1 SMB – Super Mario Brothers

Super Smash Brothers Melee is a fighting game, with many names you will have got to love over the years – favourite characters from all of Nintendo’s past games like Super Mario Bros, Starfox, F-zero, Metroid, The Legend of Zelda and more.  With up to 26 playable characters including Mario, Fox McCloud, Samus Aran, DK, Link and Zelda.

The game has several modes, you can play with a time limit, live death matches or coin battles for possession of the most coins, all these games are multiplayer modes. In the single player mode you have; adventure mode, classic mode and event mode. In event mode you must complete missions based on each events description, adventure mode you must complete platform based levels and classic mode is a fight based game where each stage is a different fight.

After completing so much of these modes an All-star mode will unlock, this is where you pick a character and with them you must defeat every character of the game one after another. They also include a stadium mode where you can have survival battles, target practice or a home-run contest. At the end of classic and adventure mode you will have to face bosses which are quite easily defeated with a little practice  if you know what you’re doing.

When you start the game you have most of the characters and maps at your disposal, however performing different tasks along the way will unlock maps and characters. There is also a range of collectable trophies; some are rare and others more common. At the end of certain game modes you are awarded coins which can be used in a trophy slot machine to test your luck at getting those rare trophies, the percentage of a new trophy will decrease the more trophies you earn, however by putting more coins in the slot machine you will increase the chance of getting new trophies again only for that single go though.

The game has many hidden ways of unlocking characters, for example to unlock Falco you must play x amount of battles or defeat the 100 man melee, there are also hidden extras like the boss Giga Bowser to obtain him you must defeat the adventure mode within a certain time limit. This game will keep you and the family entertained for hours on end, it is pure fun for everyone.

Super Mario Kart; it has to be one of my all time favourite games, even now I enjoy playing it although the game play and graphics have moved on a long way since the early days of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). That was way back in 1992 gosh I suddenly feel quite old looking back at how long ago it was.

You select a one of eight characters; Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong Jr, Koopa Troopa and Toa, depending on which character you go for will have an impact on your race style. Some characters Karts will have greater handling and acceleration while others will be harder to bump off the track and each character has their own special power, for example; if you are racing against Donky Kong Jr watch out for those banana skins that he throws around.

Nostalgia rules with this footage from the original SNES version.

If I had a SNES in front of me now I know I would be straight on it playing the original Super Mario Kart even though things have moved on an awful long way as you can see by watching the video below which contains footage from latest Mario Kart offering available on the Wii.

Far better graphics and game play on the Wii

I guess despite nearly twenty years between the two versions the basics have remained the same. You race your way around a fun and sometimes challenging track, collecting or avoiding banana skins, weapons and power boosts to aid your way around as you aim to be first past the post.

Although already a very popular game it was in 1997 that this game really took off when it was released on the Nintendo 64. It was at this time that Super Mario Kart featured 3D characters and as long as you had 4 controllers you could invite frieds over and enjoy the experience of the four-person multiplexer. Four human controlled characters and 4 CPU controlled in a mad dash for the line.

This trailer was taken from the Wii version of the new Super Mario Brothers, not don’t you wish you could complete levels as easy as this? Well I can make it a little easier for anyone who already owns the game and they would like 99 lives to help them get through it.

When you are in world 2-3, keep an eye out for the two Piranha Plants somewhere just after the mid-level point. You will see a staircase and a turtle will be descending down the steps. Counting from the bottom up wait until the turtle is about to leave the third step and then jump on it.

Perform this correctly and Mario will continue to pounce up and down on the turtle earning you 99 lives!! Don’t worry if you miss the turtle, just turn around and walk back left before returning as it will respawn. In the original version of Super mario Brothers this same trick would give you unlimited life. 

Now assuming you are mini Mario lets us assume you have lost a few lives before reaching world 7-4. Pass through this stage ensuring you stay on the left hand side. Eventually you should see a question mark appear (?) on a box next to a ledge. Jump onto this box then immediately onto the ledge. Now making sure you stay tight up against the wall jump off the ledge and you will reach another platform which has a red flagpole. This unlocks a Mushroom house North of world 7-4 unlocking a 1-up. You can now continue unlocking 1-ups until you reach a total of 99.

Enjoy this free online version of Super Mario World to start the game just point and click the mouse anywhere within the game box. To control Mario use your keyboard cursor keys to move him around the screen and it is A to jump and S to run to pause the game at any stage hit the space key – Good Luck.

Developed by Nintendo Super Mario Brothers is probably one of the most famous and well known console based games of all time. Released as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros you take control of Mario as he battles his way through the Mushroom Kingdom in his search to rescue the Princess Toadstool from the evil Bowser overcoming many dangers and obstacles along the way. Selecting a two player option will mean Mario receiving a helping hand from his brother Luigi (controlled always by the second player and only available in two player mode).

Super Mario Bros topped the bestselling video game charts for more than two decades, right up until 2009 when Nintendo released Wii Sports which finally toppled it selling 40 million copies worldwide. The success of SMB has seen it released in one form or another on each and every one of Nintendo’s gaming consoles including Wii and DSi.