So for you readers out there who might have been reading an article of mine and thought, “Hey, that guys seems cool. I bet we could share a slice of pizza” I have some sad news. I have an allergy. It is called Celiac disease. Basically it means I can’t eat anything with wheat in it. This includes flour. Which is in everything you bake. Or fry. But even I can appreciate this Mario tribute.

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I tend to give Nintendo a lot of crap about their focus on child and family-friendly gaming. While there’s nothing wrong with appealing to kids, I personally believe Nintendo should have matured along with their audience. Still, even I have to give them credit when they do something right. And trust me, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is definitely something that Nintendo seems to be doing right.

The original Galaxy was a great game and Galaxy 2 is shaping up to be an excellent sequel. Though the oft-ignored Luigi is nowhere to be seen in the new trailer, as is standard in the 3D Mario games, another familiar green character is making a comeback. That’s right. Yoshi is back in action, aiding Mario as usual, a feature that was missing in the original Mario Galaxy. There’s just something awesome about riding around on that little green dinosaur. Now let’s just hope Galaxy 2 ramps up the difficulty, given how disappointingly easy the original was.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 launches on May 23^rd for the Wii. Let’s hope it doesn’t disappoint.

[via GameTrailers]

[via Reddit]

File this story under, I-want-to-grow-up-just-to-be-like-this-guy.  Wes, father of 2 lucky kids, has painted a Super Mario Bros. 3 wall mural for his 2 year old son. The process photos he took shows that he painted the whole mural pixel by pixel.

A little bit of background story: just found out my wife is pregnant with our second kid (we were trying) and our two and a half year old son will soon need to be transitioned from the nursery to a big-boy room.  I wanted to make his big-boy room special for him, make it a fun place in which he looks forward to spending lots of time.  I started this process about 2 years ago, got about half-way through the process and then stalled for a year and a half or so.  Once I found out our second kid was on the way, I wanted to get the mural done as soon as possible so that our son could get used to spending more time in his new room and be comfortable in there when we finally moved him out of the nursery.

I just hope that kid doesn’t grow up to ask, “Dad, why are these graphics pixelated? Why didn’t you do any anti-aliasing?”

Mural Complete

How do you make any video game better no matter how old it is? You get your band to cover its music. In the video below, we have a band rapping and rocking over the soundtracks of the old game, Super Mario Land. Sure, there have been a lot of people covering the old Super Mario Bros. songs, but I have never heard one that rocked over this old game.

As big a gamer as I am, the list of games I played in my younger days is embarrassingly small. So, much like a man who buys a big gun to compensate for having a small penis, I overcompensated in recent years, leaving me with a library of games littered with titles I’ve never finished. Still, even with all those games left to play, I always find myself going back to basics, playing the classics from the small library of games from my past. And out of that small list, there is one game that stands out more than the rest. Nintendo’s Super Mario World for the SNES. It’s a game that, for me, never gets old. It aged really well and, after nearly 20 years, is still as enjoyable now as it was back then.

Gameplay:

Compared to today, a game like Super Mario World is very simplistic when it comes to gameplay. Despite the SNES controller’s six-button layout, only three buttons were really useful. The B button was the standard jump button, the A button was the spin jump, which came in useful when dispatching some of the more powerful enemies, and the X and Y buttons did the same thing…allowing Mario to run faster, shoot fireballs, and swallow enemies while riding Yoshi.

While Super Mario World didn’t have the variety of items and power-ups that Super Mario Bros. 3, such as the Tanooki Suit, the hammer suit, and so on, there was only one that was really necessary anyway. While you still had your standard Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Starman power ups from previous game, SMW introduced the Cape Feather, which bestowed onto Mario a cape for which to fly. While it served a similar function to SMB 3’s Super Leaf, allowing Mario to fly and use a spin attack, the Cape Feather gave Mario 2 new powers; the ground smash attack that creates a shockwave that incapacitates nearby enemies and a parachute maneuver, which, if utilized properly, can be used to float indefinitely.

The game itself was comprised of 7 normal worlds with about 5 levels leading up to the boss castle. On top of that, 4 special switch palaces, which unlocked special blocks, were hidden. Certain levels contained multiple exits that unlocked special paths, along with access to the hidden Star World, containing extra levels, special Yoshi’s, a direct route to Bowser’s castle, and access to the Special World. The Special World worked sort of like a challenge world, with increasingly difficult stages placed to test players. Completion of the Special World caused cosmetic changes in the game, including a new color scheme for the world map and different looking enemies, such as Koopa Troopas with Mario masks instead of shells.

With its power ups, fun level design, and interesting enemies and bosses, along with the puzzling and confusing Forest of Illusion, the gameplay itself holds up pretty well, even in this day and age.

Graphics/Visuals:

For a 16-bit game that relies on animated sprites for its graphics and character animations, the game never stops being colorful. The visuals just pop, with a nice cartoonish look that is nicer to look at than some other, more pixilated visuals of the era. Sure, Luigi is, for the most part, just a recolor of Mario (unless you’re playing the Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World bundle pack), but the game still looks bright and colorful, which flows quite nicely with the lighthearted tone of the game. In contrast, the Ghost Houses, Castles, Fortresses, and Underground cavern levels, while still colorful, have a more eerie, ominous look in their level design, which fits the style as well.

While definitely unable to compete with the complex, photorealistic visuals of today, Super Mario World still manages to shine.

Music:

While not as celebrated as the music from Super Mario Bros., SMW’s music is definitely fun. While most of the level songs are just rearranged versions of the same melody, it doesn’t get too repetitive. In addition, the world map music is quite a treat, with my personal favorite being the Forest of Illusion theme. Even a rearranged version of the Starman theme plays in the Star World, along with a version of the original Super Mario Bros. Overworld theme, which can be heard in the Special World if you wait long enough. All in all, Koji Kondo’s score for the game is great.

Overall:

Some may accuse me of wearing nostalgia goggles when it comes to Super Mario World, but I definitely have it as one of my favorite games of all time. While Super Mario 64 may have been an excellent attempt at translating a 2D series into a 3D world, Super Mario World, in my opinion, is the best Mario game of all time and one I like to revisit ever now and again. The games of today may still capture my attention, but sometimes, this game is all I need. It’s no secret I’m not the biggest fan of Nintendo these days. But that doesn’t mean I can’t admit when they’ve made a great game.

Who has been the most influential person in your life? A Parent? A Teacher? Ghandi? Han Solo? If you’re at this site, I’d say there’s a fair chance that a certain Italian plumber has helped shape you into the man or woman you are today. For most gamers, Mario was the gateway drug that lead to a lifetime addiction to video games. So get a box of tissues handy, and let this video take you down memory lane.

Just one question. Why no Super Mario Bros. 2 love? Someone’s holding a grudge against Birdo.

This illustration of Mario’s closet is just too damn cute. Can you name all the games each suit is from in order?

The same person who has done the Automatic Super Mario World video that went in sync (not n’sync) with an odd 10 minute song is back. But, this time, he or she has risen the bar. Not only by doing a mash-up of Super Mario World with Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.” But by using 4 screens and putting it all together. Confused? Yea, just watch the vid above. When you’re done, be sure to pick up that jaw.

After watching the above video of these people showing off his skills on the New Super Mario Bros Wii, make sure to pick up your jaw as you might drag it on the floor.