Day 74 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary Edition

Okay I know I've already included Super Mario All-Stars in 100 Happy Gaming Days, but I wanted to focus on the 25th Anniversary Edition released on Wii for today's blog. I'm also aware many people didn't like the 25th Anniversary Edition because the game was a direct port of the SNES, Nintendo hadn't even bothered to remove images of the SNES controller from the menu screens, but I like this set for two reasons.

1. This was a much appreciated Christmas present from my Wife.

2. The extra goodies in this set (pictured below) are a must have for any Mario fan.  

This set contains contains a Soundtrack CD with tunes from all of the games featured in Super Mario All-Stars, plus a number of later games (e.g. Super Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy etc), AND it even has 10 sound effects bundled on to the disk as well (they make great text tones for your mobile).

Alongside the CD comes a neat little booklet detailing the history of everyone's favourite Italian plumber, with comments from Mario's creators (Mr. Miyamoto, Koji Kondo and Takashi Tezuka). The best of the book is that it includes some of the original concept designs for Super Mario Bros. 

It's great to see how the Super Mario developed into one of the most beloved gaming characters of all time.

Day 66 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Mario 3D Land Gachapons

Since it was Nintendo's 125th birthday this week I thought something Nintendo related would be appropriate. Let's face it we haven't seen much Nintendo content here for a while have we? 

We found these Super Mario gachapons (or icon danglers?) in Sainsburys oddly enough, and they really are quite nice. There's 10 in the set and they're based on power ups from Super Mario 3D Land.

The only problem is Sainsbury's recently replaced the Super Mario gachapons with terrible DC Universe gachapons, for the record I like DC but the toys pale in comparison to these Mario ones, so I'm going to have to shop around to see if I can complete the set.

Happy 125th Birthday Nintendo!   

Day 58 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Mario 64

I still remember the first time I saw Super Mario 64. It was in Game Newcastle where they had a demo unit set up for the unveiling of the brand new Nintendo 64 console. Super Mario 64 was naturally the game of choice for demonstrating the possibilities of the new system, and my jaw dropped at the sight of Mario in a beautifully crafted 3D universe.

It looked incredible, Mario had a plethora of amazon moves and abilities that could be executed with ease, the music and sound effects were absolutely phenomenal, and leaping through paintings to reveal a wide variety of worlds was too exciting for my little 10 year old brain to comprehend. Even what is now the simple action of a character opening a door seemed like the most amazing thing ever, this was a true step into the next generation. And with a total of 120 stars to collect throughout the journey it was the biggest Mario game to date. 

The biggest draw for myself however, was Bowser who was also sculpted into glorious 3D. He looked bigger and badder than ever before, and this Bowser wasn't going to be defeated by simply chopping down a bridge. He had to be outwitted and swung into explosives by his tail, brilliant stuff!

Super Mario 64 is possibly the finest platform game of its generation and I still find myself returning to it almost 20 years later. It's a timeless classic, and if you haven't played it; find it, play it and we'll see you 120 stars later.

Top 5 Nintendo 64 Games

Retro Gamer posted a message on their forums asking members to submit their Top 5 Nintendo 64 games, with the possibility of your response being quoted in their magazine. I might be a bit late for that but I thought I'd share my top 5 with you all the same, enjoy...


1. Lylatwars/Starfox 64- A brilliant on-rails shooter that improves upon the SNES original in every way. There's a ton of replay value thanks to the varying pathways to take throughout the game, the alternate endings and simply playing to achieve the highest score. Not to mention the task of winning medals on each level to unlock the hard mode. There's also a great cast of memorable characters and multiplayer fun to be had as a bonus.
2. Super Mario 64- The game that set the standard for 3D platform games for generations to come. The level design is fantastic in that it's simply fun just to explore each level down it's last detail, and there's so many memorable moments to be discovered e.g. defeating Bowser in 3D for the first time. Mario himself was equipped with a wide variety of new skills to traverse his terrain and battle his enemies, along with some new power ups such as the Metal and Pixel caps. I feel I should also mention that Super Mario 64 has one of the best soundtracks of all time, my own personal favourite being the Dire Dire Docks theme.

3. WWF No Mercy- I think I played this none stop for about a year when it was first released thanks to the wealth of content that's available. There's a number of story modes based on the various titles that were around at the time, a survival mode where you have to eliminate as many wrestlers as you can and the exhibition mode where you can customise matches as you want. The create-a-wrestler feature was quite in-depth; setting a template for future titles in the series, and this alongside the wide selection of wrestlers from WWF/WWE's attitude era you really were spoiled for choice.

4. Goldeneye 007- Another title I couldn't stop playing once I got my hands on it. The single player mode follows the movie in great detail, with graphics that were quite brilliant for the time, and a soundtrack that kept you immersed in the James Bond universe from start to finish. The wealth of replay value is enormous thanks to the 'cheats' that you can unlock by finishing a level in a certain time, along with the another two hidden levels based on previous Bond movies. And if all this wasn't enough you had what was arguably the greatest multiplayer experience on the Nintendo 64.

5. Conker's Bad Fur Day- It was rude, crude, even violent, but still the funniest game on the system. After getting drunk at his local one night Conker the Squirrel wakes up in a field next to a scarecrow, and your job is to guide him back home while making some cash along the way. The game takes on a variety of genres and does them all surprisingly well, even making fun of other games and movies such as Resident Evil, Saving Private Ryan and the Matrix. The hilarious cast of characters will make you want to keep playing through the story until the very end, with Rareware thoughtfully including a menu so you can jump to a certain chapter whenever you want to revisit your favourite moments. The multiplayer is also superb with a seven different modes to choose from (I like Raptor the most), and support for four players plus AI controlled enemies.