Mario Bros. Not Super!

When it comes to Mario games a lot of people will spew boring and beaten-to-death trivia about the franchise. There really isn't any "new" ancient history about the franchise left to be discovered, so with that in mind what could I possibly post that would be of any interest to anyone concerning a Mario game?

The controls!

Some could argue that controllers on modern systems have gone too far. Many games, especially first person shooters will often utilize all of the controls on say... a Dual Shock 3 controller for PS3. The game manuals are bloated with instructions surrounding the controls, and many games will have an in-game tutorial or a practice mode to get used to them. That's all fine and dandy, except like I've mentioned repeatedly on this blog: when it comes to videogames less is always more.

When you look at fine art there generally is only enough information to invoke an emotion or to promote a message. The artist does this on purpose because whether it's art, music, or even videogames the imagination fills in the blanks and the imagination will always be more vivid and detailed despite anyone's talent or what technology brings us.

So let's get back to the Mario Bros. controls. Of all of the Mario games including Donkey Kong, regular original Mario Bros. has the simplest of controls: left, right, jump. (Even Donkey Kong had up and down). Infact, when you consider a minimilist approach to game controls Mario Bros. is on par with Pong and Breakout. On a paddle controller like you'd find with pong you can only rotate left or right to move the paddle up and down (or left and right ala Breakout or Arkanoid). The buton mearly launches the ball.  Perhaps the next evolutionary step in controls in gaming would be that of Space Invaders, which again would be left, right, and shoot.

You could use a paddle controller with Mario Bros. (or even Space Invaders) and there is no reason for it not to work (in principle, not literally!). The controls are the same. Yet, Mario Bros. with it's origins in the arcade had the simplest of controls that did not hinder the depth of the game.  For example, the goal of Mario Bros. is to clear out sewer after sewer of four enemies: the turtle, the crab, the fly, and the ice monster.  You clear them out by flipping them upside down to immobilize them and then you kick them off the screen.  You can also utilize a POW block which flips all of the enemies at once.  You also need to avoid red, purple, and green fireballs that will chase you around if you take to long to clear a stage.  You also can collect coins.  The depth of play though really shines with the controls.  Both Mario and Luigi have a certain inertia to them as they walk.  They require a running start to get up to full speed, and letting go of the controls takes the brothers a few frames of animation before they stop.  This running start, and full stop inertia is what makes and breaks the game.  If you can't master either, then you'll probably die quickly because you'll keep misjudging your jumps and landings.  This is pretty in-depth for controls that only have a left, right, and jump!

Now imagine the same game, with the same controls, but with a paddle controller for precision.  Gently turn the wheel to the left or right to make Mario and Luigi tip-toe left and right.  Mash the wheel a hard left or right kinda like a woman driver (just kidding :-) ) and make Mario and Luigi haul ass!  It's the same controls, but with more precision!

NES Collecting: May 14th Progress

In addition to waiting for Mario Bros. which should arrive tomorrow, and Felix the Cat which is heading to my new P.O. box, I picked up a few more games this evening. First I decided to check out some Pawn Shops. I missed the turn to the one I wanted to go to so ended up wandering into another one a few blocks further down the road. They had a crap selection. 1 game. John Elway's Quarterback. They wanted $10.00.

I then went across the street to a thrift store where they had Jackal, Cobra Triangle, and R.C. Pro-Am. But... they also had an original Nintendo, in the box, in MINT condition, with power cord, RFU adaptor, Zapper, 1 controller, and 1 Nes MAX controller. So how much did these finds cost me? $30. Thats it.