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 | Written by Jim Sarruda on Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Category:Videogames
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Sometimes reliving your childhood is immensely satisfying. As far as I’m concerned, playing classic Nintendo is the one good use of the otherwise awful Nintendo Wii.
This past weekend, Super Mario 3 was reconquered by the committee of Tom, Jeremy, Jeremy’s fiancée Liz, and myself. Four people, two plumbers--and zero lives between the four of us.
Super Mario 3 is the best platform video game of all time. I know Dave Homsher loves it because he devoted an entire article to it, which you should read if you haven’t already. He is definitely the best player I have ever seen first hand, therefore he is much better then the four of us.
Although we can’t retain a raccoon across multiple worlds like Dave, we still know all the tricks. If we wanted to we could have everything wrapped up in about a half hour. Therefore, we would need to come up with an acceptable set of ground rules to govern our accomplishment.
Rule number 1 - We must complete every level in the game from beginning to end.
This means no use of the P-wing, no skipping, and no taking shortcuts to the end of any levels. We wanted to be legitimate. After all, we’ve all been playing video games since we were ten. We figured we should be able to beat Mario for real by now.
 Every Single Stage
Rule number 2 - No whistles!
Despite the fact that video games do cheat, we decided that we would not. I guess between the four of us, we wanted a certain type of prestige to go with our accomplishment.
 No Warping
When the terms and conditions were agreed upon, we divided turns up between Mario and Luigi, and got started about 11am on Saturday morning.
The only thing missing was a bowl of honey-nut cheerios.
Playing Styles
If you guys are true Mario fans, you are probably humming the music for World One in your heads right now.
We dominated World One pretty good I must say. What kid hasn’t played the first three stages on the order of 10,000 times? None the less, we had a few embarrassing deaths in the beginning, (I ran into an enemy in the second stage) but we manned up and dominated. The most interesting thing about playing through World One was observing how each of our playing styles would directly effect our deaths in future levels.
Tom – The Collector
I noticed right away that Tom would be the most meticulous of the bunch. Tom knows where the mushrooms are found, where the musical notes are invisible, and in which boxes the “p” blocks are hiding. Not to mention, he must collect every single coin. No coin shall be left behind, no pipe shall go unexplored. He must use the entire time limit, and he must complete the level at 100%.
As you may have guessed, when Tom died, it was usually because he chased an extra life off a cliff.
 Let it go, Tom!
Liz - Easy Does It
Then there is Liz, who is pretty much the opposite of Tom. She moves very cautiously throughout the levels, measuring each enemy before any action is taken. When she had decided to jump, she would jump confidently and deliberately. It was the true beauty of efficiency, as no motion was wasted.
The only problem with this play style is the hesitation. Mario 3 is a game that exploits the proverb, “He (or she) who hesitates, is lost.” Liz’s deaths would mostly be attributed to hesitation or indecisiveness.
Jeremy – Indifference
Jeremy moved through the levels neither slow, nor fast. I would call it reckless, except he always seemed to know what he was doing. The best way to describe his playing style was indifference or carelessness. Sometimes he would choose to bust through an obstacle and lose his big, rather then wait for the best opportunity to pass. He did not seem to pay attention to details like Tom, or sweat the smallest of obstacles like Liz. He seemed to truly not care at all about anything but reaching the finish line.
Jim - Hyperdrive
Which brings me to my playing style. Like Jeremy, I am only concerned with reaching the finish line. The only difference is, I must get to the finish line in the fastest way possible. I never release the turbo button. I always seem to try to jump across the level, hurdling multiple enemies and obstacles. While Liz would employ a short, careful, jumping style, I would more of the long, reckless, jumping type. At a couple points during the game I would just pick up so much speed, that I would just burst off a cliff and sail into the open sky, missing all platforms and plummeting to my death. Nice work Jim.
 Take your time, Jim
The Difficult Boards
Our fantastic foursome would not really have too many problems until we reached certain stages. You know the ones, they usually began to surface after World Four (Little/Big world). There are a few stages in the game that you should really start with a big or a flower. You can beat these stages starting little, but your stubbornness or pride will probably cost you at least a dozen lives.
World Five – Flying Beetle Board
You know the stage where you have to jump on the red flying beetles to avoid falling to your death? This level is obnoxious I’m sorry. It’s not too difficult, but for someone like me who is impatient, I must have died ten or fifteen times here.
 Patience is a virtue
World Six – Rising Log Board
I don’t have a problem leaping from log to log, but who invited that stupid fire-ball spitting cannon ball thing?
World Six – Before the Mushroom House
You know the stage blocking that mushroom house? Of course you do. I watched Tom attempt to complete it on the order of twenty times. The trick is to get the raccoon leaf and fly to the ceiling with the turtle shell. After you break the boxes blocking the pipe, you’re home free to the exit! If you have patience, then it is not difficult. The problem is, how many of us have patience?
 Don't forget the turtle shell
World Seven – Castle
There is nothing at all difficult about this board. The first castle is just so much fun. I love beating it over and over again trying to get as many lives as possible before the time limit. The record is sixteen extra lives, held by Tom. Although, Dave probably has gotten seventeen before, because he is the “one.”
 More fun every time
World Seven – Electric Jelly Fish Board
Have you guys ever played this stage? It is so obnoxious. Picture at least one hundred electric jellyfish, one stupid squid, and a very small space to swim. I was actually the lucky one to beat it this weekend, starting as little, and coming out with a fire flower. I dominated it. I’m very proud.
 Dont flinch
World Eight – Fast Air Ship
The fast air ship isn’t particularly difficult, but if you miss a jump then you usually will be punished by the quickness of the side scrolling. The wrench bandits add to the chaos by tossing slow moving wrenches into the mix. The trick is to kill the wrench bandits before they can throw a wrench into the process. The level is highly irritating.
 Time everything perfectly
World Eight – Fortress
This level is one giant pain in the neck. When we played it this weekend, we died countless times. We just keep getting lost. The best strategy I could figure out is to keep moving to the right before you choose to enter a door. The way I eventually beat it was actually by accident. I jumped on top of a question box to get a fire flower, when suddenly I was sucked through a wall and into the boss room. This was unplanned and complete luck. Since it was a glitch in the game that was discovered by us, we determined this move to be legitimate.
 So many doors
When all was said and done, it was Jeremy who beat King Koopa himself. We all cheered wildly and congratulated each other. Although beating Koopa was something we have all accomplished, sometimes reliving your childhood is just immensely satisfying.
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By:Jim Sarruda
Category:Videogames
Hits:3763
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