Super Mario Bros/Tetris/Nintendo World Cup

To kick start my collection I began with this little doozy. 3 games on 1 cartridge (official too! No dodgy copies for me) with Mario being a ghost of my past. Would I still be able to complete Mario in one sitting? Or would the pad end up thrown across the room in a fit of rage with my fingers bent and twisted? A bit of both it seems! I can remember being able to run through this game and complete the damn thing with just 3 lives. Now I can barely struggle to finish the first level in 3. Hold on though it has been 20 odd years and I’m a lot older.

It takes a bit of getting used to but after bashing the pad for a time the old magic seems to return and I’m firing my way through the levels with ease. Rediscovering the hidden warp pipes and still laughing as I recalled where each was. The physics used for jumps in this is still brilliant with the added weight and draw as you lift off the ground. I feel that a lot of modern platformers could still learn a great deal from this game. It may be basic but what it sets out to do it achieves very well. Overall I’m impressed as I am managing to have a lot of fun in short sharp, sometimes frustrating bursts. But this is a taste of 8Bit gaming at its best.

Next it was on to Tetris and I don’t think anyone hasn’t played this game or at least its Game Boy version. It’s a very addictive and competent puzzler but I’m left with the feeling that it’s more suited to the GB screen. So sadly I may not be returning to this one often. I managed to work my way to stage 12 a few times so I think I may find myself bunging this on when I have a few moments to spare.

Nintendo World Cup was the last title to play on the cartridge and to be honest I found it a bit boring. Fat podgy characters kicking a ball around, certainly no Sensible Soccer but with its two player mode I can see this being a joy to play. Sadly I daren’t ask any of my mates to play as they just wouldn’t understand the joy of retro gaming, plus they’d probably laugh at me!