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Free for All: Free-to-play MMO versions of your favorite Nintendo games
I have to be honest -- I wasn't the biggest Nintendo fan. I grew up right as the whole thing was really smashing and keeping kids glued to their TVs, but I generally went outside and played more than stayed inside and played games. (Odd, huh?) Still, I had my fun with certain titles. Contra rocked my boat, along with Kid Icarus and a bit of Mario Brothers. My friends, on the other hand, were full members of the Nintendo nation. They subcribed to the magazine, played the same games for hours and hours, and generally acted as though the fate of the real world hung in the balance as they attacked that last boss monster. Stylistically, the games have left a mark on the genre. Many of those same titles still sell as well, some of them reaching so many variations that I lost track a long, long time ago. I thought it might be fun to list off some free-to-play MMOs that remind me of those old classics. See what you think, and leave any suggestions in the comments section!
MMObility: Glitch makes you wish you were as cool as it is
If you have kept up with my columns for a while, you know what a fan of Glitch I am. I have to admit that I've been terribly angry at the developer, Tiny Speck, for not bringing the game into a final phase yet. I wanted my little Glitch to stay as he was when I logged out; I didn't want to see him wiped over and over again after those pesky tests that help assure quality and playability. So I've been avoiding the testing phase for the most part. Isn't that just a perfect example of how mania drives gamers? We will do anything to avoid playing a favorite upcoming game for fear of becoming attached to our little digital selves or spoiling the fun of discovering new quests. Well, we'll wait no more! As of today, the game and world is finally open to anyone. That means you get to jump in, nibble pigs, massage butterflies, collect random items you find on the floor, and generally exist in the imagination of a giant. Sounds cool? It is cool. In fact, I need to explain just how cool it is. Click past the cut!
The Brothers Mario return in GTA IV machinima 'Kong Country'
Machinima stars The Brothers Mario are back, and they've brought a new character with them: "Don Keykong," a mob boss who's bananas for vengeance. Along with all of the other cameos, there's even a music video for the gangsta anthem featured in the trailer. Being a plumber has never been so badass.
First Impressions: Spiral Knights
If you were one of the lucky few who grabbed a Spiral Knights beta key recently, then you will appreciate the joy I feel when talking about this game. It's simply a toy -- a ray-gun or a tin robot. It does what it is supposed to do and does it on a variety of machines without many issues. It is mechanized fun, simple and to the point, yet somehow also endearing and even sweet. Perhaps the tiny robots and adorably destructive weaponry implemented by the folks at Three Rings help to bind the game to our hearts, because I found myself worrying that the little robot I was aiding would never find the materials he needed to escape from the dreadful gearworks and steam engines I was forced to investigate. Confused? Well, go log in and try it out or click past the cut to hear my explanation!
Super Mario Bros. gets modern sound effects, nostalgia ensues (video)
We can only wonder what'll happen when you reach a certain score -- you know, somewhere above 8000...
Rise and Shiny recap: Dragonica
I was so glad to get back to normal this week, logging into a new (well, newish) game to enjoy and to write about. Dragonica, from what I remember, had been shut down some time ago. Somehow, magically, the announcement of its return slipped past my eyes, but here it is. It seems gPotato EU is going to be publishing it, considering that that's where I found it. I know, I know -- I work at Massively.com, the worlds' coolest and most reliable source for all things MMO, so how did this news get past me? I have no idea. Still, I was glad to see it sitting on my hard drive, waiting to be played. I never gave it much of a chance before, mainly because side-scroller combat games were normally good for just a weekend jaunt or two. I hate repetition, generally, and sometimes the combat in these kinds of games can be boring at best. I was pretty surprised, though, once I gave the game a chance and learned some of my moves. It grew on me really, really fast. Also, it ran like a dream and was adorable to the point of nosebleed, which always helps. Still, there's more. Click past the cut and find out!
Even Mexico loves Mario parody skits
Anywhere you go in the world, you'll find people who love Mario. On the national Mexican television show, Hazme reír! y serás millonario, a group of three friends performed a Mario skit parodying / reenacting the original Super Mario Bros. It's a cute little routine with some hilarious moments, though it's not entirely accurate (fanboys will likely point out that the actual Mario does not kick enemies, he stomps on them ... and since when did Mario start dressing in Peach's colors, hmm?). Still, it's an impressive thing to do, especially since it was broadcast across an entire country. Interestingly, the crowd was pretty into it, rooting on the overalls-clad hero as he took down Bowser and saved the princess. Oh, wait, or was she in another castle? You'll have to watch the video clip after the break to find out! [Via Go Nintendo]
It's-a Mario World: Classic Secrets
Along with the New Year's celebration comes a heap of (potentially unrealistic) personal resolutions for the future and an equal dose of nostalgic recollection of 2008. You have already seen our 10 Best Games of 2008 and the 10 you should have downloaded among dozens of other annual lists, so your sense of hindsight should be fairly well-attuned during this first weekend of 2009. So where, you might ask, does our Mario fit in?This week we are highlighting some classic Mario game secrets which did not necessarily occur in 2008, but which should nevertheless be recalled during all possible occasions if only to reaffirm our steadfast allegiance. These recollections are like wormholes to our early platforming pasts, histories in which the surprising discovery of a well-hidden 1-up or warp zone could redefine the realm of the possible in the Land of the Mushrooms. Yeah, and they are also reminders of what we were doing earlier today. Now, we are no soothsayers, but it's a good bet that 2009 will be full of more coin-hoarding, cape-rippling good times. For now, though, let's look back at some of the top secret areas of early Mario games. Warp to the gallery! It's-a Mario World is a recurring feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated. Check back each week to find out what strange and wonderful thing has us seeing power stars. * * * Links of the week: The beat behind Mario 3! | Aren't the Olympic Games over? | Mario > 2008? | This is a Mario Thermos!
It's-a Mario World: Our Unfulfilled Christmas List
In the days immediately following Christmas, we do several things: Sink hours into replaying timeless Mario classics (currently we're collecting Ace coins in Super Mario Advance), ponder all kinds of Mario-related things we could buy with our Christmas money and begin scrawling out a list of Mario gifts we want for next Christmas. Pretty standard, right? Problem is, there are so many wonderful Mario trinkets and toys that have been released in the last twenty years that it's hard to decide which search terms to use on eBay.Worry not, Mario fiends! This week we present a gallery teeming with Mario stocking-stuffers old and new. Yeah, some of them were released only in Japan over ten years ago, but that doesn't mean we can't covet them greedily. Others are available on shelves at the time of writing. Either way, you're sure to be amazed at the breadth of material goods upon which Mario's trademark has been shamelessly stamped. Check out these sweet toys! It's-a Mario World is a recurring feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated. Check back each week to find out what strange and wonderful thing has us seeing power stars. * * * Link of the week: Mario vs. Master Chief!
It's-a Mario World: Sweating the Small Stuff
The holidays are a time for cheer and gift-giving, but it isn't quite the holidays yet. Instead of subscribing to that whole positive spirit thing, we're going to continue venting our frustrations from last week, only this time with an finger pointed at the tiny enemies that sneak under our skin. "But wait," you ask, "aren't you just channeling unrelated rage at the simple challenges of a video game?" Probably. But try saying that with a group of Micro-Goombas crawling all over you.Check out this new gallery spotlighting a few of Mario's smaller (but no less menacing) foes. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated. Check back every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps. * * * Links of the week: Literal Mario paint! | Predictably rehashed boxart! | Club Nintendo Mario swag! | Wintry new Mario Kart tournament!
It's-a Mario World: Infuriating Items
Let's make one point very clear from the onset: The Mario Kart series has thoroughly rocked our boxers since 1992. Despite some shortcomings we still have pretty high praise for Wii's latest iteration, and most fanboys agree that there currently exists no better Nintendo Wi-Fi experience. For everything Mario Kart does right, though, there always seems to be a cheaply overpowered item that renders even the most skilled racer indefensible.So this is us venting. We have seen too many races (and online VR points) slip away on account of nasty item distribution. The series' long-standing method of reserving the best (or at least most destructive) pickups for trailing racers can be especially frustrating to those who would have otherwise earned a legitimate first place rank. Competition, in effect, is deadened by a deliberately equalized playing field. Mario Kart's algorithm for item probability is more at fault than the items themselves, but you know you've cussed out a spiny blue shell before. Now get angry with us in our new rant gallery. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated. Check back every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps. * * * Links of the week: SMB clone revived! | Mario Tennis comes out swingin'! | Delgrego disses the Party! Get him! | New Mario and Luigi 3 screens!
It's-a Mario World: Coin Heaven
One of the first things we do Friday morning is pull out our huge Mario-themed dartboard from under the bed, blindfold ourselves, take a small sip of OJ, spin 2.5 times, then wildly toss sharp darts at what we hope is not anything expensive. When that whole process is finished, usually we have landed a dart somewhere on the board, thus determining our topic for It's-a Mario World that day. Just so happens today we're talking about coins. And you're going to like it. Please like it.Today we are also introducing a hip new aspect to our already fairly hip feature. At the bottom of this post you'll notice a place where we have listed "links of the week," where we will hereafter link you to recent Mario content on WiiFanboy as well as to other cool Mario thingamajigs on the Intertubes. Hopefully, this will serve as a means for all of us to continue agitating our unhealthy addictions to Mario & friends. Before you go clicking away on them, though, check out our new gallery in which the currency of the Mushroom Kingdom is discussed at uncomfortable length. Coins! It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated. Check back every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps. * * * Links of the week: Wario steals Born for Wii! | Real Mario-karting in France! | Cheap BK toys! | Mario Paint lives! | Jazzed SMB2 theme!
It's-a Mario World: Mushroom Feast
Commence with the spending frenzy! Black Friday's door-busting sales and no-holds-barred consumer fistfights initiate holiday shopping today, and that means the annual limited-edition Nintendo swag is now being clawed from store shelves. As many of you know, this year is no slouch with two new DS Lite colors, one of which is a phenomenal Mario-red. No cause for alarm; some foaming at the mouth is to be expected. Almost harder to believe is DS Fanboy's current giveaway where one lucky reader will take it home free. The rest of us can bag it at Amazon.com while supplies last.ANYWAYS. We still have a gallery this week amidst all of the excitement. It started out as a series of photographs capturing every possible angle of the aforementioned DS Lite, but that didn't quite work. Instead, being so stuffed with Thanksgiving turkey and delicious pumpkin pie, we couldn't help thinking about what comprises Mario's diet. The short answer? Mushrooms. Lots of them. Seriously, what is it about fungus? Chomp down on our new gallery in which you'll taste a smorgasbord of 'shroom varieties Mario has consumed throughout his career. Yum. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
It's-a Mario World: Two Years on Wii
As both game character and flagship intellectual property, Mario has long been the focal point of Nintendo's efforts. Thanks in no small part to creative genius Shiggy Miyamoto, Mario's adventures have ushered in some of the most pivotal games in the history of electronic entertainment. His moves have established and defined the entire platforming genre, and he almost single-handedly paved the way from 2D to 3D action-adventure games.To put these landmark achievements into perspective, consider the Wii: This week marks the second birthday of Nintendo's current money-printing console. To what extent has Mario enriched the platform in the two years it has been sold out available? The increasingly casual (and characteristically generic) orientation of popular first-party titles like Wii Sports and Wii Fit have stolen some of the Nintendo spotlight from under the 'stach of our able plumber, and the marketing appeal of the Wii Remote has powerfully overshadowed the age-old run and jump control mechanic. Does Mario still sell games? Good god, yes. But how much have his games determined the success of the Wii? In this week's gallery, we examine the significance of Mario's Wii appearances to date. Enjoy! It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
It's-a Mario World: Super Educational
Greetings, Mario fanatics young and old! Finally, after innumerable requests and a handful of death threats, we are responding to high demand for a gallery wholly dedicated to educational Mario games. Awesome, let's learn! So, what is it Mario is going to be teaching us anyway?As it turns out, quite a lot. His heroic deeds over the years have promoted such abstract virtues as bravery, selflessness and chivalric duty, but at the end of the day, hands-on skills and craftiness are to be rewarded. Rarely has Mario demonstrated his alleged ability to install and repair plumbing (aside from setting flame to the occasional pipe-dwelling piranha plant), and one must wonder whether he ever spends time away from his eccentric and widely-varied hobbies, like being an athlete in virtually any sport and solving picture logic puzzles. Does Mario know anything worth teaching? Ride a hyperlink over to our new gallery stuffed with pedagogy and find out! Oh, and bring a notepad. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
It's-a Mario World: Yoshi Spinoffs
Remember last night when we broke into spontaneous discussion about Yoshi during our weekly Game Night assembly? Oh, that's right, you weren't there for some lame reason, opting instead to race computer-controlled players in a sad, lonely session of Mario Kart's single player Grand Prix. For shame. Just know that you missed a hell of a time, and although Yoshi was only mentioned in passing (i.e. the word "Yoshi" was typed once or twice), you still should have been there to see it happen. Maybe next Thursday, then?But isn't it high time we payed tribute to Mario's egg-dispensing, always-hungry dinosaur steed? Yoshi has been around since the prevalence of big, bulky cartridges, and while he has not always played a large role in Mario's adventures, his lovable character has spawned a handful of spinoff titles that exist almost entirely without Mario's help (well, sort of--only one of the Yoshi games have "Mario" in the title). Our new gallery spotlights Yoshi then & now, detailing all of his starring roles in between. Now saddle up, unfurl your tongue and gobble down everything in sight. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps. For additional Mario jollies, sing along here or express your U.S. nationalism by experiencing this strange flash game which finds president-elect Barack Obama and Super Mario World inextricably combined. Wow.
It's a Wonderful (Super Mario) World
With it being Friday and all, what better way to kick off your weekend than an awesome homage to both Mario and Louie Armstrong? The above video, expertly crafted by YouTube user BrentalFloss, is one of the best homages we've ever seen. Frankly, if it doesn't make your heart flutter, then you're a cold, hollow shell of a human being. Also, you probably aren't a big fan of good stuff.[Via Joystiq]
It's-a Mario World: Curious Costumes
Costumes are an integral part of any proper Halloween celebration, and we didn't have it in our little video gaming hearts to exclude Dear Mario from today's internationally recognized festivities. This is because we are obsessively enamored with Him, yes, sometimes to the extent of unnecessarily capitalizing pronouns, but also because we are under a rigorous blogging contract by penalty of death. Thus, we come to your monitor on this spooky evening with a mind for Mario's unconventional garb. It isn't often that we see Mario dressed in anything other than his trademark overalls. Even in his more athletic role he seems to prefer his mainstay red and blue outfit, however constricting and warm it may be, topped with his all-too-familiar cap. So any time we see him decked out in a fancy suit or in powered up form, we do a double take. Today we have gone ahead and compiled some of these less usual costumes in a new gallery that will FRIGHTEN and AMAZE, probably. Get to it! It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
It's-a Mario World: Mushroom Matriarchy
This week we knew we wanted to talk about females in the Mario universe, but we couldn't decide on an angle. "Mario's Love Life"? Too scandalous. "Damsels in Distress"? Anti-feminist. It seems almost offensive to feature a gallery with such a generalized premise as female characters (as opposed to something as specific as Rare Koopa Kids and Underrated Mini-Bosses Golfing at E3). But then we realized, maybe the mere fact that there are hardly enough major female characters to populate a gallery substantiates the need for one. Women are criminally underrepresented in Mario games and in the industry at large, but today we'd like to call attention to some of the lovely ladies shining through an otherwise testosterone-fueled bachelor party.Most female characters in Mario adventure games are ridiculously susceptible to kidnapping and all manner of perilous occasion. Today, though, let's look at them without the cliched rescue plot and inane stereotyping. Here's a gallery of females worth giving all of your lives for. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
It's-a Mario World: Fan Art
This week has been relatively quiet in terms of Mario-related news, but should that deter us from our regularly scheduled plumber fanfare? If you answered "yes," you're wrong. It was a trick question. Today is Friday and we are going to damn well talk about Mario. We don't take this feature lightly. In fact, each Friday the WiiFanboy offices are rife with Mario cosplay and Mush Kingdom decor. We even release various species of turtles and name them after the Koopa Kids to keep us company during the course of the rigid blogging workday.* This blogger is presently sporting his sweet denim overalls, beneath of which are a pair of Goomba boxer briefs that he probably grew out of years ago and a Toad tank top that reads, "I'm the best!!" So! All things considered, let's dive into this thing. Today we're admiring Mario fan art, and our new gallery is comprised of what we feel to be the outstanding work among so many scribbled Mario atrocities on the Internet. We kept this collection mostly limited to hand drawings, digital renders and photographs, which means you won't be seeing any wedding cakes. Now kick back and click through!*No turtles were harmed during the making of this blog. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
