Video game reviews: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

Old School. In 1990, as foretold by the prognosticator that was The Wizard, Super Mario Bros. 3 arrived on North American store shelves. It was a return to form for gaming's greatest platforming icon- deeply evolved from the original and substantially more diverse than its American sequel. It took five years to get from Super Mario Bros. to Super Mario Bros. 3, and it's been more than a decade since the arrival of Mario 64, the 3D reinvention of the series. But our 3D Mario 3 has finally arrived.

Like its NES counterpart, Super Mario Galaxy is a significant evolution over Mario 64 and almost obscenely more diverse than the Gamecube's Super Mario Sunshine. It's also a shoe-in for any game of the year award still based on how much actual fun a game is.

As Wii games go, the presentation is the best there is. The graphics elevate themselves above anything the Gamecube was able to pull off by virtue of mostly-high-quality textures. The music is orchestrated and brilliant, effortlessly mixing an original score with nostalgic remixes. While some complain about lack of story, well, it's a Mario game- so get over it.

The biggest innovation- and essentially the game's entire reason d'etre- is the existence of planetoid level designs and their accompanying gravitational fields. This aspect of the game is well documented by this point; let it just be said that the fact that the controls and camera system work (nearly)flawlessly is a minor miracle of design; in fact, the entire design ambition is one of those things with which only joy-savant Shigeru Miyamoto could be entrusted not to flub or break outright.

One thing that doesn't sit quite right is Galaxy's specific relationship to the Wii. The Nintendo 64's controller was designed for Mario 64. It showed. It was an absolutely perfect fit. Super Mario Galaxy, on the other hand (a few features aside) could ostensibly be played on anything. The Wii is a vehicle for the Wii Sports' and Wii Fit's of the world; there seems to be a slight unease in how the Mario's and Zelda's almost seem to be on the outside looking in this generation. But chalk that up to paranoia and remember that this game is spectacular.

Super Mario Galaxy is the best Wii game there is and probably the top game of the year on any console. While Wii Sports is still the best reason to own a Wii outright, this is still a worthy system seller and something every gamer- from the Halo freaks to the Brain Age crowd- should be playing.

Which video game console is better: PlayStation 3 or Wii? – Part 11

While one's preference for a certain video game system over another is just that a preference the debate between the PS3 and the Wii ended in the past few months with the introduction of the WiiFit Balance Board. Allow me to explain as one who has only played the Wii, never played the PS3 (although I was an average player on its grandfather, the original PS), and recently received both aforementioned Wii accessories.

Over the past several years debate has raged in the United States as to what can be blamed as the root cause for childhood obesity. In many opinions and studies, video games were cited as at least partially guilty. Just think how many hours some of us spent finding the secret warp zones on Super Mario Bros., or pretending to be Link as he sought Zelda. The games were fun and challenging, but not so engrossing or involved as today's which seem to be just a step away from reality.

And reality is what seemed to bite Nintendo in the posterior when it created the Wii, and subsequently the WiiFit Balance Board. By nature, video game players are competitive not only with other players, but with themselves. Try to recall how many times you played the same course on any NES racing game just to beat your previous best or beat the computer's time, and you may get an idea of how addictive the WiiFit can be. Plus, since it forces you out of your gaming chair and gives results based almost entirely on your physical activity, Nintendo took an enormous step in helping to solve a real problem.

Now, since the key word in this debate is "game," I will only briefly touch on how WiiFit works. Also, a quick Internet search will likely return hundreds of reviews of the WiiFit, so why be repetitive? Put simply, a player stands on the Balance Board and has the choice of activities from four categories: strength training, aerobics, yoga, and balance games. Each grouping has "locked" activities that make themselves available once certain benchmarks in the opening activities are achieved. WiiFit also tracks an individual's progress through a graph that marks weight and body mass index. What it also records is a person's "WiiFit Age." This is determined after a quick test taken while standing on the Balance Board. Sometimes, it can be higher than the participant's actual age. In fact, there have been bad days when WiiFit has accused me of being more than a decade older than my actual age. However, the competitor in me has brought me back to the Balance Board again, and again, and again. Most recently, I had improved enough on the board to be told I was as good as a player five years my junior.

And that is precisely the reason WiiFit should be viewed as the feather in the cap for Wii as a game console. Once again focusing on "game" and not the features or the cost or the game's accessories and their costs, Wii stands head and shoulders above PS3. The gaming nature of its players will brings them back over and over again to beat a previous best in the balance games and earn a champion ranking. Or improve their form in strength training to be called a bodybuilder. Or maintain a solid enough center of balance to be called a yoga master. Or burn enough calories aerobically to earn the title calorie incinerator.

Wii vs. PS3. The debate will rage on. But going on games and accessories alone, Wii is the fitter of the two.

Super Mario – Since The Beginning

Alan Biron asked:


Mario is easily one of the most recognizable faces to come out of Nintendo, but did you know his original name was Jumpman? That's right, in 1981 Mario first appeared in Donkey Kong, but then, he went by the name of Jumpman, but Mario was used as his name in some promotional material.

This game surprised Nintendo by its extreme success. To test the popularity of Mario, Nintendo released an arcade game called Marion Bros., which included Mario and his brother Luigi. This game was an immense success for Nintendo. Because of the success of both Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., in 1983, when Nintendo release the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), they also release Super Mario Bros.

References to his original name appear in a couple of Mario games, such as in Paper Mario: the Thousand-Year Door, when an audience member refers to Mario as Jumpman before a battle, and in Mario Hoops 3-on-3, where his nickname is "The Jumpman."

Mario's look, even to this current day, can be blamed on the limitations that were placed on the programmers and artists back in the early 80s by their current technology.

The programmers couldn't animate Mario's arms when he moved without making them disappear, so they gave him overalls and a solid shirt color.

They also didn't have room for a face or ears, and couldn't animate his hair, so they gave him his mustache, sideburns, and a baseball cap. Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario's creator, has stated in interviews that Mario wears a baseball cap because he finds it difficult to draw hair.

Mario's surname or last name is also Mario, which explains the use of Mario Bros. as game titles, because Luigi is Mario's brother, so they have the same last name. was first used in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, and then again in 1993 in a movie called Super Mario Bros.. Nintendo as a whole has never officially confirmed it, but it was put up on Nintendo of Europe's official Mario Megasite.

Ever since Mario has been popular he has been the unofficial mascot of Nintendo. He has been extremely and possibly over-merchandised along with his one time rival Sonic the Hedgehog, who came to be Sega's mascot in the early 1990s.

They competed fiercely until 2001, when Sonic Adventure 2: Battle came out for a Nintendo console due to Sega's new third-party status. Even though Sonic and Mario were now on Nintendo consoles, they still competed with each other, though not as much as before.

It hasn't been until recently, that they've been seen working together in the newly released Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Wii. They will also appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl together as well.

Mario is a 5 foot tall, portly plumber from Brooklyn, New York who lives in Mushroom Kingdom. He is considered to be the most famous video game character in history, and his series of games has sold over 193 million copies.

Mario has not only appeared in plat formers, but in other genres as well. The other genres include reaching, with Mario Kart, sports games such as Mario Tennis, and RPGs such as Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars.

Although Mario's said occupation is being a plumber, he is almost never seen doing any actual plumbing. With the exceptions being in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and in the original Mario Bros.. Pipes have still remained a mode of transportation, however, although the reason as to why might not be clear. However, in the original Donkey Kong games, Mario, who was still called Jumpman, was actually a carpenter.

Mario has also appeared as a doctor in Dr. Mario. He has even been shown as an archaeologist in the Game Boy game, Mario's Picross.

Mario's favorite pastime seems to be saving Princess Peach, and Mushroom Kingdom. Other ways he spends his time is battling villains, namely Bowser. In the role-playing games, Mario is given a heroic status for saving the Mushroom Kingdom so many times. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, he and Luigi are called "superstars", which basically means huge celebrities.



Ever since his first appearance in a video game, Mario has been given the role of the hero, destined to save the damsel in distress. In the original Donkey Kong, he had to rescue his girlfriend, Pauline from Donkey Kong. Pauline obviously didn't stay in the series, as she was replaced by Princess Peach, who was originally referred to as "Princess Toadstool" or just "the Princess" in the English releases, in Super Mario Bros.

In 1993, with the release of Yoshi's Safari, Princess Peach was finally used in an English release of a Mario game, but it still wasn't used as widely until the release of Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64, three years later. Pauline has only been seen twice since the original Donkey Kong, once in the remake for the Game Boy, and once in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, in 2006.

She has since been described as Mario's friend, not girlfriend, as that appears to be Peach's position. Mario has received a kiss from her countless times, after each time he's rescued her, but the true status of their relationship has never been officially revealed, most likely to avoid the problems experienced with Pauline, but there is obviously affection shared between Mario and Peach.

Most of Mario's abilities come from the items that he collects and uses. In the platform games, there is the Super Mushroom, which makes Mario double in size. He is called "Super Mario", when he is in this state, and he also gets an extra hit point.

Other examples of items include the Fire Flower, which turns Mario into Fiery Mario, or just Fire Mario. This allows him to throw fireballs at his enemies. Another item is the star, which makes Mario completely invincible, and allows him to defeat all enemies with a single touch.

In other versions of Mario plat formers, there are other unique items, such as the Raccoon Leaf, and the Cape Feather. The Raccoon Leaf turns Mario into Raccoon Mario, and allows him to fly short distances by whipping his tail around in the air, sort of like Tails from the Sonic the Hedgehog games.

The Cape Feather obviously turns Mario into Cape Mario, which allows him to whip his cape at enemies to attack ,and also allows him to fly. In Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Mario can pick up the Power Carrot, which transforms Mario into Bunny Mario and makes his falling speed reduced.

Obviously, Mario is an extremely popular character, who has been in many games, and has even inspired indie games and online flash games, which get tons of hits and plays because they are free. With the increasing demand for new games, you can look for Mario to keep evolving and testing the waters in new genres as well. The future is still as bright for Mario as it was 20 years ago.



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Super Mario – a Short History

Andy L asked:


Super Mario is a classic game series created by Nintendo Entertainment System. It stars an Italian plumber called Mario and his brother Luigi. In most of the games, players are required to finish each level to be able to proceed to the other. In one of the games, the objective of it is to save Princess Peach from the hands of Bowser which is the ruler of the Koopas. The game could be played by two players as well as one.

Super Mario Bros could be considered one of the most successful games ever created as it has more than 40 million copies of it sold. This game may be the backbone of Nintendo’s success in the gaming world as it survived during the video game crash during the 1980s. Due to the overwhelming success of Super Mario, the Mario Brothers are officially Nintendo’s highest known mascot. Even its theme music is well known by a lot of people. It has been well used by a lot of video games as well.

There are additional items that would aid them with their quests. By collecting 100 coins, the life of the character would be increased by one. By collecting a certain mushroom, the characters will turn larger and these characters would be called Super Mario or Luigi. These characters are able to take two hits before losing one of their lives. There are numerous other "upgrades" available and should only require you to check them out by playing the games. Players would also be playing in different worlds where each world has its own sub-level as well. At the last world and at the last level, they would then fight the last boss and victory would mean the end of the game.

Super Mario also has a lot of versions released by Nintendo. Though the graphic gets slightly better by each of the new version coming out, the game play stays the same. The game might be the one that you play just to kill time. Other than that, it may not be so interesting.

However, there are also car racing games that are starred by characters available in the Mario games. You can find these racing games in arcades. The graphics of it are also much better. You can choose your driver and get upgrades and keep track of them in a card which is available for you to buy on the machine itself. It is very enjoyable to play it with your friends and family members or even just by yourself.

Super Mario games are available in a lot of platform such as the GameBoy Advance, Famicom Disk System, NES and many others. There are also flash game versions of Super Mario available for download. Checkout Mario Games Online for free online games to play.



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