PETA's latest public target is Super Mario 3D Land, specifically Mario's use of the
tanooki suit, which PETA claim signify the wearing of a
tanuki skin. To raise awareness, PETA had a little flash game made:
Mario Kills Tanooki (warning: cartoon blood and gore), in which
you play a skinless Tanuki trying to get your skin back from Mario (YT, 1:19 - slightly stuttery gameplay video). But as
this Kotaku article points out, PETA's outrage is "an epic culture misunderstanding," overlooking the
long, cultural history of the shape-shifting trickster. Nintendo's quick response: "
Mario often takes the appearance of certain animals and objects in his games," that are "lighthearted and whimsical transformations."
PETA clarifies: the graphic little game was just a joke.
posted by filthy light thief
on Nov 17, 2011 -
67 comments
Vs. Airman is kind of mind-blowing the first time you see it. It is not a PC or flash game, but a romhack that can run on a real NES. But which game is it a hack of?
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Apr 5, 2011 -
17 comments
Two brothers pull off the heist of the century when they steal money from a criminal kingpin. The kingpin retaliates by abducting one brother's girlfriend. Now the brothers and their two close allies must team up and rescue her, deal out some pain, and get away with their lives. You may think this sounds vaguely familiar, but you've never seen Nintendo's classic
Super Mario Bros. depicted like this. Presenting
The Brothers Mario [SLYT; contains strong language and scenes of violence; rated M-for-Mature].
posted by Servo5678
on Dec 16, 2010 -
35 comments
There are generally two approaches to thinking about games: narratology and ludology. The first emphasizes story, the second play. The next time I played Super Mario, on the Wii (you can order all the vintage games), I found myself in a narratological mode. Mario reminded me of K. and his pursuit of the barmaid Frieda, in Kafka’s “The Castle,” and of the kind of lost-loved-one dreams that “The Castle” both mimics and instigates.
The New Yorker profiles the father of modern video games, Shigeru Miyamoto. (
via Kotaku)
posted by incomple
on Dec 13, 2010 -
37 comments
Take a game like Super Mario Bros. Introduce garbage data into the code, either through random Game Genie codes or a corruptor program. Try to play what results,
while the laws of reality slowly go insane in the background, and upload the "best" results to YouTube. Can Mario make it to the princess
when stomping a Goomba turns the air to water,
when hitting a block ends the world,
when the world is infinite length,
if the ground can't support his weight,
when touching a flagpole destroys his mind,
when brought into being over an ocean immediately before a fatal heart attack,
before the enemies turn into Bowser-halves,
while the universe is freaking out around him?
(hint: no)
posted by JHarris
on Oct 11, 2010 -
50 comments
September 13, 2010 marks
the 25th anniversary of the
original Japanese release of Super Mario Bros, featuring the return of
everyone's favorite sailor,
Popeye. That's not right, he's the
Italian carpenter, Mario. Wait, now
he's a plumber with a brother (named
Luigi Mario), and they're not normal, they're super! And they're fighting to save
Princess Peach Toadstool from
an angry ox king, who became the stubborn but cute turtle Bowser.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Sep 13, 2010 -
58 comments
Enough Plumbers (Flash game), a nice twist on a classic game: "It's when the plumber encounters the coins, though, that everything changes. For every coin you collect you also get a cloned plumber who copies every move of the original. Just trying to jump ten hapless clones at once onto a small platform and you can see how things have changed." (
review)
(via waxy.org)
posted by WCityMike
on Apr 24, 2010 -
25 comments
TheSmartAss.info's suite of Java emulators allows smooth, in-browser playback of literally
thousands of old-school video games:
517 Atari titles,
148 for DOS,
636 Game Boy games (and
410 for Game Boy Color),
2,019 (!) NES titles,
238 GameGear games,
802 Sega Genesis titles, and
284 for the Sega Master System. Highlights include
Space Invaders,
Frogger,
Galaga,
Pitfall!,
Super Mario Bros.,
The Legend of Zelda,
Metroid,
SimCity,
Zero Wing,
Duke Nukem,
Sonic the Hedgehog,
Aladdin,
Earthworm Jim,
Pokemon, and
Metal Gear Solid. Use
the search function to find your favorites! You can also register an account to save games on emulators that support it. Make sure to check the purple bar below each game for control info and links to alternate emulators in case the default one is buggy or slow.
posted by Rhaomi
on Nov 30, 2009 -
54 comments
The 2009 Super Mario Marathon will kick off this Friday as three gamers from Lafayette, Indiana jump their way through 25 years of Mario games to benefit the
Child's Play Charity. The marathon will be broadcast live online and you can track their
level progress at the site. Viewers of the event will have the opportunity to win some Mario-themed prizes. If old-school RPGs are more your thing, the
Final Fantasy Marathon, also live online, also with prizes, will be kicking off July 17 to benefit
ACT Today.
posted by Otis
on Jul 8, 2009 -
12 comments
I didn't think
this would be cool but after seeing the video I am converted. Experience the original Super Mario in 3d... with a shotgun?
posted by ignorantguru
on Jul 15, 2008 -
35 comments
Remember
Super Mario Frustration? Kaizo Mario World is another of those super-hard Mario level hacks, this one of Super Mario World. Someone played through its first level 134 times, with save states, recording all his deaths, then digitally composited them into one trip through the level. The result was
Many-Worlds Mario. (For those interested, here's a
video of a tool-assisted perfect run of much of the game.
Here's the rest. Here's some more.)
posted by JHarris
on Feb 3, 2008 -
36 comments
