justification
About seventeen or so years ago, kid world was charged with the kind of excitement that you usually only see in ads. Was it free Froster day at the corner Mac's? Nope. Free preview weekend of all the tv channels that we couldn't afford to get? Not that I can recall. It was only one of the greatest things to come along since humans evolved opposable thumbs. Hell, it might have been the reason why we evolved opposable thumbs in the first place. It was Super Mario Bros. 3, and instant legend had that it was the best game ever.
It was a different time back then. There were only two console makers, and one of them had such a large share of the market that the other barely existed. If a game left you stumped, you couldn't just go online and read the walkthrough--you relied on friends, tv shows, and magazines to help you get to the next level. You couldn't save a game whenever you felt like it, either: while a few games came with a save function, so few didn't that you never took saving for granted. You could secret save the game by turning the tv off and keeping the Nintendo on, but that was about as reliable as getting your dad to defeat Bowser for you. And the hype and marketing machines weren't as well-oiled or as complex as they are now. We also had to hold down the B-button to get to school through twenty miles of snow both ways, but that's a tale for another time.
Anyway, Mario 3. We were talking about Mario 3. And back then, that's all we did talk about--the game, like many games were back then, was kinda scarce around our neighbourhood. So we had no choice but to talk about it. Did you hear that it costs $106? That's how much Charlene's brother paid for it. But it's got really good graphics. And there's a thing that Mario gets that turns him into a raccoon. And you can store items, like in Zelda. Did you see the ad? Isn't that cool where the people turn into Mario's face? And so on. Eventually, though, the game pak managed to trickle into our neighbourhood. It had to. After all, everybody had the original game and the American sequel, so everybody was going to get the new game sometime and somehow. Especially if it was the best game ever.
As soon as I got the game, though, I discovered the instant legend to be true. It was the best game ever. Once I got past the wow factor of the graphics, many late nights were spent discovering new power-ups, new areas, new enemies. Like Kuribo's shoe. Or all the secret warp whistle locations. Or those microgoombas who clung to Mario until he could shake them off. Many days were spent at friends' apartments, playing the game cooperatively by yelling hints or sharing the controls. Hit that block! Hold down for fifteen seconds! Jump! Here, gimme that! And so on. While there was competition--after all, somebody had to be Luigi--we were primarily united in our desire to get to the end. Like I said, it was a different time back then.
Playing Super Mario Galaxy is a great way to warp back to that time of innocence and wow and discovery. I haven't gotten very far yet, but every minute that I have spent playing this game has been a minute spent awestruck at everything from the graphics to the controls to the constantly inventive gameplay. Collecting star bits by pointing your Wiimote at them? Walking over edges--and around to the other side of the planet? Watching Mario hurtle through space to the next planet? So. Much. Fun. My jaw is broken from dropping it so often. My mouth hurts from smiling during play. And I can't wait to play again and get to the next level--and beyond. And yet, I can wait to get to the end. I want to savour this experience. That's how good this game is.
Not only that, but it's justified my buying a Wii. I didn't know games could still do that.
It was a different time back then. There were only two console makers, and one of them had such a large share of the market that the other barely existed. If a game left you stumped, you couldn't just go online and read the walkthrough--you relied on friends, tv shows, and magazines to help you get to the next level. You couldn't save a game whenever you felt like it, either: while a few games came with a save function, so few didn't that you never took saving for granted. You could secret save the game by turning the tv off and keeping the Nintendo on, but that was about as reliable as getting your dad to defeat Bowser for you. And the hype and marketing machines weren't as well-oiled or as complex as they are now. We also had to hold down the B-button to get to school through twenty miles of snow both ways, but that's a tale for another time.
Anyway, Mario 3. We were talking about Mario 3. And back then, that's all we did talk about--the game, like many games were back then, was kinda scarce around our neighbourhood. So we had no choice but to talk about it. Did you hear that it costs $106? That's how much Charlene's brother paid for it. But it's got really good graphics. And there's a thing that Mario gets that turns him into a raccoon. And you can store items, like in Zelda. Did you see the ad? Isn't that cool where the people turn into Mario's face? And so on. Eventually, though, the game pak managed to trickle into our neighbourhood. It had to. After all, everybody had the original game and the American sequel, so everybody was going to get the new game sometime and somehow. Especially if it was the best game ever.
As soon as I got the game, though, I discovered the instant legend to be true. It was the best game ever. Once I got past the wow factor of the graphics, many late nights were spent discovering new power-ups, new areas, new enemies. Like Kuribo's shoe. Or all the secret warp whistle locations. Or those microgoombas who clung to Mario until he could shake them off. Many days were spent at friends' apartments, playing the game cooperatively by yelling hints or sharing the controls. Hit that block! Hold down for fifteen seconds! Jump! Here, gimme that! And so on. While there was competition--after all, somebody had to be Luigi--we were primarily united in our desire to get to the end. Like I said, it was a different time back then.
Playing Super Mario Galaxy is a great way to warp back to that time of innocence and wow and discovery. I haven't gotten very far yet, but every minute that I have spent playing this game has been a minute spent awestruck at everything from the graphics to the controls to the constantly inventive gameplay. Collecting star bits by pointing your Wiimote at them? Walking over edges--and around to the other side of the planet? Watching Mario hurtle through space to the next planet? So. Much. Fun. My jaw is broken from dropping it so often. My mouth hurts from smiling during play. And I can't wait to play again and get to the next level--and beyond. And yet, I can wait to get to the end. I want to savour this experience. That's how good this game is.
Not only that, but it's justified my buying a Wii. I didn't know games could still do that.