A History of Super Mario Bros.




Posted by maian

[url=http://games.ign.com/articles/833/833615p1.html]Article[/url]

Heh, it's not really anything special, and many of you may know the story already, but it's an interesting read, in my opinion. Makes me appreciate Mario a lot more.

I want Galaxy nau :(




Posted by Pit

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v124/Viewtiful/100_0133.jpg?t=1194751677[/img]

***bless Mario.




Posted by Borealis


Quoting maian: I want Galaxy nau :(


AGREE.



Posted by Roger Smith

Good story, I enjoyed it.

The main man Mario ftw.




Posted by Linko_16

I always knew Gunpei Yokoi (rest his soul) and Shigeru Miyamoto were the heroes of Nintendo responsible for just about every successful franchise they have, but I never knew they saved the company from certain death. I am humbled.

Hot ****, can't WAIT for Galaxy.




Posted by Ant

Yeah, I read the entire thing on Friday. All old news though...kept for the thing about mario 128...that was semi-interesting.




Posted by WillisGreeny

wow. So, in a way, the video game crash of 83 secured Nintendo's future from the lack of competition? How lucky.




Posted by Last Fog

I didn't read the article, but I've heard the story many times before. Nintendo saving the industry, yadda yadda yadda. But come on, who honestly believes that to this day the video game industry wouldn't exist if it weren't for Nintendo? If they didn't resurrect it, someone would. Just look at the technology we have now. How could you think it would be possible for there to be no video games today?




Posted by WillisGreeny


Quoting Last Fog: I didn't read the article, but I've heard the story many times before. Nintendo saving the industry, yadda yadda yadda. But come on, who honestly believes that to this day the video game industry wouldn't exist if it weren't for Nintendo? If they didn't resurrect it, someone would. Just look at the technology we have now. How could you think it would be possible for there to be no video games today?


The extent of video games current popularity and progress is all due to Nintendo. Many companies went bankrupt or quit the video game industry all together in 83, but Nintendo stayed on. The whole point of why Nintendo's begining is such an inspiring story is the fact they didn't quit when everyone else was, and succeeded in the end to keeping video games alive (not to mention, cheap). Also, the developments of technology worked with the developments of video game hardware. It would be impossible to truely say technology we have now wasn't caused by the advances through video game hardware designers.

Would there have been another company that would have stepped in if Nintendo had not? Impossible to say, but video games surely wouldn't be what they are today thanks to Nintendo.



Posted by Last Fog

Of course, 20 years would have gone by and no one would ever explore the possibilities of electronic entertainment. :rolleyes:




Posted by WillisGreeny


Quoting Last Fog: Of course, 20 years would have gone by and no one would ever explore the possibilities of electronic entertainment. :rolleyes:


It could have taken them 5 years longer, making our current video game technology 5 years behind.
:cookie:



Posted by Last Fog

That doesn't even make sense.




Posted by WillisGreeny

@ last frog: You're trying to argue that video games were just bound for greatness and that any company could have just done what Nintendo did. If you ask me, that makes a lot less sense. Companies during 83 were getting the hell out of gaming, thinking it was just some fad that had passed. Nintendo saw it differently, and was more successful at producing a quality machine than any other company of that time, making video game hardware profitable. If it wasn't for Nintendo there's a good chance the only games we'd play would be computer since the biggest problem and criticism of video games were about the hardware being too expensive for too little performance. Nintendo was the fastest and most effecient developer for such a problem, which is why I say video games (if even continued by anyone else) would have taken longer to reach the point they have now.




Posted by maian

Your opinion is automatically void if you didnt read the article. :)

That being said, Mario had a huge part in making games what they are. It's true that Nintendo stuck in there, but that's not the only thing. It says one reason Mario Bros. was so successful was because Shigeru essentially didn't "know how" to make a game. For that reason, he had a lot more in mind than other developers. It was the first game that actually revolved around a story, albeit a vague, small one. Mario gave us a reason to play. No other developers cared to do that, which is why the market was crashing. Even if the evolution of games was inevitable, they wouldn't be close to where they are now had Mario not come along. He gave gaming a face and a new reason to play, a motive more than just "win". Mario was perfect for the job. If he never existed, I seriously doubt Sonic could do the same.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Point is, Last Fog, no one else did it, Nintendo did. Of course someone else would've come along and taken Nintendo's place but they didn't. That's how history works.




Posted by WillisGreeny


Quoting Vampiro V. Empire: Point is, Last Fog, no one else did it, Nintendo did. Of course someone else would've come along and taken Nintendo's place but they didn't. That's how history works.


that should have been my tl:dr tag



Posted by Linko_16

It'd also be very different from what we have now, chances are. Like the article says, Mario games set the standard for what genres like platformers and 3D adventures are supposed to be like.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

It wouldn't've any different, we just wouldn't have Mario. Plus, not like anyone else really ever reached the bar Mario set anyways. Platforming is basically dead and we're seeing less and less real adventure titles.




Posted by Last Fog


Quoting maian: Your opinion is automatically void if you didnt read the article. :)I know exactly what the article says, I've heard it before.

[quote]That being said, Mario had a huge part in making games what they are. It's true that Nintendo stuck in there, but that's not the only thing. It says one reason Mario Bros. was so successful was because Shigeru essentially didn't "know how" to make a game. For that reason, he had a lot more in mind than other developers. It was the first game that actually revolved around a story, albeit a vague, small one. Mario gave us a reason to play. No other developers cared to do that, which is why the market was crashing. Even if the evolution of games was inevitable, they wouldn't be close to where they are now had Mario not come along. He gave gaming a face and a new reason to play, a motive more than just "win". Mario was perfect for the job. If he never existed, I seriously doubt Sonic could do the same.
Except... no one gave a **** about the story. They were still playing to win, not to save a princess. The game would have been the same if it at the end of every castle it didn't say "your princess is in another castle."


Quoting Vampiro V. Empire: Point is, Last Fog, no one else did it, Nintendo did. Of course someone else would've come along and taken Nintendo's place but they didn't. That's how history works.
Um... that's exactly my point.


Quoting Linko_16: It'd also be very different from what we have now, chances are. Like the article says, Mario games set the standard for what genres like platformers and 3D adventures are supposed to be like.
Nope, it wouldn't be much different at all. If anything, Mario redefined the small genre of platforming, not the entire world of games. Even then, something else would come along eventually. It's the same as saying that without Doom, 3-D FPS's wouldn't exist today.



Posted by WillisGreeny


Quoting Last Fog: It's the same as saying that without Doom, 3-D FPS's wouldn't exist today.


Well, in that respect you're absolutely correct, FPSs would have eventually came out whether or not Doom was ever made. The point I'm getting at, however, is how long would "eventually" take if it wasn't for Doom (or Nintendo) to have come out? It could have taken another year or two, maybe even five years, for another company to have made a 3D FPS or cheap console. We wouldn't have seen as much progress at this point in time with video games if the companies hadn't done what they did.

On the other side, perhabs another company could have done it better but were too slow. That's another possability.



Posted by Pit

last fog, stop arguing, it's not such a trivial topic




Posted by Last Fog

Well, you fags argue about the dumbest **** ever on this site. I thought I'd try it just for fun. ;-D




Posted by WillisGreeny

Acting like a dumb fag grows on ya after a while :D




Posted by Speedfreak

[quote=Last Fog;779382]Nope, it wouldn't be much different at all. If anything, Mario redefined the small genre of platforming, not the entire world of games. Even then, something else would come along eventually. It's the same as saying that without Doom, 3-D FPS's wouldn't exist today.

Without Doom 3D FPSs wouldn't exist today in their present form. They would be well behind.

It's bogus to discredit something that changed the world with the assumption that it would have changed because of something else.




Posted by Linko_16


Quoting Last Fog: Well, you fags argue about the dumbest **** ever on this site. I thought I'd try it just for fun. ;-D


We're sorry if someone makes the most backward assertion ever, we're inclined to say, "Um, no, that's completely wrong."



Posted by Last Fog

Actually, everything I said is right. You just don't want to accept it for some reason.




Posted by WillisGreeny

Accept that Nintendo could have just as easily been any company? I suppose I find it difficult to think Nintendo doesn't deserve credit for having done what it has for video games.

Hell, **** beethoven. Sure, he did a great job and all, but there was plenty of composers that would have came and done what he did if he had chosen not to be a composer.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

You're saying Mario didn't redefine the entire gaming world... when really it did. You're right that something would've come along eventually but what does that have to do with anything?




Posted by Last Fog

Point is the industry would still exist today regardless. It would be different but not too different really.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Likely not in the same form, though, since Nintendo really pushed the medium and inspired a lot of people to hop on the bandwagon. It jump-started the entire thing, likely long before it would've otherwise. Point is, credit is given where credit is due.




Posted by WillisGreeny

Chances are Sega would have never chosen to go for video games if it wasn't for the market Nintendo was generating. No mario => No sonic.




Posted by maian

You say "didn't read article but I know the facts lol". I said your argument is null and void, because you don't know everything that article said, gawd. It wasn't "A History of Mario: He saved the industry END"

...Anyway, the argument is unanimously against you so I'm gonna leave now :cookie:




Posted by Ant


Quoting Vampiro V. Empire: Platforming is basically dead and we're seeing less and less real adventure titles.


sad isn't? how they resort to FPS's.



Posted by Vampiro V. Empire


Quoted post: sad isn't? how they resort to FPS's.


Actually it really is. Metroid Prime is one of the only recent examples I can come up with, and even Prime 3 started leaning further to the shooter side. Actually, Nintendo is the only one bothering with platforming and adventure games at all. The new Ratchet is, like, the only other platformer out there.



Posted by Speedfreak

[quote=Vampiro V. Empire;780235]Actually it really is. Metroid Prime is one of the only recent examples I can come up with, and even Prime 3 started leaning further to the shooter side. Actually, Nintendo is the only one bothering with platforming and adventure games at all. The new Ratchet is, like, the only other platformer out there.

I only recently realised that action-adventure titles are my favourite genre, yet Nintendo are probably one of about 3 developers worldwide actually making them. Shit sucks.




Posted by Zeta

Oh platformers, where have you all gone? ;_;




Posted by Speedfreak

Still waiting on my Sparkster sequel. That series was better competition for Mario than Sonic ever was in my opinion.




Posted by Zeta

I think the closest you'll get to a Sparkster sequel is that Konami Track & Field DS game.




Posted by maian

Well, there's the third Banjo Kazooie! :cookie:

For Xbox, which I don't fscking have.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Going to be terrible. Random collection just isn't fun anymore and looking back, that's all Banjo did. Nintendo got it spot-on with Galaxy which probably explains where they're the only company out there really even making them.




Posted by Speedfreak

Conker was pretty awesome because, like Galaxy, it varied the gameplay a ton.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Rare's pretty much incapable of making good games now though. Viva Pinata was good, but they're just developing for the wrong console.