Save the Princess!

A few weeks back AOL had a feature on Mario and the timelessness of the game. At that point I thought it would be a great post for Vanity Dark, but kept saving it for a throwback post. Unfortunately I cannot find it anymore. But now the NYTimes has beat me to the post, and I can't stand for that anymore. So click on the link for the article and get lost in the wonder. All of the new hype is because a new game is coming out, so if you're still into gaming this may be one to buy. It's not HALO, but its classic....

Mario is indeed a cultural phenomenon, from the addictive tune to that cheesy movie , to its ability to attract people from all walks of life and various age groups to the mission of getting to the princess in time. Goodness there was even a cartoon:

It's funny that Mario has all the basic elements of violence that other games have, but no one attacks it as such because its coded in traditional fairy tale language. Ordinary plumber goes on mission to save the fair maiden. This is the game that came in a package with Duck Hunt, which used an actual gun as the player control and you pointed at the screen.

This video became a viral hit a few years back and I thought it was brilliant when I first saw it:






Also play the game below.