Super Mario 3D All-Stars contest (2 digital copies)!

[Ocean]

Favorite Mario memory is easy for me.

Waking up on my 6th birthday to find a Nintendo 64 next to my bed. I didn't even know this thing existed until I saw the box. I wasn't ready for such a massive leap vs. my SNES, it was insane. Mario 64 taking turns with my friends who came over to celebrate, cake, just a great memory.

 

[SinkFla]

Never got to finish any of them personally. I only played SM64 a little bit via my friends N64 because during that time my family didn't have the money to get me my own. A short bit later my friend's mom sold their N64 to get a home PC instead and to this day I've never played it again. It would be nice to play again mostly because I'm older now and I would like to remember the good times in my life before the years eventually get the best of me.

Oh and I owned Mario Sunshine at point in my life. But about a quarter of the way through playing it a different friend of mine ended up breaking my gamecube. I have bad luck most of the time lol.

 

[Silent]

It's super generous of you to do this giveaway! Thanks!

I grew up playing the original All-Stars + Super Mario World on the SNES. I had three older sisters and we would all play the games together. We loved Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. It's one of my fondest childhood memories.

Years later, I found myself playing Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year food on GCN. I remember my older sister loved watching me play and chilling with me. She used to have a tape recorder and had some tape recordings of the local morning radio show Kidd Kraddick in the Morning. It was a funny skit they did (the host unfortunately passed away suddenly years ago, so I still think about those recordings from time to time). Anyway, she used to listen to the recordings while I played Paper Mario. I remember being in Chapter 3, my favorite chapter, and the tone that played when you received a mysterious email was the same tune that played in the ice world in Super Mario Bros. 3. It's funny that back then, the tone made me nostalgic about playing the SNES game. But now I'm nostalgic thinking about playing Paper Mario with my sister listening to those recordings.

 

[twdnewh]

I used to live in the UAE. At the time we had no official retailers or distributor, so the local shops would order and import from international distributors.
They are usually pretty quick, but with new console launches and limited availability world wide, it would sometimes be difficult for them to secure adequate stock, and any consoles would sell for a ridiculous mark-up. During the n64 launch, no store was able to get a console before a week or 10 days after launch.

Luckily for me, my dad was in the US for business at the time, he was scheduled to fly back the same evening of the console launch. he knew how bad I wanted one. Fortunately for me, his hotel was near a Fao Shwarz, and in a stroke of unbelievable luck, he walked in and was able to buy the very last unit they had.
He arrived back very early local time, and placed the console and a copy of Mario 64 next to my bed while i slept. The moment I woke up and found it remains one of the most memorable moments of my life, I was essentially the very first person in the country to have one. All my friends flocked to my home the next day and we were all in complete awe as I played through Mario 64. I was the most popular kid that week.

 

[wisdom0wl]

playing Galaxy for the first time.

Maaaaaan, I was looking for something that gave me the same fuzzies as 64 and boy did it deliver. 64 was my first video game I ever played and for something to even give me a hint of that same feeling was super special. I can't wait for 3d all stars tbh. Easy 100+ hours.

 

[ScOULaris]

It's really tough to nail down my single favorite Mario memory, but I think I'll go with completing Mario Galaxy for the first time. It came at a time when I was starting to feel fatigued with big, AAA story-driven games after being disappointed by Uncharted 3, and it completely revitalized my passion for Nintendo's unique brand of game design.

I had actually not been really playing anything by Nintendo for a good number of years up to that point, having scoffed at their shift toward appealing to more "casual" gamers with the Wii. But Mario Galaxy was so spectacular, so full of life and joy and unrelenting creativity that it gave me a whole new appreciation for the Mario series and Nintendo in general.

I was just awestruck the entire time, and the surprisingly emotional ending sealed the deal. Galaxy had done the impossible and surpassed SMW as my all-time favorite Mario game. I never thought a 3D Mario title would be able to do that. It's still my favorite game in the series to this day, and I'm now a straight-up Nintendo fanboy to the core.

So, predictably, I'll be playing Galaxy first in this collection. The prospect of playing through it in HD while my three-year-old son watches (and maybe helps me grab some star bits along the way) sounds sublime.

PS - thanks for doing this contest/giveaway!

 

[krae_man]

Mario 64 has a special place in my heart. I remember going on a waiting list to rent an imported Japanese N64 with Mario 64 from my local Microplay. That they let me rent despite the fact my parents refused to put a credit card on the account. They let 14 year old me rent an imported N64 with no credit card back up if I didn't bring it back or broke it. Crazy. I ended up getting a mid week date and didn't care. My eyes melted when I got to play Mario 64 for the first time. Running around that courtyard was just so amazing.

about a year or so later, I saved up $300 from my summer job to buy an N64. An N64 was $230 CDN after tax at the time. I spent $23 after tax on a third party RF + RF adapter combo thing since it was cheaper than buying a SNES RF and the N64 RF Adapter. I had $47 left to buy a game and N64 games were $100CDN at the time so the only thing I could afford was a used cart only Japanese version of Mario 64 from Microplay with the tabs cut off for $39.99+tax. The same cart I had rented a year earlier.

I get home, and quietly wait for my turn to use the TV since we were a 1 TV household at the time. After dinner my mom goes up to her room to read and my step dad is watching TV then looks at me and said "are you waiting for your turn to play?" I say yes and he says "don't let me stop you, you worked your butt off all summer for that". I hook it up and something's wrong. I get sound perfect but the video feed is all fucked up. I don't know what's wrong as I'm not super tech savvy yet so I call the Nintendo help line. The Nintendo rep does some troubleshooting and decides yep, my third party RF+adapter combo thing is defective. He also scolds me for not buying official Nintendo products. But then he asks "Do you own a VCR?" I say yes, and he replies "You might be able to hook your N64 up to your TV through your VCR via the included composite cable". He then spends probably 15 minutes trying to figure out if my VCR has a composite input on it, and if so, how to get my specific VCR model to send the video signal to my TV.

Well it did have composite inputs and he got it working. After 20 minutes on the phone, I was playing Mario 64. The sound was really quiet and I couldn't figure out why, but I didn't care. I just played with my ear right up to the TV speaker.

The next day I went back to the store and returned my defective RF cable and got a replacement of the same third party cable and it worked fine. Sorry Nintendo dude!

 

[LossAversion]

Never got to play Sunshine or Galaxy! My favorite Mario memory is probably the time that I was talking to my cousin about Mario 64 and I was like "Hey, remember that level where the penguin talks to you and then you go down a slide made out of ice?" and he was like "I'm pretty sure that's Fight Club".

 

[dom]

Getting a GBA bundle with Super Mario Advanced - Super Mario Bros 2 in it for my birthday. Playing console quality games in the palm of your hand just felt so good. Probably a big reason why I like SMB 2 more than the others.

 

[Earthboundstarman]

I was a blessed gamer to have Super Mario Bros 3 be my first ever game experience, on the NES I really bounded with my older brothers and sister playing that game and finding all of the secrets.

 

[Terraforce]

Not really a big 3D Mario guy, but SMB Deluxe was one of my first games ever so I've always had an affinity for the character. I'd like to go back to play Sunshine since I barely touched it since I was just a kid when it was out on Gamecube.

 

[Allyougame]

Thanks for doing this, Aaron!

So many great memories to choose from, and while this might not be my exact favorite, it's definitely one that I cherish: Super Mario Bros. 2 was not only the first Mario game that I beat, but one of the first games period that I completed. What a wild adventure that was, and the feeling of seeing the ending and thinking what it all means was certainly something else.

I haven't really revisited the game since, but hopefully I will sooner than later.

 

[Piscus]

Mario 64 is one of my favorite games of all time. The jump from Super Mario World to Super Mario 64 made my child brain melt, it was incredible. I would pay money at the EB Games at the mall to demo it. Realized years later they were taking me to the bank, but I would have done it anyway. I can't wait to play it (as well as Sunshine and Galaxy) again!

 

[Avocado25]

My favorite memory was experiencing the Mario 64 demo at a Toys R Us as a kid...truly mind blowing to control Mario in a 3D space for the first time.

 

[Anastasis]

Mario 64 came out a week before my 16th birthday. I had somehow managed to scrounge up enough money from odd jobs to get it and an N64. Problem was I had an old TV with only a coaxial input. I barely could afford the system and there was no way I could buy a TV for it. Luckily, I had a VCR (remember those?) that had both a coaxial output and a composite input. 3D movement was a game changer and that N64 is still the only system that is hooked up in my parents home to this day (any my nephews still play it!).

 

[RobotVM]

My favorite Mario memory was getting Super Mario Bros. 3 as a kid for Christmas. My parents wrapped it in a cylinder shape so wouldn't know it was a game. I remember playing with my sister and beating the game even though I was young. I also remember seeing Super Mario 64 for the first time. It blew my mind when I saw it and first played it at a Toys R Us. I have been playing Mario games since Super Mario Bros. 1. He is a a big part of my memories and life.

 

[Mecha]

My favorite Mario memory was how my not a gamer brother that was over 40 years old at the time (I was 6 years old) got obsessed playing Mario 64 and we got to share some good time despite the huge age gap.

 

[Borman]

For me, I remember playing the first Super Mario Bros with the music of the early 90s in the background. I can remember getting to the night stage, and Even Flow coming on the radio when it was new. The mornings watching the Super Show growing up. Now, I get to work to preserve the history of games, it's weirdly awesome.

 

[Ramirez]

I knew the first time I played Mario 64 that games would never be the same. I think it's hard to describe to people how mindblowing it actually was in the moment.

 

[GoFightWin01]

I have played Mario games for YEARS. However, my son is 4 years old and Mario is his absolute favorite character. He has learned who Mario is from playing Mario Maker 2 and Odyssey and I LOVE sharing these moments with him!

 

[C.T. Pleasure-Stacker]

My fondest Mario memory is a tie between playing the Mario 64 demo at Toys R Us and playing Mario Galaxy for the first time.

I remember being so spellbound by the Mario 64 demo. I would play it and other kids would gather around to watch. The next time I would come in someone would almost always be playing the demo and I would just be in awe and enjoy watching them try new things.

 

[BasilZero]

Favorite memory is when I got the SNES bundle with Super Mario World for my birthday.


It was my first console and first game I owned.



Prior to that my only experiences were playing Super Mario Bros on NES but my cousins had own it and they didnt really let me play it....I remember my grandma would let me play it when they were at school but never really got to play it long enough to actually understand what was going on.


Was really happy that I got to get my own Nintendo system and what would later become my first video game and favorite 2D Mario :)

 

[H2intensity]

wow...thanks for this giveaway because i really want to play this but kind of short on money so i hope i can win this.

Been playing Mario since 3rd grade and it really got me into video games even at my 40 now. There's a lot of memories with the series of course but one of my favorites is when me and my big brother first saw MArio 64 being display in video games store in our town. We just step in that store and our jaws drop watching Mario in 3D!! in 3D for the first time. Our mind really blown away and we keep talking about it at home about how gorgeous that game and we then decided to collect our saving money to buy N64 even its a Japan region with Japan language (We're Indonesian). We just don't care about if we understand the text or not. We just want to play the first Mario 3D. Never regret about it lol.

As my favorite Mario games it will be Super Mario Galaxy because it really shows how Mario games can have an epic story along with fantastic level and beautiful music.

If i win. I will play Mario 64, its been a long time haven't play that game and i want to feel that amazing moment again.

 

[Welfare]

Mario Galaxy was the first Mario game I ever beat. Overall my memory of the game is it was fantastic to where I even 100% the Mario side and did multiple play throughs because it was so fun. Never touched the Luigi side.

if I win, I might play 64 first. It's the one I tried to play multiple times but never committed to beating it. Same for Sunshine, where I think I got to the near end.

 

[carda114]

A favorite memory of mine is that as a kid, I'd go with my parents to a Super Bowl Party about every year and the kids who lived there also couldn't care less about football, so we played a lot of Mario 64. Always felt great to share in something that still feels fresh and fun to play.

 

[agc]

The first memory I have of playing a video game is Super Mario Bros 1 with my mom.

Super Mario 64 was my first 3D game, so playing that for the first time was really cool too.

 

[theprodigy]

Super Mario 64 was the first video game I ever played (funny thing is I actually didn't beat it until several years later lol).

Maybe I'll actually finish 100% Sunshine this time, stupid blue coins.

 

[Hambulance]

Split Screen Mario Kart 64 all day

 

[Eblo]

If you weren't around when Super Mario 64 had first come out, it is nigh impossible to grasp just how insane the leap to 3D really was. It was not just a graphical improvement. It was an entire new paradigm to how a platformer or any video game could play. The advent of camera controls was the necessary big hurdle into this unfamiliar territory. Nintendo didn't just phone in a Mario title to show off fancy new tech; they knocked it out of the park with one of the greatest games ever made. The platforming was excellent. You had wonderful worlds hidden away in this eerie, somewhat abandoned castle. There were secrets in every nook and cranny. It had the perfect balance of enough power stars being digestible for players of multiple skill levels to clear the game while also offering extra challenges and collectible rewards for those who thirsted for more. How Mario controls was so tight that it still persists to some degree from Sunshine all the way to Odyssey.

64 fun jumpy man go yah woohoo wahah

 

[Tbone5189]

Not my first Mario game but I give it to super Mario rpg on snes. Amazing story telling game. Favorite moment was with the Axem rangers battling them like you were against the power rangers lol.

 

[thepenguin55]

My favorite memories were actually the first three times I played Mario 64:

1. Not long after the N64 launched in Japan a local Microplay got one in and Mario 64 that they rented out. They would hook it up in store and you could just play Mario 64. I remember being blown away by Mario's voice not sounding like a chain smoking
   New Yorker.
2. Holiday '96 Toys R Us had a TON of gaming kiosks (maybe a dozen) set up near the front of the store. A bunch of Saturns with Nights, a bunch of bricked PS1's with Crash and a bunch of N64s with Mario 64. During a visit I started playing Mario 64 at one of the kiosks. A man with his family stepped up to the kiosk next to me and grabbed the N64 controller. He then turned to his wife and exclaimed "Honey look! It has a finger rest." He then proceeded to insert his left index and middle fingers into the controller's memory card slot. I'm hearing and, out of the corner of my eye, watching all of this unfold thinking to myself "WTF. Not only is that not what it's for but it's probably uncomfortable". Eventually I think he figured out that isn't what it's for and pulled his fingers out.
3. Booting up my N64 for the first time with my brother and sister after we got home late from a family Xmas party. Even though I had played the game twice before I was still floored by the game's intro.

 

[Hispanicguy]

Thanks for the contest!

One of my favorite memories was going to Blockbuster when they had an N64 station set up with Mario 64 (then later, with Mario Kart). Oh man, so much fun. My mom let me even rent the N64 during that release week from Blockbuster. Loved every minute.

I also have memories of New Super Mario Bros on the DS. More specifically, the multiplayer. Me and my friends would be laughing the whole time while playing. It was a simple mode but man, a ton of fun.

 

[rajinus]

One of my strongest memories is when I was playing Mario 64 with my brother in the basement, and my dad called us from upstairs. We didn't answer right away, so he stormed down, grabbed the N64, ripped it from the wall and sent it flying across the room. It was traumatizing, but the game is firmly imprinted in my memory because of the incident, and hoping to experience that nostalgia again with the remake.

Thank you for doing this!

 

[Send Me Bunny Pics]

Super Mario World is one of my favorite games of all time. I'm not even particularly a platformers fan, but that was a very special game.

 

[mrmickfran]

My mom likes to go department stores and shop for hours, I don't like waiting that long so I went to a Gamestop next door.

Sitting at one of the booths was a Wii kiosk with Super Mario Galaxy. I gravitate to it and I can't seem to put the controller down, I was hooked. That game was all I could think about for the next year until I finally got a Wii. As soon as I was able to play the game again I went:

Easily in my top 5 of all time, absolute masterpiece.

I'm looking forward for the collection mostly for Sunshine, it's been over 15 years since I last played it so I'm looking forward to experiencing it again.

Sunshine first

 

[quesalupa]

Mario Galaxy was one of the games in my childhood that taught me games were so much more than entertainment. The visual spectacle, musical score, and wholesome character running throughout that game evoked some real emotions in me man.

 

[Lozjam]

Mario 64 DS, was my very first 3D Platformer ever. I had not really had familiarity with Mario at the time. But man, I adored it. I love that game so much, and Mario 64 was even better on the Virtual Console.

 

[platocplx]

my Mario memories are on game boy I never had a Nintendo console growing up but I remember playing both super Mario land games. They were tough for me but I enjoyed playing them.

 

[Vito]

Me playing Super Mario Bros. is literally the first memory I have. I played it at the age of 4 and was hooked.

I never got a SNES until like a year before the N64 so I had plenty of time to play SMB2 and SMB3. Another fond memory of mine is me playing with a cousin SMB3 until midnight and managing the finish it. We were so happy, we felt invincible that we started the game again but sleep got to us lol.

SMBW was a lot of fun but SM64 was a real game charger though. I was completely blown away by it that I didn't play another N64 game in like 2 years. Running through the castle was a joy and I will never forget it. It's my most loved hub area in all gaming. I love the DS version but I can't wait to play the original version since my cartridge died (T_T) years ago.

It will be like reuniting with an old friend.

 

[Kino]

Sunshine is one of the most frustrating games I've ever played and one of the only games to ever make me cry out of anger, but it was the first game I ever really obsessed over and will always hold a special place in my heart.

Galaxy is the another special game to me. It was my Xmas present and I played it all through the break. It really captured that end of the year feeling for me.

 

[Roubjon]

I loved playing through Mario 64 with my bro. Easily my favorite time spent with the lovable red cap wearing oaf. Thanks for the giveaway!

 

[Basslover]

Thank you for the generosity! My main Mario memories are from my childhood playing the new Mario 1 / duck hunt bundle, basically Learning what videogames are in the process, then later playing Mario 3 and getting lost in it's worlds and secrets. I haven't really played any of the 3D ones (except 3D world) so I would be looking forward to trying them for the first time.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

I remember getting my NES and playing SMBs for the first time. The first time running through 1-1 was incredible. The music was awesome. And it led me down the path to video games and such fun products and eating Mario cereal while watching the Mario Cartoon.

it was sublime to be their when it all started.

 

[ChrizzSTARR]

My first Mario memory was Super Mario World at my cousins house. My family was a Sega household growing up, so I honestly didn't think Mario was anything special. He wasn't fast, his power ups weren't as cool, and it was only one player? Come on, Sonic 3 was where it was at.

or so I said, but I was secretly so jealous of SNES Mario. It was the reason that for the post 16 bit era, I asked for an N64 instead of Dreamcast.

 

[Quintus]

Mario was the first-ever game I played when I was ~5 years old, so it is a profound memory etched in my brain.

 

[HsuNgAn]

Playing Mario Sunshine and running around Delfino Plaza/ Bianco Hills/ Ricco Harbor on a demo GameCube unit at a local toy/hobby shop near where I lived as a child.

 

[Shoes]

Thank you for running the contest!

Favorite Mario memory is definitely seeing SuperMario 64 in my home for the first time. My parents were never huge on video games, and I was too young to know when new gaming stuff was coming out. But they randomly took me to Blockbuster and rented an N64 system and Super Mario 64... and it was glorious. I was so unbelievably bad at the game at the beginning, hah

 

[NeonBorealis]

While I was into videogames when I was little, I really becamed enamoured by them thanks to Mario games (And Pokémon, but I chalk that more to the whole Pokemania craze).

I remember clearly that one of the first Nintendo games I played was Sunshine. It was at a videogame rental store near my school. You payed 2 bucks (at the time 20 pesos) for an hour of rented time on a ocnsole. I remember that every other Friday after school, my mom would take me to the rental store and rent an hour of Gamecube games for me to play. Sometimes I played Smash, other times I played Luigi's Mansion, but oftentimes I played Sunshine.

It was magical. The way Mario controlled was simply fun. I always tried to get as many shines as I could in one hour. And that usually left me somewhere in Ricco harbor. It got to the point I managesd to streamline the first few missions of the game.

Eventually I got a Gamecube of my own, and later still I got my own copy of Sunhsine. And let me tell you, I enyouyed the hell out of it. Being a kid, I had to make my few games last. I completed Sunshine to 100% completion about five or six times. Blue coins included.

Sadly I never did get Galaxy one since my family was in a rough spot moneywise during the Wii era. But I did manage to nab Galaxy 2 with money I saved up. And I had a complete blast with that game. And I also got 64 on virtual console. Those games are simple, pure fun.

 

[Xavillin]

My favorite Mario memory was going to my cousin's house for a party, and he was actually at Bowser on Super Mario World for the GBA. All my other cousins were there too, so we all took turn trying to beat it the last boss. Our parents were yelling at us to come outside and play, and we could have because it was on a GBA, but we just stayed inside and focused on beating Bowser. We didn't get to beat it, but it was still fun having all of us get together, figuring out ways to beat it.

I remember actually not liking Mario games at all until this moment. Something just clicked. Maybe it's because my older cousins actually let me be involved in something with them haha

 

[oatmeal]

Going to TRU in '96 when Mario 64 was on display in a glass cabinet. It was so unbelievable to see I couldn't quite fathom it.

I got to play briefly and I was terrible but it's a memory that sticks out so well. This perfect moment of wow.