Gnome's Lair

Apr 8, 2006

Mario's almost complete gameography

Mario. Had a friend named Mario. Quite a weird bloke, mind you, but that's not the point. Besides, this post is neither about my friends, nor Marios in general. It's all about Nintendo's Mario, and his appearances (in cameo, supporting or starring roles) on video games of all kinds. Quite a few as you should have guessed, and what follows are the ones I managed to find. The list -I am sure- is not a 100% complete, and even though I feel that almost every important game and most Mario appearances have been covered, there must be some obscure and/or well-known omissions. Please, let me know... Anyway, on to the...

Mario List (TM):

Arcade: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Mario Bros, Vs. Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros., Mushroom World Pinball (an actual pinball machine!), Super Mario Bros 2., Super Mario Bros. 3., Super Mario World, Mario Kart Arcade GP.

Super Mario Bros. 3 cabinet

Atari 2600, 7800: Donkey Kong, Mario Bros.

Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES (or even Famicom if you prefer): Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Classics, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong Junior Math, Donkey Kong 3, Dr. Mario, Golf, Mario is Missing, Mario's Time Machine, Mike Tyson's Punchout, NES Open Tournament Golf, Nintendo World Championships, Return of Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 3, Tennis, Wario's Woods, Wrecking Crew, Yoshi, Yoshi's Cookie.

Super Mario Bros. (apparently)

Gameboy and Gameboy color: Alleyway, Donkey Kong, Dr. Mario, F1-Race, Qix, Game & Watch Gallery, Game & Watch Gallery 2, Game & Watch Gallery 3, Mario's Picross, Mario's Picross 2, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, Super Mario Land, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Tetris Attack, Mario Tennis, Wario Blast featuring Bomberman!, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, Wario Land 2, Yoshi, Yoshi's Cookie, Mario Golf.

Super Mario Land

Super NES (SNES, Super Famicom): Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium, Mario and Wario, Mario is Missing, Mario's Time Machine, Mario Paint, Mario's Super Picross, Mario's Early Years: Fun with numbers, Mario's Early Years: Fun with letters, Mario's Early Years: Pre-School, Nintendo Power Dr. Mario, Picross Nintendo Power, Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Tetris and Dr. Mario, Tetris Attack, Wario's Woods, Wrecking Crew '98, Yoshi's Cookie, Yoshi's Cookie: Kuruppon Oven De Cookie, Yoshi's Safari, Zelda 3.

Super Mario World

Virtual Boy: Mario Clash, Virtual Boy Wario Land, Mario's Tennis.

Mario Clash

CDi: Hotel Mario, Super Mario's Wacky Worlds (unreleased).

Nintendo 64: Dr. Mario 64, Paper Mario, Super Mario 64, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Party, Mario Party 2, Mario Party 3, Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 64, Yoshi's Story.

Super Mario 64

PC and Apple: Mario Teaches Typing, Mario Teaches Typing 2, Mario's Fun with Numbers, Mario's Fun with Letters, Mario's Pre-School fun, Mario's FUNdamental, Mario's Games Gallery.

Gameboy Advance: (excluding the Classic NES series) Game and Watch Gallery 4, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, Mario Bros., Mario Party Advance, Mario Party e, Mario Tennis Advance, Mario Pinball Land (a.k.a. Super Mario Ball), Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Super Mario Advance, Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World, Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Advance 6: Mario is Missing, Wario Land 4, WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames, WarioWare Twisted!, Famicom Mini: Wrecking Crew, Yoshi Topsy Turvy, Mario Kart Super Circuit.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong

GameCube: Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Luigi's Mansion, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Nintendo Puzzle Collection, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Superstar Baseball, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Power Tennis, Mario Party 4, Mario Party 5, Mario Party 6, Mario Party 7, Super Smash Bros. Melee, WarioWare Inc.: Mega Party Game$, NBA Street v3, Super Mario Strikers (a.k.a. Mario Smash Football), Dance-Dance Revolution: Mario Mix.

Super Mario Sunshine

Nintendo DS: Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, Mario Basket: 3 on 3, Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64 DS, Super Princess Peach, Tetris DS, WarioWare: Touched!, Yoshi Touch and Go.

Super Mario 64 DS

Acknowledgments: Additional information and screenshots on Mario games, and thus for this article, were gathered from the Greek magazine PC Master Gold, gamespot, Wikipedia, KLOV, Retro-games and mobygames.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Related Gnome's Lair articles: Magritte on Revolution, running vintage games on your PC, Museum Monday #7 and Olde Gamies and Farty Owls. Oh, don't forget a review of the Atari Flashback.

Related Tags: Mario, Luigi, Nintendo, Retro, NES, Famicom, Gameboy, DS, Nintendo DS, Gamecube, Super Famicom, Super NES, Virtual Boy, Virtualboy, Cdi, N64, Nintendo 64, Mario's, Donkey Kong, Arcade, Atari, Game, Games, PC, Video, Gaming, History, Weblog, Entertainment, Coin-op, Coin op, Feature

Apr 5, 2006

Tremulous: Murdering Quake 3 banality

Long time readers of Gnome's Lair (well, actually it's not such a long time anyway, but you get the idea) might have gathered, that First Person Shooters aren't exactly my cup of tequila. It's not that I don't enjoy mindless massacres, it's not that Quake, FEAR, Doom and Serious Sam aren't good games, it's just that they are too similar. Too banal, and only redeemable through inspired user-base intervention. That's why I tend to look at interesting mods, like the Quake Hide 'n' Seek thingie, for a breath of innovation on the genre.

Enter, Tremulous. A Quake 3 total conversion mod with a strong RTS side, that heavily expands on every level of the Q3 engine. The graphics are better, the physics model improved, two distinctly different factions included and -that's the RTS bit- players get the ability to construct buildings. It's quite an interesting bastard of a game, and the download is less than 100mb. There's even a stand-alone version available. Hurry (for no apparent reason). Visit tremulous.net and download to your heart's content.

Then again, you might prefer Morrowind or Doom 3 mods. For all I know, you could even be interested in a Zombies!!! review or the latest indy Adventure game awards.

South Park cuddles with Monty Python

Google video seems like one of mankind's greater moments. Maybe penicillin was a bit more important, the Parthenon slightly more innovative, porn and pr0n quite difficult to find (perhaps even impossible), but quite a few gems are available through google's video service. South Park's tribute to Monty Python is apparently one of the best. Definitely not game related, but we all can appreciate divine humor, can't we?

Apr 4, 2006

March in a Lair, in a gnome's lair...

I did it for January, for February and almost forgot doing it for March. What's it, I hear you ask? Elementary, dear readers. I forgot to present you with a selection of articles and posts, that appeared on Gnome's Lair during March. Oops. It's already the 4th. Better hurry then...

So, without further ado, here is my humble selection (for more have a look at the Categories and Archives of Gnome's Lair):

Magritte's comment on the Nintendo Revolution.

Board Game review of Space Hulk 2nd edition.

Sam & Max, Spore and a silly D&D video.

The 2005 AGS Awards, with links galore.

The (PC) Abandonware emulation Full Monty.

Info on the forthcoming Warhammer video games.

The shortest adventure walkthrough ever (Apprentice).

PC reviews of Spooks and Lula 3D.

Space Quest IV Easter Eggs.

A link to an amazing console emulation site, along with info on the whereabouts of the Home of the Underdogs.

The latest Warhammer rumors.

Not one, not two, not four, but three Morrowind mods.

A nice Spectrum poke (hack).

Related Tags: Gnome, Weblog, Blog, March, Links, Archive, Link, Review, Reviews, PC Game, Game, Games, Warhammer, Adventure, Adventures, Retro, Mod, Mods, Morrowind, AGS, Lula, 3d, Free, Freeware, Abandonware, Emulator, Emulation

Apr 3, 2006

Adventure Lantern: the April edition

Apparently, visiting AdventureLantern.com, is a rather guaranteed way of getting the latest (4th - April) issue of the Adventure Lantern (pdf) video games magazine. This issue features (among tons of other stuff) reviews of Scratches, CSI 3, 80 Days and Evil Dead, previews of Kapten Brawe, Hidden Rooms and The Forgotten Element, along with interviews and walkthroughs. My humble (and lowly, and self-degrading) contribution to this wonderful issue consisted of one review (of Space Quest IV) and one walkthrough (of Space Quest IV -Gasp!- can you believe it? Of course you can).

So...you're asking, what you are supposed to do. That's an easy one. You will visit AdventureLantern.com, download the latest issue, read it, feel happy, and then come back here in Gnome's Lair and have a look at the Space Quest IV easter eggs or read a nice review of Lula 3d. Simple.

Museum Monday #8

Monday. Yada yada. Still, this Monday doesn't seem so bad after all (definitely not good either, just not as bad). The weekend was of course great and quite a help, thus pushing the stereotypical Monday gloom away. On the other hand, things aren't rosy, and as every wise and bearded old man knows (and would happily tell you), if a Monday is okay(ish), then the following week will be hell. Hell, I tell you. Hell.

But, I digress. I know. On to the Museum Monday stuff then. This week I'll be sending you for a visit at a weird and quirky little virtual museum, with absolutely no relation to gaming. It's the Museum of Unworkable Devices, discovered through Ron Gilbert's amazing Grumpy Gamer blog. Have a look, it's free, and I know you love freebies. Especially on a Monday.