“Wanna Watch Me Beat Super Mario 3D World?”

He got all the green stars.  He got all the gold flags and all the stamps in all the other levels.  Now all that was left was to complete the ultimate platformer level in the secret, final “Crown World” in Super Mario 3D World.  My boyfriend had been at it for weeks; you had to essentially commit the level to muscle memory and time everything just so, or you fall to your doom and die.  You have to have full understanding of how long and how far and how fast your character (Mario, in his case) jumps and runs…because that changes everything.

My boyfriend played the final level A LOT.  He even grabbed hundreds of lives to have near-infinite tries:

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…And has a specific way to hold the GamePad when his timing starts getting too rushed:

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The last time I saw him try to clear this level, he could only get up to the 2nd area and would curse incessantly at the TV with every death.  And then, just the other night, this transpired…

BOYFRIEND: “After playing this Mario level like 475 times, I don’t get pissed anymore.  I just take the failure and brush it off.”

ME: “Really?  No more cursing?”

BOYFRIEND: “Nah, I’m over it.”

He played the level, screwed up, and died.

BOYFRIEND: “FUUUUUUUUUUUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!!!!!!!”

I stared at him.

BOYFRIEND: “….I think my testosterone goes up when I’m around you….”

Testosterone or Pride?  Hahaha.  This isn’t the first time something like this has happened!  I guess it’s cute, he was trying to show off his skills.  About 50 lives later…he really did beat the level, for the first time ever!  We’ve been playing it together since then, going through all the levels and clearing them with every character.  It’s pretty fun, but I’m new to the whole 3D-genre of Mario…soooo I’m not accustomed to having this squat-jump thing yet.  He tells me it’s from the N64 Mario game, which is a console I completely skipped over while growing up :(  Why couldn’t we be friends in middle school!

Excited For: Super Mario World 3D World

Platform: Wii U
Release Date: 2013 Nov. 22

The end of 2013 is shaping up to be a huge event for Nintendo – tons of hyped up, first party games are getting released, “killer app” type games that could finally move Wii U consoles.  If a remake of an 11 year old Zelda game can move consoles, imagine what it’ll be like when we finally get a GOOD Mario game on the Wii U??  I played New Super Mario Bros. U while housesitting this summer, and was NOT a fan.  Something about that game was missing soul….the levels felt the same as they ever were in any Super Mario game, but nothing about it felt fresh.  The lack of a vibrant world map really disappointed, made it feel small and clinical, and what really killed it was the terrible multiplayer!  I don’t think this game can even be considered “multiplayer”.  Nintendo is a company that always encouraged awesome multiplayer, especially encouraging having your friend sit right next to you instead of off in their own house, miles away, playing online.  How many of us remember carrying a GameCube by its handle and heading to a friend’s party?  How many of us remember the fun of a 4 person split-screen battle in N64’s GoldenEye?

The most exciting thing for me with Super Mario 3D World is the simultaneous multiplayer!!!  I have been wracking my brain trying to find co-op games that me and my boyfriend can play together, but in this day and age…with all our technology….sometimes it feels like the video game world is moving away from gaming together.  As in, right physically next to each other.  Starcraft and Diablo kinda killed that too with their exclusion of LAN capabilities.  I know there’s a site called Co-Optimus, a much-needed database of cooperative video games.  But even browsing through their “couch co-op” section, I’m hard-pressed to find something that sounds interesting. The majority of PS3 titles are first person shooters that even my boyfriend doesn’t care about.  Having Peach, Toad, Luigi, and Mario playing all at once brings back a lot of fond Mario Kart and Super Mario Advance memories.

Aside from multiplayer, pretty much everything about the gameplay is also awesome, haha!  The new transparent tubes you can collect and place around the game, the cat suit that lets you climb (I find it hilarious how creepy Mario looks in it), the shiro tanuki suit you can get if you beat a level, if my Japanese skills are holding up, which sorta looks like you have god-like star effects.  I hear the levels are rather short, but there are so many options and competitive ways to play it, Super Mario 3D World is shaping up to be a game with huge replay value.  As expected from Nintendo…fingers crossed this game and the new handheld Zelda will get the company back on the ball, financially.

Also check out Polygon’s interview with Miyamoto over Super Mario 3D World.