Old School Nintendo

One of the great things about the Nintendo Wii as the Virtual Console. This is the device that allows you to go online and download classic Nintendo games. Thus far, I've downloaded all of the old Super Mario games as well as the classic Zeldas and Metroids. Great stuff.

Anybody remember playing Super Mario Bros. 3? I remember seeing it and being in awe as a kid. There was this old Fred Savage movie, The Wizard, about a kid who had a knack for video games. At the end of the film, while he was playing in the video game tournament finals, America was introduced to Super Mario 3. If it's possible to geek out as a 9 year old, I did.

Then the actual game came out. After a few months of saving up my allowance, I finally bought what could've been the greatest video game of all time (at the time). And something that was great was that I had a subscription to Nintendo Power magazine. This meant that I got a strategy guide to Super Mario Bros. 3. This means I memorized that sucker. I knew everything about that game. I knew where all the enemies were, where all the coins were, where all the hidden 1-up mushrooms were hiding. That was then.

This is now. I downloaded Super Mario 3 the other day. I really don't remember it being as hard as it is. I mean, really difficult. Don't get me wrong, I beat it. But I did so by making my way through all 8 worlds and every stage. There were a few times I got fed up and quit playing. But the plus side to this new fangled Wii thing is that you can save your games. I remember when games didn't have those awesome save features.

When Jen was in town we were giving her niece a hard time when she complained about how hard New Super Mario Bros. for DS is. "Yeah, you've got it so rough with your save files." That's right, when I was a kid, it was all or nothing. You start with three lives and if you were lucky, you got some continues. But for most games you die and that's it, game over. And if you want to quit and come back to it later, too bad. You can't save and play later. You have to hit pause and leave the game on, which I was always told is bad for the Nintendo. So to you kids out there who play your brand new PS3s and XBoxes, don't take that hard drive for granted.