Mario!
Mario is popular with everyone, especially young children, because he is one of the characters made by Nintendo, the famous video game company. He has a moustache and a big nose, and always wears overalls and a red cap.
I have a lot of Mario video games. I sometimes play them with my younger brother who really likes them. We usually enjoy a role-playing game; it is very attractive, and once we play it, we continue for almost an hour.
Super Mario World is one of my favorites. In this game, Mario goes to the Kuppa castle to save Princess Peach, who was kidnapped by Kuppa. On the way there, Mario meets many enemies who are Kuppa's followers. But Mario defeats all of them by stepping on their heads (he is good at jumping). And finally, he fights Kuppa and saves Princess Peach.
As a boy I had a game console that plugged into the TV set and that let you thrash a pixel dot back and forth on a tennis court. There were big clunky cartridges that plugged into the console and that allowed you to play more sophisticated games such as tank battles. I was good at tank battles.
Then came the arcade games: Space Invaders and PacMan, which I played a few times. But I couldn't really see where the attraction was, and I've been a video game refusenik ever since.
I remember, though, that when the first generation of personal computers were around, which were affectionately known as XTs, I developed a short-lived addiction to a PacMan-like game named Digger, which was installed on a friend's XT. I was playing that game instead of completing university work.
A few years ago one of my nieces taught me Mario: again, I couldn't quite see what the attraction was. I'm not a gadget man.
Lopetz is, however. He's a Swiss designer whose work I admire and whom I've met once or twice. He put together Electronic Plastic, a lavishly illustrated book on early video games (preview).
In the news: the Nintendo vs. Xbox.
I like Mario too, Hiroko and Ayumi! I don't have any video games at my house, but I sometimes play Super Mario Land using "game boy".
Super Mario Land is very old, and I think today children don't play it any more. There are not so many items, like Ayumi said, and the story is very simple -- Mario goes on an adventure to save Princess Daisy. But I love it very much! Mario is so cute and the unique characters amuse me.
I also want to play games with you three someday, Hiroko, Ayumi and Ruedi!... or dance?
I don't have any video games, either, Eri. When I was small, I wanted to have one but my parents didn't allow me. So, I sometimes visited my friends who had video games and played the games with them. I really enjoyed playing Mario games! Video games seem to be very complicated these days and I think playing them is very difficult. The ones I used to play at my friends' house were very simple and easy to play.
I sometimes play games installed on my PC, but I soon stop playing. I prefer playing card games with my friends to playing games with my PC!
Mario reminds me of my good elementary school days, Hiroko. I don't have any video games either, Eri and Yukiko. But my cousins who live in Shiga liked Super Mario very much and whenever they visited Ise, I played Mario games with them. Especially I love Mario Cart and Doctor Mario. Also, as Eri says, I like their characters, but I like Yossi the best.
I like Mario,too! And my younger sister is playing "Super Mario World" beside me just now! I played "Mario and Wario" a few days ago and it was interesting.
Thank you for your responses. I was relieved that all of you would like Mario. Oh... if I had time, I would invite you to my house and play video games.
Ayumi Sawa :: May 23, 2003 10:01 AM
I like Mario, and I also like Ruiji, his brother. I used to play video games with my brother when I was in elementary and junior high school.
I often played Super Mario World III, where you got many items such as recorders (to go to another world), mushrooms (to recover power), and so on. My brother often played Role-playing-games such as Dragon Quests, Final Fantasies, and so on.
Some day, I would like to come to your home and play games and chat!... or dance?