Alexander looked at the huge and hefty Ga Pak. Then the thin and tiny GaKey.
Each holds onto two very special video gas. Video gas with corresponding characters that had been swept up in console wars of old.
As if always fated to do so, these two gas should once again be quite pivotal in what's to co.
Then again, they wouldn't exactly jumpstart things.
The longstanding NES and Creed Chaos System situation has been a long ti coming. If anything, it just recently caught up to where it should have been.
These special gas just happened to pop up as part of it.
Perhaps... jump things up may be the term to use here. Especially when these two involved a lot of jumping.
Their platforming gaplays are mostly about jumping, after all.
One is arguably the king that set the tone for the whole genre while the other is the speed-focused challenger that was able to go toe to toe with it.
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As for the supposed king of this jumping genre, that is none other than Jumpman.
Mario, in this current case, with Super Mario Bros.
Players of this ga control the titular Mario Brothers, as they set themselves to traverse the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Princess Toadstool from King Koopa or Bowser.
In this fantasy setting, the Mushroom Kingdom is invaded by a tribe of turtle-like creatures known as the Koopa Troopas.
Through the magic powers of Bowser, the Mushroom Kingdom's inhabitants, or the Mushroom People are unceremoniously turned into inanimate objects like bricks, stones, and horsehair plants.
Which is quite horrendous, all things considered.
Anyways, the only one who can reverse the situation turns out to be Princess Toadstool who had been captured already.
After hearing the news, the unlikely hero steps in, in a form of a pudgy plumber. Or two plumbers if you count the other one.
The object of the ga, if not clear yet, is to race through the Mushroom Kingdom, survive through the main antagonistic forces like Goombas and Koopas... then save the princess in distress.
Basically, just moving to the right of the screens and reach the flagpole at the end of most levels, then move on to the next one.
Maybe there's blocks to break or pipes to go down to as well. And yeah... coins because why not?
With each side-scrolling scenario, all that one needs is to avoid all the hazards, explore secrets, and pick up a power-up or two.
There's the Super Mushroom. For doubling the pudgy plumber's size.
A Fire Flower for a bit of an outfit change with firepower along with it.
And the less common Starman, for invincibility and destroying enemies by contact.
What made it more interesting is that ga actually consists of eight worlds, with four sub-levels called stages for each of them.
These areas even include water-filled ones that are canonically just part of the Mushroom Kingdom. It sure does paint this kingdom to be quite the place.
Must be why Bowser wanted it.
As for Bowser, well, you'll be confronted with a total of eight of them. One for each of the 8 worlds, with 7 lies and one truth.
With special jump skills or with suspension bridge-cutting axe skills, you're basically set to confront the guy.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
With that covered, that should just about be the whole gist of this whole saga. There are goons, castles, villains, and a princess, however, there's no armor-clad knight.
There are just plumbers in jumpers.
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In any case, this unassuming ga is actually Nintendo's greatest hit.
Even cited as one of the greatest video gas of all ti.
As for the reasons behind such a status, well, there are plenty.
Behind those baggy overalls and baggy caps resides an incredible ga design experience...
One that will withstand the test of ti and establish a high bar for the level of fun and enjoynt required for any comrcial video ga to follow suit.
The core experience of Super Mario Bros. is...
Defeating enemies?
No, you can run through almost every level without attacking the enemies at all.
Saving the princess?
No, the relationship between our intrepid plumber and the princess is almost entirely left up to the player’s imagination; that aspect of the ga seems tacked on.
The actual core experience of the ga is simply to make the player feel like they are exploring and conquering a strange world.
Its base chanics just set quite the standard.
Running and jumping over the terrain, navigating up, down, left, and right through the stages.
Its punishnt and reward Systems encourage exploration as well.
The player is taught to avoid enemies, of course. That just helps give the ga its challenge.
However, if Mario dies, then he is reset to the beginning of that world or level, not the beginning of the ga. Setting it apart from other high-score type video gas before it.
This reduces the punishnt of failing completely and beckons the player to try exploring the level until they run out of ti.
Other aspects of the ga also just reward any player’s penchant for exploration.
Hidden coin blocks may give the player coins or 1-up mushrooms, but they never appear unless the player is willing to jump incessantly all over the map.
Additionally, the player has no way of knowing which pipes he or she can enter, and even if they did, the player has no way of knowing where it will lead.
Nurous levels reward the player’s investigation over walls, past checkpoints, and under pipes.
Warp zones are tucked away past the apparent end of the level, allowing rapid advancent to the ga’s later stages.
You’ll notice that the ga also doesn’t include a map, and there is no way for the player to know what is coming up next.
All they can do is walk to the right until it shows up on their screen.
As for the ga’s long-term incentive, isn't it just to complete the ga? Players are just pushed forward to keep going and keep going until they get to the sweet end.
Finally, there's the aesthetic layout. Providing a great environnt that just ups the ga a notch.
It's not just a black background this ti. From mushroom tops to night scenes and water bridges, the player doesn’t know what kind of level is beyond the next stage or the next pipe.
And this certainly is a strange world; don’t let the classic nature of this ga let you forget how strange it is to juxtapose turtles, mushrooms, pipes, and princesses.
The success of Super Mario Bros. can be attributed to the solidarity and simplicity of its core experience.
At this point in ti almost every ga was about working in a finite playing space and getting a high score a la Space Invaders or Pacman.
However, Super Mario Bros. provided a completely new experience, pushing the player to enter realms not yet seen in any other gas.
Coupled with a banger soundtrack that might as well be a centerpiece of the ga... it was just sothing else.
Granted, there are Flappy Birds and Top Gun now... but that probably won't stop good Mario from making a monuntal mark in the industry. Oh yeah... there's his brother too. Don't forget about him.
Even at this point, Nintendo knows its greatness.
With their renewed NES push, this was the ga that they bundled and really pushed to the forefront.
Kind of their mascot already.
This ga and its characters had already conquered Japan, after all.
Perhaps with its help, they'll be able to upend the threat of Creed and take over the vast gaming expanse that is North Arica.
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As of this mid-sumr July, Mario is gaining quite the traction already. It wasn't Christmas but it was just that ti of the year.
Making Super Mario Bros. very much a threat that's hard to dismiss.
Even Milla, a Creed enthusiast, was wowed. All the more worried about it as well.
She kind of just picked up the NES and the Ga Paks that Alex procured for research and wanted to research herself.
And that should have been it. Yet here she was, still playing as Mario at World 1-2.
"Alex..."
"Yeah?"
"Isn't this bad?"
"It is but it should be fine" Alexander nodded. "You just missed a secret power-up, that's all. It should be inconsequential in the long run."
"I an this ga." Milla clarified. "If this gets popular, wouldn't you be in trouble?"
"Why don't you write a song that trashes this ga and Nintendo around? I'll be the one to sing it." Milla proposed. "I have fans now and that should help out, right?"
"Not necessary." Alexander dismissed but the gesture is appreciated.
He already has a challenger prepped for the occasion, after all.
With how it is, Mario was really propping itself up to be a platforming king and veritable mascot with great appeal.
It just so happens that Alexander had the blue blur that can go toe-to-toe with that. With platforming, mascot prospects, and all.
Mario's demise or the NES' downfall isn't in any way guaranteed. He wasn't really in it for that.
More than anything, he was just interested in how things were going to play out.
Not everyone can get the forefront seat in a historic rivalry, after all.
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