They made sequels to movies. This much I knew. A sequel to a video game? Quoi? I had no pre-conceived notion that a game was supposed to be different than its predecessor, much less even have a sequel.
1988 - Nintendo Entertainment System (Nintendo)
It came out on September 1st, 1988, the day before my 5th birthday. As employees at the store around the corner, my sisters had the scoop on when movies were coming to VHS, what new flavor of chips would be coming in, and of course, when new games came in.
Maybe it was a walk over to get ice cream… or maybe we went for a snack run. Anyhow, as my sister spoke to her co-worker, I was looking at all the games they had to rent. After a few minutes, she calls me over, and breaks the big news – there’s a Super Mario Bros. 2. The store has it, and we’re renting it for a few days. SHE was the one who was excited, giddy at the prospect of playing a new Mario game. I was just shocked that such a thing would even exist!
We bring it home, pop it in, and immediately recognize the differences… but… I like it. I like it a lot. There were no Goombas, Koopas or Bowsers to be seen, just ShyGuys, Snifits and Birdos in their place. It was vibrant and colorful, all the characters had distinct advantages over the others, and the music instantly sucked you into another world. It was another world, and it was amazing. Not that the first one didn’t have that, it’s just that this was almost the polar opposite, yet it all still felt like a Mario game.
Many, many hours had been blissfully lost playing this game by the time I heard the news; Super Mario Bros. 2 was in fact a re-make of a Japanese title by the name of Doki-Doki Panic! Wha? But it feels so Mario-ey! No matter how much I could deny it, it was right there in my Mario Mania magazine.
I feel lied to... but it's OK. I'm over it, now.
(More on the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 later.)
With my idea of making a movie out of games comes a challenge – storytelling sequences were few and far between in the 8-bit days. You knew the game had a story, but it was usually only laid out within the pages of the instruction manual.
For this game, it had an introduction screen and a credits sequence. To fill the void in between, I showed Mario’s journey through defeating bosses and moving through levels. Pretty bare in terms of telling the story of the game, but I have no doubt that these movie games will get better as I play through to newer, more “visually appealing” titles.
