I accept.

The Great Power-Up Debate may have found its end.

After much deliberation, I have agreed to accept Torbox's challenge. It would appear that this question of ours cannot be resolved by means of debate or rational argument or appeal to authority. It is a question which goes beyond a mere logical analysis.

I suppose it's like when you have a favorite band - there's no reason why I think the Beatles or Bob Dylan are the best. I just do. Perhaps
it goes the same way with Leaf vs. Cape. When I read Torbox's post about how he really came to love Super Mario World as he did, I realized I would never be able to "convince" him of the Leaf's superiority for the same reason he'd never be able to "convince" me of the Cape's superiority.

It was the summer of '89 that I first played Super Mario Brothers 3; the cartridge was half the size of what I knew a NES cartridge was supposed to look like, and it was plugged into a thing with a ribbon that made it as long as a NES cartridge. I had seen it a few times before on those 31-in-1 games, and I knew those ones were from Japan because some of the games were in Japanese and impossible to play.

I was 12 years old, and my family had travelled to Cape Breton for a summer visit. I had a Sega Master System, and I loved it more than life itself, so I never really felt like I was missing out on too much. Metroid? Pfft. We had Zillion.  NES Games like Hudson's Adventure were nothing compared to Wonder Boy. (And, man, Wonder Boy In Monster Land and Wonder Boy III were even BETTER. What a series.) Duck Hunt? Please, have you played Safari Hunt? Even the Ghostbusters game was way better - actually that was my first game for my Master system. I didn't care that Nintendo had, like, a million games, because most of them sucked! I felt like the SMS was the superior system, pound for pound.

But that summer, when I played the Japanese import version of SMB3, I knew I had to get a NES, because that was hands-down that best game I'd ever played. It didn't matter that I couldn't read a thing - Mario could fly.

It was a revelation.

And everything about this Mario was better - graphics, sound, levels, POWER-UPS....to this day, I've never played a game with better power-ups.

And the centerpiece power-up, of course, was the Leaf.

 

I think we pretty much had the same childhood experience. Maybe the details are a little different. I realize now that we are not looking at this debate through the clear eyes of reason, but rather through the warm, hazy eyes of childhood memories. And I think we should both be entitled to see our memories the way we wish, should we not?

So, Torbox, let's settle this the old way: through feats of skill. Let's see which guy gets bragging rights as Mario Master for the rest of the IMBC. You fight under the banner of the Cape, and I fight under the banner of the Leaf. Winner take all - including the authority to arbitrarily decide which Mario power-up is best of all.

I suggest Mario 2: Lost Levels, as I am pretty much unfamiliar with the game. I suspect you are too, and that may be the most objective way to test your SMW-fu against my SMB3-jitsu.

You can choose the victory condition, but I would suggest "Most Levels Completed Before Reaching Game Over," if I were asked for my opinion, which I wasn't.

Let me know what you think.

Topic of the Day - Why I'm in the IMBC

I'm in the IMBC because of Torbox, of course! Torbox, AKA Pat, sent me this link one night on MSN, and he told me he was thinking of joining. I thought it sounded like an interesting challenge, and decided to give it a try - and I gotta say that it's been a great 10 days so far.

Pat, thanks for sending me the link. It's been a blast. Even the whole Leaf/Cape thing. ESPECIALLY that. I'm looking forward to the challenge.