Throwback Thursday Super Mario 64

“It’s me Mario”

            Today’s Throwback Thursday game is a legend.  A must had game for anyone that had a Nintendo 64. That game is Super Mario 64.

            Super Mario 64 was released on the Nintendo 64 on June 23, 1996, September 26, 1996 in America and March 1 1997 in Europe. This was one of the first games released on the Nintendo 64 and not only was it one of the first games released on that system but it was also one of the first games to introduce gamers to a 3D world. . Of course many gamers would say the graphics weren’t that great in the 90s but looking at the year it was you can say that Nintendo did a great job. During that time places like Wal-Mart, Toys R US and many places that sold video games had this game on display.

            Players take controller of everyone’s favorite Italian hero Mario. He is invited to the castle by Princess Peach where she has baked him a cake but as soon as Mario arrived to the castle he notices that Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser and it’s up to Mario using the power of the stars to save her.

            Now the biggest difference between Mario 64 and his past titles is that it’s no longer a 2D side plat former and it gave players to walk around in a 3D world going wherever you want to go and with that Mario can do a lot more than what he can do in previous games. He can punch, kick, jump, long jump, flip, back flip, wall jump, swim underwater and many more.

            The objective of the game is to collect the stars by traveling to different worlds by having Mario jump through paintings and completing certain objectives such as fighting bosses, solving puzzles, collecting red coins and many more. In these levels players will run into familiar enemies such as the bomb-ombs who will chase Mario as soon as they see him, Goombas who will run into Mario but just like other Mario games they are defeated the same way by simply jumping on them. As players complete the objective they are awarded with a star. Mario can use the stars to unlock more levels and getting to the bad guy himself Bowser. By defeating Bowser the first time gives Mario a key to unlock a different floor in the castle. There are three sections of the castle the player will have to explore. Take note that certain levels can only be unlocked with a certain number of stars and also take not that not every level contains a painting. That’s up to the players to try and find all of them.

            There are also secret rooms in the castle that players can find. In those secret rooms players can also unlock hat abilities such as the Red Wing Cap which gives Mario the ability to fly around and glide through levels. The Blue Vanish Cap makes Mario immaterial and gives him the ability to walk through certain walls and cages. The Green Cap transforms Mario’s whole body into metal making invincible, walking underwater, withstanding wind and many more.

            The reception for Super Mario 64 has been nothing but great. Receiving nothing but 90s and almost received a perfect score. The only downside with this game is the camera control. Take note that is one of the first games to give players free control of the camera. It was a bit difficult to control the camera especially with the c buttons. But Nintendo learned from their mistake and later used the c stick for future generation games.

            The soundtrack for this game is amazing as well. My favorite soundtrack of the game has to be the water music. It’s so calm and relaxing. A soundtrack for this game has been released but players can find all the tracks on YouTube.

            The impact Super Mario 64 has been huge. There are gamers that have performed speed runs and still to this day there are many gamers on twitch TV setting records and it’s really enjoyable to watch. They definitely take their time and practice a lot to beat the records.

            To this day many gamers say that Super Mario 64 is their favorite Mario game of all time or greatest video game of all time. This is definitely one of my favorite games of all time and I never get tired of playing it. Gamers can download Super Mario 64 as an emulator or they can be it brought on the Wii’s virtual console. The Gaming Advisory gives Super Mario 64 9 out of 10.

           

            

Darkstalkers Series

Throwback Thursday: Darkstalkers series

Robert Knuckles

Time for another Throwback Thursday folks and this time we’ll talk about Capcom’s famous monsters fighting it out in the series called Darkstalkers. In this throwback I’m going to talk about the series as a whole and not just one specific game.

Darkstalkers is a 2D fighting game that features monster characters such as a Vampire, Werewolf, Zombie, Mummy and many more. Darkstalkers was released in Japanese arcades in 1994 then a year in a half later Darkstalkers was released on the PS1  in America in 1996.

Now when players first get a glimpse of Darkstalkers many of them would say “oh this is Street Fighter with monster characters” well part of that may be true but Darkstalkers features a very fast paced fighting game. It also features chain combos meaning that players can connect a light punch to a medium punch and end it with a hard punch. Darkstalkers also features air blocking. Now just like Street Fighter Darkstalkers has a super meter but what makes it different is that once it's filled players have a certain amount of time to perform a super combo or a powered up version of a normal move.

Darkstalkers story is about the evil non-playable alien Pyron whose collecting planets as he devours them and now he has plans set on Earth. The only thing that can stop Pyron are the 10 playable monster characters that the player picks. Darkstalkers features interesting characters such as the Vampire Demitri who claims to regain his throne of the dark world. Another great character Morrigan the Succubus who’s a princess of the demon world Makai. Morrigan neither good or evil she just wants to have fun fighting strong opponents. Morrigan still today is one of Capcom's famous characters and she’s in a number of different fighting games outside of Darkstalkers.

Darkstalkers continued to grow with the sequel Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge. This was basically the updated version of the first Darkstalkers. Players can now stock up to unlimited number of gauges. The two types of super moves players could do which are ES Specials which are enhanced regular special moves and EX Specials. Players can also play as new characters Donovan Baine the demon hunter and Hsien-Ko the Chinese Ghost. Players can also play as the boss characters; Huitzil the robot and alien boss Pryon.

In 1998 Darkstalkers 3 was released. Darkstalkers 3 removed veteran fighters Huitzil, Pyron and Donovan (but available on the console version PS1) but introduced four new characters Q-Bee, bees that crave souls, Lilith Morrigan's other half, Jedah demon the (new boss for most characters) that's trying to recreate the demon world and the famous B.B. Hood whose appearance looks innocent but deep down there's a monster inside with no heart.

Now the gameplay has changed quite a bit. Gameplay is a bit more faster than the previous Darkstalkers games. There is only one round with characters each having two life bars. First play to knock down both life bars win. Definitely similar to Killer Instinct. Sometimes matches can end pretty fast. Darkstalkers 3 features the new Dark Force where players can perform unique abilities such as Felicia gets a little kitty helper or Lilith having a double copy to give out multiple hits.

Another unique thing about Darkstalkers is that the animation that the characters perform is amazing. The faces they make getting hit, getting frozen, burned or getting hit by Demitri's Midnight Bliss (which is probably one of the most famous special moves ever) when he turns everyone into a beautiful girl and drains the life out of them.

There have been other Darkstalkers titles after the third game. Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower for the PSP came out in 2005. It featured all 18 characters and now players can choose a different playstyle from all three Darkstalkers games and the Chaos tower also features Tower mode where players fight CPUs under certain conditions. Another Darkstalkers game was released in the same year called Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection for the PS2 that was only released in Japan a collection that featured all five Darkstalkers arcade games.

In 2013 Darkstalkers made a comeback with Darkstalkers Resurrection. A downloadable game for Xbox 360 and PS3. It features Night Warriors Darkstalkers Revenge and Darkstalkers 3 both featuring online play.

I’m a fan of the Darkstalkers series and really love the characters. Some people can argue that the characters are more popular than the actually game. Now the question comes to mind is that will there be a brand new Darkstalkers game? It’s hard to say because Darkstalkers Resurrection sales didn’t do so well. If sales did well we possibly could have seen a new Darkstalkers game. I would really love to see a new Darkstalkers game. I’m still hoping for a new one. It might not be as famous here in America but in Japan it gets a lot more love. Darkstalkers is a really fun game. If you love fast paced fighting games with monsters then this is the throwback fighting game for you!