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Wednesday 20 February, 2008
Game: Super Mario Bros. All Stars
Class: CMPS 80K
Time: 3:00-4:00
Gameplay
It has been a lot of the same for me lately for gaming. I have been dividing my time, as evenly as possible between the 3 main Mario titles. That really was one of the best things about Super Mario All Stars was the fact that all the games where on one cartridge, and all had been enhanced to look graphically better than the original games. Also, it had always seemed to me that many games from the past just seemed easier to play then many current games. This thought is both true and not true for all 3 Mario Bros. games. It is untrue in the fact that there are many parts of the game where one must find the right timing which can become immensely hard, or in some cases one must be able to complete various levels with a limited amount of lives. However, the statement is true that eventually one builds up enough lives to where that factor becomes moot. Also it is very easy to simply run through most of the levels avoiding most conflicts; simply put speed runs are possible.
The various story lines have not been totally reveled to me, that is to say that for the most part I am still at the beginning of the games (i.e.: 2nd or 3rd worlds tops), but that is not to say that I don’t already know the basic premise of most Mario games, which is of course save the princess. However, that story does not seem to apply to Super Mario Bros. 2, which is very different from the other two volumes of the game, so much so that I have seen it dubbed as “the black sheep”. Overall the gameplay has been basic Mario: run, jump, get coins, and power ups. But even those change in various areas of the game, which is just its own basic evolution within the series.
Design
Each of the 3 games are very different from one another. But Super Mario All Stars overall has a few Design elements, mainly the fact that it is in its essence a gallery game, where you have multiple games to choose from. Also all the games are graphically enhanced, and in that case better looking than the original games. Within the game themselves there are differences between them and their originals, the differences range anywhere from visual, point systems, sound, and even the fixing of bugs.
One of the greatest things about the Super Mario Bros. series of games is the level design. Each level, although basically the same, jump on platforms, smash enemies, pick up coins, reach the flag/icon box (for Super Mario Bros. 3), is interesting and visually different from one another. Even in each series of the game, where there can be some overlap, I mean there are only so many above ground, below ground, water levels, mountain levels, desert levels, one can do, but within the series each one is done in a different way within each series.
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