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Over the years gaming has progressed in many different areas, some are for the better and some are for the worse. If you are a gameplay person where graphics and sound are just the icing on the cake then the good old days of the Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo are sorely missed and sometimes you want to remember rescuing Princess Peach on the Super Nintendo (known to many as the Snes) or battling your way past a man-eating flower on Alex Kidd. If you qualify for the criteria I have mentioned above then this post may be of interest you as I go through the Gaming Key-Hole.
Mario:
He maybe small and carry the reputation of a plumber but Mario seems to satisfy your gaming needs every time he comes out of the 'tap' to release a new title. Although the gameplay in Mario may be a little simplistic for some platform fans, it is challenging for others. Over the years Mario has taken the gaming world by storm and has produced some of the most exciting gaming moments ever to be experienced from the comfort of your own home, but where is the catch? Is it Mario himself who draws gamers to play more or is it past reputations? Looking at it from my angle I would say a bit of both, but how did such a simple idea capture millions and force them to play on in a Dr.Evil/Nintendo kind of way.
Mario started his career back on the NES which was Nintendo's first real stab at console gaming, but 10 years on from that his new title 'Mario Sunshine' is blasting its way onto the Nintendo GameCube and so far the reviews look very promising. If Mario hadn't become such a popular image on our consoles, could he have been a cheesy Spanish waiter in a run down back alley restaurant, probably not but the thought of him jumping across tables to serve food and fighting of violent Knives and Forks is an image to chuckle about every now and again?
It must be great to never age and for people to love you every time you appear out of the closet (in a strictly gaming matter of speaking :D), Mario will probably live forever in one form or another. My next look into the world of gaming fame is like a brother to Mario, oh... Hang on he is a brother to Mario (wink ;) wink), lets welcome Mr. Luigi!
Luigi: (*puts on Mario style accent* its a Mario's a brother)
Luigi is looked upon as the lesser of the 2 gaming brothers, yet his contribution to the gaming world has been just as strong as Mario's and this is shown with Nintendo giving him his own game 'luigi's Mansion' which was one of the many successful GameCube launch titles which has sold well across the gaming globe. Luigi started his career over at the same time as Mario back on the Nes, yet it seems that his impact was no-where near as strong as Mario's which has dominated the gaming market ever since.
Luigi is another Plumbing creation from the masters at Nintendo and his trade mark typical Spanish Moustache is the image I have of Luigi, yet others look upon him as just... Mario's Brother (which of course unless the doctors at Nintendo got it wrong would be a suitable title).
Just like Mario, Luigi jumps giant plant pots, grows big when he eats Mushrooms and wants to take on the evil bowser or either save Princess Peach or stop world poverty... Or am I thinking of something else?! Anyway, without Luigi Mario doesn't seem the complete person that I expect to see when playing a game, they come like 'hand in glove'! As both Luigi and Mario strike onto Nintendo's next generation console it seems like they have a will to live forever, they are eternal gaming characters. My next look through the Gaming Key-Hole moves away from the brilliance of Nintendo and onto my favourite developing company of all time... Sega! Let’s give a warm hand for the ultra fast yet highly flexible Sir Sonic the Hedgehog!
Sir Sonic the Hedgehog:
He is spiky, he is blue and he is the worlds only cool Hedgehog, that's right people this is Sonic the Hedgehog! After Sega and Nintendo had released the Nez and the Master System it was time for the companies to exert their 16-bit consoles which would once again see Sega/Nintendo and Mario/Sonic fighting for numerous number one spots. Sonic first made his console appearance back in 1991 with possibly one of the greatest (if not the greatest) video-game of all time and it is certainly a discussion point for Sega and Nintendo fans world-wide.
Like Nintendo, Sega wanted to create a character to do battle against the Nintendo brothers of Mario and Luigi. Sega tried many ideas out before releasing images on Sonic yet it seemed that a super fast blue Hedgehog would hopefully 'clean' out those hungry plumbers and draw people onto the Mega Drive. Figurines, bedding, clothes, Pyjamas, Mugs, you name it and Sega exploited Sonic in one way or another onto various items which people use in their everyday lives. For the next 10 years Sonic would do battle on different consoles and in many different forms to make sure that his console success would not be short lived.
Sega's decision to stop making consoles came as a great shock to gaming fans world-wide. The Sega Dreamcast didn't sell as people were waiting for Sony's Playstation 2 and Sega decided to call it a day on developing consoles. People were worried that all the great Sega titles would just go to waste and that the image of Mario would now dominate the gaming market on Nintendo's different consoles/hand-held machines. Sega fans disappeared into different areas and tried to comfort themselves (well I did anyway) as they thought gaming as they knew it would never be the same again. Then all of a sudden (sorry for the very cheesy cliche) Sega announced that they would continue to develop games across the next generation consoles.
Sega were back and Sonic would continue!
Sega are now developing games across all 3 next generation consoles, yet at the moment it seems like the Nintendo GameCube is going to see the release of any future Sonic the Hedgehog titles. Sonic Adventure 2 was re-released for the GameCube after its mediocre success on the very under-estimated Sega Dreamcast and so far sales for the Nintendo re-release are showing that Sonic is still very much alive and kicking!
After looking at 3 of the most popular gaming characters on the market and going 'Through the Gaming Key-Hole' on each of them I think we can say that after 10 years of dominating the gaming market in different ways each of them are still showing gamers world-wide that they will not lay down and rest. Mario, Luigi and Sonic are recognised characters across the world for both gamers and non-gamers a-like, they look better every time they are released and no matter how hard Michael Jackson tries, he will never look as good as these characters no matter how old they grow. The world of eternal gaming lives on as the gaming Key-Hole becomes ever bigger.
Thank you for Reading
Garbe123
Mario:
He maybe small and carry the reputation of a plumber but Mario seems to satisfy your gaming needs every time he comes out of the 'tap' to release a new title. Although the gameplay in Mario may be a little simplistic for some platform fans, it is challenging for others. Over the years Mario has taken the gaming world by storm and has produced some of the most exciting gaming moments ever to be experienced from the comfort of your own home, but where is the catch? Is it Mario himself who draws gamers to play more or is it past reputations? Looking at it from my angle I would say a bit of both, but how did such a simple idea capture millions and force them to play on in a Dr.Evil/Nintendo kind of way.
Mario started his career back on the NES which was Nintendo's first real stab at console gaming, but 10 years on from that his new title 'Mario Sunshine' is blasting its way onto the Nintendo GameCube and so far the reviews look very promising. If Mario hadn't become such a popular image on our consoles, could he have been a cheesy Spanish waiter in a run down back alley restaurant, probably not but the thought of him jumping across tables to serve food and fighting of violent Knives and Forks is an image to chuckle about every now and again?
It must be great to never age and for people to love you every time you appear out of the closet (in a strictly gaming matter of speaking :D), Mario will probably live forever in one form or another. My next look into the world of gaming fame is like a brother to Mario, oh... Hang on he is a brother to Mario (wink ;) wink), lets welcome Mr. Luigi!
Luigi: (*puts on Mario style accent* its a Mario's a brother)
Luigi is looked upon as the lesser of the 2 gaming brothers, yet his contribution to the gaming world has been just as strong as Mario's and this is shown with Nintendo giving him his own game 'luigi's Mansion' which was one of the many successful GameCube launch titles which has sold well across the gaming globe. Luigi started his career over at the same time as Mario back on the Nes, yet it seems that his impact was no-where near as strong as Mario's which has dominated the gaming market ever since.
Luigi is another Plumbing creation from the masters at Nintendo and his trade mark typical Spanish Moustache is the image I have of Luigi, yet others look upon him as just... Mario's Brother (which of course unless the doctors at Nintendo got it wrong would be a suitable title).
Just like Mario, Luigi jumps giant plant pots, grows big when he eats Mushrooms and wants to take on the evil bowser or either save Princess Peach or stop world poverty... Or am I thinking of something else?! Anyway, without Luigi Mario doesn't seem the complete person that I expect to see when playing a game, they come like 'hand in glove'! As both Luigi and Mario strike onto Nintendo's next generation console it seems like they have a will to live forever, they are eternal gaming characters. My next look through the Gaming Key-Hole moves away from the brilliance of Nintendo and onto my favourite developing company of all time... Sega! Let’s give a warm hand for the ultra fast yet highly flexible Sir Sonic the Hedgehog!
Sir Sonic the Hedgehog:
He is spiky, he is blue and he is the worlds only cool Hedgehog, that's right people this is Sonic the Hedgehog! After Sega and Nintendo had released the Nez and the Master System it was time for the companies to exert their 16-bit consoles which would once again see Sega/Nintendo and Mario/Sonic fighting for numerous number one spots. Sonic first made his console appearance back in 1991 with possibly one of the greatest (if not the greatest) video-game of all time and it is certainly a discussion point for Sega and Nintendo fans world-wide.
Like Nintendo, Sega wanted to create a character to do battle against the Nintendo brothers of Mario and Luigi. Sega tried many ideas out before releasing images on Sonic yet it seemed that a super fast blue Hedgehog would hopefully 'clean' out those hungry plumbers and draw people onto the Mega Drive. Figurines, bedding, clothes, Pyjamas, Mugs, you name it and Sega exploited Sonic in one way or another onto various items which people use in their everyday lives. For the next 10 years Sonic would do battle on different consoles and in many different forms to make sure that his console success would not be short lived.
Sega's decision to stop making consoles came as a great shock to gaming fans world-wide. The Sega Dreamcast didn't sell as people were waiting for Sony's Playstation 2 and Sega decided to call it a day on developing consoles. People were worried that all the great Sega titles would just go to waste and that the image of Mario would now dominate the gaming market on Nintendo's different consoles/hand-held machines. Sega fans disappeared into different areas and tried to comfort themselves (well I did anyway) as they thought gaming as they knew it would never be the same again. Then all of a sudden (sorry for the very cheesy cliche) Sega announced that they would continue to develop games across the next generation consoles.
Sega were back and Sonic would continue!
Sega are now developing games across all 3 next generation consoles, yet at the moment it seems like the Nintendo GameCube is going to see the release of any future Sonic the Hedgehog titles. Sonic Adventure 2 was re-released for the GameCube after its mediocre success on the very under-estimated Sega Dreamcast and so far sales for the Nintendo re-release are showing that Sonic is still very much alive and kicking!
After looking at 3 of the most popular gaming characters on the market and going 'Through the Gaming Key-Hole' on each of them I think we can say that after 10 years of dominating the gaming market in different ways each of them are still showing gamers world-wide that they will not lay down and rest. Mario, Luigi and Sonic are recognised characters across the world for both gamers and non-gamers a-like, they look better every time they are released and no matter how hard Michael Jackson tries, he will never look as good as these characters no matter how old they grow. The world of eternal gaming lives on as the gaming Key-Hole becomes ever bigger.
Thank you for Reading
Garbe123
Cheers Fosbe!
Nice.
Thanks Silent85
Cheers Gamezfreak! I have always said Nez, sorry :)
and it is spelt NES
Very compelling and intresting post Garbe.
Enjoying Read.
Enjoying Read.
Cheers Savatt.
Interesting post mate. :-)
Over the years gaming has progressed in many different areas, some are for the better and some are for the worse. If you are a gameplay person where graphics and sound are just the icing on the cake then the good old days of the Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo are sorely missed and sometimes you want to remember rescuing Princess Peach on the Super Nintendo (known to many as the Snes) or battling your way past a man-eating flower on Alex Kidd. If you qualify for the criteria I have mentioned above then this post may be of interest you as I go through the Gaming Key-Hole.
Mario:
He maybe small and carry the reputation of a plumber but Mario seems to satisfy your gaming needs every time he comes out of the 'tap' to release a new title. Although the gameplay in Mario may be a little simplistic for some platform fans, it is challenging for others. Over the years Mario has taken the gaming world by storm and has produced some of the most exciting gaming moments ever to be experienced from the comfort of your own home, but where is the catch? Is it Mario himself who draws gamers to play more or is it past reputations? Looking at it from my angle I would say a bit of both, but how did such a simple idea capture millions and force them to play on in a Dr.Evil/Nintendo kind of way.
Mario started his career back on the NES which was Nintendo's first real stab at console gaming, but 10 years on from that his new title 'Mario Sunshine' is blasting its way onto the Nintendo GameCube and so far the reviews look very promising. If Mario hadn't become such a popular image on our consoles, could he have been a cheesy Spanish waiter in a run down back alley restaurant, probably not but the thought of him jumping across tables to serve food and fighting of violent Knives and Forks is an image to chuckle about every now and again?
It must be great to never age and for people to love you every time you appear out of the closet (in a strictly gaming matter of speaking :D), Mario will probably live forever in one form or another. My next look into the world of gaming fame is like a brother to Mario, oh... Hang on he is a brother to Mario (wink ;) wink), lets welcome Mr. Luigi!
Luigi: (*puts on Mario style accent* its a Mario's a brother)
Luigi is looked upon as the lesser of the 2 gaming brothers, yet his contribution to the gaming world has been just as strong as Mario's and this is shown with Nintendo giving him his own game 'luigi's Mansion' which was one of the many successful GameCube launch titles which has sold well across the gaming globe. Luigi started his career over at the same time as Mario back on the Nes, yet it seems that his impact was no-where near as strong as Mario's which has dominated the gaming market ever since.
Luigi is another Plumbing creation from the masters at Nintendo and his trade mark typical Spanish Moustache is the image I have of Luigi, yet others look upon him as just... Mario's Brother (which of course unless the doctors at Nintendo got it wrong would be a suitable title).
Just like Mario, Luigi jumps giant plant pots, grows big when he eats Mushrooms and wants to take on the evil bowser or either save Princess Peach or stop world poverty... Or am I thinking of something else?! Anyway, without Luigi Mario doesn't seem the complete person that I expect to see when playing a game, they come like 'hand in glove'! As both Luigi and Mario strike onto Nintendo's next generation console it seems like they have a will to live forever, they are eternal gaming characters. My next look through the Gaming Key-Hole moves away from the brilliance of Nintendo and onto my favourite developing company of all time... Sega! Let’s give a warm hand for the ultra fast yet highly flexible Sir Sonic the Hedgehog!
Sir Sonic the Hedgehog:
He is spiky, he is blue and he is the worlds only cool Hedgehog, that's right people this is Sonic the Hedgehog! After Sega and Nintendo had released the Nez and the Master System it was time for the companies to exert their 16-bit consoles which would once again see Sega/Nintendo and Mario/Sonic fighting for numerous number one spots. Sonic first made his console appearance back in 1991 with possibly one of the greatest (if not the greatest) video-game of all time and it is certainly a discussion point for Sega and Nintendo fans world-wide.
Like Nintendo, Sega wanted to create a character to do battle against the Nintendo brothers of Mario and Luigi. Sega tried many ideas out before releasing images on Sonic yet it seemed that a super fast blue Hedgehog would hopefully 'clean' out those hungry plumbers and draw people onto the Mega Drive. Figurines, bedding, clothes, Pyjamas, Mugs, you name it and Sega exploited Sonic in one way or another onto various items which people use in their everyday lives. For the next 10 years Sonic would do battle on different consoles and in many different forms to make sure that his console success would not be short lived.
Sega's decision to stop making consoles came as a great shock to gaming fans world-wide. The Sega Dreamcast didn't sell as people were waiting for Sony's Playstation 2 and Sega decided to call it a day on developing consoles. People were worried that all the great Sega titles would just go to waste and that the image of Mario would now dominate the gaming market on Nintendo's different consoles/hand-held machines. Sega fans disappeared into different areas and tried to comfort themselves (well I did anyway) as they thought gaming as they knew it would never be the same again. Then all of a sudden (sorry for the very cheesy cliche) Sega announced that they would continue to develop games across the next generation consoles.
Sega were back and Sonic would continue!
Sega are now developing games across all 3 next generation consoles, yet at the moment it seems like the Nintendo GameCube is going to see the release of any future Sonic the Hedgehog titles. Sonic Adventure 2 was re-released for the GameCube after its mediocre success on the very under-estimated Sega Dreamcast and so far sales for the Nintendo re-release are showing that Sonic is still very much alive and kicking!
After looking at 3 of the most popular gaming characters on the market and going 'Through the Gaming Key-Hole' on each of them I think we can say that after 10 years of dominating the gaming market in different ways each of them are still showing gamers world-wide that they will not lay down and rest. Mario, Luigi and Sonic are recognised characters across the world for both gamers and non-gamers a-like, they look better every time they are released and no matter how hard Michael Jackson tries, he will never look as good as these characters no matter how old they grow. The world of eternal gaming lives on as the gaming Key-Hole becomes ever bigger.
Thank you for Reading
Garbe123
Mario:
He maybe small and carry the reputation of a plumber but Mario seems to satisfy your gaming needs every time he comes out of the 'tap' to release a new title. Although the gameplay in Mario may be a little simplistic for some platform fans, it is challenging for others. Over the years Mario has taken the gaming world by storm and has produced some of the most exciting gaming moments ever to be experienced from the comfort of your own home, but where is the catch? Is it Mario himself who draws gamers to play more or is it past reputations? Looking at it from my angle I would say a bit of both, but how did such a simple idea capture millions and force them to play on in a Dr.Evil/Nintendo kind of way.
Mario started his career back on the NES which was Nintendo's first real stab at console gaming, but 10 years on from that his new title 'Mario Sunshine' is blasting its way onto the Nintendo GameCube and so far the reviews look very promising. If Mario hadn't become such a popular image on our consoles, could he have been a cheesy Spanish waiter in a run down back alley restaurant, probably not but the thought of him jumping across tables to serve food and fighting of violent Knives and Forks is an image to chuckle about every now and again?
It must be great to never age and for people to love you every time you appear out of the closet (in a strictly gaming matter of speaking :D), Mario will probably live forever in one form or another. My next look into the world of gaming fame is like a brother to Mario, oh... Hang on he is a brother to Mario (wink ;) wink), lets welcome Mr. Luigi!
Luigi: (*puts on Mario style accent* its a Mario's a brother)
Luigi is looked upon as the lesser of the 2 gaming brothers, yet his contribution to the gaming world has been just as strong as Mario's and this is shown with Nintendo giving him his own game 'luigi's Mansion' which was one of the many successful GameCube launch titles which has sold well across the gaming globe. Luigi started his career over at the same time as Mario back on the Nes, yet it seems that his impact was no-where near as strong as Mario's which has dominated the gaming market ever since.
Luigi is another Plumbing creation from the masters at Nintendo and his trade mark typical Spanish Moustache is the image I have of Luigi, yet others look upon him as just... Mario's Brother (which of course unless the doctors at Nintendo got it wrong would be a suitable title).
Just like Mario, Luigi jumps giant plant pots, grows big when he eats Mushrooms and wants to take on the evil bowser or either save Princess Peach or stop world poverty... Or am I thinking of something else?! Anyway, without Luigi Mario doesn't seem the complete person that I expect to see when playing a game, they come like 'hand in glove'! As both Luigi and Mario strike onto Nintendo's next generation console it seems like they have a will to live forever, they are eternal gaming characters. My next look through the Gaming Key-Hole moves away from the brilliance of Nintendo and onto my favourite developing company of all time... Sega! Let’s give a warm hand for the ultra fast yet highly flexible Sir Sonic the Hedgehog!
Sir Sonic the Hedgehog:
He is spiky, he is blue and he is the worlds only cool Hedgehog, that's right people this is Sonic the Hedgehog! After Sega and Nintendo had released the Nez and the Master System it was time for the companies to exert their 16-bit consoles which would once again see Sega/Nintendo and Mario/Sonic fighting for numerous number one spots. Sonic first made his console appearance back in 1991 with possibly one of the greatest (if not the greatest) video-game of all time and it is certainly a discussion point for Sega and Nintendo fans world-wide.
Like Nintendo, Sega wanted to create a character to do battle against the Nintendo brothers of Mario and Luigi. Sega tried many ideas out before releasing images on Sonic yet it seemed that a super fast blue Hedgehog would hopefully 'clean' out those hungry plumbers and draw people onto the Mega Drive. Figurines, bedding, clothes, Pyjamas, Mugs, you name it and Sega exploited Sonic in one way or another onto various items which people use in their everyday lives. For the next 10 years Sonic would do battle on different consoles and in many different forms to make sure that his console success would not be short lived.
Sega's decision to stop making consoles came as a great shock to gaming fans world-wide. The Sega Dreamcast didn't sell as people were waiting for Sony's Playstation 2 and Sega decided to call it a day on developing consoles. People were worried that all the great Sega titles would just go to waste and that the image of Mario would now dominate the gaming market on Nintendo's different consoles/hand-held machines. Sega fans disappeared into different areas and tried to comfort themselves (well I did anyway) as they thought gaming as they knew it would never be the same again. Then all of a sudden (sorry for the very cheesy cliche) Sega announced that they would continue to develop games across the next generation consoles.
Sega were back and Sonic would continue!
Sega are now developing games across all 3 next generation consoles, yet at the moment it seems like the Nintendo GameCube is going to see the release of any future Sonic the Hedgehog titles. Sonic Adventure 2 was re-released for the GameCube after its mediocre success on the very under-estimated Sega Dreamcast and so far sales for the Nintendo re-release are showing that Sonic is still very much alive and kicking!
After looking at 3 of the most popular gaming characters on the market and going 'Through the Gaming Key-Hole' on each of them I think we can say that after 10 years of dominating the gaming market in different ways each of them are still showing gamers world-wide that they will not lay down and rest. Mario, Luigi and Sonic are recognised characters across the world for both gamers and non-gamers a-like, they look better every time they are released and no matter how hard Michael Jackson tries, he will never look as good as these characters no matter how old they grow. The world of eternal gaming lives on as the gaming Key-Hole becomes ever bigger.
Thank you for Reading
Garbe123