I Love Videogames: That's a lot of Mario

Earlier this week I ended up on the Mario wiki. I don't remember exactly what I was looking for, but due to link wandering and curiosity, I lost about three hours to the site, and 28 bucks when I noticed how cheap Amazon was selling a couple of Wii games, and it really donned on me just how big the Mario franchise is. The first games I ever played were Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3, and the first one I bought (used, with trade in credit) was Super Mario 2.  I've always been aware of Mario, and when I was younger, each game that came out that I couldn't afford or didn't own the console for hurt a little bit.  But later I learned that Super Mario Bros. wasn't even technically the first Mario game, I'd miss Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong simply due to ignorance.  I've been on a bit of a Mario binge lately, playing Mario Galaxy and Mario RPG, with Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros Wii U and now its DLC Luigi U, Super Mario Sticker Star, and Super Mario 3d world all sitting on my stack to play next.  Which got me wondering... just how many Mario games are there?

I've compiled a list below, divided into catagories of my own devising.  This isn't comprehensive, I've left out Japan Only releases, as well as games that were released on the GB and NES or NES and SNES or 3DS and Wii at the same time.  I've also more than likely missed a couple of games, due to the sheer number of games we're dealing with here.  I've put the games I've played in italics, so you know how informed my opinions in each category are.

Early Games 5
Donkey Kong (Arcade)
Donkey Kong Jr. (Arcade)
Mario Bros. (Arcade)
Wrecking Crew (Arcade)
Mario Clash (VB)
 2/5
I've defined Mario's early games mostly as those predating Super Mario Bros.  This is somewhat self-centric, as that's the first one I played, but it feels accurate since he was called "Jumpman" in the original, and there was no real unifying theme between them.  Mario Clash is an enhanced remake or Mario Bros. for the Virtual Boy (remember that thing?)  so I lumped it in here.  While these games are aracdy and fun, they're pretty basic by most standards, luckily most of them are available for Virtual Console if you want to check them out.

Sidescrollers 14
Super Mario Bros. (NES)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels (NES)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
Super Mario Land (GB)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Super Mario Land 2 6 Golden Coins (GB)
Wario Land Super Mario Land 3 (GB)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
New Super Mario Brothers (DS)
Super Paper Mario (Wii)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) 
New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)
New Super Mario Bros. WiiU (WiiU)
7/14

Of the 14 games I put in the Sidescroller category, I've played half of them.  This is the meat of the Mario franchise, both it's greatest strength and greatest weakness.  On the one hand, they're a ton of fun.  On the other, New Super Mario Bros. WiiU is pretty similar to Super Mario Bros.  The graphics are way better, four player is fun, and there are some new powerups but you still run and jump and try to reach the end of the course.  I having finished New Super Mario Bros. WiiU yet, but I plan to fairly soon, and having never played any of the Super Mario Land games makes me think perhaps we should have a Mobile Month here on LTOVG soon.  I'll see what the other guys think.

Cameos 11
Pinball (NES)
F-1 Race (NES)
Tennis (NES)
Baseball (NES)
Golf (NES)
Punchout (NES)
Tetris (NES)
Alleyway (NES)
Qix (GBA)
NBA Street V3 (GCN)
SSX On Tour (GCN)
0/11

On our most recent episode, we talked about how marketable Mario has been for Nintendo.  They frequently used him to add to the "feel" of Nintendo games, as a simple mascot in many of their sports games, often acting as referee or umpire.  EA actually stuck Mario Peach and Luigi in a few of their Game Cube sports games as well.  Part of me still wishes that every game on a Nintendo system had Mario somewhere, though that just wouldn't be practical these days.

Puzzle 11
Dr. Mario (NES)
Yoshi (NES)
Yoshi's Cookie (SNES)
Mario's Picross (GB)
Mario's Super Picross (SNES)
Dr. Mario 64 (N64)
Mario Vs. Donkey Kong (GBA)
Mario Vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (DS) 
Dr. Mario Express (DS)
Dr Mario Online RX (Wii) 
Mario Vs. Donkey Kong Mini land Mayhem (DS)
2/11

In a similar fashion, puzzle games were pretty easy to make, but hard to market.  Slapping Mario's name and iconography on them was an easy way to get people to buy them.  Dr. Mario is still pretty good, but Yoshi is incredibly easy and bland.  I've never played the Mario Vs. Donkey Kong games, which are far more complex then standard puzzle games, but I've always wanted to give them a try.

Educational 8
Mario Teaches Typing (PC)
Mario is Missing (PC) 
Mario's Time Machine (PC)
Mario's Early Years: Fun With: Letters (PC)
Mario's Early Years: Fun With: Numbers (PC)
Mario's Early Years: Preschool Fun (PC)
Mario's Game Gallery (PC)
Mario Teaches Typing 2 (PC)
1/8

Mario was such a big deal, his likeness was even used for educational games, most of which were considered terrible.  I put there here for two reasons, 1 completeness, but 2, I played Mario Is Missing on the NES.  I never got far enough to realize how terrible it was, and didn't own it, I feel like I must have rented it, but I can't really remember.  Anyway, again I wish Mario was big enough to be in more things like this, even if they sucked, just to spread the brand.
 

Sports 20
NES Open Tornument Golf (Mario Golf in Japan) (NES)
Mario Tennis (VB)
Mario Golf (N64)
Mario Golf (GBC)
Mario Tennis (N64)
Mario Tennis (GBC)
Mario Golf Toadstool Tour (GCN)
Mario Power Tennis (GCN)
Mario Golf: Advance Tour (GBA)
Mario Superstar Baseball (GCN)
Super Mario Strikers (GCN)
Mario Tennis Power Tour (GBA)
Mario Hoops 3 on 3 (DS)
Super Mario Strikers Charged (Wii)
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)
Mario Super Sluggers (Wii)
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winger Games (Wii)
Mario Sports Mix (Wii)
Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii)
Mario Tennis Open (3DS)
3/20

Some might say an obvious follow up to Mario's  many cameos in in early NES sports games was to simply feature him as a character in them.  Mario had a couple of scattered sports games early on, but it wasn't until the N64 and Nintendo's partnership with Camelot Software that things really took off.  I loved Mario Tennis when it came out, and Hoops 3 on 3 was one of my favorite DS games, so going through the list of Mario Sports games, I was surprised how few of them I've really played.  I really want to give Mario Sports Mix a try, as it was made by the same team as Hoops 3 on 3 and includes a dodgeball game, and one of the new Tennis games would probably be as fun as the old ones, but I've just never plunked down the cash.  Perhaps it's due to my friends mostly preferring Fighters or First Person Shooters on the rare occasions we do hang out these days. 

Racing 9
Super Mario Kart (SNES)
Mario Kart 64 (N64)
Mario Kart Super Circuit (GBA)
Mario Kart Double Dash (GCN)
Mario Kart DS (DS)
Mario Kart Arcade GP (Arcade)
Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 (Arcade)
Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
Mario Kart 7 (3DS)
5/9

The Mario Kart series is odd, in that it's clearly its own seperate series, with completely different  from any other Mario game, and yet the theme feels so close, and they're just so good, they're practically their own sub-genre of racing games.  It's amazing to me that they're already on Mario Kart 7 with 8 set for release soon, especially when that doesn't count the arcade versions, both of which I've had to pleasure of playing, and recommend if you can find one nearby.

3d Platformers 5
Mario 64 (N64)
Super Mario Sunshine (GCN)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
Super Mario 3d Land (3DS)
3/5
 
The 3d Platformers have been the "big" Mario game releases for the past 14 years or so, so it's interesting that there are only 5.  Mario 64 is one of my favorite games, Sunshine one of my least favorite, certainly my least favorite in the Mario franchise, and Galaxy had some really cool controls and concepts but ended up sort of meh.  Both Galaxy 2 and 3d land are at the top of my "to play" list right now, so I'm glad I can at least finish all of these before 3d world comes out.

RPGs 7
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
Paper Mario (N64)
Mario and Luigi: Super Star Saga (GBA)
Paper Mario The thousand Year Door (GCN)
Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time (DS)
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS)
Paper Mario Sticker Star (3DS)
2/7

Paper Mario was a novel concept that I couldn't help but love when it was released, and as a big fan of Pokemon, but some one who didn't own a Super Nintendo, turn based combat was novel and interesting.  I've heard that great things have been done with the franchise since, but I've never played any of the Mario and Luigi games, and I've only barely touched Sticker star.  Still, that and Thousand Year Door are on my "to play" pile, and I'm very interested in finding a cheap copy of Super Star Saga.

Party 12
Mario Party (N64)
Mario Party 2 (N64)
Mario Party 3 (N64)
Mario Party 4 (GCN)
Mario Party 5 (GCN)
Mario Party 6 (GCN)
Mario Party 7 (GCN)
Mario Party Advance (GBA)
Mario Party 8 (Wii)
Mario Party DS (DS)
Fortune Street (Wii)
Mario Party 9 (Wii)
5/12

Man there have been a lot of Mario Party games.  I remember renting the first one and loving the concept.  I remember renting the second one and feeling they'd improved greatly, even if I missed some of the old maps.  I remember loving the third one, thinking they'd added plenty of new features and hit the top.  I remember buying the 4th and kind of hating it, it felt samey, and yet not as good as the third.  I stopped following the series after that, but have played Mario Party 8 and am curious about what could be done with the WiiU.  Fortune Street just arrived at my house today, it was only 11 bucks on amazon and I figured that made it worth trying, we'll see how I think it compares.

Other 6
Super Scope 6 (SNES)
Mario Paint (SNES)
Yoshi's Safari (SNES)
Hotel Mario (CD-i)
Mario Pinball Land (GBA)
Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix (GCN)
0/6

Included for completeness, here are the Mario games that didn't fit anywhere else.  I havn't actually played any of them, so I don't have much comentary.

Spin Offs
Yoshi Story (N64)
Luigi's Mansion (GCN)
Yoshi Touch and Go (DS)
Yoshi Topsey Turvey (GBA)
Super Princess Peach (DS)
Yoshi's Island DS (DS)
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
 1/6
Again, for completeness, these aren't really Mario games, but clearly spun out of them, so I included them.  Yoshi Story is the only one I played and it's a lot of fun.  I hear great things about the new Luigi's Mansion as well, so it's probably worth a look.

Now it's time for metrics.  By this count, Mario has been in 114 games.  As I said, the count is not complete, as I left off stuff like Mario 64 DS and some Japan only releases.  Of those I've played 31, or about 27%  If we remove the Spin Offs, Cameos and Educational games, the number drops to 89, of which I've played 29, or about 33% or a third of the games.  That means I have a ton to go, and in particular, I really want to track down some of the RPGs and Sports Titles from a few years back.  If we really drill down and only take the "core" games, that is the 2d sidescrollers and 3d platformers, the plumber has been in 19 games, of which I've played 10, which means I've played a little over half of them.  While it's a little depressing that I've left so many of my favorite characters games on the shelf, I'm really excited to try and make that number go up, especially with so many of the games available via things like Virtual Console.

Episode 19: Mario for the Money [Super Mario RPG]

Crazy antics ensue when you press the right button to really whack that guy with a hammer.  This week, we tackle the RPG classic that spawned a whole mess of odd titles featuring the mustachioed plumber.  It's Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.  Yes, that subtitle is super necessary.



Press A to right before downloading for extra damage!

(02:30) Potato burgers!  They're magically potato.  Also, the current state of lab grown meat.

(05:00) Man of Steel, a movie with Superman!

(08:50) Not corrupt leaders!  Charlemagne was awesome.  I may have talked up Sukarno a bit, but he wasn't terrible.

(14:30) Pandora's Tower for the Wii!  Looks pretty decent.  Couldn't find the review I originally read for it, though. 

(15:00) JRPGs and turn-based combat.  Characterization is cool!  We get a bit distracted on other games here.

(23:00) Back to turn-based combat.  Star Ocean is pretty cool.  If you've never played FFX, it's pretty decent.  For the combat system thing, check out the right side of this image I found on Shamus Young's site. Another pretty decent TBC system, Wild Arms!

(28:20) Kind of a tangent, but here's a good description of how it feels to be shot.  On a lighter note, levels of abstraction in games!  Dwarf Fortress!

(31:30) We actually get to the game.  It's Mariorriffic.  Geno and Mallow are... not super setting appropriate.  Geno for Smash, btw.  The timed hits make the combat more engaging than Final Fantasy and the endless battles.

(38:00) The visual style is mostly this the entire game.  Neutrality!

(40:00) The weird design choices Square made with the setting.

(44:00) Better engagement through environmental interaction?  Golden Sun!

(47:20) Do you make up stories for plotless games?  Let us know!

(52:30) SLAP!

Next time on Last Time, it's Bases Loaded.  Batter up!


Catch a slow ball at

Geremy@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Tyler@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Zach@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 or LTOVG@lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 You can also go to the show page at plus.google.com/+LastTimeOnVideogames or comment on the site at www.lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 Also, you can follow our tweets @LTOVG.

Last Rant on Videogames: You are The Dedz

As always, I'm a little late to the party. I was an early installer of the now fairly well publicized DayZ mod for Arma II.  However, due to my computer being barely able to run the thing, I mostly let it sit for a while.  However, I actually played it after a while.  This mostly involved me waiting for my character to turn while each leaf on each tree was lovingly rendered in the light breeze.  As has generally been the problem with anything more processor intense than Terraria, my computer can only barely run any given game at its lowest settings.

This article's not really about DayZ, though.

The moral of this story is that even though I could only just manage to walk around, my first few experiences with the game were quite fun.  The first time I lived quite a while.  I wandered around the wilderness, avoided zombies, and saw another player get totally destroyed.  Sadly, that incarnation ate it when I decided I was probably far enough away from the remnants of a town to start sprinting.  Those zombies have unfortunately good eyesight.

My second time through, I managed to find some food, in addition to the bandages and painkillers you spawn into most servers with.  I had managed to go half an hour without even being attacked, which is remarkable as I was walking normally most of the time.

Sprinting in this game, by the way, makes you incredibly obvious to lurking undead, so you had best get used to a leisurely pace.  It's quite nice, actually.  The game is generally so tense when you're doing anything meaningful that just walking between locations or exploring the vast island is pleasant.  If you have the computing power for it, it's also gorgeous.

Anyway, I ended up walking past what I thought was a corpse but was instead a zombie in repose.  He chased me along the shoreline for a some time.  I was mostly busy listening to the crashing of the waves while sprinting away from my predators, but he was apparently busy gathering a posse.  By the time I bothered to look around again, about 5 minutes into my attempted escape, there were seven of the things behind me.

Ahead, though, was salvation!  A lighthouse!  I had no idea at this point whether they could follow me in, but I decided it was better than being eaten alive.  I managed to maneuver by laggy avatar into the structure and found that the door was simply a texture rather than an interactive object.  This is, sadly, a rather common problem in this game.  However, there existed a ladder, which I dashed up as fast as I could.

Once there, the zombies just gathered at the base of the lighthouse.  I hunkered down, munching on one of the cans of beans I had salvaged from a conspicuously empty town.  Eventually, some of them got bored and wandered off.  One of them just stood in the same spot the entire time.  The one that first chased me, however, would not give up, and decided to take a nap.  Upon returning to his prone position, his remaining cohort followed suit.  I tried to sneak off of the lighthouse, but was gunshy.  I woke them up the first time and had to wait for them to slumber once more.

This continued for a bit, and eventually I was ready to make a break for it.  However, I failed a bit at interacting with the ladder and just fell down it instead.  Humans apparently have bones made of sugar cubes in this world, and both tibias shattered on impact.  Bleeding, crippled, and running low on supplies, I bade farewell to the cruel island and clicked "Respawn."

My third adventure went much better but ended similarly.  Damnable weak legs.  At least that time I managed to find both a gun and some ammo.  Also a truck.  Another player tried to steal said vehicle while running from a horde of zombies, but ended up failing and stumbling past me.  He didn't last long.

While these were certainly enjoyable experiences, they couldn't have taken place over the course of the same life.  Each one was unique from the perspective of my character, and each one was unique to me.  Certainly I went into each subsequent one with more experience, a better plan, and more knowledge of the terrain.  However, knowledge that my death was permanent made each attempted life more important.

I'm some sort of masochist when it comes to games.  In large world games, with a focus on exploration and survival, I'm a huge fan of permanent death.  I play Minecraft on Hardcore when I'm not online.  DayZ enforces permanent character death, and feels much more coherent for it.

I'm certainly not qualified to talk at length about the psychology and ideology surrounding death.  It's a vast subject.  However, in games, permanent death tends to make people play more cautiously.  Resources are limited and each dangerous action is a calculated risk.

How close should you stand to the lava?  Can I sneak through that many zombies for a can of beans?  Do I have time to take the shot before that guy sees me?

Normally, these questions are brushed aside.  Lack of permanence means that death is only a minor inconvenience.  I like the way games feel when players take risks seriously, though.  Maybe I just like overthinking things, but it lends a different flavor to any game within which it is present.

While I wish there was more of it, I don't think popular demand exists.  Some people seem to love the brutality of DayZ, but most people prefer to go on shooting sprees in CoD every 30 seconds.

It's interesting to imagine how the scope of games would change if virtual lives are ephemeral.

Episode 18: Finishing Faster than the Obligatory Falcon Punch Joke [F-Zero]

Faster than a Golden Fox!  More slippery than a Fire Stingray!  Diving farther than a Blue Falcon!  More inane than chasing a Wild Goose!

This week we race on into F-Zero, the futuristic game of driving hover cars around acid trip environments.  Does it cross the finish line?



Falcon pick up this download!

(04:20) What we've been up to.  Zach hasn't played a real game on the 360 for a week!  Burnout 3!
  Also, a better game than Yoshi, Yoshi's Island!

(13:30) Kenichi!  It's... cheesecake, really.  I don't know why I'm still watching it.

(14:15) E3!  New Smash, among other things.  In response to the XBox One fiasco, they've apparently done away with some of their restrictions. 

(17:30) We get sidetracked on Elder Scrolls for a bit.

(22:40) F-Zero!  Finally!  Pretty!(?)  The concept's not bad, but it's a bit bare.

(34:30) Goroh!


Next time on Last Time, it's Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars!  It's on the Wii and Wii U.  Pick it up!


We're not Smiths, but we know some!  Find out at

Geremy@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Tyler@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Zach@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 or LTOVG@lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 You can also go to the show page at plus.google.com/+LastTimeOnVideogames or comment on the site at www.lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 Also, you can follow our tweets @LTOVG.

Last Rant on Videogames: The Selling Point

With all the E3 commotion dying down, at least for a moment, I've been thinking a bit about what it is that makes a person actually want to buy a game machine at a fairly heavy cost.  Barring the Wii, which I bought only slightly before the Wii U was announced, I haven't really owned a modern console for a long time.  Thinking on it, the last time I had one that was really part of the current generation was probably during the GameCube's run, or possibly the PS2.

Ideally, I would want all the major consoles during any generation.  I seem to be a bit of an aberration in that I like almost all games.  I have a preference for particular genres, but most everything amuses me, setting the bar pretty low, or at least fairly wide, for games that I want to play.  While I fully understand the reasoning behind exclusive titles, ever since the PSX I've felt like I've missed out on some sort of cultural phenomenon every time there's a decent game on a console I don't own.  Unfortunately, prohibitive costs prevent me from owning three $300-$500 machines for the express purpose of playing games.

When it comes down to it, I'm cheap.  I have an inordinately hard time spending money on myself, which makes it hard to justify spending so much money on a machine I won't use all the time.  Because i have no particular need to own any current generation consoles but still want to play games that I haven't yet conquered, I do a lot of PC gaming.  At some level, spending over $1000 on a computer seems much more reasonable to me.

Now, you may be wondering why I wouldn't just cough up $400 for a console rather than $1600 on the gaming computer whose parts I'm scavenging from NewEgg.  While monetarily it may seem the wiser move, I'm under the impression that I, and most other people, use their computers quite a bit.  Having a machine that can run multiple programs and be useful in both my productive and leisure endeavors is incredibly useful.  I may be able to play some awesome games on the XBox, but I can't write an essay on it, nor can I do my programming from it.

Really, having a computer powerful enough to run a cadre of decent games is a convenient side effect of having a machine that can easily handle my daily computing needs.  Since I've started buying my own consoles, I've had a hard time seeing why I should get a new console when I can run almost everything published up that that point on my computer hooked up to my TV via HDMI.  Steam certainly doesn't make the decision to by a new console any easier.  Given that a large number of the games I would want to play are usually ported to or from PC, I can snag them over Steam, and usually at a cheaper price than for a console due to their rotating sales.

I'm not necessarily advocating that everyone switch to PC gaming.  Buying a machine that can easily crunch current games at their highest settings is rather expensive, and will need to be replaced within 6 years.  If anything, that gap is getting shorter. 

However, there just haven't been enough new games on any console to really keep my interest.  It doesn't help that I also enjoy tight 2D platformers over many other genres, and developers for modern consoles don't think anyone is willing to buy them any longer.  I continue to buy Nintendo consoles only because I love Zelda and there's usually a handful of other games I'm willing to get on the system over its life cycle.

Handhelds, though.  I'm all over that.  Except the Vita.  Poor thing doesn't get any love.