I love looking at games from what amounts to the puberty of video games, there's so many things to talk about. Transitioning to 3D was an awkward time for video games. Many 3D games of the era had what are commonly referred to as "tank controls" -- You turn your character left and right, and then you move forward and backwards. You never performed these actions at the same time, until Super Mario 64. SM64 changed how 3D controls were thought of, thanks in part to the analog stick on the N64 controller.
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I'm pretty biased while reviewing certain games, but I'd have to say I'm especially biased with Yoshi's Island. You see, Yoshi's Island was the first SNES game I played, at the tender age of five years old. My family was pretty late in the game (heh) when it came to the SNES; we were a Sega Genesis family throughout the early-mid 90's. My dad bought a SNES in 1997, so we ended up the the SNS-101 model (which I still use as my main SNES to this day, screw the haters), and I suspect he thought it was a new console... but I'm not entirely sure. Later that year, or perhaps early the next year, we got a Sony Playstation. If you read the linked Wiki article, you'd know that Yoshi's Island was one of the pack-ins, and was indeed the one we got with it.
Firstly, it must be stated that Yoshi's Island is pretty divergent from the Mario titles that came before it, in many ways:
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This is very old news by this point, but I'd like to remind everyone that Nintendo is currently providing a special offer that allows you to get an additional game for free if you purchase Mario Kart 8. The offer in question only lasts between May 30, 2014 and July 31, 2014, so you must buy the game within that time frame to benefit. It should also be noted that a Club Nintendo account is required to take advantage of this offer, as you will need to register your copy of Mario Kart 8 on Ninte
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I usually hate blanket terms like "the best" anything, but let's be honest here, on the NES there was one game that was a shining example of what the machine could do. It had the graphics, it had the speed, it had the music, and it had the two player battle mode. That game was Super Mario Brothers 3.
Released in Japan on October 23rd, 1988, which is 25 years ago, Mario 3 made it to the United States in February 1990, presumably due to all the dialog that had to be translated. I mean, let's face it, with over twenty lines of dialog, this game had probably the most immersive story seen in video games at the time.
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