About Me: Writer, artist, musician and student. Always.

Who doesn't plumb?

You might say that we trusted Nintendo--to bring us the next marvel of console gaming, at least. Granted the Super Nintendo Entertainment System's processor was an upgraded cousin of the Nintendo Entertainment System’s CPU, the adoption of co-processors introduced games to a new world of possibilities. Pretty smooth marketing, if you ask me. Well, Commadore had figured that out with the Amiga, so how does it work out for our Bros who never plumb but (almost) always stomp?

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Uh, um...sure.

When I was a kid, I used to wonder why Super Mario Bros 3 looked and sounded so much better than any of the games before it. Better graphics, better music, more powerups, larger worlds and more characters to wonder about. It turns out that the answer was simple: Better and faster organization of resources, or in technical terms, an on-cartridge memory mapper.

Nintendo was banking heavily on the success of its latest Bros adventure. So heavily, in fact, that they produced a now infamous movie, known as The Wizard (1998), as a marketing vehicle. I was one with the hype and totally into it, but even I knew the Power Glove never worked that well. But who cared? Super Mario Bros 3 was every bit as expansive, challenging and inventive as we hoped it would be.

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Chronic health issues (blah blah blah) and a bit of free time.

I probably mentioned it already. As I'm about to start school again I've been fortunate to have some time to do some self care. Health issues persist, and I find that writing reviews of games regularly helps keep the brain juices flowing.

It's that simple. I've been using the admittedly limited scheduling function to space things out. I'm hoping to encourage others, not swamp the site, though I know new reviews are good for the site. It's also a bit of a kick to see my name on the Top 30 Read reviewers. Cool.

I appreciate all feedback and don't ask for anything more. We've all got our plates loaded. This is a moment of sharing my experiences...and it occurred to me that I owe you all gratitude. Maybe I've said it before, but I'll say it again, anyway.

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Since we're not officially reviewing NSO titles, here it is anyway.

Mario Paint on Nintendo Switch has been an interesting shift for the console, because it brings the mouse back into Nintendo’s accessory list. If you own a Switch 2, you’ve already got that covered, since the controllers double as mice, but this review covers the experience on the Switch, not its predecessor. Suffice to say, apart from the emulation, absolutely nothing has changed for Mario Paint since its release in 1992. It’s a fun, easy to use suite of introductory digital creation tools for drawing, animation, and music.

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2 comments

My thoughts on the success of the Switch 2.

Honest Trailers rightly accuses Nintendo of exploiting nostalgia, and well, there's no defense for that. We're of the generation who ponied up for the dominant console platform of the day and/or watched our parents do it. Looking back at the NES and SNES, these were based on hardware already a decade old at release. If you knew that there was some satisfaction that could be had seeing the equivalent of a calculator provide a novel gaming experience. Things have changed quite a bit since then.

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Who knows what's next? It ain't lookin' pretty.

It's been a while since I've been here, and I can firmly blame a(nother) medical issue for it. Nothing serious. Just an auto-immune reaction called urticaria that no one understands well enough to do anything other than throw pills at. I'm sure we all know the story of having to wait months to see a specialist. Be at ease: It's no better up here in Canada, though at the moment things are significantly worse in the US.

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We notice broken things because of all that isn't.

I couldn't not come back here. World culture is doing as it does, galvanizing into groups who are fixated on values, behaviors or needs. That's a little vague. I'll say this instead: We're forming two groups. Those give a toss about others and those who give a toss about themselves. It's sobering to read about JoeTheDestroyer's divorce. As a child - and adult - I grew up with that threat always looming over my head, and I am fortunate that after forty years the relationship of my parents has taken a healing turn.

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