super mario 3
nick at authenticgeek has a new design up based on super mario 3 that is the greatest thing in the whole wide world.
super mario 3 is one of the few video games where i kick ass. i played it growing up and can still remember all of the tricks, including how to go through entire levels with the super speed on and not stop once. i have mad mario skillz that will never project into any gaming system newer than the snes.
i bought a super nintendo at a garage sale this weekend for $20 and it came with 15 or so games. granted, there are some huge duds like aladdin, cool spot, and ghouls n' ghosts (i cant even get past the first screen in that one - wtf?), but it also came with gems like donkey kong 2, super mario 1 and 2, and zelda.
i am having all sorts of fun playing a gaming system where i dont stare at my feet or the ceiling for thirty seconds until i die.
this kind of fun and nostalgia is definitely worth $20.
2004
12 Love Notes
While I do love the original NES, SNES was the first game system I actually owned. And I definitely had Super Mario World, Zelda (possibly the best game ever), Aladdin and Ghouls n' Ghosts. I think a friend of mine had Cool Spot but I never got really far in it.
Thanks for the comment about the blog, have fun with the SNES :)
Zsnes is your friend... ;)
http://www.zsnes.com/
emulators do not cut the dice. i need to hear my controller creak and squeek when outrunning bad guys and holding my breath.
I'm so jelous, super mario brothers was my favorite game of all time. I'd be happy to play any of them but super mario 64 and mario cart (which are the 2 that came with our N64). My favorite was the one where princess toadstool floats. Its been years since I've played any of them, if we ever make it up for a visit I know what I'll be doing at your house!
Emulators work exceedingly well with a wide range of squeaky controllers, such as my Logitech Cordless Rumblepad:
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=11,CONTENTID=5021
Woah...sorry for the margin violation. :(
do you see how many buttons that thing has? good grief.
and no worries about the margin violation (heh); maybe i should allow html again.
there are actually several usb controllers you can get for pretty cheep (i think i saw one for like $5 recently, brand new, in box) that look just like the snes controller. i have seriously considered getting one of those and trying out the zsnes version of chrono trigger, as the game cartridge alone goes for over $60 on ebay. :( suckage.
Chrono Trigger rocks. As for Zsnes, I have found every game played on Zsnes to be indistinguishable from the original version -- except that the graphics are actually *better* due to the razor-sharp lines (lines on a television are always blurry).
And yeah, you're fine with one of the basic controllers as long as you just want to run an SNES emu. Although if you ever decide to run an N64 emu, you'll wish for an extra analog stick or two... ;)
my mario skillz will never project into any gaming system newer than the super nintendo. i can totally not get the 3D aspects of the newer games and end up staring at my feet or the ceiling. i cant even walk in a straight line on the N64, much to my husbands amusement.
Well, it's not your fault. Nintendo set out on a mission to give Mario more of a personality with Mario 64. Since it's hard to have a personality if no one ever sees your face, they came up with this truly F'ed-up control system whereby the camera angle deliberately failed to stay in sync with the direction in which Mario was moving. So, if you want Mario to turn around and move back in the direction from which he just came, you press Down on the Dpad and you get to see his face for a few seconds before the camera gradually slews around to show you his back again. (As Dave Barry says, I am not making this up.)
So, you have Mario and the camera rotating around the same axis but at different speeds, which means that the Dpad controls are totally inconsistent from one moment to the next. The direction you press relates to the camera angle of the moment rather than the direction in which Mario is actually moving, even though *you have no direct control over the camera angle*. Therefore, pressing Right on the Dpad may cause Mario to turn right one one occasion, while on another occasion it may cause him to walk in a straight line (from left to right in the camera's perpective).
Given these conditions, *no one* could walk in a straight line without incredible amounts of practice. After all, you'd have a hard time driving your car in a straight line if the orientation of your steering wheel which means "straight ahead" changed from moment to moment.
While this is incredibly stupid, at least someone involved with the design realized how stupid it was, so they gave you a camera toggle option with the R button. When you press R, the camera behavior changes to become like a traditional third-person shooter, where you always see Mario's back.
that is ridiculous. i remember not being able to walk in a straight line in zelda on the 64, either, and you have to do that to pass the 'training area' place. donkey kong kicked my butt as well, but i cannot remember specifics about that... i do remember that i couldnt swim worth beans.
ive tried a few of those first person shooters on the 64 (my husband is very fond of those type of games) and there is where i stare at my feet or the ceiling and walk in circles. and then i die because either my husband or a stupid game character shoots me.
i found with the 64 i was much happier observing while the better players (meaning those who could walk and shoot and silly things like that) kicked butt.
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