Super Mario 64

This was the big one, this was the game that I had taken a five month paper round to save up enough money to buy the N64 and have this as the launch title. To this day, Super Mario 64 is my favourite game of all time. 

My first glimpse of Super Mario 64 came on an older computer game show called Gamestation. The console had only just launched in Japan, which I believe was in the September of 1996, and they had a person running the last Bowser level as quickly as possible. If I remember correctly, the total footage time lasted no more than two and a half minutes, but it was enough to grab my imagination and pin my hopes and dreams on the N64 over the up and coming Sony Playstation. 

I was hooked to say the least; the only problem was that I would have to wait until March 1997 when the console launched in the UK. The fact that I had to save up my own money in this period made launch day all the more satisfying. Bringing home Super Mario 64 and setting it up on my small kitchen table television was a memory that stays with me to this day. I remember turning the console on and seeing Mario's 3D head spinning around in all its polygon delight. 

One of the most glorious aspects of the game is its colour; the bright vibrant worlds hit you from the very first moment when you are transported to the outer grounds of the castle. The variation of the fifteen worlds which you can explore enhance this experience. Walking around Rainbow Road or battling whirlwinds in the sand world, they all had something new, something refreshing. 

And then there was the exploring that could be time. Super Mario 64 opened up a new meaning to the term 'open world' and set the bench mark for games to come in this regard. Although the game was split into sections and only certain areas of the castle could be accessed after obtaining a certain number of stars, all of the worlds were completely open to explore for as long as you desired. In contrast to today's games, the worlds in Super Mario 64 would probably appear relatively small and compact; but this was compared to games on the Super Nintendo. The level of variety in the levels meant I was playing this game for months after its release.

But it is the play-back-ability that keeps it at the top of my all time list. Although many of the games from this era have suffered badly from graphics improvements and level design, Super Mario 64 remains a game that I can play today and still have a great time. Yes it looks dated, but for me it looks like a game from the nineties, it looks like a trendsetter. I think that the gaming world owes a great debt to Super Mario 64 and its creators. There really is nothing like it.

Goldeneye

Jumping ahead a little bit with this next one. Thought I would mix it up and tackle my first N64 game on this list. I won't go into the story behind my N64, I'll leave that for the Mario 64 entry, but it did very much take over from the Super Nintendo. One of my defining memories from my time with the N64 was the day my dad brought home from America a copy of Goldeneye.

Goldeneye was a game I had happened to read about in a N64 magazine and I thought it looked quite interesting. I had fairly limited experience with first person shooters at the time but was really intrigued by the different levels and weapons. As my dad was going to Detroit at the time on work, I asked if he could pick up a copy whilst he was over there as it wasn't coming out in the UK until some time later. He did so, and I had the joy of telling all my mates how great the virtually unheard of game was.

I played the majority of the game on a small 14" TV in the kitchen, the same one I had played the Super Nintendo on for so many years. Graphically the game wasn't mesmerising, we were already quite a way into the cycle of the N64 and this game didn't break any boundaries in this sense. But it was fine for the type of game and the settings which were included. Not having watched the film of the same name at the time, the levels and plot to the game were all new to me.

What made this game so enjoyable for me was the level design and how the AI interacted with you. Starting off on the Agent difficulty I soon got the hang of the controls and what was required to progress the different levels. But what also struck me was that it wasn't all about killing people, you were given different tasks like planting bombs and hacking into computer systems. 

At some point whilst working through the Special Agent mode though I hit a wall. I can't remember the level I got stuck on but it came at a time where I had a new game and just ended putting Goldeneye to the side for about a year. It was only when my step-brother started playing it that I got back into it. Once this happened I began a run that would eventually see us set the system up on the big TV downstairs one Saturday night for a final battle to complete 00 Agent mode.

Completing Goldeneye on 00 Agent remains one of my most satisfying game victories ever. I get the feeling a lot of people glossed over the single player element for the multiplayer, but for me it was all about tackling that single player game. I spent a bit of time messing about with the cheats that I had unlocked for a laugt but never really went back to the game after that.

I think it is safe to say that it doesn't hold up too good today compared to some N64 titles but for a time back in the late 90s this was the game on everyone's lips. And as the magazine Edge said in their 10th Anniversary edition, it was the only game they hadn't awarded a perfect 10 which they should have done in retrospect. 

The best bond game ever and the blueprint for first person shooters to come.

Super Mario Kart

Forget all of the remakes over the years, the original Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo is the only one worth playing in my opinion. I got it for Christmas 1992, the same time our family got a Super Nintendo. For a long time it was the only I was playing on, it took the prime playing spot in my spare time.

I worked my way through the Grand Prix usually using Toad or Kooper as my kart of choice. But it wasn't until later on that I really unraveled what made the game so special to me which was the time trial option. At times I would literally spend hours at a time trying to perfect some of the levels. I remember one weekend when my step-brother and I took it in turns to try and reduce our best times on the first Ghost Valley track. 

I don't think there has been another time in all the years I've been gaming that I have strove for such perfection.The kart of choice was Bowser as he had great speed and once you got used to the handling he could smash anyone's time. Getting a time in the top five for overall race time was good, but it was the lap time that we were after. It was a case of power-sliding around each corner with virtually nothing between you and knocking into the wall. It was instinctive driving at its finest, something that the realistic driving sims of today can't pull off.

Super Mario Kart had a lot of variety with the different kart types , each with their own attributes, and the clever level design, ending in the remarkable Rainbow Road. Again, Nintendo were able to hit that certain something which makes a game so special. It may not be so much fun to play today because of the graphics and controls, but at the time, it was a sublime piece of game development.

Super Mario World

Where else to start my journey but the very beginning. Well, ok, not the very beginning but the introduction to computer consoles for me. I had experienced computer games on the ZX Spectrum and my step-sister's Atari ST but when my step-brother brought up his brand new Super Nintendo in the summer of 1992, little did I know that it would change my life forever.

The game that he brought with this new console was the classic Super Mario World. Now, looking back on my introduction to computer consoles, I can't think of another game I would rather begin my journey with. It just took my breath away, and still does. The colours, the sounds, the level design, there is nothing about the game that I can complain about. It's close to being a perfect game for me.

But this was my step-brother's version, I wanted my own. I had to wait until Christmas 1992 before my mum decided to invest in a Super Nintendo which came with its own copy of Super Mario World. Unfortunately, I also received Super Mario Kart at the time so Super Mario World took a bit of a back seat at the time. Plus I got stuck on the Star World and couldn't get past some of those levels. 

It wasn't until some time later that I actually went back and completed the game in its entirety. And with that came a great deal of satisfaction. It's a game that deserves completing. I look back at the levels which Nintendo included and the different worlds you got to explore. There was so much variety for the time and so many different types of enemies that you really had to keep your wits about you whilst you were playing.

Such was the impact of this game that I would still include it in my top five games of all time, possibly even my top three. It's one of the games from that era that I can still play today with the same kind of enjoyment that I did twenty years ago. Whether it was on the Wii Virtual Console, the Gameboy Advance, or a simple PC emulator, there is something special about this game. 

It is the peak of 2D platform gaming; nothing has ever come close to it in my opinion. If I were to make a 2D platforming game, this would be my blueprint. 

It brought Mario to the mainstream, and I'm so grateful for it. And it's safe to say that this won't be the only time we see the little plumber on this journey... 

In The Beginning

So, for a while I've been thinking of doing a computer game blog. I didn't really know what to base it on though as I don't play enough new games to do one on the current market. My previous attempts at doing blogs have started ok but the subject matter has meant that I lose interest in them quickly. What I wanted was a blog where I already have the subject matter in my head and I can just write about it as and when I please.

So what I've decided to do is go back through the years I've been gaming, right back to the early 1990s, and take you through some of the games that have had an impact on my gaming. This doesn't mean that the blog will just be about my favourite games; I'm hoping to explore games that just come to mind, which may be for all the wrong reasons. 

It's easy to think about current games and how they have an impact on us all, but I often think of the days I sat in my kitchen on a small 14" TV playing on the Super Nintendo or the N64. This is where my passion for gaming began, trying to shave a few tenths of a second off my best time on Super Mario Kart before it was time for tea. It's the experience of these games which I want to capture and how they became the influence on my life they have.

But this is nothing serious. I'm not a professional writer and I don't pretend to be. I'm not going to spend ages formatting and adding fancy effects to this... I want it to be a simple reflection of the memories as they come to me.

Feel free to comment on any of the games mentioned and what your memories of them are.

Thanks for reading...

Mike