# Thirty Years of Super Mario



## migles (Sep 13, 2015)

asking the true questions: will nintendo offer anything for free like a VC game or something for celebrate?


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## mashers (Sep 13, 2015)

Happy 30th Anniversay Mario! Mario games mean a great deal to me, both in terms of sentimental nostalgia and fun. I'm celebrating by playing SMB through FCEUMM on my N3DS


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## Ericzander (Sep 13, 2015)

I don't remember my first Mario game, because I was blessed with them all on SNES at once.  I was in kindergarten I believe and my uncle got us a SNES because he was more of an atari guy I guess.  It came with Super Mario All Stars and Super Mario World.  Now... Super Mario All Stars if I remember correctly had Super Mario 1-2-3 and the Lost Levels.  Super Mario World was the first one with Yoshi and was essentially Super Mario 4.  I don't remember which one I started with but I ended up playing them all with my little brother (Luigi pleb).  Unlike today where I need to beat a game before moving onto the next, I was able to play a level of Super Mario World and then jump into Super Mario 2 a few minutes later.  

The newer Mario games don't have the exact same charm to me as they did back then, but that's simply because I've grown up.  I like my little 2D games.  Super Mario Galaxy was great in its own right, but I couldn't finish it.  In fact... I don't believe I've finished any modern Mario game.  But I do love me some Mario Kart 8 (and so does my fiance, so that's a plus!)  

Happy birthday Mario!


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## mightymuffy (Sep 13, 2015)

Happy 30th Mario, he's without a doubt THE reason I'm a gamer! 
I remember finally getting an NES back in 1989 - was into the C64/Amiga, but after watching a UK gameshow based on Mario 1 I knew I had to pool all my birthday money together for the console and game... left school in 1991 which was around the time Mario 3 came out in the UK and spent the summer between that and college glass collecting... first thing I bought with the money? Yep, Mario 3. Never looked back: sure a couple of the _New_ SMBs haven't been that great, but I never miss a Mario adventure, buying them all on day one! 

Fave Mario: Super Mario World. Completed Mario 3 on a daily basis back in the day, and perhaps have fonder memories (still a hardcore question picking between them though!), but no, SMW is the greatest 2D platformer ever made!

Been celebrating today with a bit of Mario Maker - why not!!


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## Deleted member 361703 (Sep 13, 2015)

Op your story is touching I actually started on the same Mario game as well and I am just about to turn 22 myself in Nov....wow so many memories my latest will luckly be Mario maker but that won't be until the firmware spoofer works out. All hail jump man!


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## joepassive (Sep 13, 2015)

Mario is the reason im playing. my mom got me an SNES and a famiclone. the SNES came with Super Mario world, which I enjoyed dearly, and the Famiclone came with Super Mario bros. i played them all to death. I am not very into gaming outside nintendo, and my favorite games are always mario related. this is a big deal, because unlike sonic, even the latest mario game has been good. cant wait for mario maker to arrive. happy birthday mario!


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## Guinea (Sep 13, 2015)

I love mario games! They are really fun and original


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## tbb043 (Sep 13, 2015)

It's not 30 years of Mario, it's 30 years of Super Mario Bros.

Mario's been around since 1981. And even if you want to be all "but he was called Jumpman at the time" he'd already been renamed Mario well before 1985, even the Donkey Kong segments of the Saturday Supercade cartoon in 83 called him Mario, not to mention the not-super arcade game Mario Bros (also in 83), which got ported to nearly every pre-crash (and many post crash) consoles under the sun.

Also, his name isn't Mario Mario. Miyamoto himself has stated Mario has no last name. That's just some crap the makers of the live action movie came up with. Do you really think anything from that trash is canon? Hell no.


But I'm all up for celebrating 30 yrs of SMB, one of the most influential games ever.


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## HaloEffect17 (Sep 13, 2015)

I don't think I played as many hours in a Mario game than *Super Mario Sunshine*.  Seriously, if you look at my GCN disc, it full of scratches from the hundreds of hours I played and replayed that game.


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## NES_player4life (Sep 13, 2015)

So many fond memory's over the years. 
Happy 30th!


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## Harsky (Sep 13, 2015)

My very first experience with Mario was Super Mario World. Unfortunately I wasn't too savvy about video games so I never bought other SNES games or asked for more SNES games for birthdays so I just kept play World over and over again. What's crazy is that I can actually find myself reaching Bowser and beating the game in less than an hour. 

It's a shame that Nintendo isn't doing a limited edition 30th anniversary New 3DS design like they did for the Gameboy Micro but I still think the 25th anniversary DSi XL design is probably the most phoned in "limited edition" they could've done. Surprised they're not going to do a red Wii U design like they did with the Wii.


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## GamerzHell9137 (Sep 13, 2015)

migles said:


> asking the true questions: will nintendo offer anything for free like a VC game or something for celebrate?


No, but a 5-10% sale on Mario Bros NES for Wii U will happen ;OOO;


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## Prans (Sep 13, 2015)

My first Mario memory was that as an observer, since I was too young, I guess I wasn't allowed to play games...  But yeah, I would always watch my siblings and cousins play Super Mario Bros. on a bootleg NES called 'family game' at that time. The music, characters and the whole game were so iconic that it felt only natural for me to think of Mario whenever video games were mentionned. I believe it's one of the most recognizable game anyway. Thank you Mr (Dr?) Mario for all the memories and guiding us through the marvellous world of video games


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## YugamiSekai (Sep 13, 2015)

My very first Mario experience was either Super Smash Bros. Brawl or New Super Mario Bros. Mario has come a long way and hopefully there's a lot more to come.


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## VinsCool (Sep 13, 2015)

remembering playing super mario bros when my parents didn't know (because restricted, fuck them)

good times doing forbidden stuff!


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## Jwiz33 (Sep 14, 2015)

My first mario game was Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario World. I remember asking my dad to help me in Forest of Illusion. My most recent Mario memory is playing Super Mario Land 2 on GameYob


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## mechagouki (Sep 14, 2015)

My first exposure was Vs. Super Mario Bros. in an arcade in the town where I lived. Now some people believe Vs.SMB was a port from the Famicom game, whilst others claim Vs. slightly predates the home versions, whatever the truth, I hadn't even heard of the NES when I first set eyes on the arcade machine.

After 30 years of sequels, clones and blatant knock offs (Giana Sisters, I'm looking at you) it can be hard to take one's mind back to a time when SMB was something radically new and different, but that's how it first appeared to me. The look of the game, the different worlds, the world/stage structure, all these things captured my imagination like no game I'd played before.

I remember the first time I saw another player run across a series of one-block gaps without falling and was amazed! When another player jumped out the top of the play area and went to the 1-2 warp room my mind was completely blown! This game was something else, it seemed like something I'd been waiting for as long as I'd played video games.

I got a NES the Christmas after UK launch, I must have campaigned extraordinarily well as it was a far more expensive gift than I ever usually received (I suspect on some level my parents thought it would keep me away from the arcades). It came with SMB and my parents bought me Ice Climber too (meh). I can remember sitting up until 2.00 AM on Boxing Day playing this amazing game, a little nervous that I might never stop.

I bought both the NES sequels at launch, for what seemed extraordinary prices, and loved them both though definitely not to the same degree as SMB. It wasn't until Super Mario World came along that the original game slipped from number one in my affections. I suspect SMW will likely be the single best game I will ever play, it's so close to perfection, and I suspect that no one will ever quite pin down the formula that makes it so. Yoshi's Island is very, very good, but under the cute crayon (and admittedly exceptional) graphics it's not quite such a solid game, far less replay value.

My nine-year-old son and I spent a few hours yesterday playing SMB 1, 2 and 3. Today we got about 1/2 way through "96-ing" SMW. I don't really want to talk about Lemmy's castle (3), the last Star Road level keyhole exit (that takes you to Special levels) or getting to the secret 2nd finish gate on Cheese Bridge, apparently I'm not as patient as I was, but still just incredible games, which above all others deserve to be re-played and celebrated as long as there are people to play video games.


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## hippy dave (Sep 14, 2015)

I remember playing SMB a bit on a friend's NES, before that I might have encountered him on a Game&Watch or something. First one I owned was Super Mario Land on the original Gameboy, was very proud of myself when I managed to finish that one.
Most recent Mario experiences are Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario Bros virtual console, and various stuff from Ultimate NES Remix, all on 3DS.


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## TheSockNaster (Sep 14, 2015)

Yay!


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## TecXero (Sep 14, 2015)

I'm not big on Mario, but I definitely have nostalgia for some Mario games. I loved SMB3 (SNES version), SMW, Yoshi's Island, and Sunshine.


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## TheSockNaster (Sep 14, 2015)

TecXero said:


> I'm not big on Mario, but I definitely have nostalgia for some Mario games. I loved SMB3 (SNES version), SMW, Yoshi's Island, and Sunshine.



The only nostalgia I had from a Mario game wasn't even a Mario game. It was Luigi's Mansion.


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## chavosaur (Sep 14, 2015)

TheSockNaster said:


> The only nostalgia I had from a Mario game wasn't even a Mario game. It was Luigi's Mansion.


We need another year of Luigi I say.


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## TheSockNaster (Sep 14, 2015)

chavosaur said:


> We need another year of Luigi I say.



I say the same.


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## TecXero (Sep 14, 2015)

TheSockNaster said:


> The only nostalgia I had from a Mario game wasn't even a Mario game. It was Luigi's Mansion.


Well, if we're going spin-offs, I also loved the mario RPG games up to the Wii and DS. I also liked Luigi's Mansion on the NGC.


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## TheSockNaster (Sep 14, 2015)

TecXero said:


> Well, if we're going spin-offs, I also loved the mario RPG games up to the Wii and DS. I also liked Luigi's Mansion on the NGC.


You know I honestly didn't like Luigi's Mansion dark moon. Only the NGC version was good.


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## TecXero (Sep 14, 2015)

TheSockNaster said:


> You know I honestly didn't like Luigi's Mansion dark moon. Only the NGC version was good.


I haven't even touched the 3DS version yet. It just looked kind of watered down to me. If I ever see a used copy cheap enough, I'll probably give it a go.


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## TheSockNaster (Sep 14, 2015)

TecXero said:


> I haven't even touched the 3DS version yet. It just looked kind of watered down to me. If I ever see a used copy cheap enough, I'll probably give it a go.



Might as well. It really ruined the old Luigi's Mansion I used to know and love.


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## tony_2018 (Sep 14, 2015)

I have to say the remake of super mario bro's for the wii, where you can have 4 players on one screen, was SUPER fun. 1 for all, or 2 vs 2.


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## RustInPeace (Sep 14, 2015)

I was reminiscing on Mario and I feel ashamed. Overall, I haven't played many Mario games. I can start at the beginning, which I'm not completely sure of. I can say these two were close to each other, same year or 2. I definitely remember those two Mario games.

Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario World. On the former, I hope spinoffs are alright. Unfortunately, I've played more spinoffs of Mario and games with his character added, than the main series platformers. Total game time, I've played more Super Smash Bros Melee through Wii U than every other Mario game, combined.

Still, Mario Kart 64 was amazing! One of the few games I played with my 2 sisters. Super Smash Bros on N64 was another classic, along with Melee. There was a Mario Party game, but that's it as far as playing with my sisters.

On Super Mario World, my goodness, amazing game. I don't think I ever finished it, and looking at game footage, wasn't it such a deep game? Seemed like a whole lot of levels and such. I remember ghost levels, Chocolate Land or whatever it's called, the first section for sure. Yoshi, getting the yellow cape. The graphics are perfect for the time, and they still hold up in terms of being lively. It's not 3D, but it's so vibrant. The music is legendary too.

N64 was the first console I played and owned, yet I never played Super Mario 64. Emulation, doesn't count completely, but through that, I've played the original Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3.

Back to legit playing, there was Super Mario Sunshine. I rented that, remember when you rented games? Hollywood Video! Anybody remember that? Anyways, that was a fine game. I did play Super Mario Bros. 3 legitimately with a friend. I was Luigi I think, but that was some great fun. I have the cartridge of SMB3, I found it in a blue recycling bin in 2008. While walking to my high school, proving that one man's trash is another man's treasure. It was tested, and it works. However, 7 years have passed, and I haven't played it. Someday.

I feel kind of bad that I haven't played Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, and really, any main Mario platformer after Sunshine. I will, I swear I will. I played some Mario Party games, Mario Tennis on N64, Mario Kart on GC and Wii, Mario Golf on N64 and Gamecube. 
I own Mario Kart 8. I haven't played a lot of that, but it's been fun the time I have experienced it.

I definitely want to play Super Mario Maker. While I'm a Pokemon guy above all else, Mario is a clear number 2. As far as platformers, he is the king. I love me some Sonic, but it seems like Mario's still going strong while the blue hedgehog hasn't been hot for a while, and Megaman is pretty much sleeping. Other platform icons, I can't name all of them. Not sure if Metroid would count. Castlevania, Simon Belmont, for sure, but I only played 1 and 4 through emulation. Banjo and Kazooie on N64, absolutely awesome. But in the end, Mario wins.

Great post OP, I wouldn't know of this special day had not been for this being front page on GBATemp. Sweet.


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## garbanzox (Sep 14, 2015)

I own and love all the 2D games. I grew up with NES and the first 3 Mario titles, then onto GB and SNES. Was so happy when 2D SMB made a comeback with the DS, and the NSMB series is the only reason I got a Wii, then a 2DS, and most recently a Wii U. Just picked up Super Mario Maker and I'm anxious to dive in!

I really don't care for the 3D titles though...


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