CreepingNet's World

SUPER MARIO BROS/DUCK HUNT/WORLD CLASS TRACK MEET

If you have not heard of this one, I want to know what cryogenic chamber you've been in since before 1985! This is of course, the "killer App" of the NES, and for that matter, Famicom - Super Mario Bros. - the original one from 1985 in all it's 8-bit glory.

Don't want to hear the story, tough. I'm gonna' tell it anyway! Super Mario Bros. story starts with a young Nintendo Employee named Shigeru Miyamoto, and his on-going early eighties evolution of a character first called "Mr. Video" then "Jumpman", then changed to the name of Mario, named after the landlord for Nintendo of America's offices - Mario Segali, I think due to his big nose. Anyway, in 1985, Super Mario Bros. was released for the Famicom, and as a pack-in with the then brand spankin' new Nintendo Entertainment System, which had just been test marketed in New York.

The lore follows two Italian descendant Americans from Brooklyn named Mario and Luigi who, later per lore in the "Super Mario Bros. Super Show" cartoon, were sucked down a tub drain and landed in the "Mushroom Land", a strange place ruled by a human: Princess Toadstool, and inhabited by little cute looking "Mushroom People". Anyway, the evil King (Bowser) Koopa has turned all these people into bits of the landscape and employed an army of various creatures to act as his henchmen. In Super Mario Bros. you have to navigate 32 levels to find and rescue the princess.

I don't think the game was really the dashing overnight success people think it was though, as it took a couple years and some price reductions on the NES for it to really take off like it did in teh states - which was by about 1987-1988 or so. For you Zoomers and younger, Remember Five nights at Freddy's? Well, Super Mario Bros. was MY generation's FNaF. That was what we talked about on the play yard at school until we discovered our preferred gender - in my case girls (that and playing electric guitar). It was so huge it spawned 3 sequels on it's home system, a much anticipated 16-bit release, 3 cartoon shows, 4 if you count the other weird one, shampoo, cerial, action figures, McDonalds Happy Meal toys....you name it. Mario Mania pretty much lasted until the Playstation came out, which by then, we were on the track behind the middle school running from bullies, trying to sneak away while the parents were at work to play guitar, or oogling girls.

MARIO MANIA PART I - My Experiences

This should honestly be the opening of my much-unwanted biography! See, I was the kid in school who was out of style, behind the times, poorer than the family let on, and generally, christened a "nerd". I wore velcro silverhawks when everyone wore Air Jordans, I listened to 60s/70s/80s rock when everyone listened to Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, and Bone Thugs N' Harmony, and I had an Atari 2600 VCS when everyone had an NES! My life has basically been, one ginormous lifehack of behing behind the times and getting the same productivity, enjoyment, and doing so on a shoestring budget against all odds.

So of course I was late to the NES game. I did not even want one until my sister, who was babysitting for a side hustle at the time, had an evening where I'd be coming with, and she'd be babysitting some rich kids from the town next door at their house. One of them was a son about age and well, guess what he had - that's right, a NINTENDO! That same month I recall, my Atari 2600 died. And I knew all the "why don't you want a Nintendo" stuff was just bullcrap to hope I would forget it all and read a book, because I knew what an NES cost - $250. And there was no way in hell my family was going to spend $250.00 on a friggin game system (well, I guess I was wrong, but more on that in a moment). Anyway, Super Mario bros. 2 and Zelda were the choices of the night, and needless to say, after both, I was sold, I actually wanted one.

So Christmas 1990 comes around and of course, I knew the 22"x7"x15" box under the tree most likely was a Nintendo, but I kept my mouth SHUT. Then the night came, and of course, there it was, my first NES - which I STILL own the original "Battle Worn" gamepads of today. However, it took me almost a month and a half to figure out how to get into Super Mario Bros. on that Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt multicart I had. But once I did, that game became my obsession. I was determined to beat it.

What's crazy is I still find myself coming back to it frequently on a semi-rotational basis, and here's a tip for you guys out there who dig chicks, Super Mario Bros. is a GREAT game for dates. I'm not kidding you. Every chick I've ever been in some kind of relationship with, has been into Super Mario Bros. - any version, does not matter. I always saw SMB as the perfect balance of cute, surreal, but still gritty enough to not feel like you're playing with Fisher Price "Little People" Toys. That's why the original four games have remained classics for so long. They are practically "perfect" in their execution.