Mario's Special Adventure

 

I quite like Mario, always have. Even with a lifetime of him in video games, cartoons, and everywhere else: there's always something else. It's pretty cool that such a long running and well established character can manage to be obscure sometimes. With as many times that the original Super Mario Bros. has been reissued, you'd think you've seen it all. That's not exactly true as when they reissue the game, it's the orignal game. There's actually a few special editions. Then there's a version that's outright just named Super Mario Bros. Special. 

Super Mario Bros. Special is a version of the classic Super Mario Bros. developed (officially) by Hudson Soft for some NEC, Sharp, and Samsung home computers for the Japanese and South Korean markets. It's weird to imagine a time when Nintendo would allow something like this to happen, but many folks in my age range likely remember Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. on Atari and Coleco Systems. Not to mention random titles by licensed developers in the 90's or the recent mobile games. Sometimes they're willing to make a deal I suppose. 

Basically, the game is a port of the classic Super Mario Bros. that was released for certain home computers. The idea of it sounds pretty great, there's even a few new items and villains from other Mario games that make an appearance. However due to the limitations of those older computers as compared to the Famicom, things were a little toned down. The graphics were not as colorful and a little lessened. There was some audio differences too. It sounds like it should, but a little off. 

Luigi was absent, but most noticeably the screen didn't scroll for the most part. When Mario would get to the edge of the screen, instead of that smooth scrolling you're used to, the screen goes black and the updated screen is presented. Not exactly ideal for some of those big leaps of faith. The controls were also a little wonky as Mario just doesn't move normally. I hear the Sharp X1 version handles it a little better though. It's weird to say a PC version of a console game was inferior (I can hear PC gamers scream out in disbelief), but it really was. Regardless of it's faults, Super Mario Bros. Special is a pretty unique side note in Mario's long history. I'm pretty sure it was cool at the time to have the availability of such a popular game for those who may not have had access to it normally.

Special Beast Wars Sauce

There was a time when the Beast Wars movie seemed like the most amazing thing ever to me. Later when I got a subtitled VHS copy at a local comic con (anyone else miss the bootleg video booths at those?) I discovered it wasn't much more than a new episode of Beast Wars 2.  That and a episode of Metals (what we called season 2 and 3) with a bit of a clip show... but that's kind of what these kids show 'special' movies really are anyway. But at the time, it was nothing short of amazing.

It's funny what the lack of availability does to things. I was in college and working that dreaded Office Max job. Between stocking shelves and selling computers, I'd often cover the copy center. I'd like to say I was multi talented, but the management was so bad that you'd often find yourself doing multiple jobs if you were competent while the slackers got promoted, often to management. Of course the store eventually closed down due to some genius opening a store next door to a Walmart...

It was those times hanging out in the copy center that I'd usually take advantage of the equipment and make various posters from images I'd bring in on a floppy. A particular favorite was a Beast Wars 2 poster I made that found itself on every refrigerator I had for years. 20 something years later I still have it. Though, it's yellowed quite a bit and stuck in a box somewhere. Maybe after I move I'll put it in a frame. Though I might spray it with Lysol first, kinda smells. It old.