Mushroom Kingdom!

Super Mario rules! This was certainly one of the first few games I learnt to play when Nintendo was first launched (remember the grey rectangular box?). Back then the game cartridges were large, thick, cassette-like tapes and I remember having to blow into it each time to clear the dust so that the cartridges could function properly. Take a look at some of the pictures below. This may seem quite familiar to some of you =)







How times have changed since. Today, Sony's Playstation 3 and Nintendo's Wii are all the rage. The game cartridges come in the form of DVD-ROMs and the game consoles are looking sleek and futuristic. The graphics have taken a quantum leap too in terms of quality and providing gamers with an interactive experience. Well, I've gotta admit, I've since not been able to catch up with the latest offerings on the market. In fact I haven't touched a computer game in more than 10 years! I'm lost each time younger friends of mine talk excitedly about the latest RPG game (yea, it took me quite a while to know what RPG meant - ROLE-PLAYING GAME).

Hmmm... I reckon if you would give me an old Nintendo set anytime, I'll be stuck on Super Mario for an entire day! Funny how we find simple thrills in playing a short, stocky character with the ability to fly above clouds, go down into green tunnels, hit square boxes with question marks, step on turtles, chase 'runaway' mushrooms....

I think there's a little bit of childhood fantasy in all of us.

Fishmonger