Month Of Mario Closes

This is the final post on the month of Mario and we'll be looking at Pinball and Arcade games today.

First up the rules. A small pack of small games for a small price. No DLC, sprites only and emulation only when its really obscure, and as its the final post these rules are now codified.

Think of Pinball on the various Nintendo platforms and you'd be thinking of either Pokemon Pinball, Metroid's DS outing or the really old game for the NES, but that's not all there is.

Kirby's Pinball Land.

Must have played the GB original of this a dozen times, its Kirby as a ball being spun around an arena based on Wispy Woods, and some other places I can't remember.  I always wanted an updated version of this for current hardware, flinging the overpowered pink guy around some new areas and even have the platform ball saver to rescue you when you fell through the flippers.

Super Mario Ball.

Is the name of the disappointing pinball game for GBA, can remember it reviewing badly in Edge Magazine back in the day.  Would rather they had Super Mario Bros Mushroom World from Gottlieb instead.  Better still, instead of licensing pinball arcade from Stern, they should create their own Mario Pinball cab instead.

Link crossbow shooting Gallery.

Remember that bit in Link to the Past where you have the chance to earn rupees by shooting octoroks and not hands.  I would love a fleshed out version of this with risks and rewards. 

Nintendo Badge Arcade.

Can remember this was run by some skanky Duracell rabbit knock off.  You had to use real cash to gain anything in this, he was a corrupt cold hearted bastard along the lines of Tom Nook.  Lets have a proper non scammy version with proper crane toy mechanics.  Maybe with credits gained from playing the other games on the list.  Just a thought.

Pokemon Pinball.

Our final cab and as its seems to be based on red or blue.  Lets have a new version based on Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.  I'm sure the new Mega Evolutions and such will be an excellent mechanic for this as well as the new Pokemon and areas too.

Skykid

A remake / emulation of this would be fine, as some sort of arcade cab you can play.

Arm Wrestling.

Never actually seen this in the wild can remember Punch Out where your  entire body was a wire frame when we went to Bemboms in Margate.  Would love to see this recreated here either as emulation or as a stand alone game.

Pit Boss.

For some reason I'd love to see the guy you buy tokens from, as Pit from Kid Icarus.  Either that or Metroid in full armour. Hope you enjoyed this month of Mario.

Month of Mario 5 The Free One.

This is perhaps the one that will never get fulfilled and such, being that it goes back to the 1970's, aka the earliest Nintendo vidya stuff ever made.  We saw on twitter a tweet dedicated to all things Disk Kun. the little mascot from Nintendo's Japan only disk system add on, which thinking about this, is possibly what this series should be thought of.  i.e.

A small pack of small games for a small price. No DLC, sprites only and emulation only when its really obscure, and yep we do amend the rules over time.

What I'm talking about is the various pong consoles that Nintendo produced in the late 70's wrapped up in one handy resource.

Though this and a remake / demake of Wii fit with Princess Peach, Samus Aran and Rosalia could have easily been in my last post about sports games based on early NES and Gameboy titles.  They are actually more like variations on Pong, like the old Binatone consoles back in the day.  The last ones are actually a break out variant and two player Othello game that was essentially an arcade board stuffed into a home console.  Oh and one is a car racing game with a really big steering wheel.

I  would love to see the pong games  as one entry, with extensive liner notes on what they cost, making of's and promo artwork. All "sports variants" colour and black and white modes and even cellophane overlays as a nod to old arcade games like Space Invaders.

Split racing 112 into its own part with classic and updated graphics (yes it can be the bike from Mach Rider if you so wish) and modes as well. You can add promo stuff and liner notes here too.

The Block Kuzushii can be its own entry too with an emulated version of Monkey Magic thrown in for good measure too.

Othello has to be its own entry too and have both emulated and remade modes too.

I'd like a small card game such as solitaire or Hanafuda with Murasamejo or Shin Onigashima designs as a tribute to their card making past.

A rework of Gyromite that uses two analogue sticks to simulate R.O.B. spinning the gyroscope and some extended level designs.

Finally have the love tester and ultra hand as bonus toys.  I'd love to see some sort of Ultra Hand grabbing game where you pick up stuff and grab items.

Month of Mario pt 4 sports.

The fourth part of our mammoth month of Mario is dedicated to sports games which Nintendo have revisited time and again. Whether it be Wii sports, the original baseball for NES or Mario VS Sonic at the Olympics it seems that Nintendo and sports have gone hand in hand for ages.  Incidentally this is the germ that sparked off my initial idea, seeing Donkey Kong Ongaku no Asobi scans on line via twitter and seeing that there was an unreleased bowling game for the Famicom as well.

But first the rules.

1. Graphics should be sprites, either inspired by the NES or SNES or in a more modern style like on the  GBA, definitely no Mii avatars or polygons.

2. No lazy virtual console emulation or ROMS. Unless they are of sufficient obscurity to warrant emulation.  Think Virtual Boy or Satellaview.

3. Do not charge full price and do not have in app purchases, these are budget games using obscure or unloved titles and should be priced as such.


Rules done lets begin.  The sports pack should have the most entries and really should reprise most of the earlier entries for the NES, SNES and Gameboy.  Possibly a 2D remake of Wii sports would be nice but I consider that lazy.  Here is my "Wii sports" collection.



Baseball.
The first game on our list of things is baseball.  Based on the super limited early NES release of the game or its Satellaview Kirby reskin. This basic Baseball is the version I'd like to see released on here.


Bowling.
Bowling is normally problematic, its too dull and limited to make its way into a full priced game, Wii sports was a pack in so that wasn't a problem with it. As part of a compilation again lets have it be a competent remake of what that unreleased NES game would be.

Boxing.
 Another Wii Sports favourite, this along with Punch Out is some of the best versions of the sport available.  Its still limited mind and Nintendo would just port Punch Out instead (minus Iron Mike Tyson).  Incidentally Hamster corp have released the arcade version for their emulation range.

Football.

This should be a remake of the NES game Soccer and not hand egg. This was one of the best football games for the NES which was plagued by terrible soccer games.  Above all this should be competent and with a few different cups to play for.  Would like to see them replace the national teams for some old unloved characters here, lets say add Toad from the Mario games and be done with it.


Golf.

Should you go for an updated version of the original NES Golf but with 18 holes based on the Mario Golf series and  none of the characters. Or go for a crazy golf mode like that Kirby game on the SNES mini.

Snooker Mario.
I am biased in adding this in, I've wanted this for so long after seeing an old TV ad on MTV for Mario Allstars with Mario in a Tux and thinking he looks like he's off to play snooker.  Or rather pool, if we are being universal here, with pipes for pockets and Bowser hustlin'.  Make it so

Tennis.
I don't know which version you would want here but I would love to see a revised Super Tennis complete with swearing and fudged names just for this entry.

Volleyball.
The last entry is the most meh of all.  This didn't make it out of Japan and can be thought of just to make the number up.  But yeah I would like to see a Mario reskin of this too if we can have Delfino Beach as location.

I know I missed a few things out for time and that (possibly a basketball entry and Ice Hockey too which would be nice) or over looked a few things cough Arm wrestling cough.  But this should be enough to get you going in the mean time.

 


 

Month Of Mario Pt3 Multi Player Madness.

Been out and about today as its been snowing and in Game, they have the VS Mario Bros up as DLC on Switch for £6.99.  I'm guessing its part of Hamsters arcade game port if you will as Nintendo have done nothing with their old Arcade IP in yonks.

On with the show and a quick refresher of the rules, they are.

1. Graphics should be sprites, either inspired by the NES or SNES or in a more modern style like on the  GBA, definitely no Mii avatars or polygons.

2. No lazy virtual console emulation or ROMS. Unless they are of sufficient obscurity to warrant emulation.  Think Virtual Boy or Satellaview.

3. Do not charge full price and do not have in app purchases, these are budget games using obscure or unloved titles and should be priced as such.


This week we look at multi player madness with a selection of 3 old games in our Switch compilation.



Balloon Fight.

Nintendo have revisited this over the years most recently with the hideous man child Tingle (incidentally this is sort of what I want from a remake) for their thinly disguised reskin of Joust by Atari.   What I would like to see is a new adventure mode with unlockables and a fully fledged out multiplayer mode.  We are talking 4 player madness here with power ups and a reliance on arena play mode.  Think Bomberman on the SNES, that level of enjoyment but on Switch (in docked mode) with local co op to play over two consoles sharing 1 game.  Make it so gentlemen.

Legend Of Zelda Four Swords.

This has of course been done before but instead of the Link to the past world of Hyrule lets have the world of Link's Awakening, Koholint Island instead.  Have Marin, Tarin, Link and Richard make up your foursome and go exploring. Failing that give us a version based on The Bell Rings For Frogs
cancelled proto. The Legend of Richard: Four Swords does have a nice ring to it.

Clu Clu Land.

My final choice is controversial in that its not really considered a multiplayer game.  Its a game where you have to uncover the gold in a maze that's been hidden by a sea urchin.  Weirdly enough I didn't know that the main character was female until I saw it on Wikipedia.  Clu Clu land should be kuru kuru land based on the Japanese term that means to turn or spin around (its the main means of uncovering the gold) and would make a good multiplayer game with everyone pitching in to clear a puzzle or just destroy a set amount of "urches" with your sonic beams.

Better still would be a 2vs2 mode that pitches a team of fish uncovering a puzzle against another team against the clock.

See you next week.
 

Mario Day

Hello and welcome back to this month of Mario, and as we've just had Mario Day (Mar10) what better than to give up some of my ideas for the Brothers.  Our timing couldn't have been better, either, as there's an new Nintendo direct out focusing on Smash Brothers and a new Mario Tennis amongst others.

We of course are not looking at those gaems, as described last week, we are looking at remaking collections of Nintendo games from the earliest days with the following rules.

1. Graphics should be sprites either inspired for the NES or SNES or a more modern style like on the GBA, definitely no Mii avatars or polygons.

2. No lazy virtual console emulation, these are all new games not ROMS.

3. Do not charge full price and do not have in app purchases, these are budget games using obscure or unloved titles and should be priced as such.

Currently Nintendo would break rule two here as they would just reissue Super Mario Allstars for  the umpteenth time.  Look at the much maligned Wii release for the 25th anniversary of Mario and say that you wouldn't like something much better, or at least not a SNES rom and emulator for Wii.

Here's my switch ideas.

 Mario Brothers.
The first game has always been a bit of an oddity, if you treat it like the modern Mario games you'll fail as everything is fatal to the touch. You have to whack  them from below instead of jumping on them.  I'd love to see them do a release where they are brought right up to date like Donkey Kong for  Game Boy, had the first four levels then did its own thing.  A few more monsters from the various Mario games and bosses to fight all on a single screen and power ups too.  Maybe add more players in (4 player), or add a few side modes from the PC88 games such as Punch ball Mario.

Super Mario Brothers.

Nothing too drastic here, as everyone loves this.  Don't just  slap a NES rom on the cart and be done, but rather port across some of the more obscure variants of SMB.  Give us a port of the Arcade version (Kotaku cancer alert) or yet again another of the Hudson Soft conversions with Super Mario Special a flick screen conversion from the PC88.  Failing that remake it in Mario Maker.

Super Mario Brothers 2.

 Of all the games I'd love to see a return to Subcon.  Not the data disk add on for the Famicom Disk System but the reskin of Doki Doki Panic that we got instead.  Either a full blown remake of the GBA game complete with super egg unlockables and new bosses or a single screen game akin to Bubble Bobble.  

I had the idea for a single screen veg flinging game a while ago.  The fan game Cookout had the basics right, but what I really want is a single screen game, where you need to clear enemies with thrown veg and blocks, when its cleared you have to grab the key and go through a door to the next level.  Take too long and Phanto will chase you down.  There would be blocks and all the other power  ups from the original and maybe the return of some long neglected bosses such as Birdo, Mouser and Clawgrip too.

That Fruit Machine from the between stages of Mario 2
 
Failing that give us Toad's house from Mario 3 where we can play the match up game, the slot machine from Mario 2, the pairs game from 3 as well as a few other bits and bobs, such as a sound test.  You could even throw in the mini games from New SMB on the DS version too.  Call it Mario Box and we would be happy.

Month Of Mario PT1

I suppose you are familiar with the biscuit selection box you get at Christmas.  A veritable smorgasbord of treats in a commemorative box, even if half of them are pink wafers and proto Oreos that are included but no one likes.  Sort of based on Nintendo Land for the Wii U but much more like the old Game and Watch compilations that were for Gameboy and Gameboy Colour. 

I had the idea while out at work, for Nintendo to go to indie companies to make game compilations based on what was originally the earliest NES games (mainly the sports ones).  There would be strict rules for these comps mind.

1. Graphics should be sprites either inspired for the NES or SNES or a more modern style like on the GBA, definitely no Mii avatars or polygons.

2. No lazy virtual console emulation, these are all new games not ROMS.

3. Do not charge full price and do not have in app purchases, these are budget games using obscure or unloved titles and should be priced as such.

With the rules laid down I propose my first compilation pack is to be based on Donkey Kong.

Give me a Switch updates and reworks to the original Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jnr, Donkey Kong 3,and a re imagined versions of  Donkey Kong Maths and the unreleased Donkey Kong No Ongaku Asobi.

Donkey Kong.
You all know this by now, Jumpman has to get back Pauline from the clutches of Kong spread over 4 stages.  Give us a choice of characters from the Mario roster, make it gender neutral for once and have Luigi be rescued by Princess Peach for once.  No real extra levels or such but if this was made real as an unlockable bonus I'd be happy.

Donkey Kong Junior.

This is another game I'd like to see remade if only to finally put Wario in place of Mario as the bad guy.  I'd like a few more levels with this too as it doesn't get much love.

Donkey Kong 3

There is a PC6001 version of Donkey Kong 3 which has been recently preserved that should be the kind of level of obscurity I'm looking for to be as part of this collection. Along with Stanley himself who has languished far too long in obscurity. I'd love to see him come back in some  form. (Fun fact this is the only version I've not played as I had the originals under the Donkey Kong Classics range).
Give him a shooter all his own and an expanded game to play through which would  be nice.

Donkey Kong Maths.

Part of the original edutainment range of NES originals this taught you basic maths such as Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  This could be greatly expanded on with bits from the original and sequels too.  Love to see him pull on a series of puzzles that make maths fun.  The original was a vs game to see who could make the sum that Kong held up on a board, I'd love to see that expanded upon and given the full game treatment.

Donkey Kong Ongaku no Asobi.

The final unreleased gem,  supposedly to teach you music and such with a music quiz and a band to jam with.  It sounds like a weird version of a sound test, so lets go full Mario Paint maker for one half and allow you to jam along to a good selection of Nintendo tunes in 8 /16 bit style with various unlocks for how well you do on the other games on the collection and that would be the best thing ever.  

Oh and the final edutainment title involved Popeye teaching you English which is quite frankly bizarre.

Funeral for a Neighbour.

Here is an odd one. My neighbour passed away in January and I took some time off work to attend his funeral. He outlived his spouse and his cat who he gifted to us back at the start of last year, when he moved into sheltered housing (which I used to clean, when it was part of my job back in the day).

He used to fight like a bastard with her and for those social justice types it was not all one way traffic, she gave as good as she got.  His nickname for her was crab I found out which is really funny.  He also used to give us stuff he'd either grown in his garden or got at the pub, which was nice of him.

As we were passing out I noticed a headstone to my old tutor on the side of the road. Its just a side thing and I didn't get many details just the name was enough. She was tough on me and taught me  how to touch type as part of a secretarial NVQ course.  I learned two things there most of the women there were bitches and how to touch type. 

Maybe a trip is in order just to see if I can find it again and get more details on when she passed on and pay respects.