I feel just terrible for neglecting the sports game genre. Well no that's a lie. Most sports games are for the gramers of society; EA caters to them not to my brand of gamer. However there are a few silly sports games I do enjoy playing. You guessed it audience, they deal with Nintendo and Mario. If you didn't actually guess it don't worry, I just told you.
Aight aight I'll stop with the meanness audience in order to move onto Mario Tennis (wahoo!). Now just for clarification I am going to be focusing on the N64 title and not its gameboy sub-par sibling. Saying that I own the gameboy version since I really wanted to unlock all the courts on the N64. We also won't be reviewing the virtual boy version. Or the DS version. Just N60-motherfucking awesome to the max four. Right-o, it's time to list random niblets of goodness about the game.
This game is entirely based upon the sport of tennis though some of the rules are altered (amount of games per set)
You can be a multitude of Mario universe characters who each have a specific skill set i.e. Bowser is power based and Mario is all around.
Gameplay can be singles or doubles for tournament mode
There are special courts such as the Bowser Court, Ring Tournament, and Piranha Challenge which act as extra mini-games
Deuce
The game includes two unlockable characters (six including the four achieved from connecting the gameboy game to the N64 controller)
Paratroopa is the most badass character
Birdo is the lamest character even underneath Luigi status
Each character has a victory dance
Each character also has a losing visual. Peach's is the most hilarious
Well that sorta sums up the game. Sorta. I mean it is a tennis game so there isn't a plot or story to complain and rave about. What I love to do is play the tournaments and destroy my friends at multiplayer.
Star tournament with my favorite flying turtle
So the tournaments are initially the traditional three stages of Mario tournaments; mushroom, flower, and star. Eventually though if you beat the singles tournament with every character you unlock the special tournaments which are rainbow, moonlight, and planet. The special tournaments are slightly more difficult than the regular tournaments and contain more games and sets per match. Honestly though there's no better feeling than crushing an opponent at the Star tournament. Championship point!
Ah that's right. In this Mario game you (the player audience) find more voice over work than normal. For instance Peach will sadly bemoan losing a match with "oh I lost" followed by crying. Birdo also talks as does Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Toad, Baby Mario, Waluigi, and Wario. The others which consist of anthropomorphic creatures (Bowser, DK, Paratroopa, Boo, Yoshi, etc) make their trademark noises.
AKA Birdo
Oddly enough Birdo is given a female voice (she's really a he) as well as speech whereas Yoshi retains his usual "yoshi" sounds. Regardless the voice over tracks add to the game with not only interesting match sounds (just play as Peach) but also losing and winning sequences. However the best audio tracks belong to Mario since he is not only a playable character but also the tennis announcer.
During each match Mario introduces who is serving, the score, as well as match and championship points. My favorite is when Mario declares "Deuce!" (when both players achieve 40 points in a match a deuce is called requiring two consecutive points to be won in order to win the game) since deuce is both a funny sounding word and Mario has a funny sounding voice. Don't give me that look audience it is an amusing word. Just hearing it makes me think of a very special song. Heh heh, deuce.
So you might be wondering why I favor Paratroopa as my go-to ass-kicking character. If you're not wondering why then too bad, bout to tell you why audience. Paratroopa is a "tricky" based character meaning he isn't the easiest to control at first since he favors a curved serve. However once mastering Paratroopa (or Boo) you can dominate the game. By performing a "curved" serve you are able to often stagger your opponent in the first point giving you a leading advantage. Deuces are funny to say not fun to play. Avoid the deuce and use Paratroopa!
Also Paratroopa says "pedal pedal," all the time which is adorable. He also backflips in victory. So yeah, he's a badass turtle.
Aight well this blog post is short but it as about a tennis themed game so there isn't too much to be said. Basically if you enjoy tennis, love Mario characters, and believe the word Deuce to be funny you will enjoy this game audience. Remember though, Birdo sucks.
Ok due to some complaints about the Diddy Kong theme music on my last post, I've decided to make music optional for the Super Mario World post. If you wish to listen to the game menu theme song scroll down and press the play button. The Diddy Kong post will be changed since it's considered "annoying". Alright, moving on from my little PSA
Super Mario World! Oh this game has so much injected nostalgia for me. Not only was it the game I played co-op with my brother Pete when I was little (I thought I would be), but also the game I still play co-op with him when we are together. It's one of those games where the more you play it, the more you discover. Also it's fun to mess around with the different Yoshi breeds. Hmm, that came off wrong. What I meant to say was it's entertaining to fuck about with colored Yoshis. Ha, I made it worse.
Where to begin with this fantastic game? Well for starters no one actually plays level one first because level two is so much more fun. Also it is a bit confusing on which way to go. Personally I choose right over left because left often causes you to become screwed in a game. Plus just look at this map! Which do you choose, the one on the right or the one on the left? Well the one on the right (level two) has Yoshi in it and the one on the left (level one) has annoying purple dinosaurs and giant bullet bills in it. Plus the number of one up's (extra lives) possible in level two is incredible. I'll often revisit level two (a side note, being able to replay levels is not only crucial to gaining a 100% completion of the game but it's also an awesome perk) just to gain tons of lives for myself.
Quick tip! Notice in the picture of Yoshi's Island that level one is yellow and level two is red? Well red levels mean that there is more than one way of completing the level. This could mean two finish lines, a pair of wings, or a hidden key and keyhole. These levels later on in the game are a bitch but the feeling gained after beating them is pure ecstasy.
Alright let's do an overview of the game. Oh, and let's pretend the bullet points are in fact bullet bills! Humor me ok?
The main hero of the game is Mario aka player one aka the better character, he just is. Sorry Luigi but you'll always be number two.
It is the first game to include Yoshi! He can not only eat enemies and give you an extra boost but if you know where to look there are some special Yoshis who have unique powers due to their color.
The overworld map and soundtrack to this game are both beautiful. The amount of color used puts a smile on anyone's face. Plus the overworld theme and world titles are so cheerful. Cookie Mountain anyone?
The point of the game is to rescue Princess Toadstool from an all too familiar turtle, Bowser. First Mario must conquer the seven Koopa Kids in order to reach Bowser's hidden lair.
There is also a secret world that has some of the most ridiculous level names imaginable even in the 90's. So tubular and gnarly duuuude!
Where to go from here? I know, power ups/abilities of both Mario/Luigi and the various Yoshis. If you've ever played a side-scroller Mario title before you know what that thing on the left it, a red mushroom. It's purpose is to "grow" Mario to full size. If Mario touches an enemy he will shrink back into his tiny midget form. This is the first power up you will come across in the game. It's sometimes very annoying, just like the fire flower, since once touched it takes away any other power up you had and applies its own ability. This means if you say have a cape feather power up, touching a mushroom reverts you to having no cape feather. It's bullshit.
Ah I just mentioned the other two "storable" power ups; fire flower and cape feather. The fire flower does what its name entails, it enables Mario to shoot fireballs at enemies. This is all good so long as your enemies don't possess a metal shell or aren't made of bone. The fireballs will kill most everything else but tend to shoot downward unless you are holding the "up" arrow on the D-pad. This can be limiting depending on the level layout. The cape feather gives Mario the power of flight, sorta. If given a large enough space Mario can run and soar into the air. He then takes his cape and uses it as a type of parachute that sustains him in the air. Hmm I'm not doing that power up justice. Here, if you don't know what I'm talking about check it out below,
The cape feather is also useful for killing enemies that the fireball cannot. If Mario is standing or falling he can do a cape spin that not only kills enemies but flips shells and turn blocks. It's a useful tactic making the cape feather the most coveted power up in the game. It is only found on flying Koopas (shell-less Koops who wear red and yellow capes), in green "!" blocks, and rarely in regular "?" blocks. Try to have two cape feathers at all times.
Quick Tip, these three power ups are storable meaning once Mario touches another power up his previous power up is stored in a small box at the top of the screen. If you wish to use this "extra" power up simply press the "select" button and it will fall from the box.
Onto Yoshis and their amazing abilities.
So Yoshi is the adorable green dinosaur and companion of Mario. He and Mario team up in this game since Bowser has not only taken Princess Toadstool but he's captured several of Yoshi's friends in eggs and given them to his Koopa kids. What a dick of a turtle. Fortunately green Yoshi was not held prisoner in a castle but was instead stuffed into an egg which was put into a question block. He's accessible twice in level two on Yoshi's Island so he's not in there for too long. His pals have to wait a lot longer. Especially the little dude in Larry's castle, poor Yoshi egg was there forever! Green Yoshi is not the only Yoshi in the game, oh no there are three other colors of Yoshi available if you are able to find a Star World portal and are willing to beat the difficult levels found in the mystifying place that is Star World! Heh, I like Star World.
So the easiest way to access Star World (in my professional Nintendo gamer opinion) is in the Donut Plains. You can either do it through Donut Plains one (the first level in Donut Plains) after unlocking the green power switch and running up the wall of green "!" blocks to a key and keyhole about midway through the level or through the Donut Plains' Ghost House by flying up to a secret platform in the first room of the ghost house. Both ways work for they both unlock Donut Secret one which is an underwater level. In order to unlock the Star World portal from here it is necessary to complete the level with the key and keyhole. If memory serves you need Mario to have a cape feather power up to access the key, or the keyhole. You need the cape either way. Congratulations, you have found Star World. So now what?
Star World is relatively small and has portals that connect to various areas on the Dinosaur Land map. Honestly it didn't need the third portal, it's rather useless and should've been moved to Chocolate Island but the game designers absolutely wanted a portal in the middle of the lake. Sigh, whatever. So back to Star World it is indeed the home of the special Yoshis; red, yellow, and blue. Before this time green Yoshi would have a special ability depending on what color shell he ingested. If for say he gulped down a red Koopa shell, green Yoshi could release three fireballs that crisp innocent Koopas into coins. Nifty right? Well the special colored Yoshis can eat any shell and will have the ability of their specific Yoshi color rather than the shell's color. Red Yoshi always spits fire, yellow Yoshi stomps the ground causing small tremors to flip enemies, and blue Yoshi (my favorite) grows wings and flies.
Warning, after a certain amount of time Yoshi completely swallows whatever shell he's holding causing his power to vanish until he swallows a new shell. This means if you're flying you'd better have a place to land or you're screwed!
The gameplay is side-scroller style but unlike certain prior Mario games you are able to backtrack through the level so long as it's within the time limit. A cool perk to this is if you hop off Yoshi to climb a vine he will still be there waiting for you so long as you don't go through any doors or pipes. Back in the day that was badass! The biggest challenge of the side-scroller style is finding a landing for yourself after you jump. The screen only moves so fast and when Mario is falling he doesn't have much time til he hits the ground. This is what makes the final SPECIAL (literally that's what they're called) levels so damn difficult. Most of them are composed of fall away platforms meaning you had better have fast reflexes because once you lose a jumping rhythm you are dead. The SPECIAL world is also the secret world I mentioned earlier with the ridiculous level titles. They are as goes; Gnarly, Tubular, Way Cool, Awesome, Groovy, Mondo, Outrageous, and Funky. Welcome to the 90s children, it's "way cool" and "outrageous". Though I'm one to talk, I still actively say and use the words "rad", "trip", "sick", and of course "dude".
Well that seems like a beefy enough blog post. Can you tell that I love this game? Again audience just wait til I have Zelda fever, it's bound to happen soon since November is Zelda Month. For those entries I may just focus on one aspect of whatever Zelda game I'm talking about since you'd otherwise find a post over a hundred pages. Til later audience and may the D-pad be with you.
A special note, in truth I was actually listening to the Final Fantasy XIII title music while writing this blog post. I just had a craving for it, don't judge me!
