So it's a little late, but we're going to get the ball rolling on quarterly Together Retro themes. With the holidays coming up, some classic platforming seemed like a nice fit.
The 8/16-bit era has a ton of excellent platformers to explore, from classics like the beloved Super Mario Bros 3 and Capcom's Ducktales, to lesser known gems like Little Nemo and Psycho Fox. I've never spent a lot of time on the NES, so I'm thinking about checking what's over there starting w/Super Mario Bros 2 and then see where I end up going from there. I'm thinking this will be a pretty fun time.
Last edited by Syndicate on Thu Oct 31, 2024 5:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Perfect selection of the genre here. I don’t have any 8- or 16-bit consoles but I do have a GBA and the SNES ports via the Mario Advance series and Donkey Kong Country ports. All of them are great as portable ports. Sure, there are compromises, but they are still fine additions.
Funny you used that image, Syndicate. If you get your hands on either the Virtual Console GBA version or a patched version of the GBA game, Super Mario Bros 3 has an extra 38 levels that are unlike anything else in the main game. It even uses some assets and ideas from other 2D Mario games of the time.
I own too many hoodiesjackets hoodies and DS games and I’m not ashamed!
Thanks for posting this! And great theme, I'm on this like white on rice in a glass of milk on a paper plate in a snowstorm. Not only are classic platformers my bag, but I always feel like playing the NES in the autumn and winter for some reason. And I was just thinking how it's been a while since I've played anything on the NES.
Gucci wrote: ↑Thu Oct 31, 2024 7:54 am
Perfect selection of the genre here. I don’t have any 8- or 16-bit consoles but I do have a GBA and the SNES ports via the Mario Advance series and Donkey Kong Country ports. All of them are great as portable ports. Sure, there are compromises, but they are still fine additions.
Funny you used that image, Syndicate. If you get your hands on either the Virtual Console GBA version or a patched version of the GBA game, Super Mario Bros 3 has an extra 38 levels that are unlike anything else in the main game. It even uses some assets and ideas from other 2D Mario games of the time.
It's funny that you chose Super Mario Bros. 3 as the banner for 8/16-bit platformers. I mean, is it not the quintessential platformer?
And speaking of SMB3, there's something I've always wanted to do with that game. Beat the game by playing through every world in one sitting. I've done this before on the SNES All-Stars version because you can save and continue. And I've played every world at one point or another on the NES version. But the only time I've beaten the NES version is by using warp whistles. I've never played through every world on the NES version. And I've always wanted to try and do that. The problem with doing that as an adult, of course, is time. But since I had a long and exhausting work week, I was planning on just vegging this entire weekend. So I might finally give this a go.
edit: So I just beat the NES version of SMB3, every world in one go. It really wasn't hard. The levels are pretty short, and I've had enough practice that I can just plow through most of them. I used my authentic SMB3 cart, which is sort of out of the ordinary for me today since I've mainly been using a flash cart with the NES for some years now (for no other real reason other than my NES carts aren't stored in the room I've been NES gaming in).
And now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I've every done this with the first two SMB games. I mean, I've beaten both many times. And I know I've played every level in both games. But not counting the SNES All-Stars versions of the games, I'm not sure if I've played through every level in on go on the NES version. I might have done that with SMB1, it's hard to remember at this point. But I'm pretty sure I've never done this with SMB2. I've always just used the warp zones.
That's awesome you finished up SMB 3 on the NES, Ziggy. I haven't revisited that one in a while.
I've been meaning to play through a game or two on Super Mario All-Stars, so I might give the first SMB game a go in the next week or two. I'm also in the mood for some SMB3, but I've only played it sparingly and don't know it as well as Super Mario World. Once I finish up my current game, I'm gonna hop into a platformer.
Also, I'm glad to see Little Nemo get a mention in the original post. My cousin had that game and it was one of the earlier video games I remember checking out.
...way late w/an update here, so it's a good thing Phil said there are 6-more weeks of winter back at the start of the month. Super Mario 2 has been kicking my arse, I never owned a NES, but when I got to play the game back in the day I distinctly recall it being easier. I also tried my hand at Marvel Land on the Genesis...ugh, I really wanted to play this game so badly back in the day. Well, I finally got my chance and ugh...the game looks pretty good for an early title, though for a 8mb cart I did expect a bit more. I liked it on the surface, but the platforming was slippery and sort of wonky. It definitely isn't the type of tight gameplay you'll find a platformer from Nintendo. While you can get used to the wonky platforming physics, the game is really let down by the boss battles. It's that broken game of chance stuff that a lot of early Japanese developers leaned on. There's a rock paper scissors battle a la Alex Kidd, then to a random water balloon mini-game type boss battle and honestly all of it sucks and feels broken. The boss battles became a stopper for me in Marvel Land, so I went ahead and just shelved the game, kind of a shame since I thought I was going to have a better time w/it. Honestly, the highlight was watching the Namco character parade between levels. With Marvel Land being an arcade port, I'd hate to see what the experience was like there
