A Rediscovered Classic: Super Mario All Stars

This week a new game landed on store shelves for the Nintendo Wii, a game whose understated but elegant red and gold package gives a clue to its importance in the video game world: Super Mario All Stars.

The characters of Mario -- and his brother Luigi -- require no introduction; having previously earned their place in both pop-culture and in the collective mind's eye of the world, offering an introduction is as simple as saying "The Two Italian Plumbers" (a phrase that is as much an apothegmatic tag as it is instantly recognizable).

Their familiar forms are a testament not just to their long career as entertainment icons, but also to the variety of products that they have appeared on -- video games, of course, but also animated TV, motion pictures, lunch boxes, every variety of textile goods from sheets to pajamas and beach towels, and even jewelry and health care products. A Mario ball cap is as iconic as a Fonzie Leather Jacket, and maybe just a little more famous.

They have appeared in cameo roles in movies and TV shows too numerous to mention, have served as the basis for humor, monologues on the Tonight Show -- not always in the kindest light -- and who can forget their antics during the Joe the Plumber era of the Presidential campaign? In short they are true icons that got their start as simple video game characters at a time when the home video game console was still a novelty, and not an inexpensive one at that.

Back to the Future

The year 1985 conjures strong mental imagery for anyone who actually lived through it; it was the literal threshold for what would evolve into the personal media movement. Hair bands, the personal mix tape (thanks largely to the boom box and the Sony Walkman), and conspicuous consumption were the order of the day.

Say the number ten to a Manchester fan and they would shout back "Oy! Rooney!" An entire new industry in the sign making business was just getting on its feet, with city government the world over ordering "No Skateboarding Allowed" signs, and Microsoft released a new program called Windows that they thought might have a shot at catching on with computer users in the business environment, though it was not thought to have much appeal for home PC users.

The cinema was a weekend destination because VCR's had not yet taken over as the primary means of delivering movies to the masses, and Back to the Future was the smash hit of the Summer. Projection TV's had finally made their way into homes everywhere, and a largely unknown Japanese game company called Nintendo was about to set the world of personal entertainment on its ear with the introduction of the video game console that started it all: the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short.

The Nintendo Entertainment System

The Summer of 1985 saw the NES released in North America, Europe, the UK, and Australia, but it was positioned as a cartridge-based video game entertainment system, and not as a personal computer, which was how it was sold in Asia.

Japan and much of Asia had the device as early as 1983, where it was marketed as a "Family Computer" (Famicom for short) and included peripherals and accessories like the Nintendo Printer, keyboard, modem, and disc drive that attached to the underside of the unit, allowing the user to store documents and other data created by the software that was widely available.

A tape drive interface for saving documents was also available if you could not afford the more expensive disc drive unit, and a BASIC compiler and interpreter was available for users who wanted to create their own programs for the Famicom, including games.

The NES would end up being the best-selling video game console in history, and was the boost that the home video game industry needed in North America, where for the most part unless you owned a personal computer, playing video games meant going to an arcade with a pocket full of coins.

There were two bundled versions of the NES available for its American release; the Deluxe Version, which included a light gun and the games Duck Hunt and something called Super Mario Brothers, and the regular bundle, which had just Super Mario Brothers in it.

All over the country that Christmas kids were being introduced to the Mushroom Kingdom and the characters of Mario and Luigi, Princess Toadstool (later changed to Princess Peach), and the diabolical Bowser, with the game and its fantastical world clearly resonating with gamers in a way that nobody could have anticipated.

It is hard to say which was more important to the success of the NES -- the NES itself, or the Super Mario Brothers game. Obviously you could not have the latter without the former, but the game is what sparked the massive popularity of the console, which became the number one most popular Christmas present on Christmas lists all over the world the following year.

Super Mario Brothers was important in another less obvious way, because it changed how video games were made for the NES. Instead of shoehorning the code for a game into the available hardware, game makers added hardware to the game cartridge when it was needed, including additional RAM, storage media, and even video processing circuits that interfaced with the NES bus when the cartridge was plugged in.

25 Years Later -- an Instant Classic

Recognizing the long legs that Mario still has with his original fans, and the almost endless cadre of potential new fans, Nintendo has released what is sure to be an instant classic: Super Mario All Stars -- just in time for the 2010 Christmas gift season.

Putting 25 years of Mario into one box was not easy, especially when it is a Limited Edition Box that contains not just the game disc packed with four of Mario's adventures, but also an audio CD with 20 classic tracks of Mario music and effects, and a booklet that features some behind the scenes snippets providing a historical perspective for the games legend, from original artwork to interviews with the series creators.

The game disc contains Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Brothers the Lost Levels, Super Mario Brothers 2, and Super Mario Brothers 3, each one being games that -- in their time -- set the gaming world on its ear!

It is difficult to communicate the significance that these games had when they were first released, largely because it was a very different world for gamers and gaming. It was a platform-style game that was released for home play in a world where platform gaming meant stand-up coin-op arcade machines, and it helped to establish the standards for life as a video game character -- from the frailty of existence (being touched by an enemy could kill you), to the need to be aware and on the lookout for secret items in the game (like mushrooms and concealed containers).

By tradition the new release really should not be called "Super Mario All Stars" but rather, "Super Mario All Stars 2" as this is the second time that the collection has been packaged up and re-released! The first time was the game Super Mario All Stars (1993) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).

Super Mario All Stars is Rated E (for Everyone) by the ESRB, and Rated PEGI 3 (for ages 3 and over) by the Pan European Gaming Information rating system. Super Mario All Stars Limited Edition has an MSRP of £24.99 UK, and $44.99 US/Canada, and $49.95 in Australia.