Thursday, May 21, 2009

Super Contra (スーパー魂斗羅 ,Sūpā Kontora


Super Contra (スーパー魂斗羅 Sūpā Kontora?) is the 1988 arcade sequel to Konami's Contra, released during the previous year. Like the original Contra before it, a version of Super Contra was later released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990 under the shortened title of Super C in North America and as Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces in the PAL region, while the corresponding Japanese Famicom version retained the original title. The Japanese title of the arcade version also bore the subtitle/tagline of Alien no Gyakushū (エリアンの逆襲 Erian no Gyakushū?, "The Alien's Counterattack" or "The Aliens Strikes Back"), which was omitted in the western versions of the arcade game, as well as the later Famicom port. Unlike the original Contra, the arcade version of Super Contra was distributed in Europe with its original title and cooperatively 2-player gameplay intact.

In Super Contra, the alien forces from the original game have taken over a base in an undisclosed region of South America and the players once again assume the roles of protagonists Bill Rizer and Lance Bean to counter the invasion.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Super Mario Bros.




Super Mario Bros. (スーパーマリオブラザーズ Sūpā Mario Burazāzu?) is a platform video game developed by Nintendo in late 1985 and published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros.. In Super Mario Bros., the titular character, Mario, saves Princess Toadstool (later renamed Princess Peach) of the Mushroom Kingdom from King Koopa (later renamed Bowser), king of the Koopas. Mario's younger brother, Luigi, is playable by the second player in the game's multiplayer mode, and assumes the same plot role as Mario. To save Princess Toadstool, Mario conquers the eight worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom by going to the castle in each to defeat a minion of King Koopa. To reach each castle, Mario battles through three "sub-worlds" by defeating or avoiding King Koopa's henchmen. If Mario successfully fights his way through the castle and defeats the minion, a Mushroom Retainer (later renamed Toad) is freed. Inside the eighth castle, Mario has a final fight with King Koopa and frees Princess Toadstool.

Excluding Game Boy Advance and Virtual Console sales, Super Mario Bros. is the second-best-selling video game of all time (selling 40.24 million copies), surpassed only by Wii Sports. It was largely responsible for the initial success of the Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as ending the two year slump of video game sales in the United States after the video game crash of 1983. As one of Shigeru Miyamoto's most influential early successes, it has inspired many clones, sequels and spin-offs. Its theme music by Kōji Kondō is recognized worldwide, even by those who have not played the game, and has been considered a representation for video game music in general.

The game was succeeded by a direct sequel in Japan and a revision of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (that introduces other characters from the Mario series) elsewhere in the world. In both cases, the games are titled Super Mario Bros. 2, causing both games to be rereleased in different countries with different titles. There also have been many "alternate" versions of the game, such as All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros., which featured personalities from the Japanese radio show of the same name. The success of Super Mario Bros. has caused it to be ported to almost every one of Nintendo's major gaming consoles, as well as the NEC PC-8801 in the form of Super Mario Bros. Special.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Development

Because of Mario's appearance in Donkey Kong, with overalls, a hat, and a thick moustache, Shigeru Miyamoto thought that he should be a plumber as opposed to a carpenter, and designed this game to reflect that. Another contributing factor was the game's setting: it was a large network of giant pipes, so they felt a change in occupation was necessary for him.A popular story of how Mario went from Jumpman to Mario is that Nintendo's Italian landlord, Mario Segale, had barged in on them to demand rent, and they decided to name Jumpman after him. Miyamoto also felt that the best setting for this game was New York because of its "labyrinthine subterranean network of sewage pipes."Mario Bros. is one of the first platform games ever created, along with Donkey Kong. It also introduced Mario's brother, Luigi, who was created for the multiplayer mode by doing a palette swap of Mario. The two-player mode and several aspects of gameplay were inspired by an earlier video game called Joust.Mario Bros. has been released for more than a dozen platforms. The first movement from Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik is used to open each phase. This song has been used in later video games, including Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. To date,

Gameplay

Screenshot of the original 1983 arcade version of Mario Bros., showing one of the protagonists, Mario, about to defeat a Shellcreeper that has been flipped on its back

Mario Bros. features two plumbers, Mario and Luigi, having to investigate the sewers of New York after strange creatures have been appearing down there. The objective of the game is to defeat all of the enemies in each phase. Both sides of every phase feature a mechanism that allows the player to go off-screen to the left and appear on the right and vice versa.

Mario Bros. features a scoring system in which points can be earned in several ways, such as by collecting coins or defeating enemies. The player gains points by defeating multiple enemies consecutively and can participate in a bonus round to gain more. Enemies are defeated by running up to them and kicking them when they are flipped on their back. Player cause enemies to flip by hitting them from below the platform they are on or by hitting the POW block to overturn all enemies on the ground. If the player allows the enemy to get up, the enemy becomes angry and increases in speed. Each phase has a certain number of enemies, ended with a more powerful enemy. Enemies come in variants—for example, Sidesteppers, a type of crab, are usually red, but turn blue and become faster when they recover from being flipped or if they are the final enemy. Each enemy has their own mechanics—the Shellcreeper, a type of turtle closely related to Koopa Troopas, can be made vulnerable by hitting them from below once, the Fighter Fly, a type of fly, jumps into the air every once in a while and must be hit from below when they are not in the air, and the Sidesteppers must be hit twice from below in that fashion to become vulnerable. Another enemy is called a Freezie, which has the ability to melt down and freeze the platform it is on, making it more difficult for the player to control the characters.

MARIO BROS

Mario Bros. (マリオブラザーズ Mario Burazāzu?) is an arcade game published and developed by Nintendo in 1983. It was developed by Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Mario franchise. It is a follow-up to Donkey Kong and stars Mario, a plumber who was previously named "Jumpman". To date, Mario Bros. has been rereleased more than twenty times across more than a dozen platforms. It has been commonly featured as a minigame in the Super Mario Advance series and other games. Mario Bros. has been rereleased for the Wii's Virtual Console service in Japan, North America and some PAL regions.

In this game, Mario is portrayed as an Italian-American plumber who, along with his brother Luigi, has to defeat creatures that have been coming from the sewers below New York. The gameplay focuses on Mario having to exterminate pests in the sewers by flipping them on their backs and kicking them away. The original versions of Mario Bros., the arcade version and the Nintendo Entertainment System version, received positive reception. In Japan, the Nintendo Entertainment System version of Mario Bros. had sold more than 1.63 million copies.