Zemeckis - 1, Mayans - 0

Seriously, how daft do you have to be to think the Mayans could call cut when clearly Zemeckis showed us the epicness that will be 2015? Besides, I would have been royally pissed off if the world ended and I still hadn't conquered Dark Cloud completely. Doesn't matter. I was hoping to have the game finished by the end of the year, but thanks to the agonizing knock-down drag-out that is the Demon Shaft, it doesn't appear to be the case. Ugh...

What does that leave me with? Nineteen finished games for the year? What a piss-poor year in my own personal gaming department. Well, not really as I did finish some fantastic games this year and really, a lot of my time was spent playing various other titles that have been an absolute blast - just haven't finished them, and/or really fought to finish them.  Games carrying the flags for Forza Motorsport and Formula 1 especially fit the bill. Others include the original Super Smash Bros. which I finally got my hands on this past year or some odd gems like Advanced Dungeons & Dragons for the Intellivision and most recently, Street Fighter x Mega Man. But what really slowed me down this year is I spent a lot more time focusing on my game collection which has expanded by leaps and bounds. Systems more than doubled and games are simply spilling off my shelves. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing - I know my wallet would say it's a bad thing.

The end of the year isn't about mindless chit chat though. It's a time to reflect on those games that stunned me or excited me beyond compare. It's about those games that I had a genuine blast playing through no matter how good or bad they ended up being when all was said and done. It's about those games that I'd go back and play again from start to finish without a second thought. Yea, it's about those games. Sadly, the pickins were few this year. However, of those games beaten, there were some absolute joys which made for a fantastic little list of favorites. But first, I feel I must start with an special honorable mention. While it certainly doesn't belong in the top of the year listings, it definitely deserves its time in the spotlight for other reasons.

Honorable Mention: Super Columbine Massacre RPG!
-Despite it's shoddy gameplay, it's a total psychological mind-bender straddling a thin line between game and art and does so marvelously.

10. 7th Saga
-Just another turn-based RPG that stretches on into oblivion, or is it? Ok, I guess it is, but with it's unique "competition" presentation and eerie sprite set, it feels like something more than just your average Final Fantasy clone.

9. Dungeon Explorer
-A simplistic reinvention of Gauntlet's top-down hack n' slash model but souped up with some action adventure/RPG stylings giving the game a more worldly feel.

8. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
-Honestly, if I didn't put this on here, I can imagine the grief I'd get. But seriously, it's Ocarina of Time. It's not the best Zelda, but it is a pretty damn good game and along with Banjo-Kazooie made me realize the N64 isn't that bad of a console after all (as he says through grimaced expression).

7. Jet Moto
-I can't quite pinpoint why, but for me, this game just exudes hours of fun. Even as a kid when I was forever outwitted by the beast that is Ice Crusher, I'd simply enjoy hours of running randomized championships to my heart's content. And after beating the game for Beat All Games, I spent the next few days running randomized championships again loving every minute of it.

6. Crystalis
-Simply incredible action adventure game from start to finish, this was the first "new" NES game I came across, i.e. I never played it growing up, that really grabbed me and managed to leave me wanting more - even with the final boss being a disheartening pushover.

5. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
-After four back-to-back playthrough's it's tough to remain excited over this game, however seeing the Western Heartlands come to life is enough to make me want to pop the disc in once more. And while it does have it's problems, notably boss fights, it's a solid hack n' slash that vividly dishes out typical D&D canon.

4. VIP and Wall Mix 1: ASCII Art Edition
-It's likely nostalgia that makes me return to this game time and time again, because it certainly can't be all the ugliness, dependency on glitches, lopsided difficulty, errant design and so on and so on. But then again, that's all part of the charm that somehow makes this the most enjoyable and memorable game in the VIP and Wall series. Of course, the others befall the same issues, but it never feels as campy as is does with the game.

3. Sonic the Hedgehog
-My very first known memory of the Sega brand is thanks to this game which helped redefine what's possible outside of the safety net of Mario and all his Nintendo friends. I believe I can still name the Genesis-era Sonic games as the best series of all time, and Sonic the Hedgehog is part one of four of that brilliant little period in gaming history.

2. Super Mario Bros. 3
-And while Sonic the Hedgehog may be helping push my favorite series along, it'll still never achieve the definitive greatness that is Super Mario Bros. 3. I cannot possibly recount the number of times I've tackled this game nor can I even hint at how many more times I'll likely do so in the future.

1. Katamari Damacy
-Wait! Something dares trump SMB3? Well, if anything were to do so, this is the game to do it, and totally deserves to at that! Much like VVVVVV, Katamari Damacy focused on a solitary gimmick and ran with it. Add to that one of the greatest game soundtracks ever, a fascinating world full of...well, things, and incredibly addictive gameplay making you (as in me) itch to immediately move on to its sequels, well it's not that hard to see why it's trumped the whole year's worth of game's beaten.

NES - Super Mario Bros. 3

Haiku-Review:

crazy Koopalings
transforming kings; stealing wands -
fear my hammer suit

Additional Comments:

Another Christmas day, another joyous romp through the incredible Mushroom Kingdom.

Without a doubt, this is my all-time favorite NES game, and quite possibly my favorite game period. From the very first time I played this as a kid in the now long distant 1990, through the countless full game playthoughs, mindless mucking about with random custom Game Genie glitchiness, and even up through my most recent encounter - I just love everything about this game. It was and still is the pinnacle of Mario platforming in my mind. Hell, it was and still is the pinnacle of platforming games in general.

Super Mario Bros. 3 didn't necessarily reinvent the wheel when it came to Mario games; rather it perfected it. Sure, most people would argue that Super Mario World was actually the game to do so, but there was something about Super Mario World that felt lost in translation to me - at least compared to SMB3 and the original Super Mario Bros. This third installment in the "Super" franchise reminded us of why we loved Super Mario Bros. to begin with - the happy-go-lucky run 'n jump tomfoolery that was flat out missing in the first sequel. But then again, as I mentioned in my comments for Super Mario Bros. 2, SMB2 wasn't a Mario game to begin with. SMB3 calmed our nerves over the agitation that was SMB2 much like A Link to the Past sedated our wants for a "traditional" top-down Zelda game. Sure they experimented a bit with SMB2 (if you can call quickly re-skinning a game to alleviate the post-SMB demand for a sequel experimenting), but Nintendo knew all along that Mario should stick with his roots: turtle-hopping, playing the part of Liquid Plumr as he traversed the Mushroom Kingdom, and just all in all giving Bowser a quick kick in the pants. And with SMB3, that's exactly what we got - classic Koopa stompin', Princess rescuin' action; not some crazy allegoric litany about the struggles of onion farming.

But it's more than a simple platformer. SMB3 was one of those rare games that had a profound impact on me - that special wow factor that only the greatest of the greats manage to achieve. At the time, the game could do no wrong and it took many years before that glassy-eyed view disappeared, but I still have trouble finding fault. Whenever I bring up the game nowadays, I think others believe that I've fallen into the pit of nostalgia. I won't deny this, but I also won't admit defeat especially when I can sit down on any given day and simply have fun playing this game, even if its the nth time I've done so.

I've heard the reasons why SMB3 doesn't actually deserve the title of greatest NES game or greatest Mario game, or heck, even good NES game or good Mario game. And honestly, I completely understand some of these reasons and can see them myself. Complaints such as levels are too short, too simple, too empty, uninspired, unimaginative, repetitious, the superfluousness of certain items, the uselessness of said items, that certain items just aren't fleshed out very well relative to abundance or lack thereof within levels and levels being representative of only the basic items, and on and on. For me, there's only two complaints worth a damn - the general weakness of World 5 and the frog suit. Everything else is sub-par attempts at trying to bring down a great game with no good reason. It all sort of reminds me of the over-the top nit-pickiness often executed by certain angry video game nerds when they're trying to battle a game even though there's really nothing to attack, yet entertainment demands otherwise. C'est la vie I suppose.

I know the most common complain is that the levels feel uninspired and generally just contain bad level design. While I find myself easily considering this for the second half of World 5, I think the rest of the game works just fine. Sure there's a couple levels here or there, namely World 4-4, that come across as lazy, but none of them ever drag the game down. The second half of World 5 doesn't either, but it's definitely a lull compared to rest of the game. Otherwise, the levels are a joy to explore, even those that are extremely straightforward. As far as the shortness of the levels, I've always thought that the lengths are appropriate. After being a part of the SMWC community for a number of years, I have gotten use to longer, more complex level design and have almost come to expect it in all of Mario's adventurous fandangos, but whenever I return to SMB3, it's like a sigh of relief knowing that the end is only a hop, skip, and a jump away.

Regarding some of the more unique power-ups, sure some of them only show up for brief glimpses and we never get to experience them in full glory, but I think that's part of the charm. The Tanooki suit or the hammer suit would lose its oomph if we had continual access to them. Allowing them to appear in quick snippets makes them seem all the more powerful - almost intimidating striking a certain nervousness in the player as they desperately try to hold onto the power suit for as long as humanly possibly. Unfortunately, two such suits are a bit hampered by this: Kuribo's shoe and the frog suit. I say unfortunately, but perhaps fortunately is just as appropriate when it comes to Kuribo's shoe. I've always gone back and forth over this item and the fact that it only appears once, in 5-3. Of course, I've always wished it had appeared again or at least was offered as a carry-over item, but then again if it had become too common would it still be so special? Eh, I think it should have at least made a second appearance in World 7. The frog suit on the other hand I've always viewed as a failure. It's purpose is fantastic, but the game never really offers you the chance to make full use of it. While the Tanooki suit, hammer suit, or heck, even the super leaf are applied as power-ups, the frog suit is more of a physics adjuster.  Yes, there's a couple spots in World 3 where the usefulness of the frog suit can shine, but at the same time, it really doesn't as it's just as simple to go frogless. If they had made a couple more areas throughout the game that could take advantage of the frog suit, I'd see no problem, but as is, it's just not enough to really justify it. But again, this doesn't actually drag the game down in any way. It just happens to be a weak point that also happens to be fully optional.

Even when I try to seek something discriminating out, I still can't. The "weak" levels of World 5; the "uselessness" of the frog suit - so what? Neither ruin the game. Maybe I'm still looking through rose-colored glasses, but frankly I don't care. As long as I continue having a blast every time I pop this game into an NES, I'm going to continue loving it, and I've very likely going to continue loving it more than any other game as well. From the playful graphics to the unique map system (Ok, I'll admit that Super Mario World perfected the map system, but SMB3's map system had an overall better look), to the power-up bank, the mini-games, the first time I laid eyes on World 4, the clever vertical climbs in World 7, the tanks, the airships, the secrets, the...the...just everything. Oh! And the music? This is yet another game where I could easily list the entire soundtrack but I suppose I'll just post a few. It's a hard decision, but I'll throw out Grass Land, Giant Land, and Ending.

In conclusion, Super Mario Bros. 3 = Pure Fuckin' Win!!!

Rating: 5 Jugem's Clouds out of 5