Topic: Super Mario Bros Tutorial
To get us off the rather serious, or rather, semi-serious topic of last week, I felt it was wise to move on to something completely different. With a lot of people stuck inside as of late, I felt that we should consider video games as an avenue of discussion. Since a great majority of Nerds love video games, we'll start off simple, and with the most recognizable character in Video Games. So we're discussing and starting our topic on Super Mario Bros. and it's surprisingly lengthy history.
History of Nintendo
Nintendo Consoles
History of Mario
Characters of Mario
Ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, main Love Interest, usually being held captive, but usually very resourceful, and can float/fly
Younger brother to Mario, often portrayed as a coward and scared, is lighter and has more floatier jumps
Main Antagonist, a giant Bull/Turtle leader of the Koopa Race(Evil turtles) wants to marry Princess Peach
Bowser’s Canonical Son
Initially Boswer’s children, but later recon to be Bowser’s minions
A loyal Subject of Princess Peach and recurring assistant/character to Mario and Luigi
A female version of Toad
A big Ape, originally intended to be King Kong, he kidnapped Paluine in his own game and made Mario come to save him. While he has never appeared in a Mainline Mario game, he is a staple of Mario’s various Spin Offs, including Mario Kart and Mario Party.
A younger Cousin to Donkey Kong, he is portrayed a smaller monkey with a tail, a cap, and wearing a t-shirt.
Lead Princess in Game Boy Mario titles, she is best friends with Princess Peach, often portrayed as a tomboy and upbeat personality
While not an official princess, she often portrayed in similar fashion. She is portrayed as mysterious, wise, and worldly
Original captured heroine of Donkey Kong, has made spare appearance in other Mario titles, most recently as leader of New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey
A rideable dinosaur for Mario and company. He has his own games where he is the hero. He is portrays as an innocent child with a long tongue that eats enemies and turns them to Eggs. He was in original Design documents for NES Mario games, but wasn’t realized until Super Mario World
A newer character introduced in Mario Odyssey, he is a sentient hat that replaces Mario’s classic had when it is destroyed
Mario’s Rival and a negative mirror to Mario, portrayed as money hungry and glutinous, often trying to best Mario whenever possible. He has a spin off of games that are semi-irrelevant and weird by intention. The name "Wario" is a portmanteau of "Mario" with the Japanese adjective warui (悪い) meaning "bad"; hence, a "bad Mario"
Similar to Wario, he is Luigi’s Rival and mirror to Luigi, portrayed with long lanky arms and willing to cheat to win. Though he has never starred in his own game, never seen without Wario, and never appeared in any mainline Mario Games, he has a cult following and is the subject of lots of Internet Memes and jokes.
Mainline Mario Titles
There are 21 mainline Mario games, with atleast 10 rereleases for alternate Hardware. Most games revolve around Bowser causing havoc in his efforts to take over the Mushroom Kingdom. This often is forms in Princess Peach and her Castle being taken over the Bowser, and Mario attempting to save Princess Peach. In other cases, Bowser has unleashed or tapped in to various new abilities, worlds, or associates to assist him in getting Princess Peach to Marry him and for him to take over the Mushroom Kingdom.
Mario is the primary hero of these games, with Luigi as a second player option; in more recent games, Luigi has slightly different abilities over Mario, leading to different gameplay. Other games introduce Princess Peach or Toad as alternate characters that can be played, each of whom offer their own unique abilities that allow them navigate the game in different ways. Mario’s goal is march through each level in a world or land, in order to reach the Castle and defeat a boss that will unlock the next world or land. At the end, Mario must face off against Bowser in his castle/base to defeat him and save Princess Peach.
While Mario has little assistance outside of his brother, he can gain access to a number of power ups. Most notably are:
Each game has its own unique power ups, some that reappear in other games, with others that do so only in that title. If Mario gets hit by an enemy, he will lose whatever power-up he most recently had and transform back into his original form. A following hit will cause him to lose a life, and Mario will need to start back from the beginning of the level, or closest check point that he cleared.
Most enemies in the game can be beat by hopping on top of them, punching them when they are close enough in later games, or attacking them with a power up. Some enemies can only be defeated by some power-ups. Bosses often take about 3 hits or more, depending on the game.
The mainline Mario games include:
First major Mario game, released with NES in America, often as a bundle.
Rereleased on Game Boy Color with updated over world Map
Technically Super Mario Bros 2 in Japan, it was considered too difficult for American Gamers and was not released in America until Super Mario All-Stars(1993)
Originally published in Japan as Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, a tie in with a Japanese TV Channel’s Mascots. It was released in the West as Super Mario Bros. 2 as Nintendo felt it would be easier and better fit for Western Gamers. Super Mario Bros. 2 takes place in Mario’s dream.
A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware
Return to a more classic Mario. First introduction of Tanuki leaf and raccoon tail/ears for Mario. First time Mario flew, and first introduction of an Over-world
A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware
First Game Boy Mario title. Introduction of Princess Daisy
First outing on SNES. Often released with the system. Started as a remake of Super Mario Bros. 3. Introduced Yoshi, who had been planned as earlier as Super Mario 1, but cut due to technical limitations
A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware
Second Outing on Game Boy, Introduction of Wario, Mario’s Rival
A release of Super Mario 1, 2, & 3, and also first time seeing the Japanese Super Mario 2, renamed as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
First Mario Title to focus on Another character, ie Yoshi, as the main hero
A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware
First Major game in 3D, pioneered a number of 3D Platform elements that would become mainstream
A rerelease on Nintendo DS hardware
Follow up to Super Mario 64, showing of new tech, allowing Rideable Yoshi, and more story driven than previous games. Introduce Bowser Jr.
A return to the 2d side scrolling roots of the Mario Franchise
First Major game to introduce gravity changing effects to the Mario series, in the form of planets. Introduction of Princess Rosalina
A follow up to their outing on the DS, this featured 4 player co-op play, along with a fully 3rd art design over the pervious
First Direct sequel for a Mario title since early NES days.
New major 3D Mario title on handheld, reintroducing classic Super Mario Bros 3 power-ups
Another direct sequel to the first game
Following on the success of the Wii version, introducing new power-ups
During Mario Brothers 30th Anniversary, a special Luigi only variation
Rerelease for Switch Hardware, including New Super Luigi material
Following success of Super Mario 3D Land, brought in 4 player co-op and more vertical elements
A 2D Side Scroller Maker, in line with ‘Little Big Planet’, allowing people to make their own Super Mario levels in various design styles, and play other people’s as well
A rerelease for Switch Hardware, with improvements and updates
First Mario Game on Mobile devices, criticized for being pay to play.
Main line Mario game for Switch, first introduction to non-Mario-design humans and realistic world. Introduction of Cappy.
Non-Mainline Mario Games
Beyond the main Games, Mario has starred in and helped launch several other genre of games in the past. These include:
There are also some games released outside of Nintendo with their Blessing.
Puzzle Games
This series has Mario as a doctor, throwing pills at viruses that the player needs to match up. The pills are thrown one at a time and travel downward at a consistent pace. The goal is to connect four of the same red, yellow, or blue colors together, with atleast one Virus among them. Once matched, they’ll get removed, along with the virus. Each Pill has two colors on it, so if one of them disappears, the other will drop down if able to. Dr. Mario has had numerous rereleases for each console.
Kart Racing Games
Considered the most popular Spinoff, Mario Kart sees various characters in the Mario cannon racing around a themed track. What makes it unusual to traditional racing games is that characters can collect items and use them against their enemies, allowing character to progress or hinder other players in the process. The game has a secondary Battle-mode, where the characters are on a map and use the same items to attach other players with; there hits will cause a player to lose, with the last standing player being considered the winner. The series has had multiple iterations across all of Nintendo’s platforms, each adding new elements.
Role-Playing Games
The first RPG in the Mario series, created by Square, it treated the game like a traditional RPG Game of the 90s with Mario Elements. It was the first game to ever represent Mario in a 3D fashion. Never rereleased on to other consoles outside of the Super NES Classic.
Created by Intelligent Systems, it shows Mario in a chibi-2D form, similar to a stamp or paper cut out, as he navigates the Mushroom Kingdom to saver Princess Peach from Bowser. The game adds a number of Puzzles and unique design choices for the look of the Mario World. It spawned other games of its own, including:
Created by AlphaDream, it follows Mario and Luigi on the Game Boy and DS hardware as they navigate a wackier version of the Mushroom Kingdom. These games are unique in that there are only ever two party members in Mario and Luigi, they have special team up attacks, and is based off timing and elaborate attacks. This series also plays more comedic, with lots of in joke at the expensive of other Nintendo Titles/character and gaming tropes. Other games include:
A more recent entry, created by Ubisoft, it is a crossover between Mario and the Raving Rabbids Franchise. It is also the first Tactical Strategy RPG for Mario, as Mario must navigate a space and defeat enemies, using the humor and weapons of Raving Rabbids Franchise. Very comedic and light hearted, a unique gameplay that mirrors more realistic tactical games, but with a more light hearted setting.
Party Games
Developed by Hudson Soft, it follows characters from the Mario universe playing a board game. Each character represents a board piece on the game, with four players playing each game regardless. Players take turns rolling dice, deciding how far the progress on the map, landing on tiles that either reward or take coins, offer special bonus or penalties, or trigger events. At the end of each round in which each player has gone once, players will be asked to play a mini-game to earn additional coins. Some mini-games free-for-all, 3vs1, or 2vs2, based off what tiles you landed upon. Players are rewarded more coins based off their results in the mini-games. The intent of the coins is to get to the Tile selling Stars and buy the Star, with the player with the Most Stars winning. Stars can be awarded via special events, and even stolen by other players if they land on certain tiles. At the end of the game, additional Stars are awarded to players that performed well during the entire game, and the player with the most stars win.
The series has been adopted on to multiple consoles since the N64, and always include four players. Recent entries have had all players working together at the same time, and had board games maps that don’t circle themselves. Mini-games are always swapped out and rarely reused for each game, with new mini-games developed to match each console’s Hardware.
Titles include:
Sport Titles:
Mario and company have been in a number of sport cross overs. Most sport games are taken as straight games with Mario Characters in them, versus some games have more fantastical elements gameplay elements added in. These Genre include:
A crossover with Mario and Sonic characters where they compete in Olympic style games.
Educational:
Mario has taken part in a number of Educational games, some teaching typing, geography, and history. These games initially not released on Nintendo hardware, instead for the PC and Mac, but were eventually ported over to the NES and SNES. These games, as educational games, did not fair well, and were poorly reviewed.
Fighting:
While not a direct Mario Title, Mario and company have been mainstay regulars of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros series since its inception. Mario is often the first playable character, or listed as the first from the select screen. Mario, much as the other characters, are portrayed as close counterparts to their own games, using similar moves and abilities from their games. These include:
Homework:
Super Mario Brothers 1
Mario Party
Mario Kart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH2wGpEZVgE
https://youtu.be/RQ-m6UFw6PQ?t=5649
https://youtu.be/SlFJv01rhLA
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