Time Warp Review: Super Mario Bros.

With the latest technology, video games have come a long way since their early days. Statistics state that the average household has at least two video game systems. Sounds great doesn’t it? But did you know that what has become common place entertainment almost was on the verge of ruin? In 1983, console game sales hit an all-time low, threatening to put an end to the industry. The slump ended in 1985 with the release of Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System, a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. For those of us old enough to remember, in the previous game Mario was stuck in a sewer full of enemies. Super Mario Bros. took Mario and his brother Luigi out of the seemingly endless stages of Mario Bros. and placed them in the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist Bowser.

The game was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, both of whom belonged to Nintendo's former Creative Department at the time. Originally, the game was based around a shooting mechanic with very different controls, but a desire to focus on jumping and the mapping of the mechanic to the A button resulted in its being dropped. Mario’s ability to change size was based on the level design being centered on a smaller version of Mario. It was later decided to give him this ability as a power-up via picking up a red mushroom. Collecting green mushrooms granted Mario extra lives. This concept of using mushrooms came from folklore in which people wander into the forest and eat magical mushrooms, thus the world was given the name “Mushroom Kingdom”. Development was aimed at keeping things simple, in order to have a new game available for the end-of-year shopping season. Originally an idea for a shoot-'em-up stage in which Mario would jump onto a cloud and fire at enemies was to be included; however, this was dropped to maintain the game's focus on jumping action, but the sky-based bonus stages still remained.

When it was released in the holiday season of 1985 in North America, the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, was available as a both a single system and a bundle package that came with Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka’s creation. It was an instant hit in Japan and North America despite lackluster sales outside these two countries. Soon Mario’s mustached face was more recognizable than Mickey Mouse by children at that time. Since then, Super Mario Bros. has sold 40.24 million copies. This number excludes Game Boy Advance and Virtual Consoles sales. The game further popularized the side scrolling genre of video games and led to many sequels in the series that built upon the same basic premise. Super Mario Bros. has spawned many successors: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (named Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan), Super Mario Bros. 2 (released in Japan as Super Mario USA), Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World (which had the working title of Super Mario Bros. 4) for the Super NES, Super Mario 64 (for Nintendo 64), Super Mario Sunshine (for GameCube), New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS, and Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii. The brothers were recently rebooted with new powers along with age old favorites for New Super Mario Bros. and a sequel, both of which were released for the Nintendo 3DS.

In the late 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s, the brothers Mario have made a staple in pop culture. They had their own TV show, “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show”, which debuted in 1989. The brothers were portrayed by “Captain” Lou Albano and Danny Wells. A live-action movie was released in 1993 but bombed at the box-office despite the game’s huge popularity from the releases of Super Mario Bros. 3 in 1990 and Super Mario World in 1991. The faces of Mario and Luigi were seen everywhere from T-shirts to lunch boxes and even a breakfast cereal.

For over two decades, Super Mario Bros. was the best-selling video game of all time (before being outsold by Nintendo's own Wii Sports in 2009). It was largely responsible for the initial success of the Nintendo Entertainment System. As one of Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka's most influential early successes, it has inspired many clones, sequels, and spin-offs. The game's theme music by Koji Kondo is recognized worldwide, even by those who have not played the game, and has been considered a representation for video game music in general. A lot of today’s platform games can thank Super Mario Bros. for their inspiration, even games that feature platform elements such as Tomb Raider, God of War, and, most notably, Prince of Persia. Super Mario Bros. is still popular even 25 years after its release. It ranked first in Electronic Gaming Monthly's "greatest 200 games of their time" list and was named in IGN's top 100 games of all-time list twice (in 2005 and 2007). Game Informer ranked it second on their greatest games list behind the Legend of Zelda in 2009, saying that it "Remains a monument to brilliant design and fun game play".

So the next time you pick up a new game or play a current one, just remember, holding that controller in your hand was made possible by two Italian plumbers from Brooklyn.

Until then, see you on the next level, Brian Misher

Darksiders II review!

Developer(s): Vigil Games
Publisher(s): THQ
Platform(s): Playstation3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Windows, Cloud (OnLive)
Genre(s): Action, Hack and Slash
Release: August 14, 2012 (PS3, Xbox 360, Windows), Late 2012 (Wii U)
Rating: Mature

You have not seen the story of the Apocalypse or the Four Horsemen told like this before! Darksiders gave us a vision of the End of Days in a way we could only imagine. The sequel delves further into the game mythos. Darksiders II follows the story of the most feared of the Four Horsemen, Death. The sequel coincides with the storyline of first game but follows what occurred in War’s story. The Charred Council has detained War for bringing about the Apocalypse and wiping out humanity to which War proclaims his innocence. Death, knowing War to be the most noble amongst them, rides to clear his brother’s name and, in turn, restore humanity.

The Pale Rider starts off already on his horse Despair with Scythe in hand as he rides hard into battle. You are thrown to the wolves in this opening tutorial to get you familiarized with Death’s combat mechanics. Let me tell you, the way that Death fights he might as well be called the “Pale Ninja”. The Reaper is far more agile and swifter than his brother War. He comes equipped with two small Scythes that he uses to dispatch enemies with ease. War was more of heavy hitter, exhibiting power rather than speed. Death is a contrast with his speed and agility. However, what really sets him apart from War is how customizable he is. Where War had only a few items and weapons, Death can use a variety of secondary weapons, such as an axe or hammer to deal massive damage, and items, like armor to increase his defense. The enemies you battle drop these materials upon their defeat. Customization in Darksiders II takes a page from RPGs. Outfitting Death with different weapons and armor changes his stats, giving you the freedom to make him into the awesome Harvester of Souls he is known as. Some materials will actually change Death’s appearance.

The world of Darksiders II is far more expansive that in the previous title with bigger environments allowing players more exploration. Since Death has his noble steed Despair with him right from the gate, traversing this open plane is more appreciating than in the first game where this could not be full explored since War is reunited with his horse Ruin late in the game. Graphically, the sequel is just as impressive as its predecessor if not more so. Bigger environment means greater attention to detail and very little was spared here. There are more puzzles and dungeons to solve than before that allow Death to continue his journey so long as he solves them properly, think of an RPG crossed with God of War. The element of side-quests also exists which play on the expression “scratch my back and I scratch yours”. Some NPCs will give Death a special gift or upgrade only if he completes their task whether he likes it or not. Some of these gifts are useful and some are not but all-in-all, the job has to get done.

PRO: Darksiders II takes several pages from other titles. Let’s start with customizing. I’m immediately reminded of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night when I saw the customize screen and how different items change different stats. Even the layout closely resembles SotN. Death can also use items to change his stats. Their effect varies upon the item used and the same goes for Death’s weapons and armor. Like Alucard did with swords, Death uses a variety of Scythes each with their own attributes. As awesome a game as the first Darksiders was, War felt limited in this aspect. He should’ve had a much larger arsenal than what was given to him. Another problem that was corrected was dodging. Death moves like the wind when avoiding enemy attacks AND he can do it mid-strike even with a heavy item. Thank Dante or Kratos for this one. War was pretty quick on his feet too, but his heavy strikes left him open for counters. Another detail in the combat mechanics is the seamless transition between primary and secondary weapons while fighting. Starting a combo with either one and finishing it with the other will lead to variety of attacks including Death combining his two Scythes into one and sending it whirling about, punishing his enemies with multiple strikes.

CON: There aren’t too many complaints about Darksiders II except sometimes the background graphics tend to lag when focusing especially in the forest area. The controls are still a bit lacking when riding on horseback and do not feel as tight as they should be.

OVERALL: Darksiders II is a fast-paced hack and slash, beat ‘em up that falls well into the genre along with games such Ninja Gaiden, God of War and Asura’s Wrath. Death is an amazing character with crazy combat skills, a wicked cool Reaper Form and a mean looking ride. There is so much going on in this game between the puzzle solving and open world exploration that, rest assured, you won’t be bored to…well, you know.

Darksiders II gets 4 scythe slashes out of 5.

See you on the next level! BrianM.