The New Super Mario Brothers game is out, and it’s wonderful beyond description. This is a game that makes me revel in the fact that I am a gamer. I’ve been smiling like an idiot the entire day playing it, and I can’t wait to get back to playing it some more. It’s one of those rare games everyone can enjoy. If you want to run through it and beat it for speed, you can. If you want to collect all the coins on each stage to unlock extra levels and secrets, you can. It’s got lots of stuff to see and do, and the new powerups add new twists to the gameplay that make this not only a standout game, but a standout Super Mario platform game. The bar has been raised on everything from the franchise from now on.
One of the memories I had about grow up was when a new game was released, and how quickly the codes and information pertinent to the games disseminated through an elementary school. Students with video game consoles would bring in magazines that were part "Tip book" and part advertising. In it, people would painstakingly map out parts of the game. We cared not for discovery or surprises. We would spend hours at recess memorizing paths, the locations of various powerups, and memorizing cheat codes. The Contra code was our proxy secret handshake. Nevermind that most of the time we never had the skills to actually complete the game.
Hell, I didn’t even have a game console!
The whole point was that someone would find out some sort of trick or cheat, and everyone would know about it. The warp pipe on 1-2 of Super Mario Brothers? Yeah, everyone knew about that, but what about the secret glitch "Minus world"? Yeah, it exists, but do I believe any of my friends saw it? No way. The lies people would make up about games was also astounding. The more modern equivalent would be any Gamefaqs board where people lie about their accomplishments, secrets, or anything relating video games ever. Don’t got to these sorts of places to find out of New Super Mario Brothers is worth playing, or what to expect before you open the box.
I’m not going to spoil New Super Mario Brothers for anyone. Go out, BUY this wonderful game. Thank me when you’re done. Some games are better experienced than simply being told about.
