Introduction

I finally recorded the game play and put together the video for my Mario Top 10 Honorable Mention. I still need to narrate and post it, though. To be perfectly honest, none of the videos might be completed until after school ends next month. But, I wanted to keep to my promise of Mario in May. So, I wrote this article with the disclaimer that the video comes sometime next month.

Donkey Kong (1981)

I never played Donkey Kong in the arcade. As you all know, I’m an old guy who (mis?)spent his teenage years in an arcade and the movie theater and McDonalds across the hall at the Millcreek Mall. However, I played mostly fighting games at the time. Think Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Virtua Fighter and, yes, even Primal Rage. Sometimes, when hanging out in the arcade after Putt Putt, I put a token into Pac-Man or Gauntlet. It wasn’t until recently, when I discovered the cabinet at The Quarters, a local barcade, that I picked up Donkey Kong. Now, every time we go, I try to surpass the high score.

Donkey Kong Jr. (1982)

On the other hand, I owned Donkey Kong Jr. for my Atari 2600. At some point, I must have played it on the NES, too. Because I remember the terrible Atari graphics. I also remember the much better NES graphics. In either case, I enjoyed the game much more than the original Donkey Kong. I still do. The added challenge of the different height platforms as well as climbing vines and moving targets made the game much more enjoyable in my opinion.

Mario Bros (1983)

Back when I tried to launch Mario in March last year, I wrote about my history with the Mario franchise. As part of that, I recorded some video of the early games in the series. One of those videos showed the Atari 2600 version of Mario Bros. Again, as an old man gamer, that’s when I got my start in video games. And, at the time, I was happy for the opportunity to play all of these arcade classics at home. Hell, even today, I own an emulated Atari 2600 system and purchsed Circus Convoy for it.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong

The only game released in the last two decades, I discovered this one working overnights. Before we got busted for napping on the job, they allowed us little perks for the inconvenience of having to stay awake. One of them was the ability to play our portable gaming systems. I bought an emulator cart for my GBA and loaded this game. The rest, as they say, is history. I love the puzzle game with the Mario game play. I nearly put it in the top 10 even though it’s not a traditional Mario game.

The Verdict

Each of these titles in the Mario Top 10 Honorable Mention holds a special place in my heart and represents a different era in my gaming life. Since I restricted myself to the more traditional type games in the actual top 10, I needed a place to show them off. Let me know if you have any others that you’d add.