The Nerd Next Door

Yes, Super Mario Bros. , the classic Nintendo platformer, why? Because I feel its a game everyone should play at least once and it had been a few years since I played it front to back, last time was in 2014 on the Wii U when they dropped it on the NES Virtual Console. So I decided to give it another shot by playing the All Stars version released on SNES in 1993 and actually review it this time, bit of a writing exercise here. I'm emulating this on higan, the most accurate SNES emulator out there so far, save states were used sparingly, and I'll cover why I did towards the end. But first, story, which I think we all know the low down; firey turtle King Bowser rescues plumber Mario from the tyrannical Princess Toadsto- no, wait, sorry. Plumbing Brothers Mario and Luigi seek to rescue Princess Toadstool form the tyrannical turtle King Bowser. Of course every time Mario and Luigi beat the four levels that constitute a world and think they succeed in their quest Toadstool...

Ask anyone what the best feeling in a video game is and you'll get a wide variety of answers, the thrill of winning and dominating your foes, the chaos you and a friend can create with a large sandbox, the feeling of discovering a world of lore and fighting their way through it, the terror of having to survive against overwhelming odds. For me though the best feeling in a video game is when the world feels like it could go on forever, that this stretch of world your in is just a small part of something bigger and who knows what lies over the next hill (answer: whatever assets the dev was too busy to delete). The first time I felt this was when I was 5 and got my first gaming console, a Nintendo Gamecube, along with a copy of Super Mario Sunshine . My mind was blown by just how big the world of Isle Delfino was, how you could see other islands in the distance and how you could swim in their direction, I wanted to see those places and go there. Well I was a dumb child who kept re...