocks, useful for breaking down walls that cannot be destroyed by the usual means. Blue Pikmin are the only type that won't drown in water. You can make as many of each type as you want, though you'll probably have the least yellows since they aren't required to use nearly as often as the blues and reds. Though there will be times where you'll have to use all three types of Pikmin effectively to get a ship part. Each Pikmin starts out with a leaf atop it's head. If left in the ground, over the time, the Pikmin will bloom into flowers, the best type of Pikmin. You can also feed leaf and bud Pikmin nectar to turn them into flower Pikmin. Flower Pikmin tend to be more focused than the leaf and bud times, so you should convert the Pikmin to flower types whenever you have a good opportunity.

The game takes place over the span of 30 game days, with the exception of the first day, which is more a less an tutorial, the rest of the 29 days are comprised of 13 minutes each. You'll want to accomplish as much as you can in each day but you shouldn't let the time limit scare you too much. Only 25 of the Dolphin's parts are mandatory to make the ship take off. The remaining five parts have no overall function to the ship. Getting all 30 parts does allow you to see the game's best ending and it is entirely possible to secure all 30 parts before you reach day 30, so in completing the game in a speedy fashion lies a bit of replay value.

Most of the ship's pieces are can be found while exploring the 5 different areas, but a few of the parts are held by hostile creatures, some that fall pretty easy, others, not so much. The general tactic to defeating enemies is throwing your Pikmin at it, but it isn't always that simple. At times you'll have to throw the Pikmin in harm's way before you expose an enemies' weak point and only then can he be slain. Red Pikmin may be the best fighters, but they aren't always the best choice to take in battle. In fact some areas, force you to rely on your other Pikmin types to obtain ship pieces. The fourth area in the game, the Distant Spring, houses a lot of water so you'll want to have lots of blue Pikmin for navigating the area and fighting.

It doesn't matter if you're moving a small group of Pikmin or an army of the cute little critters, the controls remain amazingly simple. With the touch of the A button you pluck the Pikmin from the ground, order them to swarm a foe, or carry a ship part back to base. It really is a easy as it sounds. You can control up to 100 Pikmin at once and easily dismiss them into groups. The B button whistles the Pikmin to your side and can be used on a single Pikmin, a small group, or a large group. If there's one hiccup to speak of, it would be controlling yellow Pikmin with bomb rocks. It's very easy to accidentally throw a much needed bomb rock at the wrong time and make you just one bomb short of destroying a blocked passage.

The Pikmin themselves are in a few words, absolutely adorable. Sure their entire purpose is that of a soldier, but I guarantee that you'll come to care for them more than any other trooper of a military based RTS game. Pikmin takes measures to make sure you care for the cute little guys as if they were your own children. Maybe it's the awww-inducing way they say "Hi!" when you pick them from the ground, or when they jump up and down triumphantly when they successfully get a ship part back to base, but I found myself showing more compassion for Pikmin than many other video game characters. And when a Pikmin falls in battle? The cries they give when the die always made me cringe. I felt even worse at the end of the day when Olimar took off at night and a stray Pikmin I forgot to collect was slaughtered by the vicious alien lifeforms that come to base at nightfall. So much so that I started checking the map for stray Pikmin. At one point I only had one stray and I went off to collect him because I didn't want anymore of my babies to die. Pikmin is video game caring potential incarnate.

For being a first generation GameCube title, Pikmin looks very impressive. Whether being viewed up close or from afar with the game's three different camera angels, the game's five different environments shine with enough detail to make you feel like you really are a small creature in a gigantic world. The water visuals in the Distant Spring are especially stunning. The game's musical score, composed my Haijime Wakai is outstanding and strikes a nice balance of upbeat and serene tracks.

Pikmin is a game that should be played by those that love RTS games and even those that don't really get into the genre. It is on the short side (10-12 hours at the most), but this is one of those fun, charming games that just about anyone can pick up and play. I so want to play Pikmin 2 now.

8/10

Screenshots from armchairmempire.com.

Review: Super Mario Bros. Virtual Console

System: NES
Genre: Platform
Devleoper: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Cost: 500 Points

The years was 1985. Nearly three years had passed since the North American video game market had crashed. If video games were going to have a future in America, something would have to be done to restore retailer and consumer faith. Nintendo already had a proven console hit on their hands with the Famicom in Japan but the American market was still highly skeptical. Long story short, the company changed the system's name from the Famicom to the Nintendo Entertainment System and to further make sure the console flew off the shelves, packaged it with a wonderful game called Super Mario Bros., a decision which could arguably be considered one of the smartest moves Nintendo has ever made. Not only did Super Mario Bros. revive gaming in the USA, it changed the face of gaming as a whole. It was also the first in a long line of platformers in a series that is still alive to this day.

Super Mario Bros. uses a very basic story. The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom is being held captive by the evil Koopa King, Bowser, and she awaits rescuing from Mario (and Luigi if you're playing a 2 player game). The excuse plot is not the reason people play Super Mario Bros. It's the gameplay. Spanning 8 worlds comprised of 32 levels, you scroll to the right stomping on Goombas, collecting power-ups, coins and bashing bricks to complete a level before time runs out. Sounds like pretty standard platform gaming fare, and it is today, but it's the marvelous level design and execution that helped to propel the game above anything that had previously come before it.

This is a game that is as fun as it is balanced. The first few worlds are easy but about mid-way through, the challenge ramps up, reaching it's peak with world 8, with fewer power ups, stricter time limits, trickier jumps and more annoying enemy placement. No matter what the game throws at you, it still remains fair.

Get used to hearing this line.

Secrets played just as large roll in the game as the general platform elements. You may jump up to find a hidden one-up block, or go down a pipe to skip a chunk of the level, or find a warp zone to skip a few worlds, bringing you a bit closer to the final levels. Warp Zones are good if you feel like beating the game quickly or if there are some worlds you don't want to bother with (I'm looking at you, World 7.)

The fastest way to earn lives if you
can pull it off.

Equally as important as Super Mario Bros'. gameplay is the music. Koji Kondo composed a musical score that is catchy and memorable to gamers and non-gamers alike. It really is interesting that the very first song you hear in the game is the most well-known and easily the most recognized song in gaming. It's gone by various names. "The Super Mario Bros. Theme", "Ground Theme," but this is a tune that is instantly familiar to anyone, even by merely playing the first 7 notes. Of course the rest of the game's music is just as memorable. The "Underground" theme, "Invincible" theme, "Underwater" music (despite the fact that I'm not overly fond of SMB's water levels) and even the "Game Over" jingle have always been personal favorites of mine. Actually, my love for video game music largely stems from Super Mario Bros. It was the first time video game music ever stayed in my head when I wasn't playing the game.

Super Mario Bros. has stood the test of time remarkably well. I've beaten it countless times, but I've yet to master it. I still can't complete the game without dying (even when I use warps) and I've yet to get the hang of the famous Koopa Troopa one-up trick. Even so, this is a game that I gladly come back to and always puts a smile on my face no matter how many times I play it. This game did spawn superior sequels, but it still remains of the finest games to carry the Mario name.

8/10

Screenshots taken from GameFaqs.com and Super Mario Wiki.

Keiji Inafune Leaves Capcom

So one of the big stories over the weekend was the announcement that Keiji Inafune has decided to call it quits with Capcom after working with the company for 23 years. While this may come as a surprise to many, not everyone was stunned by the news. Inafune has made known his frustration for working with Capcom, something I was not aware of until recently.

Personally, I was really shocked by the news. I feared for what would happen with Mega Man, but then I realized that Mega Man X8 turned out to be an awesome game and Inafune really wasn't even involved with it, so I'm certain that Mega Man will be fine and so will Capcom.

Wherever he goes from here, I wish Inafune nothing but the best.