Second Day of 30(ish) Days of Gaming

FAVORITE CHARACTER

My favorite character has already been featured in the art of my first day of gaming post... THE DUCK HUNT DOG!

Just kidding.

Mario has always been my favorite videogame character by a long shot. He might not be the most complicated, or the best written, or the the best designed character... especially with the state of story telling in current gen gaming... but he's one of the most enduring, tireless, and classic characters that never refuses to do the right thing. Even if it means dressing up in silly animal outfits.

I've been playing Mario games since my first days as a gamer. Back then my cousins could hand me the second player controller and let me think I was playing when it was really them. I'm a decently intelligent fellow, so you can probably deduce for yourself that I was quite young then. Anyhow, I'm still playing Mario games, and I'm yet to grow tired of them. The Mario team is always elaborating Mario games that never makes them muddled without losing sight of what a Mario game is. After over 25 years, that's pretty darn impressive. They've also made Mario an icon of fun and welcome. The Mario franchise has established itself as a great place for old grumpy gamers and bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and easily confused newbies to meet as equals not necessarily in skill, but in the pursuit of fun.

I'm really tired and I feel like this post is less than adequate, so I'm going to stop it now--though not before adding one last thing. Mario isn't Mario without Luigi (or Bowser, or Peach, etc.). I grew up playing these games with my brother, and he clung to Luigi as religiously as I did Mario. He didn't mind having to wait his turn or the fact that he wasn't player one. He was Luigi, and my brother made wearing that green hat seem like an enviable thing.

Seeing as it's National Sibling day and Nintendo's proclaimed "Year of Luigi," I really wanted to incorporate Luigi into this picture. Before Mario had all his spin offs and whatnot, it started with the Brothers together (who are still going strong (for the first time in HD!)). Here's to remembering all those days not just of Mario, but of the SUPER MARIO BROS.

First Day of 30(ish) Days of Gaming

POST NOTE: Thanks to my laziness, I've transplanted my first 30 days of Gaming post to today! Now compleat with a drawn picture, as promised!

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Since I'm completely idealess, I thought I'd start doing one of those 30 day blog challenges that I started and failed a long time ago as a sign of my renewed investment in this blog. It was aptly a videogame challenge, and--loving videogames--I'm super down to give it another go. I'm also going to do the thing that caused me to fail in the first place: draw a drawing for each post!!!

(For those interested, the original challenge--to the best of my knowledge--was issued here about a year ago.)

DAY ONE: 

VERY FIRST VIDEO-GAME

I've been playing vidjagaems since forever, so it's sort of hard to remember, but the earliest game I can remember playing religiously is my copy of Mario Bros / Duck Hunt. Yeah, I had/have that two-in-one cartridge of awesomeness. That zapper gun, I swear. My favorite game to play with it was Gumshoe (but that's another story). Nintendo has always been on the ball with innovation. Some people seem to think that their products can be gimmicky, but I think their visionaries. They uphold their traditional values without becoming stuck in the past. They continue to revisit and reinvent simultaneously, letting fans watch their favorite characters evolve (poképun?) while somehow staying the same, a kind reminder of the best parts of growing up. Not too bad for a card-maker-gone-game-crazy company.