I’ve never really been very good at computer games. I don’t have the patience or concentration span and will
often rage quit whilst throwing the controller down in anger, claim that all computer games are impossible or tell my opponent I’m letting them win so they don’t cry.
When I was little, my friend Arran who lived two doors down from me had a NES and I used to go round all the time to play Super Mario Bros. I was always Luigi as it was his console and from that point onwards, my character whenever I have a choice on Mario Kart or Mario Party will always be Luigi. I think that he must have had a hard time of it, always living in the shadow of his older, more popular brother with better facial hair. It gave me empathy for what my own brother must feel every time he is around me.
I was always a bit jealous as it wasn’t for another year or two that we were to get a NES ourselves. Anyone who has played any of the Mario games will likely know how enjoyable and addictive they are. They are set at a level where they are difficult enough to keep you having to learn a few new tricks but not too difficult that the end of the tunnel seems too far away. They are generally beautifully crafted games which don’t require too much intellectual investment which makes them perfect for gamers of any age to enjoy.
We got a NES and then a little later a SNES. When we were able to prise my mum away from playing Dr Mario, my favourite game was Super Mario Bros 3. I can’t remember much about the second game but from playing it for 30 seconds now, it seems to be not as good or intuitive and have gone off on a different path, replacing coins with the more Pacman like cherries. The third game is more true to the original whilst adding enough new elements to it to make it unique and interesting.
However, I didn’t have the patience or time to complete the game which – at the time – didn’t annoy me. It wasn’t until my OCD of not finishing things that I’d started kicked in that the fact that I’d not completed one of my favourite games from my childhood became a bugbear of mine.
Around 8 years ago, I borrowed my housemate Tommy’s NES to attempt to complete the game. I got some distance through but got stuck on a tricky level. The original NES version of the game does not allow you to save your progress and so I ended up leaving Tommy’s NES on for two days straight so I could attempt to finish it when I got home from work.
The SNES version we had on Super Mario All-Stars did have a save function which made me feel embarrassed that I hadn’t completed it at the time. What made me even more embarrassed a while ago was watching this guy beat the game in 11 minutes flat on the YouTube. I was reassured by all of the comments from people complaining that they never managed to complete the game. I have just read more of them and discovered that the video is a tool-assisted speedrun. I don’t entirely understand what that is but I’m going to take it to mean that the dude cheated.
I decided that I was going to finally kill off the feeling of annoyance in style by playing the game on an emulator on my 38 inch TV. I found on eBay for a tenner a Retrolink NES USB Controller (pictured here) that I could plug straight into my PC and play it as if it was the original game.
I plugged it in excitedly and fired the game up. It didn’t disappoint. Some games that you loved, when you play them now, have aged dramatically and feel clunky and sometimes unplayable. Not Mario. The games are almost timeless and I can imagine that even in another few generations of game consoles time, they will still be played due to their simplicity and brilliant design.
I managed initially to go at the rate of one world every half an hour which is good, because that’s generally how long my concentration span could last before my mind would start to wander and I’d go off and do something else. I was a little shocked when I came to the first mushroom house and Toad tells me that he will give me something that will help me on my quest which appears to be a marijuana leaf (it is a racoon leaf however in the mushroom house it’s green but when you get it in a level, it is red). Musrooms, pot… I wouldn’t let my kids play this.
Every time you get to the castle at the end of the level, you meet a Toad who tells you that the king of that world has been transformed and that you have to go find the wand to transform him back. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I was a king and has seen the kings of maybe 2 or 3 other worlds fall foul of one of these spells I’d up my security slightly because one Toad clearly isn’t enough against a determined Koopa.
The game becomes more difficult around world 4 or 5. The levels become trickier with more dexterity required and larger number of baddies who have better ways of attacking you. However once you learn the way they move, attack or how to make Mario move in certain ways, then the game becomes easier and in fact, I found the end of the game slightly anti-climatic as I managed to mop up the last few levels relatively easily.
You do get a HILARIOUS joke from the game designers who try to persuade you that the game is not yet over and then a funky piece of music with a video recapping each of the worlds which I enjoyed doing a celebration dance to.
I am very glad I have completed this so that another niggling thing at the back of my mind will disappear.