Board 8 > Mario

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yeah usually I just stay in the same world and get everything but I also like trying to hop between different worlds as much as possible, doing bowser levels and new stages as soon as they're available before returning to older ones.

I probably picked a bad time to start my Super Mario 64 playthrough after starting Tuesday and making good progress with 50 stars I have not played since. Between having three kids and a demanding job, its a bit hard to find time, but thats part of why I wanted to play a few days ago since I had an opportunity.

Also, Im leaving for Sarasota tomorrow morning, back Sunday night and Monday morning take an exam for work to hopefully get a certification, so I might not be playing between now and Monday.

How does everyone else feel about time passing while youre playing through a game? Is there a certain amount of time (say, a month, three months) where if you havent played you just start over? Or is any file fair game for you, no matter how long its been? I can see this being case by case for people including questions like remembering the mechanics or not, does the game have a significant story you dont remember well, etc.

DragonGargoyle posted...

Bowser's Insider Story

I may be biased, because Bowser's my favorite character from any media ever lol. But it does have a huge unique strength compared to other Mario RPGs in that it characterizes a party member for the whole game (Bowser), while also having gameplay with him that really invokes what it feels like to be that character

(I'm having trouble exolaining it in a concise way, I hope that made sense)

I loved Superstar Saga on GBA but Im pretty sure I never played any of the other Mario & Luigi games. I also loved Paper Mario and TTYD, got a little ways into Super Paper Mario and never touched it again. So all those games are definitely due to be revisited.

NBIceman posted...

Pretty sure the last Mario game I would've played is Mario Party Superstars. Game on Yoshi's Tropical Island with my fiancee and our best friends.

One of said friends is the luckiest human being alive when it comes to board games, be they digital or physical, and he was holding the lead for the majority of the game thanks to his usual good fortune. He got so overconfident that he risked a completely unnecessary duel with me that I won (Vine With Me was the mini-game IIRC). Turned the game all the way around and I clutched out the W. He's still bitter about it and swears he'll never throw like that again.

Fun story about your friend - Im glad you got the dub after he got cute about things. That taught him to think twice lol. We have Mario Party Superstars and my wife is not a gamer by any means outside of Tetris and SMB3, but she really likes Superstars a lot. She has asked numerous times to play it but our 7 year old always vetoes. I would offer to play it with her just the two of us but I either throw or its bad for the marriage. Lmao

jcgamer107 posted...

I'm re-buying Mario 64 soon to get back into 16-star runs. Maybe 120-star too. will also probably run SMB 1, 2, 3 & World, + Mario Land 1 & 2 this weekend.

Man, you are a dedicated Mario gamer then! Might as well get my dirty little secret out of the way this thread - Ive played but never beaten a ton of Mario games with probably the most glaring being SMW. Dont remember how far I got, either. @jcgamer107 would love for you to share some updates here or let us know where to follow your Mario weekend!

HanOfTheNekos posted...

I'm a SM64 rando speedrunner but haven't been running for awhile

@hanofthenekos I knew this from lurking here, I actually tuned into one of your streams and it was super cool but I could only watch for like five minutes. Let us know here when youre back at it, Ill try to tune in for a full stream.

I'm a big Mario fan; it's probably my favorite Nintendo franchise. That said, I never really liked Super Mario 64. I don't know why, but it just never clicked with me. Not as a kid, not as an adult. Last Mario game I played is probably Mario Party Superstars or Mario Strikers Charged. I played a ton of N64 Mario as a kid, so I have a leg up on my friends, but it's Mario Party, so who knows what will happen. I think I lost last game. Mario Strikers: Charged! is fine, just really need other modes like the other Switch sports games.

I start over for certain games where the controls or the story are complex if it's been a long time. Otherwise, I just keep going. One of the nice things about Mario is that the controls always feels natural to play with, even after years of not playing.

Welcome @Bitto !

Thats interesting, most people who play 64 as a kid continue enjoying it, it seems to be the newcomers this side of Galaxy who struggle to enjoy it. But theres certainly nothing wrong with that. Which Mario platformer is your favorite?

Also, for anyone who missed the announcement video from a little shy of 24 hours ago announcing Super Mario Advance 1-3 coming to NSO expansion pack before the end of May:

https://youtu.be/nRyFVwRqUKI

wallmasterz posted...

Man, you are a dedicated Mario gamer then! Might as well get my dirty little secret out of the way this thread - Ive played but never beaten a ton of Mario games with probably the most glaring being SMW. Dont remember how far I got, either. @jcgamer107 would love for you to share some updates here or let us know where to follow your Mario weekend!

Thanks - I was planning to try to beat 20 games in 12 hours today, but I'd be starting too late in the day & am not up for it, so that's gonna be postponed. BUT I stream retro Mario pretty often, and like I said will be picking up Mario 64 again soon. I stream at twitch.tv/jcgamer107. When I do the marathon, 7 of the 20 games will be Mario. Maybe next weekend.

Watching my niece play the original Super Mario Bros for about 20 minutes really made me appreciate how well designed it is. She was 10 or 11 and doesn't really play video games, except for occasionally mobile or maybe PC. So, first thing was to learn how to hold a controller and get used to the dpad moving around. Once she figured out how to move, the next obstacle was that first goomba. She needed to learn to jump - but just any jump is fine. At some point, she landed on top of the goomba and learned, that that could defeat him. The next obstacle is getting over the first pipe. She needed to learn that just pushing the jump button wasn't enough to get over it, and she needed to hold the jump button, and also push right after this to get over the obstacle. So, that's several of the basics down. In a time before tutorials, this is the next best thing - slowly being presented with one thing at a time to teach you about what you can do, given your limited options. Next, is the goombas between the pipes, where you need to learn to move and jump with better timing - so put together everything you know. She didn't think to hit those question blocks to go for the mushroom, so that is something I did point out to her, and I think I also had to point out that holding the button made you jump higher.

I think this progression was something a lot of us went through when Mario 1 was one of the first games we played. It's just easy to forget the little ways it tries to make itself as playable as possible without consulting a manual. If I had to pick its biggest flaw in this respect, it's probably the warp zones. I remember once I learned about them, I always wanted to warp straight to world 8, and died pretty quickly there. It would've been better to play through the game without them and learn and get better at the game in a better progression.

wallmasterz posted...

Welcome @Bitto !

Thats interesting, most people who play 64 as a kid continue enjoying it, it seems to be the newcomers this side of Galaxy who struggle to enjoy it. But theres certainly nothing wrong with that. Which Mario platformer is your favorite?

That's a hard question. SMB3, SMW, Yoshi's Island, and SM3DW are all great for different reasons. I think if I had to say what they excel in...

SMB3: Best experience (solo)
SMW: Best world map
Yoshi's Island: Best individual levels
SM3DWorld: Best experience (multiplayer)

If we're talking all Mario games, Odyssey is my favorite by a fairly significant margin. Definitely in my top 10 games of all time.

Will I play more Super Mario 64 tonight?

Hopefully yes. Back from vacation and ready to pick back up with things.

Update #4 - After a too-long break I resumed my Super Mario 64 playthrough last night. MIPS 2 took an embarrassingly long time for me to get. For maybe the first time ever, I got the Mario wing cap over the rainbow star on the first try. I remember always making a dumb mistake on my first attempt in past playthroughs but not this time. I got the third toad star, and I got the first three stars from tick tock clock and rainbow ride.

From there I just got the fourth star in each level through Wet-Dry World. The slight tedium of so many red coin stars in a row has me slightly dreading getting the 100 coin stars, but at least thatll be my last task before the game is done.

Stars: 70/120

Update #5 - Last night I went from 70 stars to having all stars except for the 100-coin stars and Bowser in the Sky red coins star. It was fun mixing things up this playthrough by not completing each course one at a time, but I am not looking forward to having all the 100-coin stars to do lol. Next time I will stack those with other stars (usually red coins)

Some random thoughts: this was my first time actually using the wing cap to get Mario wings to the sky in BOB. I didnt bother using metal cap for through the jet stream in JRB. A-Maze-Ing Emergency Exit is a nostalgic star for me because that was my dads 70th star when he played this game after we first got our N64 in 98. Ya sex is great but have you ever gotten tall tall mountains Blast to the Lonely Mushroom star on your first try. Also, Stomp on the Thwomp is a solid pick for the toughest star in the game, though if memory serves the Rainbow Ride 100 coin star may give it a run for its money.

Stars: 104/120

DragonGargoyle posted...

Jxoqkcjekcnanowkcmekxkqpxl

I will never be this skilled

I just meant my first time this playthrough, not ever, if that makes you feel better. I have played this game a bunch and this was basically the first time I did it on my first try iirc

jcgamer107 posted...

I stream at twitch.tv/jcgamer107. When I do the marathon, 7 of the 20 games will be Mario. Maybe next weekend.

it's the day. and now it's *8/21 games, if you count Mario Kart.

jcgamer107 posted...

it's the day. and now it's *8/21 games, if you count Mario Kart.

Woo! I was just thinking of bumping this to ask if anyone is playing Mario this weekend. Thats awesome.

I am currently really focused on my career and family (the two basically go hand in hand) but eventually Im going to get back in the zone of playing a shit ton of video games every night once the kids are in bed

...Turns out I need to start even earlier in the day if I want a chance of actually finishing that lol. Pokmon Red run died at almost the halfway point, and at that point I don't think I was gonna be able to stay awake long enough to finish everything so I bailed. BUT I managed to finish Mario 64 (16-star) in ~22 minutes in my first completed run in almost 2 years, so that was neat. Would like to see if I can get under 19 minutes eventually.

jcgamer107 posted...

...Turns out I need to start even earlier in the day if I want a chance of actually finishing that lol. Pokmon Red run died at almost the halfway point, and at that point I don't think I was gonna be able to stay awake long enough to finish everything so I bailed. BUT I managed to finish Mario 64 (16-star) in ~22 minutes in my first completed run in almost 2 years, so that was neat. Would like to see if I can get under 19 minutes eventually.

Thats amazing!! Im sorry I wasnt able to see it myself. Is it recorded anywhere? Also, I would be curious to see the full lineup of games you had planned to marathon.

I have not been playing a lot of Mario lately, obviously. But its because I havent been playing video games at all. We did play a round of Mario Party Superstars this weekend though - me, my wife and our oldest child did 15 turns on Peachs Birthday Cake. It was a lot of fun.

Im debating just dropping my nearly complete Super Mario 64 playthrough and going through the entire Super Mario series in release order when Ive got more time on my hands. And this isnt my reason for considering dropping the run but alternating between the courses one star at a time actually felt kind of wrong lol

Very nice, Mario Party's a great family game & Peach's Birthday Cake is one of the best boards in the series

https://youtu.be/MbIPeZAgILE

^Here's my PB run. It's nowhere near what the top players can do but my goal had been to get under 20 minutes so I was reasonably happy with it.

wallmasterz posted...

I would be curious to see the full lineup of games you had planned to marathon.

time estimate listed for each game (total time to that point in parentheses)

TMNT 3: Manhattan Project - 1:10:00
Myst - 10:00 (1:20:00)
Barnie no controller - 20:00 (1:40:00)
Pokemon Red - 2:40:00 (4:20:00)
Mario Land - 30:00 (4:50:00)
Mario Land 2 - 50:00 (5:40:00)
Sonic 1 - 40:00 (6:20:00)
Sonic 2 - 50:00 (7:10:00)
Perfect Dark - 1:00:00 (8:10:00)
GoldenEye - 50:00 (9:00:00)
Mario Kart 64 - 50:00 (9:50:00)
Mario 64 - 30:00 (10:20:00)
THPS - 20:00 (10:40:00)
Super Mario Bros - 15:00 (10:55:00)
Super Mario Bros 2 - 20:00 (11:15:00)
Super Mario Bros 3 - 20:00 (11:35:00)
Super Mario World - 20:00 (11:55:00)
Mickey's Dangerous Chase - 25:00 (12:20:00)
Double Dragon II - 25:00 (12:45:00)
Kung-Fu Master - 10:00 (12:55:00)
Kirby's Dreamland - 15:00 (13:10:00)

I think the next day I can go for it is next Saturday, but I really need to start by like noon

Seanchan posted...

64 doesn't hold up without the nostalgia goggles.

Sunshine is a better feeling game than 64. It's not a better game, but running around is more fun in Sunshine.

Galaxy is still superb. Great soundtrack and the joy of running around little planetoids is unparalleled.

Spot on. All still great though.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/3/4/AARMM-AAEkK-.png

Mamma mia! This thread is sorely in need of a bump. Sounds like a 2D Mario announcement is coming tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1671155958448529408

https://twitter.com/rihanna/status/488434293996552192?s=46&t=MY1pO06Q3Sh7Np8E1OEGzA

UnderUrMattress posted...

Super Mario RPG, A new bathroom themed track, Petey, Wiggler, AND Kamek being added as characters AND a new 2D Mario Platformer.

Holy hell we got spoiled this Direct.

YES. Not to mention new WarioWare game, new Peach game, remastered Dark Moon, SMRPG remake am I forgetting something? This direct was loaded for the Mario lovers

More Mario + Rabbids too

so like, if you enjoy mario in any way, shape or form, you won this direct

We are exactly 120 days away from Super Mario Wonder. Might be a good day for me to start a proper Super Mario series playthrough.

Im doing it - Im going to play through the Super Mario series.

TIL Super Mario Land 2 is available through NSO, but not the original SML what

Fortunately I have Super Mario Land on my 3DS, but yeah, that surprises me

Its going to be a bit before I have to worry about that since the four NES/Famicom games are first, but yeah

Smb1 is a great start

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/9/2/AARMM-AAEl60.jpg

Would basically be this order, and I plan on spending some time with Super Mario Maker 1 and 2, possibly Super Mario Run, definitely Bowsers Fury, maybe New Super Luigi U. Still gotta figure that out. But no question the first four I play will be the NES/FDS titles

I beat Super Mario Bros. this morning! Will share some thoughts on the game and my run later.

In the meantime, does anyone have any fun SMB stories?

Im not sure if anyone is reading this but I must dutifully record the events of my Super Mario journey all the same. Its going to be a long one.

Game #1 - Super Mario Bros. (1985)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/8/AARMM-AAEmei.jpg

Super Mario Bros. is the first video game I ever played. I was born in 1992 and started gaming in 1996 at the age of four. My dad owned an NES, which had been stored away in our home for god knows how long. When he brought the NES out of storage with Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridge and a zapper light gun, it kicked off a lifelong hobby that has brought me a lot of joy, and also led to my discovery of GameFAQs, a website on which Ive spent an ungodly amount of time.

I remember I sucked at first. Naturally. I couldnt get past the first goomba on 1-1 without dying. On my second day of playing, I got past the very first goomba, and when my dad called home on his lunch break (we used land lines then lol) to speak with my mom I proudly told him of my achievement. Some time soon thereafter, I was sharing with him that I had beat 1-1. And so the journey continued.

I honestly dont remember the first time I beat Super Mario Bros. but it was well after I first played it. Im guessing it was sometime during my teenage years, playing it on Wii Virtual Console. I also owned the GBA version of SMB, which, along with far too many video games, I regrettably no longer have. I also played SMB Deluxe on a cousins GBC, but never owned it; thats a game Id like to do a proper play through of one day since it seems to have enough new content to merit doing so (Yoshi eggs, red coins).

Anyway, its still a lot of fun to play, and its importance cant be overstated - both its personal importance to me and to the entire medium.

Lets talk about this run. I decided the only thing that was important to me was beating every level, not using any warps and not even using bonus areas or in-level shortcuts. I did not go down a single pipe that wasnt required. I plan on using this same approach for the other NES games, not using warp whistles etc.

I was in the zone at first despite not having played in a while (probably 1-2 years). I died once or twice before world 8, one of which being 2-3 lol. I just cant ever seem to finish those cheep cheep bridge levels without getting hit at least once.

Then world 8 happened. Dont know why I choked so hard. I had six lives when I entered and got a damn game over. I never missed the tricky jumps in 8-1, but I had some deaths in 8-2. The first time I got to 8-3 I almost cleared it and
I was Fire Mario which meant Id be in great shape for 8-4, but I MISSED THE FLIPPING ENDING OF 8-3. I never do that!! So then I lost 8-4 a couple times, including getting hit by a damn fire bar in the underwater section right before the final room of 8-4, at which point I felt good about my chances of abusing I-frames if I needed to. My first and only game over came at the very end of the game, which was quite annoying. I held A and pressed start to begin at 8-1 and proceeded to beat world 8 without losing a single life. Fun game, decent run to start with an annoying finish. What can you do? I know play hard mode and avoid getting a game over this time. Thats what I plan to do later today.

Hard mode beaten. Again, one game over. Ill be starting The Lost Levels today, which Ive beaten once before on the original version (World 9 and A-D too). Not entirely looking forward to it, but hopefully Ill enjoy myself more than I expect to.

Beat the first two worlds of Lost Levels, went quite smoothly. I remember it taking a few worlds for the difficult to ramp up.

Will this be the time I finally play through the game as Luigi?

wallmasterz posted...

I was born in 1992 and started gaming in 1996 at the age of four.

Ayyy 92 club!

I'm not sure when I started playing games, but it was probably around the same time. I started on SNES though cause my older siblings had one. No idea what the first game I played was, but I'm pretty sure the first game I beat was Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Heck yeah man! Thats cool you were born in 92 as well. I always enjoy hearing about peoples first game played/beaten. Ive never played Mystic Quest!

Also, I didnt have any time to play yesterday, but I just beat World 3 and World 4 of The Lost Levels this morning. Each world took me a few tries. The 1-up hint came in handy. It took me a few tries to beat 4-4 and I had one life left the first time I got to Bowser - fortunately I was able to finish it. Kinda hurt myself by continually going after the super mushrooms >_>

World 5 beaten. That was definitely the toughest world so far, particularly 5-3 with its tricky jumps. Oh youre on a moving platform, you have to time your jump right with the paratroopa to make it up there, also, there are bullet bills. Add in some of the jumps where you need enough momentum to make it, and yeah, not an easy world. But Im glad its down. The first time I made it to 5-4 I did so with three lives left. I died twice and on my last try, the first time I even got so far as to deal with fake bowser breathing fire, I cleared the level. Really glad I didnt have to redo all that.

Who here has played Lost Levels and if so, what is your opinion of it?

Ive barely been able to play these past few days but hope to make more progress soon. I have yet to clear world 6 in one go or make it past 6-3. Granted Ive played world 6 for an hour max, probably less. 6-1 gave me some trouble, particularly the bit with the windy chasm with a piranha plant before the moving platform. It got easier after I started using the wind instead of trying to go against it. Theres a warp pipe you can get to that skips that part of the stage but Im trying to clear the game without using bonus areas this time around.

Overall Id say Im an above average SMB player, and I think anyone who has beaten Lost Levels fair and square can put themselves in that group (heck, even the All Stars version which Ive never played but will one day). But I suck at the cheep cheep bridge levels. Dont know why. Always have though lol. I can sometimes clear them without dying if I enter the level with a power up but I always manage to get hit at least once. Anyone else have a type of level (athletic, underwater, castle etc.) that is the bane of your Mario existence?

I've sort of finished it twice, between finishing all the levels individually in For Super Players mode in SMB DX back when it came out, and worlds 1-9 in All Stars recently after it was added to the NSO app.

I don't think it's all that difficult for the most part (maybe about 5 or 6 levels in the first 8 worlds are fairly tough. haven't really put in the effort to try to beat worlds A to D), if you're playing a version that gives you infinite tries. It's much more difficult if you're playing the original version, where you get kicked back to the beginning of the world if you continue, and can only really stock up on extra lives in the first stage and they have to last you the entire game.

Mr_Crispy posted...

I don't think it's all that difficult for the most part (maybe about 5 or 6 levels in the first 8 worlds are fairly tough. haven't really put in the effort to try to beat worlds A to D), if you're playing a version that gives you infinite tries. It's much more difficult if you're playing the original version, where you get kicked back to the beginning of the world if you continue, and can only really stock up on extra lives in the first stage and they have to last you the entire game.

Basically the same situation for me and I agree with this analysis. The difficulty is a little overstated, as long as you're playing a version that lets you keep retrying.

I do remember a handful of levels being extremely tough for me but those were the exceptions.

wallmasterz posted...

Who here has played Lost Levels and if so, what is your opinion of it?

I beat it a few years ago. I thought it was more cheap than hard, tbh

and underwater levels are the bane of my existence. Also auto-scrollers, but I don't really struggle with those, I just hate them

I still havent properly beat SMB1 in one sitting. I did beat all stars by grinding lives enough to get through world 8. I played again recently but couldnt remember how to do the pipe jump in 8-2 and didnt feel like doing trial and error. I didnt actually even run out of lives (8-2 has a one up early on) but just didnt have the patience to keep trying. I guess I have a harder time than I used to of grinding the same thing over and over again.

For Lost Levels, I beat all levels in the All Stars version which lets you save with each level which isnt so bad and is pretty fun. I imagine it would be a nightmare playing it the original way and needing to restart the world.

MZero posted...

I beat it a few years ago. I thought it was more cheap than hard, tbh

I think this is fair to say. I would say its a little bit of both.

Beat world 6. Current playtime is 3 hours, 11 minutes. Hopefully I can pick up the pace of average time spent playing per day.

Id describe a non-All Stars Lost Levels playthrough by tweaking a common saying. Dont smile because its over, cry because it happened.

Looking forward to playing All-Stars version one day. Id imagine its way more fun.

wallmasterz posted...

Who here has played Lost Levels and if so, what is your opinion of it?

I have. It's hard obviously but most of it is honestly just knowing the levels. There are some levels where you can't make a jump or something if you got too close to it because you can't run left again, so it's a bit trial and error in that sense. It's decent if you enjoy SMB1 gameplay but nothing fantastic.

I played the All Stars version and I dont think I ever fully beat it. I think I couldnt finish the last, D, world.

The wind levels sucked.

An hour and 20 minutes later, World 7 beaten. Damn.

One nice thing in 7-4 (uncommon, this game doing something nice) is the opportunity to earn a 1-up. Once you can consistently get to the middle of the level, youre golden.

I still have by no means mastered the wind levels like 7-3 but I can do well enough to get by.

This game is tough. Once I beat it fair and square I have to decide if Im going to use NSOs rewind feature to speed up beating it 7 more times. I did it before on Wii VC to unlock A-D and its a bit of a chore. But ultimately Ill probably just not use rewind because I prefer playing games how they were originally intended. Im not a big fan of the decision to lock bonus worlds behind beating the game 8 times though, thats for sure.

A Luigi run, nah I dont see that happening. Maybe one day when Im in the mood to play through the series again Ill play as Luigi in every game I possibly can.

Im not a big fan of the decision to lock bonus worlds behind beating the game 8 times though, thats for sure.

Another nice thing about the All Stars version is you can get the bonus worlds easily on one play through. I didnt realize they were that hard to get in the original. Imagine trying to do that in the NES days without turning it off.

Played a little this morning, I can get to 8-3 fairly consistently now and even did so with six lives at one point. Just need a little more practice on that level.