The Lack of People Made Me Wonder in Super Mario Games

The Mario games had that even on stages that had no actual backgrounds like the haunted houses in Super Mario World or castles and forts in the OG Super Mario Bros. There was something exciting happening on the screen.

Then you get older and a little critical. You’ve been exposed to better worlds, elaborate game design, and story—so much story that one of the most revolutionary features in gaming is the “Skip Scene” button.

So, the worlds of the Mario games seem super odd. Like sure, it’s a world of fantasy but even worlds of fantasy have some order, right? In SMB, I basically used imagination to figure out where all of the people were. I came to the conclusion that each stage in SMB, SMB3, and SMW are basically battlegrounds to face Bowser and his Koopa Troopas.

There’s no way I, as a villain, would kidnap a princess or the magic scepters of a bunch of kings ruling over barren lands. They would basically be bandit chiefs with ties to the Crown. No, these battles took place away from civilization with Mario and Luigi having to win each time.

I mean, it would at least make it seem like the Mushroom Kingdom and the other kingdoms are fighting back, right? There’s no way any of those castles would be standing in Super Mario Bros. 3 if there was no resisting army. Bowser’s Koopalings all had Flying Fortresses. Those things shots normal-sized and large Bullet Bills. They dropped bombs. If there was no military Mario and Luigi would’ve been running through parking lots.

The Mario RPGs Explained Things Much Better

As always, leave it up to RPGs and the social aspect to breathe life into these worlds. Even in Super Mario 64—a massive step into the late 90s and early 2000s for Nintendo—that world was sparse. It was just Mario, Peach, Bowser, and a bunch of enemies. Toad and someone else might have been there but it wasn’t a populated world.

It would also explain how the warp pipes dropped Mario and Luigi off just where they needed to go. The RPGs games—like the Megaman action RPGs on Game Boy Advance—featured towns and villages with inhabitants, shops, and side quests.

Mario and his party actually seemed like part of the Mushroom Kingdom and not an isekai savior. Because why would you summon a plumber with an unknown background to your world to save you? Mario could’ve had a violent criminal record or been a bloodthirsty maniac. The Mushroom Council or the Stars lucked up and got a kind-hearted, heroic plumber and his brother of questionable courage. Then again, they got a plumber of all people. Two! They got a buy-one-get-one-free on New York plumbers. What rotten RNG.

Of course, there are retellings of how Mario and Luigi were born in that world but even that begs questions. Apparently, there are or were humans wherever they are. What happened to them? All of the kings in SMB3 are human, Peach, Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Wario and so on. What’s up with the humans?

There are plenty of toadstools. We were even introduced to friendly koopas in Paper Mario and peaceful communities of Yoshis in Super Mario World. That question among others I’ve had over the years about one of my favorite franchises calls for an anime and perhaps a manga with continuity.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

One franchise we had was Duke Nukem. We had the first two which were side-scrolling platform shooters. It was 1996 and these were even dated then. I’d say they would’ve made for good ports to the Sega Master System.

Then my teacher brought in Duke Nukem 3D. I remember we were all trying to figure out Full Throttle on one computer and playing Wolfenstein on the other. Wolf 3D was what we wanted from the Duke games, by the way. We’d played Doom and Doom II, so we had a taste for 3D now.

Duke Nukem 3D Was the Franchise’s High Point

Duke Nukem 3D didn’t disappoint! It was action-packed, violent, packed with 90s edgy dialogue, and it was fun. At that time, Duke was one of those games where it was “F**k the story, give me the action!” Surprisingly, it also handled well controls-wise. In the first Doom, there was some difficulty when I tried to play it years later on Steam because it just didn’t rock with my mouse.

It made me wonder how I even played Wolfenstein without a mouse in 1996. By the time that Duke 3D dropped, mouse functionality was considered and had been implemented in many genres. So, this was a fun experience and made getting Duke 64 worth getting a year later.

As for the console port, I know some folks didn’t care for it for a number of reasons but at the time it was fun playing it in split screen and years later I found it to be pretty enjoyable. It wasn’t the blast I remembered it being, obviously and it made me think: “This deserves another go.”

Reboot the Franchise and Start from Scratch

I’d heard of Gearbox Software scooping up Duke Nukem and later releasing a poorly received game in 2011. Personally, I feel that approach with Duke—while expected—was extremely dated for the 2010s. Hell, for a game at that time it would’ve been creatively lazy. Perhaps only a new Conker’s game could get by with that and that’s because we collectively don’t expect better from Conker.

I mean, it’s a foul-mouthed squirrel living in a twisted world. I wouldn’t be expecting layered storytelling and a long-running adventure out of that character. However, it’s possible with Duke Nukem. As I always mention: writing improved in media across the board.

Cartoons, comics, film, literature—writing is much more detailed. There’s a heavy focus on creating enough to entertain, give the fans and writers lore to work with, and making franchises that could produced series. All you really need to that is bulk up the lore, give characters actual backgrounds and motivations. Maybe we’ll get a spin-off of they will return in a later entry.

The thing now is the make franchises living things that don’t simply sit in the vault for years—like Duke Nukem after Forever didn’t shake any trees. While they’re busy with Borderlands and Homeworld, I believe bringing back Duke would be that big gaming news item that would pique interest.

We all know what Duke Nukem was, what it could’ve been, and what happened with it. Because we know what happened with it, the franchise’s fate is pretty much sealed—until a developer announces there will be a new entry.

One problem is what kind of game would it be. I say go the Bethesda route and just make the new Duke an open-world title. A developer can have more than one of the same type of game. Bethesda has two open-world RPGs, three first-person shooters with two being linear adventures. Gearbox can let Duke run around a wasteland of the U.S slaughtering aliens and cyborgs.

Now, you’d think “It’s Duke Nukem, to hell with a story” but it’s the 2020s. Everything has a story now. We need to know why the world is the way it is in this game, what’s the issue of this story, why Duke is the hero, and what he’s getting himself into.

It’s honestly no different with how fleshed out the Wolfenstein and Doom franchises have become in the late 2010s to present. Releasing just another Duke Nukem with just the humor and gameplay you remember is likely to result in another Duke flop and another decade or so collecting dust.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

One of my favorite video games during the 1990s was Sonic 2, a classic video game that’s still revered by many older gamers like myself to this very day because in 1991 when the first Sonic game came out, it was a very groundbreaking and different video game with different abilities and different levels than those seen in The Original Super Mario Bros. NES trilogy including the critically acclaimed Super Mario World for Super Nintendo.

But however 30 years ago, Sonic 2 was released for the Sega Genesis and this game absolutely blew the roof of the entire Sonic video game series as we saw the debut of Tails as well as a 2 player co-op & versus mode where you can battle it out with friends and family to see who will reach the finish line aka clearing the level first.

One of my personal favorite memories of playing Sonic 2 came when I was playing in one of the stages of my favorite zone in the entire game in The Casino Night Zone when I used to love to do the virtual slot machines so much that I would rack up at least several Royal Flushes which was absolutely crazy for me as an urban kid to see at that time. I remember having the record in my family at the time for the most rings ever collected in any Sonic stage where I collected between 300 to 400 rings while playing the virtual slot machines in The Casino Night Zone.

My most hated level of any of The Original Sonic Trilogy games that I have ever played was The Labrinyth Zone Act 3 from the first Sonic game where I had so much trouble & so many headaches trying to get to the zone’s new Dr. Robotnik boss and that game revealed that Sonic’s greatest weakness is that he can’t remain in the water for too long or he will drown to death if the countdown from 10 runs out or you’re unable to get any sort of oxygen to survive underwater.

But with Sonic 2, I was able to pass the toughest level of that entire game in The Death Egg Zone where you have to take down the heelish Dr. Robotnik down one last time to prevent him from conquering the world. The ending of Sonic 2 is one of my favorite all-time video game endings where I saw the different zones and heard a different mix of tracks from the game which was very dope to me at the time.

Note: Sonic 2 is the second best selling all-time Sega Genesis game with 7.55 million copies sold while the first Sonic game is the best selling Sega Genesis game ever with 15 million copies sold.

Note #2: I got to see the live action Sonic The Hedgehog 2 film recently and I have to say it was an amazingly great film. The film took what the first Sonic film did in terms of establishing The Sonic Lore and further expanded upon it in this film. The CGI, Special Effects, Voiceovers, and action scenes in this film was absolutely great. This film definitely had more heart, courage, passion, & authenticity than the first Sonic film. I really loved the pacing of this film because I thought it was a very well paced movie. This film is not only better than the first Sonic film, but also a love letter to longtime fans of The Sonic The Hedgehog 2 video game that came out for The Sega Genesis 30 years ago. This is now my new favorite Sonic movie ever because of how much I absolutely loved this film.

The Conclusion – Sonic 2 is so universally beloved by older gamers and longtime fans of the Sonic video game series that the live action Sonic 2 movie sequel which will is out in theaters right now to perfectly commemorate the 30th anniversary of one of the greatest video games to have ever been created.

Staff Writer; Kwame Shakir (aka Joe D.)

Mega Man in a Nutshell

The storyline of the core Mega Man series is that in the year 200X, Dr. Wily, a robotics engineer, goes rogue after not receiving the same recognition for his work as friend Dr. Light.

Wily begins creating powerful robots to wreak havoc on the world prompting Dr. Light to convert his best robot—Rock—into Mega Man. Affectionately called “The Blue Bomber”, Mega Man is basically like Astro Boy—who was a robot version of Pinocchio.

Throughout the main series, his most iconic power is the ability to take the elemental ability of the Robot Masters (highly advanced robots that serve as bosses in each game).

Once Wily and his Robot Masters were defeated, peace returned to the world only for Wily to show up with another rotten plot in the next game.

The interesting thing here is something I brought up when going into the Sonic games: how much 80s game designers were able to mention story-wise in the instruction manual.

As it was in the 70s, 80s, and into the early 90s, the gameplay rarely explained the plot unless it was an RPG. If you were renting this game from a video store, you weren’t going to know the plot. You were just thrown into things and left to rip through stages.

Of course, that worked since a lot of platformers were similar in execution. Once the Mega Man games hit the Super Nintendo, we started to see more story in the game.

A Beacon of 80s and 90s Gameplay

The gameplay in Mega Man was pretty stock platforming. Remember, the Nintendo Entertainment System had tons of games that were considered “Nintendo hard”.

This was a combination of poor programming in some games and the technology just not allowing for crisp, accurate movements. Timing and landing jumps and shots was something that gamers from that time had to master to compensate for stiff controls—or at least stiff by today’s standards.

MM at its core is a run, jump, and gun franchise. As the franchise matured, a few features were added to modernize the gameplay while tried-and-true features were improved.

This is where Capcom was at its most consistent in experimenting with features. A few gamechangers for platformers that we saw in the original MM series include the running slide, the charged attack, and the wall climb.

Also, when I mentioned Dr. Wily’s Robot Masters all had an elemental ability of some sort? This was an essential combat mechanic. When developing the first game, a “rock, paper, scissors” approach to combat was chosen.

That means certain elements or attacks will be more useful against certain enemies. It’s similar to a fire-type Pokémon being super effective against a grass-type. In this sense, Capcom was way ahead of others.

Growth of the Franchise

By the mid-90s, Capcom began expanding the franchise. In December 1993, the Mega Man X franchise started followed by the Battle Network series in 2001, the Zero series in 2002, and the ZX series in 2006.

Capcom saw that the Mega Man/Rockman character was still marketable and managed to keep the ball rolling. What I love about this is that several of the above-mentioned series—X, Zero, and ZX—were canonical continuations of the original series.

These weren’t just a bunch of reboots of the original story. Capcom actually attempted to build on the lore at a time when other classic, ongoing franchises were basically presenting new, unlinked adventures.

It’s something that always bothered me about franchises from the 80s that are still seeing games. The gameplay is rarely bad in the games I’m alluding to but the lack of strong story links between games? Not a fan.

That aside, the franchise as a whole has always been solid at the minimum. I’m big on the Battle Network games but the Zero and ZX games are very good. These three series are all on the old Gameboy Advance handheld which makes sense as the GBA was beast for platformers and RPGs.

Why the Original Series Should’ve Continued

Capcom started to have this weird relationship with the Mega Man franchise in the late-2000s. The consistency with the main series ended by 1999 with the last proper game in the series being MM 8 in 1996.

That is until MM 9 in 2008 then Mega Man 10 in 2010. After that, we didn’t see MM 11 until 2018. The X series ended in 2005, the Zero/ZX series ended in 2007, and Battle Network was wrapped up in 2009.

In that 2010 to 2018 gap, Capcom could’ve done with both a regular platformer and a series that all audiences could play. Street Fighter always thrived and was usually geared towards teens and older. The same could be said for Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Dragon’s Dogma, and Dead Rising.

MM still had a place in Capcom even went in this direction as it was also the most marketable to multiple demographics without having to adjust it. Just like Sonic and its come from behind revival, MM could’ve been a bigger media franchise in the 2000s and 2010s than it was in the 80s and 90s.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

One cousin would play Castlevania which came out in 1986. Early Castlevania games were action platformers. Pretty much slash ‘em ups with a little more to them. I’d watch as he played the game and it was beyond me. I was still on a Super Mario Bros. level. Once I finally got my hands on the game, it opened my eyes to a more involved form of gameplay.

Castlevania’s Gameplay

The series runs with the same core gameplay that brought it to the dance in 1986. The main character arrives at a castle that is either held by Dracula or some other evil. You have to transverse the castle while being cautious of the various monsters and minions released. Then you have to defeat a few bosses before facing the main boss.

In the early games, you mainly jumped and attacked. There was no blocking or defending so your jumping and attacking had to be clutch. The flying Medusa heads and bats could give you trouble as would bosses that take up some of the screen and have far reaching attacks.

It’s a Konami signature if you’ve ever played Contra. Actually, these kinds of bosses were favorites in 80s and 90s gaming. The greatest boss in Konami games was the Konami Knock Back. This was when you would attempt to jump to a platform or ledge only for an attack or monster to not only hit you, doing damage but also knock you back.

This meant you either dropped to the level below but you’re not harmed further or you fall to your death.

In the series,  the main character usually had a whip if they were a Belmont. You also had one power up you could use such as holy water or crosses. Later games would expand this to include a menu and inventory once RPG elements were mixed in.

What I Liked: The Story

The series mainly follows the vampire-hunting family, The Belmonts with Simon being the first one you play as in the series. They wield the whip Vampire Killer which is especially effective against vampires, demons, and the undead. This whip could be upgraded into stronger forms such as the Morning Star.

Early games didn’t totally explain why the Belmonts specifically had to hunt vampires or what their ties were to Dracula. As other games in the series came out, more family members, allies, and foes are introduced. What I loved about the series was that there is a continuing storyline.

I’m big on story in a game and I’m even bigger on all the series existing in a shared universe with a timeline. Now, the future games would introduce more story even though some are set before the original to establish more of the story. This means the games weren’t released in canonical order which is a minor gripe.

Still, there’s always more to add to the series and there’s enough there to adapt it to other media—such as Netflix’s Castlevania. Basically, it’s Universal/Hammer Horror-style horror mixed with fantasy. It’s such a simple formula but Konami did a ton with it.

What I Loved: The Music and Art Style

The early games looked like most other iconic Nintendo games released in the 80s. As the series grew over the years, the graphics improved. Even Konami’s attempts on Nintendo 64—as questionable as they were quality-wise—looked good for the time. What really blew me away art-wise was the official artwork by Ayumi Kojima starting in 1997 with the epic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Her art really brought life to the characters beyond the game in the same way as Yoshitaka Amano’s artwork for the Final Fantasy series.

Another thing I loved was the music. The series always had awesome music and Konami usually had good composers on hand. Music plays a huge part in games but Castlevania is one of a few games I actually leave the music on. It really adds to the horror-fantasy theme going on here.

What were your favorite things about the series? Let us know in the comments as well as your favorite Castlevania game.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

I got to try out Crash Bandicoot N. Sane for The Sony PlayStation 4 just a few days ago and I actually enjoyed playing the game and today, I am writing this article to express what I liked about this game based on some of the things that I actually noticed while playing this game on the Sony PlayStation 4 just a few days ago.

Here are some things that I liked about Crash Bandicoot N. Sane.

1. Gameplay – The gameplay for this game was very good because I liked how the developers had designed Crash Bandicoot, the other characters, and also the stages because they looked so detailed and definitely on point. Crash uses spinning and jumping techniques to defeat various enemies, smash crates that contain different types of items, and also find secret areas that could also contain one of the most difficult items in the game which is a 1 up. The gameplay definitely reminds me of Super Mario World in terms of using spin jump to defeat tougher foes and breaking bricks.

2. Graphics- The graphics for this game although seem similar to previous versions of Crash Bandicoot, but the developers definitely put in the time for this game by greatly updating the graphics for this game so that the game doesn’t feel so outdated and similar like previous Crash Bandicoot games. I also like the 60 fps graphics speed for this game because it definitely allows the game to run in a very smooth and detailed way without the game freezing up or the graphics being kinda wonky during certain portions of the game. So, I’m glad they updated the graphics for the game because they’re definitely a huge plus for me liking this game very much.

3. Enjoyment – Crash Bandicoot N. Sane is such an enjoyable game to play because the gameplay is so simple so it’s not very difficult for gamers to learn how to master the player controls and understanding the game. Playing this game will definitely not bore you too much at all because of the fact that the gaming developers have created this game for the sole purpose of making it as fun and enjoyable to play like some of the most popular games that are common today like Mario, Sonic, and even Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. I truly enjoyed playing this game because of the fact the gameplay and graphics for this game are absolutely good.

The Conclusion – Crash Bandicoot N. Sane is definitely a game that’s worth your time playing because you are definitely gonna enjoy it and not be bored with this game like you would be if you’re playing some other games.

Staff Writer; Kwame Shakir (aka Joe D.)