Mine broke a few years back and I can't find one on ebay under $15, should I be willing to pay more, or just get an emulator and torrent it?
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Re: Super Mario Strikers
gamecube/wii emulation really needs a high-end pc so if your pc can handle the emulation id say try it out but i dont recommend it -
Re: Super Mario Strikers
what's "high end"?Comment
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Re: Super Mario Strikers
not a shitty pc that you got at walmart/best buy
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Re: Super Mario Strikers
does a stock HP laptop count as shitty
it runs steam games just fineComment
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Re: Super Mario Strikers
shit > HP
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Re: Super Mario Strikers
okay valor keep telling yourself thatComment
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Re: Super Mario Strikers
I'll sell you mine for $15Comment
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Re: Super Mario Strikers
i think the game you're looking for is asperger's syndrome: treatments and drugs - mayoclinic.com
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Re: Super Mario Strikers
my fav char is sonic and heres why
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Why I Love Sonic
An article that tells about why I still love Sonic The Hedgehog to this day.
Hi, everybody. sonic64 here again with another great article for everyone to check out. I recently did one of the Blue Bomber (Mega Man), so now I decided to do an article of the Blue Blur himself...
Sonic The Hedgehog AKA "The Blue Blur"
Sonic the Hedgehog is (to me) the greatest video-game hero of all time! Even since he made his grand debut in 1991, he was easily recognized by millions and was the number one rival of Nintendo's trademark hero, Mario. And ever since, I just couldn't help but love him and any game he appeared in. Let me tell you about the how he played an important role in my life over the years..
I was seven years old when I first played a Sonic game. In 1993, I was at the house of a friend of my mom's and their son let me play his Sega Genesis. The first game I tried on it was "Sonic The Hedgehog", and after playing it, I was hooked! It was really easy to play; Sonic had to reach the end of each stage while collecting rings and destroying robots that had small animals inside them. At the end of each third Act, Sonic fought his arch-enemy, Dr. Robotnik (called Dr. Eggman to this day). He also had to collect powerful gems called "Chaos Emeralds" before Robotnik did in order to beat most of the games properly. Every time I hear the Green Hill Zone level theme play, I immediately think back to when I first played this game...
"Sonic The Hedgehog" on the Sega Genesis - The first Sonic gave I've played in my entire life.
Shortly after, I saw a couple pages of the Sonic comic-book series by Archie Comics. When I first read it, it seemed good at first; there was even a TV show based on the comics as well. I then realized that there was already a TV show based on the games called "Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog" and I enjoyed this show more than I did the other one, even though both cartoons had Jaleel White (known for playing Steve Urkel from "Family Matters") as the voice of the Blue Blur, which I thought was cool, especially since I know who he is.
Jaleel White, the original voice of the Blue Blur.
In 1994, I played "Sonic Spinball" on a Sega Genesis that I got from a rental store. It was really simple to play because it was a pinball game with a bit of platforming involved.
"Sonic Spinball" on the Sega Genesis - The game that came with the Genesis I rented.
A few weeks later, I rented "Sonic The Hedgehog 3", and I really enjoyed it from the start, even though I did poorly at the bonus stages at first. It was the first game I played where you get to play as Sonic's best friend, Tails; it was also the game that had the debut of Knuckles the Echidna, who at first was an enemy of Sonic and Tails until we found out he was duped by Dr. Eggman (He was like that in "Sonic Triple Trouble" on the Game Gear as well, which came out before "Sonic & Knuckles").
"Sonic The Hedgehog 3" on the Sega Genesis - The game that Knuckles debuted.
I kept the Sega Genesis until it was taken back. Luckily, another friend of my mom's had a Sega Game Gear and he let me play it. One of the games he had with it was "Sonic The Hedgehog 2", and it was hard yet fun to play. I thought it was the same one on Sega Genesis, even though I've never really played it before.
"Sonic The Hedgehog 2" on the Sega Game Gear - Not to be mistaken for the Genesis game.
In 1996, after I moved to a new house, I stayed at one of my friend's house and I finally had a chance to play the Sega Genesis version of "Sonic The Hedgehog 2". I really enjoyed that more than I did the Game Gear version, and it was the first Sonic game that I knew how to collect the Chaos Emeralds in.
"Sonic The Hedgehog 2" on the Sega Genesis - The first Sonic gave I've beaten.
In 1998, after Christmas was over, I bought myself a Sega Genesis and a couple of Sonic games with it as well. One of the games I bought was "Sonic Classics", which contained the first two Sonic games on the Genesis and a puzzle game called "Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine", which was very fun and addictive; the other game I bought was "Sonic The Hedgehog 3". Shortly after, I rented another Sonic game called "Sonic 3-D Blast" and it is really fun to play (even though it wasn't really made by the people who made the other Sonic games). I kept my Sega Genesis until I got a Nintendo 64 in 2001 (Luckily for me, I was able to buy another one at a yard sale in the late summer of 2007).
"Sonic 3-D Blast " on the Sega Genesis and Sega Saturn - A Sonic game NOT developed by Sonic Team.
Ever since I got rid of my first Genesis, I hardly paid anymore attention to Sonic, even after seeing a new cartoon called "Sonic Underground", which had absolutely nothing to do with the games.
"Sonic Underground" - The only Sonic cartoon that was bad.
Before that time, in 1999, my cousin got a Sega Dreamcast for Christmas and it came with a demo disk that had the first level of a game called "Sonic Adventure". After trying it out, I thought Sonic was even cooler than he was before (or in this case, AS cool as he was before). In "Sonic Adventure", all the characters looked a lot cooler and there were plenty of new characters as well, including Big the Cat (whom I thought was cool because of the way he talked). It was also that game that I was introduced to Amy Rose, a cute pink hedgehog who's madly in love with Sonic ever since she debuted in the game "Sonic CD" (which I never played until later in my life). Around that time, Sega was almost out of business and the only way they could stay in business was to make games for other systems, including the Nintendo Gamecube.
Amy Rose and Big The Cat - Two Sonic characters I still like to this day.
One day, shortly after my birthday in 2002, I found and bought a pack of Sonic games for the PC. It contained: "Sonic & Knuckles Collection", "Sega Smash Pack 2", "Sonic CD", and "Sonic R". They were all very fun to play (except for the PC version of "Sonic CD", because it messed up the computer when you had to adjust the color setting when playing it). "Sonic & Knuckles Collection" contained three Sonic games on the Sega Genesis ("Sonic The Hedgehog 3", "Sonic & Knuckles", and "Sonic 3 & Knuckles"), "Sega Smash Pack 2" consisted of multiple games on the Sega Genesis to play ("Vectorman 2", "Sonic The Hedgehog 2", "Comix Zone", "Kid Chameleon", "Shining Force", "Super Hang-On", and "Flicky"), and "Sonic R" was a perfect port of the Sega Saturn game (I loved this game the most because of the music; of all my life, I've hardly ever played a game with actual singing heard).
For Christmas that year, I got a Nintendo Gamecube (I wanted one after "Sonic Mega Collection" was released, which was a collection of all the Sonic games on the Sega Genesis). I didn't get any games with it, so I rented some after I bought my first game for it. "Sonic Adventure 2 Battle" was one of the games I rented and I had a blast playing it. Not counting "Sonic Adventure 2" on the Sega Dreamcast, It had the debut of characters like Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat, and the series then became a bit more serious than it did before, which I thought was cool. In the summer of 2003, I had my money saved up and I got the game myself.
Shadow The Hedgehog and Rouge The Bat - Two really cool Sonic characters.
Shortly after that, there was a new TV show called "Sonic X" that came on, and I enjoyed every minute of it ever since I saw the first episode. The show may not have had the original voice actors from the games, but I thought the actors who played them in the show really good. The show itself was based on the games a lot better that the other shows before it, and that's why I liked it in the first place.
"Sonic X" - The best Sonic cartoon since "Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog" (to me, anyway).
I then bought "Sonic Advance 2" on the Game Boy Advance when I got my first paycheck from my first job around that time as well. It's a really great game, and it had the debut of Cream the Rabbit and her Chao, Cheese.
Cream and Cheese - Two cute Sonic characters to debut in "Sonic Advance 2".
After New Year's Day passed, I bought a copy of "Sonic Adventure DX" on the Nintendo Gamecube and it was mainly a so-so remake of "Sonic Adventure" on the Sega Dreamcast. One thing that made it special, however, were the Game Gear games you could unlock as you played through the game, which I missed out on over the years (except for "Sonic Drift" and "Tails' Sky Patrol", which were two Sonic games that were never released in the US back then). Afterwards, I kept on buying every other Sonic game for every system I own that came out, including "Sonic Heroes" and "Sonic Rush".
"Sonic Drift" and "Tails' Sky Patrol" - Two Sonic games on the Game Gear that never came out in the US.
In 2004 (a few months after I bought "Sonic Advance 3"), I learned that the guy who did the voice of Dr. Eggman (Deem Bristow) in the games passed away. And for that reason, every new Sonic game has the voice actors from "Sonic X" playing the same characters they played in the show. The first Sonic game to have this happening was "Shadow The Hedgehog" (PS2, Gamecube, Xbox), the game that has Shadow as the hero (and the only character you play as well). After playing it, I was really stoked when I learned that what I heard was true.
"Shadow The Hedgehog" on the Playstation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, and Xbox - A great game to play.
In 2007, Sega had released a game that had Sonic and Mario in it together. The game is "Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games", and it was released on the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. It was about the Mario characters (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, and Bowser) and the Sonic characters (Sonic The Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles The Echidna, Amy Rose, Dr. Eggman, Shadow The Hedgehog, Vector The Crocodile, and Blaze The Cat) competing each other in Olympic events based on those of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Depending on the system you play it on, it's worth getting. (BTW, in case you forgot, Mario and Sonic appear together again in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" on the Nintendo Wii.)
It's finally happened: Mario and Sonic appear in the same game together.
Even though every Sonic game is fun to play, not every game was perfect. In fact, there were only three Sonic games that weren't that fun to play because of sloppy controls and/or choppy graphics : the Game Gear version of "Sonic Spinball", the GBA remake of the first Sonic game (entitled "Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis"), and (of course) "Sonic The Hedgehog" on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The first two were ports that were best played on the original system they were on, and the third game was just a new kind of Sonic game that was released just in time for the 15th anniversary of Sega's beloved video-game hero; it had good graphics and sound, but lousy gameplay and slightly loose controls.
"Sonic Spinball" on the Sega Game Gear - One the worst games ever made.
Other than that, every other game Sonic and friends were in is really fun to play, no matter what anyone says about them. Sonic has always been a great video-game hero to me, and that's why I'll alway love him.
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Comments
KubaTheHedgehog Posted 1 year 24 days ago
In my opinion I think Sonic is the best Im such a big fan I wish I was Sonic and took the adventure like him I even try being like him in real life and I may not be Sonic but I sure do love that Blue Blur.
Trueblue94 Posted 4 years 1 month ago
Whoops, I spelled Knites name wrong. O_o Sorry.
Trueblue94 Posted 4 years 1 month ago
I love Sonic to this day as well! The Genesis games will always be #1 though As for characters, Tails is my favorite. Knuckles is pretty cool. My opinion of Amy is the same as Knights. I tolerate her, but Princess Sally is way cooler. I found Big's gameplay to be a bore, but he's an alright guy. Cream and Cheese are so cute! ^.^ The Chaotix crew rocks all, including the long-forgotten Mighty. Blaze and Tikal are my favorite females in the games, although I fee Blaze should be a Rush games-only character story-wise, and Tikal served her role in Sonic Adventure. Shadow's cool, but I think they're over-using him a bit... Rouge is cool too, but she's supposed to be 18 and right now she sounds 40. I couldn't care less about Omega; to me he's just another buddy for Shadow and Rouge to hang out with. I liked Gamma better. I don't care about the Babylon Rouges, either. I know most people hate Silver, but I personally think he's pretty cool! I think that if Sonic 2006 had spent a longer time in production and Sonic Team had given it their all, it wouldn't have been so bad. I enjoyed Sonic Unleashed, it had a very good story and great daytime levels. Even though I sort of liked the Werehog, it pissed me off that there were just too many of those levels!
Mezase Master Posted 4 years 4 months ago
Why do you pity people for not liking certain elements of a video game series? You feel sorry for them because their opinions are different from your own?
Also, horrible article. Thumbs way down.
starfox81 Posted 4 years 10 months ago
DLOVER YOU ARE A DOUCEBAG i put it in caps because i am angrey at him this article was awsome and shadow's game was awsome and sonic is way better then a bunch of retard dogs with a crap tastic movie, a crap tastic sequal and a crap tastic series they are crap
justinstrack Posted 5 years 18 days ago
I loved Sonic too back in the day, from watching SATAM, in the mornings on Saturday, and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog in the afternoon after school.
I purchased on Ebay all the episodes of Sonic, including Sonic the Hedgehog (26 episodes) Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (65 episodes) and Sonic Christmas Blast, and finally Sonic Underground (40 episodes) (65 episodes were made but only 40 were ever aired.)
I didn't much care for SonicX, no anime for me.
Enixspirit Posted 5 years 1 month ago
I LOVE SONIC, he inspired my to do track racing and become a artist thus creating my own orignal characters. i watched the shows, played the games and read the comics. when STH for 360 came out, after reading alot of rants, i think im one of the few who actually enjoyed the game and didnt have a problem with controls. if i did, it didnt even register to me, cuz i guess i was having fun. now with alot of poeple pointing the falts out i can see it now, but stuff like that wont stop me from loving or giving yup on sonic, like most are doing or did. Sonic is a ICON, like superman, batman, Etc and if they can be remade (movies/cartoons/games) several times then so can sonic.
tikirocks14 Posted 5 years 1 month ago
i love the blue blur....he's awesome....I completely agree with the fact the I was also excited when I found out that Jaleel White was the blue blur 4 awhile
HarryReems Posted 5 years 1 month ago
I pity the fool who likes Cream.
Al_Boucher Posted 5 years 1 month ago
Sinclair....I think thats a bit harsh. He was only voicing his opinion.
davidyck Posted 5 years 1 month ago
sonic was my first video game experience, so i love sonic still to this day. however, unlike you, i dont really like any sonic game that came out after sonic and knuckles for the sega genisis, as by that time i felt sonic was becoming too manga, which im not too fond of. however, great article! (better than mine at least)
angryellow Posted 5 years 1 month ago
All of the Genesis Sonics were great, but the piece de resistance (for me at least) will always be "Sonic & Knuckles". It was the final true Sonic game on the Genesis, and boy did it end the 16-bit run with a BANG!
Ninjaturtles1600 Posted 5 years 1 month ago
All of the old sonic games are still my favorites even though they are crazy hard to beat, since when you get a game over you start all over again. I like Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 a little bit, but most of the recent games kind of suck.
sinclairband Posted 5 years 1 month ago
remember the code the build ur own levels in sonic 2 i think was?
P.S i think dalmationlovers account should be deleted!!
Mad about drumming 87 Posted 5 years 1 month ago
Ah yes, I have been a huge fan of Sonic since I first saw him on television. I'm also a big fan of Mario, which means I never bought into the whole Sega vs Nintendo thing that went on during part of my childhood. I've played Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 2, and I think both are great 2D Sonic games. Sonic Rush is fantastic too. Aw man, now I want to go play all the old Sonic games on my Gamecube with the Sonic Mega Collection. This article was a fun read. Thumbs up.
HarryReems Posted 5 years 1 month ago
"Cream" the Rabbit? Gross. Good article!
Benjanime Posted 5 years 1 month ago
i definitely have to go with the others. the 2D sonic games are just fine. the first sonic adventure was alright, but everything just went downhill from there. this is an alright article
pop Posted 5 years 1 month ago
SONIC IS DEFINITELY THE MAN, GOOD ARTICLE
Siouxsie Posted 5 years 1 month ago
Great article ,man !
gunstarhero Posted 5 years 1 month ago
Sonic was my video game hero growing up and i still enjoy the sonic games old and new to this day. Thumbs up for the article and heres hoping a decent sonic game is released for the current consoles.
Kazenji Posted 5 years 1 month ago
The only good sonic games imo are the sega mega drive/genesis days, what we have now is crap.
dalmatianlover Posted 5 years 1 month ago
Calling me a douche? It's just my opinion. I suppose you don't call the people who bashed my articles douches? I really don't think my articles are the best on this site. I mean, I'm flattered that I have fans, but I'm not the kind of guy who would pat myself on the back all the time (unless that's how you view me). I've learned from my successes and my failures on here as far as writing articles go. Right now, I just noticed that I misread that thing on Sonic 3. Sorry about that, Sonic64. Still, you could have spell-checked this article before posting it.
Xe-A-Thoul Posted 5 years 1 month ago
Wait, wait, wait... you think he's a great video game hero because you can beat almost any Sonic game? That... that's kinda odd.
Nonetheless, the article itself wasn't bad... funny how when you write articles, you act different than when you post in the forums, when you're Captain Obvious almost 100 percent of the time... what the hell, I'll give it a Thumbs Up.
Bloodrose Posted 5 years 1 month ago
I've noticed you're a bit of a douchebag Dalmationlover. You're always so high on yourself. I've read a lot of the comments you've posted in other peoples' articles. You really do come off as though you think you're better than they are. I've read some of your articles on here as well. They're good, but far from the best on the site. Anyway, I enjoyed your article Sonic64. It was an enjoyable read. Its a shame that you didn't get to play the games in their true order though. I personally haven't cared for Sonic since Sonic & Knuckles was released.
taciturnwes Posted 5 years 1 month ago
I still to this day have my Genesis as well as Sonic 2, 3, and Sonic and Knuckles. Out of the 3 I played Sonic 2 the most, I literally drove my mom crazy with the music and sound effects for hours on a semi-daily basis. I personally think hands down it's the best video game ever. And pay no attention to dalmatianlover's over-critical hypocrisy, thumbs up.
Knites Posted 5 years 1 month ago
Damationlover's right (can't believe I just typed that) about that Tails/Knuckles typing error, and it wouldn't have hurt to type and/or paste your article into a word processor first before posting to check your spelling. But, don't take DL's capitalized hand gesture too hard. Ol' DL has written a few articles of questionable quality himself, despite what a Pro like him expects
As for me, I can tell you really put your heart into this one, Sonic64.
Now that the first of my two cents is out of the way, Let me just say, I loved Sonic. He was, and still is, way past cooler than 'ol plumber boy.
I played several of those pre-Shadow games. Later, I played and finished SONIC ADVENTURE 1 and 2 for the Dreamcast. I particularly enjoyed the introduction of Rouge the Bat. However, while I tollerate Amy Rose (I first encountered her in SONIC CD for the SEGA CD), I'm a princess Sally fan all the way. I'm glad Sally appeared in at least one Sonic game--a cameo in Sonic Spinball. Oh, and, sorry, I know you love it, but The Adventures of SONIC the Hedgehog blows goats as an animated series compared to SONIC SATAM, but, then, I did see the latter first which likely soured my taste for the former show in the first place. I'm only a fan of Looney Toons humor if it comes from a Looney Toons character.
In a different world, SONIC might have been number one instead of Mario, but I think Mario, unfortunately, has something Sonic does not. Mario appeals to the common man--a homely plumber trying to save the world, can you get more common than that?--and more people are able to relate to him, not to mention the fact we've been moving Mario around and playing with his hammer since the original DONKEY KONG--Heh. In fact, I'm surprised we haven't seen the hammer return to Mario's arsenal of attacks. Amy Rose must have stolen it. But, I digress. In the end, Sonic is just pure cool and, well, not everyone can relate to that.
Thanks for the read, Sonic64. You did alright--not great--but alright. Thumbs up.
kylewhite Posted 5 years 1 month ago
Wow dalmatian lover is a douche. We all know sonic two is the first game where you can play as tails, but for him the first one he played with tails was 3, and there is not anything wrong with that. Also so what if he likes crappy sonic games? You dont so dont complain. Any way good article thumbs up.
RetroRickster923 Posted 5 years 1 month ago
Sonic is awesome, your article too pictures and all.
dalmatianlover Posted 5 years 1 month ago
You apparantley have played the Sonic games way out of order. And wait, what's this you said about Sonic 3? "It was the first game I played where you get to play as Sonic's best friend, Tails." WRONG! Tails made his debut on Sonic 2! Come on, man! Everyone knows that! And you've never owned a Sega Genesis until 1998? That's sad, man. That system was long dead by then. I find it disturbing that you enjoyed a lot of Sonic games that were really bad. Not to mention this article is loaded with a lot of spelling and gramatical errors. THUMBS DOWN.
frostydude Posted 5 years 1 month ago
sonic rules
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Why I Love Mario
by Adam Kotsko
I was introduced to Mario at an early age, occasionally playing Donkey Kong on the Commodore 64, but the love affair only began after I received the original Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas. I was slow to catch on to the idea of video games, but once I clearly and distinctly grasped the correspondance between the buttons I pushed and the actions of that lovable brown and red dwarf on the screen, there was no turning back. A shameful portion of my life was spent in the basement playing Nintendo; entire summers passed by without my knowledge; I reached a symbolic turning point when I stayed home from the final meet of my "pay to play" track team and instead beat Mario 2, still the most compelling in the series, in my opinion. I admit that I was distracted by the false idols of Zelda II (notice the simple, straightforward style of the Mario series, always using the easily recognizable Arabic numerals instead of the pretensious and inefficient Roman equivalents) and Final Fantasy -- but Mario remained my true passion. I remember my excitement at receiving the issue of Nintendo Power that reviewed (or advertised) Mario 3, which was to be the crowning achievement of the 8-bit consoles. I remember devouring the official strategy guide, with its detailed maps of every stage, before even so much as playing the game. Then I remember the joy -- no, the ecstacy -- I experienced as early as stage 1-1 as Mario gained a racoon's tail and with it the power of flight. I hadn't been in a biology class yet, but I knew that racoons couldn't fly -- but it didn't matter, did it? The non sequitur added to the allure. By the time I had earned the teddy-bear-with-racoon-tail and the Hammer Brothers suits, I knew that I was not playing a simple game. I was playing a part of history, a flawless marriage of Japanese pop-culture nonsense and Italian stereotypes that was as certain as Milton's immortal Paradise Lost to be a permanent fixture in the great Western cultural tradition.
I had beaten Mario 3 all too soon and was longing for more when the Super Nintendo entered my life. Super Mario World, the Mario 1 of the next generation of Nintendo consoles, was considerably tamer than the two 8-bit sequels, refraining from the complete paradigm shift represented by Mario 2 and reigning in the creative excesses that sometimes threatened to throw Mario 3 into an abyss of complete incoherence. The introduction of Yoshi was ingenious, yes, but still Super Mario World could hardly stand up to the vigor, the urgency, of the 8-bit Mario sequels. I made the obligatory trips through the annoyingly cute Donut Plains and Choco Island; I completed the circuit of the mysterious and frustrating Star World; I passed through the back door of Bowser's castle to give him a thrashing he is not likely to soon forget -- but it had long since begun to seem automatic, almost obligatory. I was playing a Mario game not because of its innovative gameplay or gripping storyline, but simply out of my sense of duty to the Mario franchise.
Things quickly changed when I became hooked on Super Mario Kart -- I forgave Nintendo for misspelling "cart" when I realized the magnitude of their achievement in this game. In it, twenty courses are presented to the player, who must choose between eight subtly different characters in his quest for victory. The incomparable Mario brothers were options, but I was more compelled by the chance to root for the dark side, experimenting with Donkey Kong and even Bowser himself, but finally settling on Koopa Troopa. Oh, to find a woman who is as perfect a match as Koopa Troopa -- his acceleration, his top speed, and above all his handling all convinced me that I had in this loveable bird in a turtle shell as close to a soulmate as I would ever find. Koopa Troopa and I stuck together through good times and bad, through the joy of surfing along in Koopa Beach 1 and the agony of repeatedly banging into walls in Bowser's Castle 3, through the exhaltation of finally finishing first in Donut Plains 3 and the frustration of hurtling into the abyss on Rainbow Road. We mourned together when we ran out of continues; we celebrated together when we finally got to witness the ending, having thoroughly beaten every course and circuit.
After Super Mario Kart, I was distracted from the Mario franchise by women and literature, but my interest was rekindled in college when I received Super Mario All-Stars, a Super Nintendo compilation of all the original Mario games, together with a collection of new levels previously available only in Japan. Before approaching the new levels, however, I had to settle accounts. To my shame, I had never defeated Mario 1 in the original, and I will almost certainly never have an opportunity to do so due to the rapid deterioration of the original Nintendo consoles. The Super Mario All-Stars version was substantially the same, with some notable exceptions: the brown Mario was replaced by the now-familiar red and blue version, a save game feature was added, and most decisively, a bell rang in the "maze" stages to alert the player he had gone the wrong way. I had gotten to the nearly impossible 8-4 on the original version, but I had always gotten hopelessly lost in the maze. With the crutch of the warning bells, I was able to defeat it with relative ease, but I knew that it would have taken me years to accomplish the same feat without that added enhancement. I was able to complete the Lost Levels with some difficulty, but I felt that my achievement had been permanently tarnished. Even if by some miracle I found a working NES with Mario 1, I could never return to my pre-warning-bell innocence: my repeated trial and error had allowed me to memorize the correct path, keeping me from ever overcoming the obscenely difficult challenge the original geniuses behind Mario 1 had intended.
Though I never fully delved into the Mario games for the Nintendo 64, Mario has remained a fixture in my life. He has been a staple in my computer wallpaper gallery, he has inspired my most popular and consistently amusing away message for AOL Instant Messenger, and I still regularly play Super Mario Kart as a way of grounding myself, of reminding myself of the really important influences that have shaped me. Throughout the tumult of my adolescence, my two serious dating relationships, my conversion to Catholicism, my semester at Oxford, and my car accident, I have been able to endure and thrive because of the soil in which my life has been planted. Certainly other factors, the love and support of my immediate and extended family, the encouragement of gifted educators, the fellowship of good friends, have helped me to become the person I am today -- but where would I be had I never gotten the first mushroom that made me double in size? And so I offer this tribute to Mario and to the geniuses at Nintendo who created him, to thank him and them for helping me to grow my own racoon tail and fly into the adult world with confidence.
I am suing Microsoft
Why I am still Catholic
Enlightenment through Snack Food Consumption
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