Do you say Super Mario Brothers or Super Mario BROS? Also, the never-before-heard-back story of Maria Luigia. Join us for a conversation about a classic game that sold over 58 million copies, Super Mario Bros for the NES.
Do you say Super Mario Brothers or Super Mario BROS? Also, the never-before-heard-back story of Maria Luigia. Join us for a conversation about a classic game that sold over 58 million copies, Super Mario Bros. for the NES.
In this episode, we revisit the Mushroom Kingdom. The three of us give some quick thoughts about Chris Pratt cast as the voice of Mario. Then, Taylor breaks down the origin story of Mario, Luigi, and their mother, Maria Luigia, question mark. Willie reads the backstory found in the game's manual, and unfortunately, we realize Mario is the perp responsible for murdering the brick citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. Speedrunning comes up, so we talk about the current world record and wrong-warp through the game's mechanics, graphics, music, and some of our favorite worlds. Willie reads a few interesting Amazon reviews, and we wrap up our final thoughts about the game. Also, there are Cheep Cheeps.
Other games briefly mentioned in this episode: Rogue Company, Horizon Forbidden West, Resident Evil 7, Outlast, Outlast II, The Quarry, The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan, Super Smash Bros., Elden Ring, Ghosts N' Goblins, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Bros. 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Yoshi (NES), Super Ghouls N' Ghosts, Bubble Bobble, and Dig Dug.
Here's the full transcript for this episode.
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The music you hear on the podcast is by ELFL, Lexica, and Christian Nanzell.
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00:00:00
[Alienated by ELFL plays in background]
Taylor: We start off with a man who was brought into this world by a woman…um, mother Mári, Máriá…umm. [laughter] And…
Joseph: This is already not what I expected.
Willie: Well, it would be Mária, right? Because we've, I think we’ve had this conversation –
Joseph: Mother Mária.
Taylor: Mária.
Willie: Well there's been this conversation around, you know Mario Mario and Luigi Mario.
Taylor: Uh-huh.
Willie: I don't know if that's actually canon but…
Taylor: Yeah, well, the mother was Mária Luigia. Like that was her name, so don’t –
Joseph: Luigiá, Luigia.
Taylor: Yeah, yeah, Luigia. And essentially, they were born into, like, not a, a well to do household. And so at the ripe old age of 10 both boys had to become plumbers and they found they were really good at it. They didn’t –
Joseph: That’s that rough life.
Taylor: – Yeah, yeah, it was a rough life cause they didn't plumb like normal people.
Joseph: They didn’t plumb, [laughs]
Taylor: Yeah, well, you know…uh, [laughter] like a plumber would plumb.
Joseph: Is that correct?
Taylor: I believe so. So if your pipe were clogged, they would just jump in there and they would go down your pipe themselves and just unclog it with their body.
[Intro theme plays - Tiger Tracks by Lexica]
00:01:23
Joseph: What's up everybody? Welcome to Berries and Blades. A place where we analyze and break down some of our favorite video games. My name is Joseph Bullard. I'm here with my friends Willie Garza and Taylor Garratt. We're just three regular guys waiting an irregular amount of time for the latest Rogue Company update to install, but I digress.
So what have you guys been up to since the last time we recorded?
Taylor: Uh, I have been riding the Onewheel, injuring myself, getting over the injury and also playing some games. I've been, uh, diving into, how do I say this? I always forget the name. Forbidden West is what I'll call it.
Joseph: Horizon.
Taylor: Horizon Forbidden West. There we go. And I will tell you that game is gorgeous. There are a lot of, uh, head scratcher decisions in there. I'm sure we'll talk about this in the future, especially once you guys get your hands on it.
They've added more of like a in-depth climbing, so when you climb a mountain, there's spots you can climb everywhere. And when you ping your little Bluetooth headset, you can see those spots. Or in the, in the menu I found you could just turn it on so you always see 'em, which is nice. So it's cool cuz you can climb anywhere on the rocks to an extent, but.
It also has these crazy Assassins Creed type annoyances where you'll get to a place you thought you could jump, but you can't. So you gotta go to another place, and then maybe it glitches out and maybe you jump off and dive into a dinosaur's mouth or whatever.
But the photo mode is fucking beautiful. Can't wait for y'all to check it out and start getting some silly photos. Otherwise, that's about it. Taking care of the family.
Joseph: Word. What about you, Willie?
Willie: Yeah. As you mentioned in the intro, waited a real long time for a Rogue Company update.
Taylor: Oh yeah.
Willie: For no reason, at all. I don't know why. I think that's just a Steam problem, though. I don't know. I've just looked up other people being like, does Steam take this long for y'all when you're trying to update or download a game?
And it's like, yeah, not sure why. And I don't know if there's anything you can do to fix that. Sometimes it just takes a long time.
Taylor: I always thought it was just, um, some sort of allocation thing where- that's what I read a couple places, was that it- there was like an amount of dedicated bandwidth that it provides based on how many people are logging in or something.
Willie: I mean, I guess that makes sense to me.
Taylor: But it is weird that it'll- all the time I'll see it say, "Your download will be complete in a week," and that doesn't make sense.
Willie: And then it doesn't, it doesn't take that long sometimes.
Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Willie: You know, it's just like, okay, nevermind. Now it's good. Now it'll, it'll speed up.
Taylor: Yep.
Willie: But you know, my estimates yesterday were like, a month. [Scoffs]
Joseph: Yeah. Ridiculous.
Willie: [Laughing] Like, what? Really? This is not, this is not gonna take a month.
Taylor: Mm.
Joseph: I feel like Steam is, uh, they're like, "Okay, okay. We made your heart race. We freaked you out for a moment, but now it's in the single digits again, and you can rest easy."
Willie: I really would like a real answer to that though at some point because-
Taylor: Yeah.
Willie: I know there's an answer and it's probably what you're talking about, Taylor, but I've never seen like a real definitive "Oh, this is why."
Taylor: Yeah. Gabe Newell coming out and being like, "Okay guys, we just fuck with y'all. We think it's funny to see you stress for a moment, and then we crank it up to 110%."
Joseph: One 10 baby!
Taylor: Yeah, one 10!
00:04:40
Willie: Other than that, I, uh, I finally finished Resident Evil 7, and that was good.
Taylor: Oh, damn it. Y'all finished it the other night?
Willie: Yeah, yeah.
Taylor: Oh, man. How was it? Did it meet your expectations?
Willie: Yeah, I don't know. I, I think my expectations were higher just because people really liked that game, and it was okay. I think the biggest thing for me is that the character just moved so slow. It seems weird to me because I feel like in the original, like the first three, I should say, your sprint speed was like, fine. You didn't feel like you were like barely at a slow jog running away from stuff.
Taylor: Yeah.
Willie: And in this game it always felt terrifying because, because you were so slow, and that was just the game doing that to you.
Joseph: It seems like it was like a design decision.
Taylor: Yeah.
Joseph: Like we're gonna make you slow as fuck.
Willie: Yeah, for sure.
Joseph: So it like increases the tension.
Willie: Yeah.
Taylor: That's exactly it, dude. That's how I felt whenever that guy was chasing me down the hallways. That first area where the guy had- with the shovel, I'm slow, he's a little bit slower, but I can't find my way out. Is this gonna be the time I try to run by him and he dings me in the head with the shovel. [Joseph laughs]
Willie: I don't know, it feels like it's just such a false tension that's not needed.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: There are some scary parts. There are some tense moments. I do also think what I learned from playing it on stream is that, and I think this would be true anyway, like playing anything on stream, just talking more, makes it less scary. So I don't know if I like playing scary games on, on stream.
Taylor: Well, maybe I should then, because I'll still be scared shitless. [Joseph laughs] Maybe I should be the scary, scary game guy or something.
Willie: It does make me wish that I, I, you know, maybe I will do that and maybe I will play Outlast on stream since I've never finished that game. [Laughs]
Taylor: Oh, Outlast one or two? Both?
Willie: I mean, maybe both.
Taylor: You can do both because I'm not gonna finish those. The fans would be disappointed because I cannot finish an Outlast.
Willie: I mean, I haven't, that's the thing, like I haven't, over the years, I've started that game three times. It is one of those games that's scary enough to me that I'm like, nah, I don't need to do this. This is too intense.
Taylor: I get to that basement part. The part where you're in like that-
Willie: [Laughs] Yeah.
Taylor: You know, you gotta do the generators-
Willie: Uh-huh.
Taylor: -Or what? No, nah, no, nah. See, real life, I go upstairs and I call the police. I'm like, Hey, there's these shirtless motherfuckers down here that are all deformed. [Joseph and Willie laugh.] And they've got pipes.
And then I'll, you know, then you could be like-
Joseph: [chuckling] They’re all deformed.
Taylor: -and also they have marijuana and they haven't paid taxes. And boom, the police are there. Like, they always have so much trouble getting the cops to come to these things in movies and games, and it's not that hard. Anyways.
Willie: One day I'll, I will maybe play those.
Joseph: I haven't played either of those. I'd be interested in watching.
00:07:24
Willie: There was a, another thing I finished recently. Oh, we played through The Quarry actually.
Joseph: Oh, right, right.
Willie: Speaking of creepy games.
Taylor: What was The Quarry? Oh, was that the free one that came out recently or something?
Willie: No, it's um, why? I'm not gonna remember the studio's name now. They did the other like, uh, we played, uh, Man of Medan, Taylor. We started that one time.
Taylor: Oh, got you. Yep. Uh, like a story game.
Willie: Yeah. Yeah.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: Oh yeah, I've been seeing this one. How was it?
Joseph: I thought it was good.
Willie: Yeah, it was good. Uh, it was definitely worth playing.
Joseph: The graphics were like, surprisingly good.
Taylor: Was that a multiplayer, like y'all could both, uh, tap into that together? It's kind of a party game?
Joseph: We did couch co-op.
Willie: We did, uh, couch, yeah.
Taylor: Cool.
Willie: Yeah. Willie, Barbara, Meg, me. And then we just passed a- the controller around.
Taylor: Is it the same kind of intense situations, um, as the other one that, not Man of Medan, but uh, thinking of the one that was on PlayStation for a long time, it was the first one that was like a horror game.
I cannot think of the name of it right now.
Willie: It is more akin to the one where they're in a cabin.
Taylor: Yeah.
Willie: In the woods.
Taylor: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That. Yes.
Willie: And it's like a camp situation cuz it is a camp situation here. I think that first one they were like on vacation or something. I can't remember the name of that game.
Taylor: [Laughing] I can't either. Like, I keep wanting to call it Heavy Rain. And I know it's not Heavy Rain because I can think of Heavy Rain.
Willie: [Laughing] Yeah. That's not it. No, but it's similar vibes and it's, it's good. It is worth playing through.
Taylor: Cabin in the Woods The Game. Got it.
Joseph: Oh, is that what it is?
Taylor: [Laughing] No, no.
Joseph: Oh, ok.
Taylor: But it basically is, it's- [Joseph laughs] They came out around the same time, and they were both enjoyable, and they were both about, a cabin in the woods and titties, I believe, if I'm remembering correctly.
Willie: I don't remember that part, but-
Taylor: No? Maybe not, may-- hey, Mandela Effect. It's happening again.
[Joseph and Willie laugh]
Joseph: Word.
Taylor: Uh, anyways.
00:09:08
Joseph: Well, if it's your first time listening, let us get you up to speed on where we're at with the podcast. First we started by exploring our backgrounds with gaming and the impact video games had on us growing up. Then recently we talked about some of our all-time faves, like Halo 3, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Fallout and Skyrim.
But today's episode is a little different, and it's the first time we're gonna focus on a single game. So we've decided to start with the classic of all classics, Super Mario Bros. On the NES. We're guessing a lot of you have played this game at some point in your life, and everybody on the fucking planet knows who Mario is.
So if you don't, well you do, or you wouldn't be here anyway. Or you wouldn't be here. So anyway, The format is pretty simple. We'll start with our overall impressions and then move on to the following categories, main storyline and character analysis, game mechanics, visual graphics, music, and our final thoughts.
We should start with you, Willie. So what's your overall impression of Super Mario Bros.?
Willie: I dig it. It's what I remember for sure. It's still just as, um, you know, it's the classic platformer. It's still as difficult; I think it's always been as difficult as that. Right? I feel like. Some things that I should be able to do better by now, having been playing games for, you know, however many years. But they'll still catch you off guard, and you'll still mess up and, uh, lose a life to something that you really shouldn't be.
It's, it's challenging in a way that games aren't right now. I think. I think particularly with the, that first game, they're not being like continues and stuff. It's just like, okay, well that's it. If you didn't collect coins or you didn't get extra lives, you're done.
Taylor: Brutal.
Joseph: Yeah. What about you Taylor?
Taylor: I felt the same way. Definitely just my eyes meeting the Mario again. Um, the Mario man, "It's a me!" That guy. It's very nostalgic. Just seeing that again, and it being in its purest form and kind of where it started. That was- definitely blew my mind. I will say that it seems to be a lot more difficult now, and I think that is just because of the age on it.
You know, like back then, uh, the controls and control schemes in general were kind of a thing, and now they're a different thing. It was tough. It was very tough. Like I kind of fell back into it and started digging it, especially when I got to start seeing the different level designs and stuff and it, you know, it's cool, but it's a badass game.
It's well made. It's well crafted and it lives on through the ages.
Joseph: I mean, obviously it has stood the test of time, you know, better than probably every game that has ever existed. Like I mentioned, I think it is the most classic game that I think we probably could have started with, which I think is a reason we did start with it.
Just because I know a lot of you out there have had some experience with the Mario series. Even if it's not Super Mario Bros., you've played one of the Mario games just because it's so easy, them being the, the flagship Nintendo product. I think it still lives up to the hype. I definitely enjoyed playing it, uh, a few nights ago, just kind of replaying the entire game.
And I found it a little less difficult than I did as a kid, but I, it took me a while to get kind of ramped up and to like get the, to dial in the control of Mario. And so like, I was overstepping blocks and falling into bottomless pins- like pits very often just because I like didn't have the control dialed in just yet.
Uh, so I think that was the most difficult part about it. But overall, I mean, it certainly had an impact on me as a kid and it's one of the very first games I ever played. So, yeah, like you were saying, Taylor, really nice to get back into it and see almost the original Mario.
00:12:56
Taylor: And it is timeless if you think about it. Chris Pratt ain't playing no pitfall man or tank.
Joseph: Oh, I forgot about that.
Taylor: No Zelda, or anything, right? He's playing Mario [laughs] however many years later.
Joseph: Where is the community on that? Is, are they up in arms or are they like accepting that?
Taylor: Ehh, it depends on who you ask. Like there's uh, there's ultra woke community who, they are definitely not happy about it. They don't want to see, you know, there's the Chris Pratt playing an Italian. And then there's kind of middle of the ground people I think, who are just like, whatever, if it's a Mario movie, I'll, I'll watch it.
I think everybody hopes it's not offensive, you know? There's the Nintendo side of it where they are super excited and they keep assur- assuring people, this is gonna be the best portrayal of Mario that you could have ever dreamed for and this and that, and Chris Pratt has like echoed that to the public.
Joseph: I mean, would they ever say anything different?
Taylor: No. But also, would Nintendo ever risk like...
Joseph: Making a huge mistake?
Taylor: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And make, especially something that's so avoidable. Just have the plumber, Mario man not say some racist sounding shit, you know? Or, or something that may be offensive to Italians or something. Or do it respectfully. There's always the way to do something with an utmost amount of respect too. They can do it, right, I think. But at this point, I think it's torn.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: People that are just totally against stuff like that hate it and they think it's gonna be awful and a disaster. And it may be. But Nintendo seems to not think so. [Laughs] So it'll be interesting to see the outcome. Sonic worked out really well, but could be a different story.
Joseph: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Were you gonna add something Willie?
Willie: Yeah, I was gonna say, I get all that, but it also also is like, I totally get the the argument that like, why him? When there's like-
Taylor: Oh yeah.
Willie: A ton of actors you could pick from.
Taylor: Yeah. And that's a valid argument.
Willie: You literally could just like- I don't even know if in the beginning if Mario started out as an Italian character. Like how did that happen anyway?
Taylor: Dude, I think literally the name Mario, like that is probably it.
Willie: I guess, right. I guess that makes sense.
Joseph: He was Jumpman, right?
Taylor: Right, yeah.
Willie: Right. He was Jumpman first.
Taylor: Yep.
Joseph: So he was Jumpman in Donkey Kong and then Mario Bros., the original Mario Bros. He was Mario there. That was the first time he was Mario with, with Luigi. And I think that's when he became Italian. [Laughs.]
Taylor: If I'm remembering correctly, he might be wearing Italian shoes. Hold on, hold on. [Willie and Taylor laugh.] Mario. One.
Willie: The thing is, if you're gonna make that movie, we literally have so many actors you could pick from.
Joseph: Yeah, I definitely agree there.
Willie: Why pick the hottest, I guess, a-list actors right now-
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: -to play him in this movie when you could literally pick anyone of some sort of Italian descent and be like, yeah, we're gonna make a Mario movie, so let's put this-
Taylor: I agree.
Willie: Let's put someone from… with Italian heritage in the film.
Taylor: Yeah.
Willie: It just, it doesn't make any sense.
Taylor: I agree. And I can't, I can't argue with people about it, uh, when it comes to that, cuz that is a very, a very easy decision to make to, to just avoid some bullshit.
Joseph: That could have been avoided. For sure.
Taylor: Yeah, no, that's true.
Joseph: And then not even have the uproar and, and the, the kickback from the community. I kind of just wish they found somebody that was new talent. You know?
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: Or relatively unknown, that this could have been like, their big break.
Taylor: Yeah, there's plenty of probably Italian comedians, like comics and shit out there that would be amazing for something like that, that would, you know, do it right and probably give them some awesome flair and maybe some originality.
Maybe they're not gonna make 'em Italian at all. Maybe that's the thing. It's like his name is gonna be Mario and that is it. Other than that, he's just-
Willie: I don't know, wasn't there some dumb clip of him practicing his-
Taylor: Oh my God.
Willie: [Laughing] -his accent?
Taylor: I don't know.
Willie: -His Mario, at some point?
Taylor: I don't know.
Willie: I don't know. Maybe now I'm just bullshitting, making up up more stuff.
Taylor: Yeah, I, [laughs] that would be ridiculous.
Joseph: I need get my Mario down. Taylor, I'm gonna come back to you in, in just a moment to like kick off the, the main storyline and character analysis conversation.
Taylor: Okay.
00:17:08
Joseph: But first I wanted to, I wanted just as, uh, one opinion I have that is taking me back to another podcast episode that Willie and I recorded with a friend named Ella.
But she says it, it's, it's not pronounced "merry-oh". And I totally agree. Like if you say "merry-oh" or you say "maw-rio", you don't know what the fuck you're talking about because it's just Mario.
Taylor: Mario, Mario. [pronouncing Mario various ways]
Joseph: That's how y'all say it, right? Mario?
Taylor: Mario.
Joseph: Mario.
Taylor: Depends where you're from.
Willie: Mario? Yeah.
Taylor: If you're from New Jersey or something, you might be like "Merry-oh" [Joseph laughs] or, I dunno, I'm sorry. I am sorry.
Willie: Well she is from New Jersey.
Taylor: Oh shit. Oh, shit. So I put a, a link in there to an image. This is evidence, uh, exhibit A. You can tell when you look at Mario closeup. He is wearing some-
Joseph: Oh those shoes, fo sho.
Taylor: He's got some Italian loafers on. And look at the curl of his, like you see how his, his little, uh,
Joseph: I'm scared of what's gonna come outta your mouth next. [Laughs.]
Taylor: His sideburn is kind of curling like that. That's, uh,
Joseph: Okay. Sideburn. Cool.
Taylor: I get it. No, I know, I get it. I get the. I get where people would think that that's an Italiano.
Willie: I had to look up the voice thing. I just, I do remember it was an article that it was just like, what he said was, you know, like it's an animated thing and it, it's a voice for an animated character and it's unlike anything
Taylor: [Laughs] Here it is.
Willie: "It is unlike anything you've heard in the Mario world before," is all they said, is what he said. That's a direct quote.
Taylor: At its core, could be true cuz what have we heard? [Laughs]
Joseph: That's what Chris Pratt said?
Taylor: Yeah.
Willie: Yeah, yeah.
Joseph: Interesting.
Taylor: It's the weirdest statement ever.
Willie: So I don't know. I don't know what that means. Like if they're just like, okay, cool, it's just gonna be a different thing. It's not gonna necessarily even be, you know? But anyway.
Taylor: Well that's the buzz about it really.
Willie: I will, again, like you said, I'll probably watch it at some point. I'm not gonna go to a movie theater to watch it, but I'l-
Taylor: No, but if it drops on Paramount+ then yeah. We'll be checking it out.
Willie: -when it's on streaming or something, sure, I'll check it out probably.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: I will say that I saw last week maybe, or the week before that Nintendo, they ended up starting a new film division. And that definitely made me wonder, is this a division that, uh, responsibility could be shirked off on [laughing] if need be?
Willie: Yeah.
Taylor: You know, things go south and they just say, oh damn you, film division.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: How dare you. Step down Strawman, CEO person. But I don't know.
00:19:43
Joseph: One other thing I had in mind is, so I said, Super Mario "Brothers..."
Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Willie: Mm-hmm.
Joseph: Do y'all say Super Mario "Brothers" or Super Mario "Bros." Super Mario Bros.
Taylor: Depends on my mood. If I'm feeling cool, I'll say Super Mario "Bros."
Willie: Yeah. I don't think I would ever say that.
Taylor: Yeah, it doesn't feel right, does it? It's Super Mario Brothers.
Willie: It doesn't.
Taylor: Yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't feel right.
Joseph: Because that's, I think, how I've always said it growing up, there's a part of me that wants to say bros just because that's the way it's spelled, like on the video game art and the cartridge and the title screen and stuff like that.
Taylor: I mean, without an apostrophe I guess, like technically, if we're saying it like it is, then it's some word that doesn't exist or something. It's bross, bross.
Joseph: Bros. like we'd have to get a z?
Taylor: Super Mario Bross. Yeah.
Joseph: Super Mario Broz.
Taylor: Bross. Yeah, exactly. It'd have to have a Z for bros. Bross.
Joseph: I wouldn't say Smash, Smash Bros, right?
Willie: Yeah.
Taylor: Hmm. Yeah.
Joseph: You'd say Smash Brothers.
Taylor: Actually, that goes together better phonetically.
Joseph: Smash Bros?
Taylor: Smash Bros. Yeah.
Joseph: Mario Bros. Yeah. [Willie laughs]
Taylor: Yeah. [Joseph laughs] Smash Bros. Mario Bros works, but Super Mario Bros just sounds lame. Get outta here.
Joseph: But it also has a period, there's a period after bros, so like that period has to mean something.
Taylor: Right, that's where it becomes bross.
Joseph: Brothers.
Taylor: Super Mario Bross.
Joseph: It's short.
Taylor: For brothers.
Yeah, I mean we, I think we've got an ironclad case here. We should call that lady from the Making a Murderer. She's, I forget her name [laughing] now, but she's relentless.
Joseph: Was it a- a Oh, you're talking about the lawyer, aren't you?
Taylor: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The short-haired lawyer that still hasn't given up. I check in on that now and she is still fighting for those people, like a bunch of other people. It's wild.
Joseph: I remember Brendan Dassey and Steven.
Taylor: Yeah.
Joseph: Man. What's his last name? It starts with an A.
Taylor: It's so disappointing when you see stuff like that and you see that even after that-
Joseph: Steven Avery
Taylor: -documentary and everything, they're still- Yeah. Steven Avery. Yep.
Joseph: Man, I remember her name like every year or so. Every couple of years I remember her name.
Taylor: Na- Nagley, Nagle or something. Laura. Oh Nor- Laura Nirider. There we go. I think-
Joseph: What?!
Taylor: -that's it.
Joseph: No, that ain't it.
Taylor: Is that it? No?
Joseph: That ain't it. It starts with like- [Taylor laughs] her name is Catherine or something. [Joseph laughing] Who the hell are you talking about?
Taylor: I hate this. Why have we done this? I think we're talking about two different people from that series. Yeah. Laura Nirider is the, um, she's the attorney that's still following up with it.
Joseph: Oh, well maybe, maybe it's been passed on to somebody else.
Taylor: Maybe. She followed it for years. Like if I ever go to jail over some bullshit, like I'm gonna be calling her up.
Joseph: Bro, you ain't got that kind of money.
Taylor: They didn't have that kind of money.
Joseph: Unless you got that grass money.
Taylor: Oh, that grass money. If she'll, if she'll work for grass money, then pft! [laughing] She's not doing as good as I thought.
Joseph: Unless you're, unless you're wrongfully convicted. If you're wrongfully convicted, then maybe someone's gonna pick up your case.
Taylor: Well, I was assuming I would be, man.
Joseph: Oh, I was assuming the opposite. [Laughs]
Taylor: Oh God. Move forward. Let's move on.
[Willie and Joseph laughing] Got no faith in me here.
00:22:37
Joseph: All right. But yeah, yeah, that's a good idea. Let's move on to-
Taylor: Yeah.
Joseph: Main storyline and character analysis. So Taylor. Yeah. Let's start with you, man. What do you, what do you think?
Taylor: So storyline and character analysis. I think first we'd have to start with character analysis because we would have to look at Mario and who is Mario so...
We start off with a man who was brought into this world by a woman…um, mother Mári, Máriá…umm. [laughter] And…
Joseph: This is already not what I expected.
Willie: Well, it would be Mária, right? Because we've, I think we’ve had this conversation –
Joseph: Mother Mária.
Taylor: Mária.
Willie: Well there's been this conversation around, you know Mario Mario and Luigi Mario.
Taylor: Uh-huh.
Willie: I don't know if that's actually canon but…
Taylor: Yeah, well, the mother was Mária Luigia. Like that was her name, so don’t –
Joseph: Luigiá, Luigia.
Taylor: Yeah, yeah, Luigia. And essentially, they were born into, like, not a, a well to do household. And so at the ripe old age of 10 both boys had to become plumbers and they found they were really good at it. They didn’t –
Joseph: That’s that rough life.
Taylor: – Yeah, yeah, it was a rough life cause they didn't plumb like normal people.
Joseph: They didn’t plumb, [laughs]
Taylor: Yeah, well, you know…uh, [laughter] like a plumber –
Joseph: Is that correct?
Taylor: – would plumb. I believe so. So if your pipe were clogged, they would just jump in there and they would go down your pipe themselves and just unclog it with their body. So we start off with a man who was brought into this world by a woman…um, mother Mári, Máriá…umm. [laughter] And…
Joseph: This is already not what I expected.
Willie: Well, it would be Mária, right? Because we've, I think we’ve had this conversation –
Joseph: Mother Mária.
Taylor: Mária.
Willie: Well there's been this conversation around, you know Mario Mario and Luigi Mario.
Taylor: Uh-huh.
Willie: I don't know if that's actually canon but…
Taylor: Yeah, well, the mother was Mária Luigia. Like that was her name, so don’t –
Joseph: Luigiá, Luigia.
Taylor: Yeah, yeah, Luigia. And essentially, they were born into, like, not a, a well to do household. And so at the ripe old age of 10 both boys had to become plumbers and they found they were really good at. They didn’t –
Joseph: That’s that rough life.
Taylor: – Yeah, yeah, it was a rough life cause they didn't plumb like normal people.
Joseph: They didn’t plumb, [laughs]
Taylor: Yeah, well, you know…uh, [laughter] like a plumber would plumb.
Joseph: Is that correct?
Taylor: I believe so. So if your pipe were clogged, they would just jump in there and they would go down your pipe themselves and just unclog it with their body. They had a knack for it. Yeah, they did that shit when they were real little anyways. Their parents couldn't keep up with them.
But anyways, the story is about those two guys trying to save their mutual girlfriend, a princess, who has been abducted by a large turtle. Which, abducted, or was the turtle super cute, and she did what any girl would do and go with that turtle because it's cute?
We don't know. You essentially, as Mario and Luigi, Sons of Mária Luigia, have to save this woman from the turtle. Without spoiling anything, that's, that's the synopsis.
Willie: Let's be fair there though. Anybody could be taken in by a turtle.
Taylor: Yeah. Oh, look at those eyes.
Willie: I don't think it matters that it was the princess in this. It could've been anybody who would've been like, oh, it's a turtle. I'm gonna follow this turtle.
Taylor: Agreed.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: Agreed. I fall for turtles all the time. I see 'em on the road, I stop, I pick 'em up, they pee. I don't care. I still help 'em.
00:25:05
Joseph: Yeah. Yeah. My interpretation of the main story is there's not really a main story. I guess I should back up one step and say that in 1985 and in the late eighties when this, after this game was released, games didn't need a story.
Taylor: Mm.
Joseph: Like we had all we need with the platforming and little itty bitty Mario, and his speed.
Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Joseph: Love his speed when he is small.
Taylor: His head bumps.
Joseph: I guess he's not Super Mario when he's small, is that true? He's just regular Mario?
Taylor: Mm.
Willie: I don't know.
Joseph: Are they both Super Mario?
Willie: I don't know.
Taylor: That's a real good question.
Willie: I do wonder if that is a distinction.
Joseph: Anyway. Yeah, there's not much story there. So Willie, you mentioned you had, you found the actual story, right? Like written by Nintendo?
Willie: Well, okay. According to the mariowiki.com.
Joseph: Okay.
Willie: [Laughs] I found the, uh, what was in the insert for the game.
Joseph: Nice.
Willie: It was like literally just, this is from the, from the book itself.
Taylor: Is this Miyamoto approved? Like has he signed off on this?
Joseph: [Laughs] Yeah, yeah.
Taylor: -Or is this from his stuff? Okay. [Laughs]
Joseph: Probably?
Taylor: He has confirmed Mária Luigia. I'm just gonna throw that out there.
Willie: The release date for this game in, in North America is like heavily disputed. I don't know why.
Taylor: Really?
Willie: That's just a fact in this Mario Wiki. Is that somehow sources give different dates for the release of this game.
Taylor: Hmm.
Willie: But Nintendo says it came out on October 18th, 1985, like that's when they pinpoint the release date. But apparently it's contested. I'm not sure why.
Taylor: What's the contested date? Or is it just like days off or years off, or-
00:26:38
Willie: I don't know. I think it's just days off. Anyway. In the book, this thing says:
One day, the kingdom of the peaceful mushroom people was invaded by the Koopa, a tribe of turtles famous for their black magic. The quiet peace-loving mushroom people were turned into mere stones, bricks, and even field horsehair plants, and the Mushroom Kingdom fell into ruin.
The only one who can undo the magic spell on the Mushroom People and return them to their normal selves is the Princess Toadstool, the daughter of the Mushroom King. Unfortunately, she is presently in the hands of the great Koopa turtle king.
Mario, the hero of the story, parentheses, maybe hears about the Mushroom People's plight and sets out on a quest to free the Mushroom Princess from the evil Koopa and restore the fallen kingdom of the Mushroom People.
You are Mario. It's up to you to save the mushroom people from the black magic of the Koopa.
Joseph: Okay. That's actually kind of badass. [Willie laughs] That's way more concept than I ever imagined that game having and even just backstory.
Taylor: Wow.
Joseph: But you also reminded me of something that Bowser was originally named King Koopa, wasn't he? Before he became Bowser?
Willie: Well, he is. Yeah. His full name is, is Bowser Koopa, I'm pretty sure.
Taylor: So black magic. Okay. So-
Willie: Koopa Bowser? I don't remember.
Taylor: -they- yeah, that's his last name. Koop- Bowser. Um, so... what's the magic here? Okay, so I guess all of them have a magical, invisible shield that can instantly kill Mario and Luigi. Okay. The magic to float in a cloud and have infinite shit to throw out and infinite patience to piss off people below you.
Okay. Yeah, I guess they got some black magic. That's confirmed.
Willie: I mean, I think it's also just, you know, they turned everyone into bricks, [laughs] which is part of the problem here.
Taylor: Oh. Oh. And Mario is murdering these people? [Willie laughs] Oh no!
Joseph: That's effed up.
Willie: Yeah. So I looked up some reviews, and this is where I have to read one of these reviews of the game, [Taylor laughs] because I went through Amazon and some eBay listings for the games.
Taylor: Oh, so good shit.
Willie: Looking for-
Taylor: Okay.
Willie: -for reviews. Yeah.
Taylor: Canon.
Willie: Of course, they're gonna be some that are completely ridiculous. But this one was ridiculous in the perfect sort of way. Hmm. I think it's anonymous, so I don't know who wrote this. It's just a verified purchase. I just know that much. From some random buyer or random seller on the internet.
Joseph: This is eBay or Amazon?
Willie: This is this one I think was from Amazon. Yeah. And this one is five stars, but the title says: zero of 10. Worst game ever. Sega.
Taylor: [Laughing] Oh oh.
Willie: And then it says-
Joseph: Sega really?
Willie: Super Mario Bros. [Laughs] Yeah. And then we'll get to the rest. It says:
Super Mario Bros. is a game about the original citizens of a kingdom being turned into bricks. Then when one of the last surviving citizens captures the evil invader, the invader's lackey tries his best to free her, devouring mushrooms, destroying said bricked citizens, speaking to other lackeys and robbing the kingdom of its riches along the way. But don't worry, you're the good guy.
Taylor: Wow.
Joseph: Interesting.
Taylor: Wow. So if it's a star or a mushroom or something like that, was that like a really good person and you're like stealing their little powerful soul and turning it into your five second power up to murder stuff?
Joseph: Yeah. I don't know if you can actually explain away the power ups, the mushroom power up and Starman power up. Yeah. I don't know if you can explain that away in the context of that backstory.
Taylor: Man.
Joseph: Like, are those just game mechanics?
Taylor: But he is murdering people. He is murdering people.
Joseph: That's kind of wicked to think about.
Taylor: And doing it with glee like, like you think about him sprinting and then doing the little duck, like he's sliding ding! And then [vocalizes sound effect]
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: -and then Ha-ha! You're like, ha, you done funny. You're murdering people, bro.
Joseph: Well, unless you're small, Mario. If you're small Mario, you're good. You're just bouncing off of 'em.
Taylor: Oh, that's true. But you're probably hurting them. I mean, you can't just, pop somebody as a brick.
Joseph: Nah. Massage man. Remember your dad. Why you got all the damn massages?
Taylor: Yeah, [laughing] that's a good point. All them massages.
Joseph: Damnit Taylor!
Taylor: Grounded! [Laughs]
Joseph: Who's these people you're texting, massages with? I guess it wasn't texting back then.
Taylor: Massage you at midnight. Yeah. [Joseph laughs] Oh my god.
Willie: I was just clicking on the link for field horsehair plants because I was curious about that.
Taylor: Right. I looked that up and they- Google said "You're stupid." when I did. [Willie laughs]
Joseph: That was actually hyperlinked? ‘Cause I was curious about that too.
Willie: It was hyperlinked because it links to horsetail.
Taylor: Ah. That's what came up.
Willie: Which is, I'll just read more. It's more from the Mario Wiki. According to the original manual for Super Mario Bros., Bowser turned the citizens of Mushroom Kingdom into horsetail plants and bricks.
However, the English manual renders this as quote "field horsehair plants," but they're those trees you see in the background. The little ovoid like trees. The-
Joseph: Mm.
Taylor: Ohh.
Joseph: So we're not talking about the piranha plants?
Willie: No, we're talking about just the background, the scenery. Just like the bricks or the background and scenery stuff.
Taylor: Mm.
Willie: But you never interact with those trees in the-
Joseph: Yeah. Yeah.
Willie: -in the game.
Taylor: And how faithful are they to actual horse hair plants?
Joseph: What is a horse hair plant?
Taylor: Oh, I'm looking.
Willie: I guess it's, a horsetail is actually the-
Taylor: Boy.
Joseph: Oh, horsetail plant.
Taylor: They're very loose with that. [Willie laughs] I mean, in- that could also just as easily be an asparagus plant. Okay, so go on anyways. Very, [laughing] the interpretations here.
Willie: It was weird seeing that cuz I don't remember seeing that in the manual, but I probably didn't really look at the book that, that came with the game. Cause it did have it as a kid, you know? It was like-
Taylor: Yeah.
Willie: -It was the game that came with the NES
Joseph: I do not remember the manual at all.
Taylor: Yeah, yeah. You don't have time to read a manual when you're a kid and you just got Mario. Unless you're going home. Unless you're going home from the store and then you're reading it.
Joseph: Hell no. I'm trying to platform baby.
Willie: It is incredibly weird to me though that it's been this long and I kind of didn't know that-
Joseph: Yeah, I did not know that either.
Willie: -about the first game.
Joseph: Hmm.
Willie: What does that say about me? I feel like there's a failing somewhere if I've if been going this long and had no idea that was in the first booklet.
Taylor: Nah. If you were speed running it all the time, then yes, I would say you're fucking an idiot for not knowing that. But, you know, if you pick it up once a decade, then I think that's forgivable.
Joseph: Yeah.
Taylor: ‘Cause you could just pick that up and you're like, oh yeah, this is some kick ass Mario, I'm gonna go save the princess. And never once think about the lives you are just smattering alo- along the way. Just popping up into multi brick sprites.
Joseph: Also, we were just gaming. We were just gaming man. And I wasn't reading the manual when I had the game that I could play in front of me.
Taylor: Yep.
Joseph: And you know, they chose to not offer up any of that in the game because all they do is say, Hey, the princess isn't here. She's in a different castle. They say that seven fucking times, and that shit got old the second time.
Taylor: Yeah.
Willie: Yeah.
Taylor: They should have a Star Wars type scroller at the beginning that told this amazing tale.
Joseph: The backstory? Yeah.
Taylor: Yeah.
Joseph: That'd be cool.
00:33:46
Willie: So we have been talking a little bit about the mechanics already, ‘cause you know, you're obviously breaking bricks and stuff through this, but-
Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Willie: I think the other major mechanics are some of those things where, you know, you eat a mash, you eat a mushroom, and you level up to a larger Mario and you find a flower and you level up to your, um, your fire power.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: Why did, why did I just blank on what that's actually called?
Joseph: Yeah. Fire, uh, flower power
Taylor: Hand Ball Shooty.
Willie: Flower power. Yeah.
Joseph: I mean the game is pretty simple. I mean, all you can do is jump and run. Like if you hold both buttons or if you hold, what would it be? The B button?
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: Yeah. If you hold B, you can run faster.
If you're not holding B, then you're just at like half speed, which is a pain in the ass in that game. Especially when you accidentally let go of the run button ‘cause you slow down immediately to walking speed.
Willie: Mm-hmm
Joseph: And then just jump and that's it, in terms of the controls.
Willie: Even in mid-air, which is cool.
Joseph: Right.
Willie: In playing it, I was looking at some of the like speed running techniques and stuff-
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: -too just to like, uh, I'll just say this here just because I hate World 8-3 so much. I like was working on like how to speed run that level. And I obviously can't do some of the things that you could do like on an emulator or even the original console, playing on Switch ‘cause that's what I was playing on.
But, um, one of the techniques is like while you're like observing like some of those Hammer brothers on platforms, when you're running through the level, if you see one in one place on like, on the top level, you just let go of the B button in mid-air.
So you slow down enough that you fall into the middle platform and run through.
Taylor: Oh wow.
Willie: One of those sections. But like yeah, even in, in mid-air, letting go of that button slows you down immediately.
Joseph: Yeah. It's wicked.
Willie: So your jumps are completely different.
Taylor: I was just gonna ask, can the hammer brothers, do they start differently every time? Like when you come through that level, could they be, they start at a different place and-
Willie: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: -Like shooting different formation of hammers. Wow.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: Wow.
Willie: And I think it's based on what you've killed in the level prior to that.
Taylor: Hmm.
Willie: Or if you've died in the level prior to making a run through the level.
Taylor: Wow.
00:35:48
Joseph: Professional speed runners of the game that are like running it at the most optimized time, which is four minutes and 54 seconds.
Taylor: Geez.
Joseph: Those players, they also have a, a thorough understanding of the game's global timer. The global timer can dictate what pattern you're gonna see. Like especially with like the Bowser clones and all of the castles leading up to the last one, man, there's a really detailed breakdown of every single frame pattern you can possibly have for like a five minute window.
Taylor: Wow.
Joseph: Pictures of all those different frame, uh, the hammer patterns, which is like amazing. I mean, we're talking about a game that, from a speed running perspective has been turned inside out for decades.
Taylor: Yeah.
Joseph: You know, so like 4:54, the current world record, like, that's as optimized as you can possibly get for a human, for a human, unless some groundbreaking discovery is made.
Like the, the, the Boba Skip.
Taylor: And that's without-
Joseph: [Laughs] in Metal Gear.
Taylor: -any cheats or anything. Like that's an au naturel speed run basically?
Joseph: Yeah. That, yeah.
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: The straight up speed run.
Taylor: Do they use shortcuts and stuff? Like do they go through-
Willie: Yeah.
Taylor: Okay.
Joseph: Yeah. They use the warps.
Taylor: Yeah. ‘Cause it's
Joseph: Yeah.
Taylor: -That you're not doing anything crazy, you're just going through the game. Okay.
Willie: Uh, you mentioned something about the like. All the frames and stuff and, and how that, that works. Oh, you said something about 4:54 being kind of the, the fastest like optim- most optimized run, but I think the same person who has that record, I was reading them say that like if they could get their 4-2 faster, which I was trying to look into, but they were like, if you could get a 4-2 lightning is what they call it.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: If you could perfect that, the run would be a little bit faster, but it's like close.
Joseph: But does it break? Does it break the 4:54 barrier?
Willie: It doesn't break the 54 second barrier, because I think it's like 4:54 what?
Joseph: Two.
Willie: :78?
Joseph: Yeah. Yeah.
Willie: :72?
Taylor: 4 is hard. Is that the, that's the cloud city ones where you're kind of up in the sky on the tall mushrooms?
Willie: No, 4-2 is the underground one. Right after it's the-
Taylor: Okay.
Willie: I always think of it as the second underground one because it's, that's where-
Joseph: The second warp.
Taylor: Okay.
Willie: Yeah. It's the second warp.
Taylor: I went to three instead of four cuz I wanted to experience the third level again.
Willie: Four also has the second warp. Like Joey was saying, that takes you to eight if you want to skip to eight.
Taylor: Right. Oh, okay.
Willie: Which is why-
Taylor: Got you.
Willie: -people do that one. It's also where they, it's interesting that there's a, I know we're talking about speed running now, but there's a wrong warp there, which is interesting that, that. trick has, we've talked about this a little bit. We played Elden Ring a lot recently, all of us.
And one of the speed running techniques in that game is a wrong war- warp. Tricking the game into putting you in a different place.
Taylor: Wow.
Willie: I won't even really talk about it too much, but tricking the game into making you think you're somewhere where you're not actually supposed to be yet. And there's a wrong warp in Mario Brothers too. There's a way to make Mario move further in the screen than he's supposed to be moving.
Taylor: Hmm.
Willie: Right? Like if you're just running as Mario, Mario's normally under like the little coin counter where the coin counter is, that's where Mario's placed on the screen. But if you run and jump backwards into an object, it'll scoot him forward [Taylor laughs] in the frames a little bit.
Taylor: Oh wow.
Willie: He can scoot to where he's actually underneath the W in "world." And if you can get him to that, you can go right past where that the vine plant is in 4-2, and then jump down a tube. When you go down the tube, instead of going to the little underground where you pick some coins up, you'll actually be at the top where the vine is.
Taylor: Oh, wow.
Willie: Because it thinks that you're still, you haven't moved past the screen where you would normally be climbing the vine out of the screen.
Taylor: Wow.
Willie: But instead, you're going down a pipe and you're still getting to that other-
Taylor: Oh.
Willie: -warp area.
Taylor: So it's just like, this is the thing that should happen right here. And so you're- [Laughs.]
Willie: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: Oh man. That's weird.
Joseph: And it's because they, the game will only load like six things at a time.
Taylor: Huh.
Joseph: So like if you frame bump your way ahead and you've loaded something on the screen, then it means that something else can't be loaded like a piranha plant in a tunnel.
Taylor: Huh.
Joseph: Man, it's incredible detail.
Taylor: There's all kinds of trickery you could do with that. That's crazy.
Willie: And like Joey was saying, it's all because people have just been looking at that for so long now, dissecting the game in every part, in every frame of everything.
Joseph: It's incredible. The detail and the, the how many pixel perfect jumps you need to make to like, set up these different scenarios for like the best hammer pattern that Bowser kind of dishes out, you know, and like choosing where you slow down and you know, kind of make up frames and where you lose frames and like how intentional it is, is super, super impressive.
Taylor: You have to train yourself to that control style. Maybe there's a lot of games from that era that control the same, but that is a, that's art in itself. Just figuring out how to manipulate that game in the way that you need to, to beat it for one, but to actually beat it in an amount of time or something.
Whew. That is some dedication right there.
00:40:50
Joseph: For sure. Yeah. Let's move on to visual graphics, which, uh, I think are good. I mean, I think they hold up pretty well for like an NES game. Going back through it, I was definitely surprised in like the shadow in the blocks and things like that. Like there's some pretty good detail for, I mean, we're talking eight bits.
Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Joseph: But there's some pretty good detail in the game.
Taylor: Yeah.
Joseph: I didn't think it looked horrible by any means. Like I, it looks way better than like, um, Ghosts'N Goblins, I think.
Taylor: That's the beauty of those older Nintendo games, the kind of, the first wave of that generation. Uh, a lot of those hold up like that and they just hit you in the face with the perfect colors, the perfect pixelation.
And depending on generally most of the ways you play them, you're seeing it on a big ass TV now, that's better technology than ever, pretty much. But they've got this splayed across there and looking perfect. So you're seeing it in like the best detail that you ever could and it, you would think that it would look awful, but it doesn't.
It looks awesome. The colors pop, everything works together and definitely helps the nostalgia to get that immediate instant delivery ‘cause you see it and it just looks amazing.
Joseph: I mean if anything, the background is flat, like the sky is pretty flat even though there's some clouds. Detail in the clouds is nice. But overall the background is pretty flat.
Taylor: Yep.
Joseph: I love 6-3. I had totally forgotten about that world, but when I played through the other night, 6-3 is like completely monochromatic except for like the coins.
Willie: I mean it's similar to, it's obviously, the 8-4 is not completely monochromatic, but does um, has that sort of feel minus the like enemies and the lava.
Taylor: Oh yeah.
Willie: And fire.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: Oh, the springs. Oh, yep.
Joseph: I honestly thought there were more water worlds, but there's only two. There's only two in the entire game. Well, I guess you play a little bit of one in the, in 8-4.
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: But I just as a kid, like remembering back, I thought there were way more water levels.
Taylor: Aren't there some dr- some pipes that leads you to water, like swimming areas inside of non-water worlds too?
Willie: I was gonna say, I think that there might be at least one or two pipes that also lead to-
Joseph: Okay.
Willie: -a water world.
Taylor: Yeah.
Willie: But I'm not a hundred percent certain, but I- obviously there is one that you're talking about in 8-4.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: But I think there is one earlier than that too, but don't really remember.
Taylor: Might be in four. It might even be in the, somewhere in four. Like 4-3 or 4-4 or something. Now it sounds like I'm just talking about timing.
Joseph: Okay. So maybe I missed that. I did play the game like straight through, like, oh, whoops. I accidentally muted myself. [Taylor laughs.] I played straight through and I was like not getting any of the powerups, just so I could stay fast as like the-
Taylor: Nice.
Joseph: - smaller Mario. It made the game way more difficult. So much that it got annoying for Meg and she had to leave the room.
Taylor: Oh.
Joseph: [Laughing] Just because of the sounds of the games of like me restarting over and over again.
Taylor: Oh yeah.
Willie: I played through the way I would as a kid, which was warping through everything first.
Taylor: Yep. Same.
Willie: So taking all the warps to get to 4-1 and then taking the one from 4-2 to get to 8-1, and then I found myself at the end of the game still dying where I would normally die ‘cause I didn't have enough extra lives to get through 8-3.
Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Willie: I'm so impatient in that level. And then I was like, oh, I'm gonna try to do the, you know, I'm just gonna go for the fast method. I'm just gonna make those jumps and stuff. And it never worked out. So like ultimately, I, I didn't actually finish the game in a single run. I was playing on Switch, like I said, so I had save states or whatever.
So I, like, I went back and did like, finished the level and then finished the game, but I never actually finished it In the time that I was playing in one like single play through.
Taylor: I always got to that snaggletooth rock on [laughs] 8-3 or 8-4 you get to that one that, suddenly you've got like two Kit Kats and then a single Kit Kat and then like a half one, [Willie laughs] that doesn't even, you're like, that didn't, I've never seen that in the game before. Why is that so skinny? What are you doing? Crazy.
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: The two Hammer brothers in 8-3 are like, what was-
Taylor: [Whispering] Oh, yeah.
Joseph: -Like pissing me off. I'm like, come on.
Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Joseph: Come on. ‘Cause you're not on a platform. Right? So like you have to either bop them in the head or pass under them or completely jump over them and their hammer pattern.
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: But then there's two.
Willie: Well, in, in that particular spot, the pattern changes enough that like you could get hit on that first one like pretty regularly or the second one will catch you off guard whenever you're trying to jump over him.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: Yeah. That part sucks. When you had texted us that you had finished-
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: I actually had the game open and was just about to start a run to like do every level because I wanted to see every level because I hadn't done that yet. I had finished the game the day before, but I was like, no, I actually need to play through all of it. And so like when you texted, I was literally starting the game already and had just started playing through with the intention of going through every level.
So I did. And even then, I actually still on that run, I died at 8-3. Cause I hate that world so much. For some reason I just can't do it. I lose my patience in that level.
Taylor: It's tough. You have the fireballs flying in that one too, right? At 8-3 you have the constant fireballs?
Willie: Uh, 8-3 has the, the cannons, the-
Taylor: Oh, that's right.
Joseph: I think the only place there are fireballs are in the castles.
Willie: Yep.
Taylor: Oh, okay. All right.
Joseph: Because you get the fire bars and then you have the like shooting vertically, shooting fireballs from the lava pit.
Taylor: Whew. Those just make it way more fun.
Willie: I think that's one of the cool things about all the graphics and stuff was thinking about the origins of all of those things that we've seen evolve over time.
Joseph: Oh, for sure.
Willie: Even just watching the bullets and watching, like looking at them and being like, oh, they do have little arms on them-
Taylor: [Laughs] Yeah.
Willie: -but it's like so insignificant in that little detail. It still looks good. You can tell what it is now.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: When they're trying to kill you, it's different. [Laughs]
Willie: Yeah.
Taylor: You're like, I don't care how many arms you've got, motherfucker. [Taylor and Joseph laugh.]
Willie: But it's interesting that that theme has been there since the very beginning, you know?
Taylor: No, it is amazing to catch little details like that way later, and them just be amazing. It's like a little cute add-on.
Joseph: I always feel that way. They're not in this game, but I always feel that way when I see the like original chain chomps. Whoa, these are cool! Like, you know-
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: -This is their origin story, right? And they've kind of, you know, they've been in other Mario games beyond the first three. But every time I see the chain chomps, I have that feeling where I was like, this is cool.
00:47:27
Joseph: But, um, yeah, we're all musically inclined, you know, in one way or another. So let's talk to the b- about the music. Taylor. What did you think playing back through the game?
Taylor: Uh, the music is awesome. I heard all the music in the game, which is the, the level music, uh, like the normal aboveground music, and then the underground music, and then the castle music. And I think those are the only songs in the entire game, if I'm not mistaken, other than the, when you die, you get the [sings] "dun-dun dun buh-dun-dun!"
Or, uh, oh, no, [sings] "dun-dun dun da-duh."
Yeah, the music's good. It's, and you recognize it. I mean, I still, to this day, my go-to for just like random song that I'm just gonna sing out of nowhere is almost always the underground music, [sings] "da-da da-da da-duh, da-da da-da da-duh, da-da da-da da-duh."
It's my go-to.
Joseph: Yeah.
Taylor: It's what I do. And that says a lot about that because I don't play this game regularly, but I could play any of this for you at some point. Like on a guitar or something. I could pick out every note.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: Yet I never listen to it. It's good. It takes you back.
Joseph: Obviously iconic, right? Like it's maybe the most recognizable game music I think of any series or any franchise. I don't know, maybe Legend of Zelda, you know, is equally, maybe not equally, but I think a lot of people can instantly recognize the, the Overworld song in Legend of Zelda like, like Super Mario Bros. Ah man, the castle music is sick. Like-
Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Joseph: - playing back through the castles. I was like, man, I love this.
Taylor: Yep.
Joseph: I love the sound of this.
Taylor: It's a great change up. And it, it, it does good to intensify those levels ‘cause it has that amount of intensity, and they do good with that on all the Marios I think. But this one was just, something about it that music was perfect and immediately classic.
Willie: Yeah. That castle music, it's interesting to hear because also to hear the evolution of that over the years, it's just like cool to see that the roots are there the whole time. Right? That it, it is really good music for like a dungeon delve sort of thing. It does elicit a little bit of like stress as you're playing, but it's also kind of groovy.
Oh, the other music you didn't list was the, that always catches my attention is, is the underwater music.
Joseph: Oh yeah. Yeah. That's good.
Willie: That's very like floaty sounding.
Taylor: That's right.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: Yeah, it is. Yeah. Like a [sings] "da, da, da-daa, da-duh, da-duh" they definitely like evoked that. [Laughing] Yeah. They-
Willie: Yeah.
Taylor: They definitely, uh, evoked that song in there, but so good man.
And there's something about the main song. That I feel like if you were to do an 8-bit song and try to do that exact same song, it wouldn't sound the same. Like there is some thickness to the, um, to kind of the bars that they're using in there. I don't know if it's the mid, uh, range of sounds, but it's almost like they're using two notes together to like thicken up the [sings] "dun-dun, dun, dun-dun dun!"
I mean, it could be the same note, double barred or something like that, but there's something to it that just makes that, I don't know, the, the main themes sound powerful, more powerful than you would think it would.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: I don't know if I'm conveying that correctly, but-
Joseph: Yeah. It kind of hits. Yeah, it just hits.
Taylor: Yeah, it hits exactly. And I don't know how they do that.
Joseph: There's a couple more sounds we really haven't talked to about like the, there's starman.
Taylor: [Whispering] Oh, starman.
Joseph: There's like the flag. I think there might be a, a like a short song or music, like when you complete a stage or world.
Taylor: [Laughs] Oh, right, I gave you guys some of that slowmo.
[Laughter]
Joseph: Right.
Taylor: Scary sounding. "Do, do, do, doo.."
Willie: I think the other sound that is always, it's very iconic or nostalgic for me, I guess is just the pause, just like hitting pause.
Joseph: Oh, sure.
Taylor: Oh "di-li-li-li"
Joseph: Yeah.
Willie: I don't know why that like sticks with me so much and it's like so memorable.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: Just when you hit that pause button, it's like, that's just what that sound is.
Taylor: Yeah.
Willie: You could put that anywhere and it'd be like, oh, okay.
Joseph: Even the startup man, like, uh-
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: I'm thinking now Super NES there's a "clink."
Taylor: Yeah.
Willie: Yeah, exactly.
Joseph: Like at the beginning when it has Nintendo.
Willie: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: What about the death sounds? How sad that is.
Joseph: Oh, for sure.
Taylor: [Singing] "rin, dun, dun-dun-na, da" Is that, that's this one, right? [Joseph laughs.]
Willie: That's the final one. Yeah.
Taylor: Oh my God.
Willie: When you lose all your lives.
Joseph: The game over.
Taylor: I feel like that's the song you'll hear when you really die. Like everything will go black and you'll just hear that song. [Willie laughs.]
You'll be like, oh yeah, that makes sense.
Joseph: Yeah. What a way to go. That'd be awesome.
Taylor: Yeah. [Laughing] That would be dope.
Joseph: If you could choose what you heard-
Taylor: Yeah.
Joseph: -you know, when you died.
Taylor: [Sings] "rin, din, din-din-nee, din-din-nee, din, driin"
And then you get the, the plus player one, player two, and start all over.
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: There's a pipe sound too.
Willie: There's a pipe sound.
Taylor: Oh yeah.
Willie: I mean, there's a, I think there are-
Taylor: There's a ton of sounds.
Willie: -quite a few more, like obviously the coins, which is slightly different than the, the pause thing.
Taylor: The coins are so jarring! I forgot [Willie laughs] how- like I had the TV, you know, up at a [Joseph laughs] 15 out of a hundred or something, but still had to like, reach for the controller as I'm sitting there. "ba-doing-doing-doing-doing". It's so like persistent and jarring.
Joseph: [Laughing] Right.
Taylor: There's no gate put on there at any point. It's the same.
Willie: The other is the, the 1-Up sound.
Joseph: Right.
Willie: That like sticks with me.
Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Joseph: That's good. Yeah. Those sound effects. And then even the eating the mushroom that power up and there's one other, oh, just breaking bricks. Murdering people.
Taylor: [Laughing] Yeah. People murder.
Willie: Yeah. Murdering the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Taylor: Yep. That star music is good though.
Joseph: Maybe they're not murdered, man. Maybe they were, they were able to come back together.
Willie: They returned.
Joseph: Like all the fragments of blocks.
Willie: Yeah.
Taylor: Yeah. Hmm.
Willie: Returned somehow to-
Taylor: Very optimistic thinking, [Willie laughs] Just like your deer that [laughs] flew over the car magically landed-
Joseph: [Laughs] Oh, yeah, yeah, landed on its feet and ran off.
Taylor: -And disappeared. Yeah. [Willie laughs] Super dear.
Joseph: I, I think the music is fantastic. I mean, it's some of the most sampled video game music ever and, uh, I mean, I don't think it's a Mario 3, you know, [singing Mario 3 music] "dink da dink, dink da dink, dink da da dink da dink, dink da dink dink na di dink"
Taylor: See for me, I think Mario 2 is the most iconic music for me, so that's odd. Like, I, I guess I have all of 'em stuck in my head at any point in the day.
Joseph: Right, Right.
Willie: Yeah.
Taylor: But two is the one that I go to. If it's not that Mario 1 Underground, it's two.
Joseph: Mmm.
Taylor: The main theme from that. Man, that one hits so hard.
00:53:46
Joseph: Cool. Well, let's um, go through some final thoughts. I think it's an awesome game. Man, I love going back and playing through it again. I really love, uh, it might be 6-2. Lemme see if I can figure this out. No, it's not 6-2. Uh, weird. I totally thought it was 6-2.
Willie: What's it look like?
Joseph: It's the one that has the birds, like the, maybe they're fish. Maybe they're not birds. They're fish.
Willie: They're fish. Yeah. Yeah.
Joseph: It has the fish flying through and like it has like these elevated bridges.
Willie: Yeah. I think that is 6-2, isn't it? It feels like 6-2. I'll look at my maps that I had open too. When I was finally gonna try to beat the game in one single pass, I was like paying attention to where, trying to remember where all the one ups were and I like did, in all the levels that I was going through. So it was like-
Joseph: Nice.
Willie: -not taking any warps for pipes in the world because I was trying to get to where the one ups were. So I was getting myself as many lives as I could to make a run at 8-3.
Taylor: Wow.
Willie: And still was having trouble.
Joseph: Right, right, right.
Willie: Like I still honestly never did it. I still had to like... The one time I got the closest, I had to give myself basically one extra life to finish the game.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: Because I'd used all of them.
Joseph: Right, right.
Willie: It was like-
Taylor: Wow.
Joseph: Yeah. It gets tough at the end for sure.
Taylor: It's tough. I just watched a person do it in like 20 seconds [laughs] with zero [Willie laughs] issues.
Joseph: Yeah-
Taylor: So that's cool.
Joseph: -it's possible. I don't know. There are some, there are definitely some worlds where if you're playing it like you're speed running it, it's way easier than casual play.
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: A lot of worlds where that, that really works very well. And then all of a sudden there's like a Koopa Troopa that comes down right on that speedy run and then like, "okay, yeah they knew." The developers knew to put it right there.
Taylor: I could see this person as they were speed running, you could see a couple spots where they were clearly, they did a little hop for no reason and it was probably because there was a thing-
Joseph: For timing.
Taylor: Yeah, yeah. And there was, yep. And probably something could happen right there in any different run or something but...
Joseph: Sometimes they'll, you know, they'll slow down, they'll like jump on the very edge, like a pixel perfect, jump on the edge of a pipe and then they'll, as they're falling back down to the next platform, they'll let go of B so that they go to half speed and then they kind of pick back up.
Taylor: Yeah.
Joseph: So it's like those little moments where they're like intentionally slowing down so that they set themselves up for a better pattern.
Taylor: Yeah. Or hit a, hit a block, you know, a power block, but not get the power up. Just hit the block and roll.
Joseph: Yeah, exactly.
Taylor: Yeah. It's amazing. This is... very cool game. I can see why we all loved it so much and still love to play it. It's, it's incredible. It takes you right back..
Joseph: Oh yeah Willie, you said you had another review to read, right?
00:56:20
Willie: Oh yeah, yeah, I did. I think this one may have also been an Amazon one, but I was looking at eBay ones as well. This one's definitely an Amazon one. I can tell from the four or five stars, four or five stars, and it says classic but hard.
This one's by someone named Magmon on Amazon. It says, if you've played any Mario game after this one, prepare to die. [Taylor laughs] The skidding physics make landing jumps and even sometimes making jumps, difficult. That's not to say this game is bad, quite the contrary, but be ready to need to shut it off and cool down for a bit along the ride. I'm no greenhorn to vintage games, but I still have trouble passing world two without the warp zone.
This is the game that started at all, and arguably saved the video game industry. It's a classic that is often mimicked, but never reproduced, and should be in the collection of all NES or vintage games enthusiasts/collectors.
Mine came very dirty. This is obviously about the game, but it, it's worth reading. Uh, this part. Mine came very dirty. It's looks- It looks as if someone at one point spilled soda into the open, reading end. I've spent a lot of time cleaning it up with Q-tips and alcohol, and still more time needs to be spent to get it back to factory-new reading quality, but the point is really just to share the cleaning technique. I use 70% isopropyl alcohol and Q-tips to rub away the dirt and grime, let the game dry, and test until it's running smoothly.
Taylor: Hmm. Nice. Blow in it. [Willie chuckles] Blow in it once or twice and...
Willie: Yeah. It's also the-
Joseph: Mm-hmm
Willie: -the part that was left out was definitely the blowing in it.
Taylor: That's cool that you can do that 'cause they're, you know, certainly a CD or something like that, corrupted files. There's way you can't... you can't get that stuff back. So those physical cartridges.
Joseph: Dirty. Dirty Mario.
Taylor: Dirty. Yeah, my... mine came dirty. That's [laughs] Black magic, dirty style.
Joseph: So overall, man, I mean, we're talking 1985.
Taylor: Yeah.
Joseph: Putting Nintendo on the map. It did ship with the console, if I remember correctly, but it al... it wasn't the only game. Like it wasn't the first Nintendo game. I think there were like four or five others that were available at the time of purchase, if I remember correctly. But it did ship with the console
Taylor: And it was comboed in with Duck Hunt, right?
Joseph: Yeah.
Taylor: Or at least the one I got was comboed in with that.
Willie: I think there were both versions for sure. I mean, there's one that does have Duck Hunt and one that doesn't. The version that came with Duck Hunt on it came with the light gun too.
Taylor: Oh yeah. Yep. Gotta have that accessory.
Joseph: Oh, that's true. What's interesting to me is that it's such an iconic game. Such an iconic video game character, and just series of games, and it was a launch title.
Taylor: Yep.
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: Which doesn't really happen. That doesn't happen anymore.
Taylor: Uh, legend of Zelda, that wasn't a launch with Switch. It was after, right? That took a while to-
Joseph: I think it was bundled like, Breath of the Wild.
Taylor: Yeah.
Joseph: Maybe I'm wrong.
Taylor: That one's pretty good. Yeah, cuz I did get a bundle with Breath of the Wild and the, but I don't remember if that was right at the beginning of it or if that was later. But yeah, that, that's rare. But Nintendo, if anybody does it, it's usually Nintendo as far as here's a new system, here's a new game on that system and it's mind blowing and amazing, for some reason or another. They're good at that.
But just awful at listening to anything after. It's very weird. Maybe that's something you get, that's part of the id of, of just like being the best or coming out with the best of your style and might come with a, an amount of, you know, like, I don't give a fuck. [laughs]
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: Like, we're putting them out, like, we like 'em and if you keep buying 'em, cool. And if not, then hey, maybe we'll listen.
Joseph: I think lacking in the story department, but the gameplay, the mechanics, and just the game physics, they're that perfect amount of like challenging NES game that... and, and it's the kind of challenge that you don't really see in modern games anymore. But anyway, what were you gonna say, Willie?
Willie: Oh no. I mean there's, like you're saying, there's something completely unforgiving about it.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Willie: There's like, not continues, you're just done. You just gotta start over.
Joseph: Yeah. Dang. Yeah, that part does suck.
Taylor: And there's no AI or algorithm that's like making it easier. Like nowadays, so many games, uh, will try to do-
Willie: Yeah.
Taylor: -stuff like that that, you know? They can sense if you died 10 times on the same part, they'll have some coding to help you along as opposed to, it seems like this one, any coding like that was just to make it more difficult for you.
Willie: Or just random. So it doesn't, there's not a, it's just random, people have figured it out. It's not actually random, but to you, if you're not paying attention to every frame you don't know.
Taylor: Seems like it's against you.
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
01:00:45
Willie: I was trying to figure out what, what world you were talking about earlier, just so I could remember, but it was World 2-3, is the first one that has those bridges with-
Joseph: Oh 2-3.
Willie: -the flying, the flying, uh, fish. They're called Cheep Cheep by the way. [chuckles]
Joseph: So I think I was thinking about the second one because I think there's one at the beginning and then one in the later worlds where it's like a very similar-
Willie: Yeah that makes sense.
Joseph: -very similar layout. But I love that stage cuz you can just hold Right. You know, hold right, B-
Willie: Yeah, exactly.
Joseph: And just cruise until like, you have to, you know, you have to avoid some stuff by jumping, but-
Willie: And that is, that is 6-2, I think.
Joseph: Is it?
Willie: You were right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, no, I guess that world does have the Cheep Cheeps in 'em, but it's not the same.
Taylor: I was just looking at something called Cheep Chomp Chase and I was like, are these called Cheeps? And you answered that. Deep Cheeps.
Willie: Is there some, what is Cheep Chomp Chase?
Taylor: Cheep Chomp Chase is something to do with new Super Luigi U.
Joseph: Mm.
Taylor: So maybe that's like from the WiiU or something. That's, uh, probably not new, but yeah, that's, they're Cheeps. That's good to know. They are cute. They're very cute. Do they have crowns on?
Willie: Yeah, something like that.
Taylor: That's super freaking cute.
[Joseph laughs]
Willie: I will say that, uh, in playing this, I was also just scrolling through the store so, uh... I guess they don't have crowns, they just have like a mohawk.
Taylor: Oh, ok.
Willie: That's what it looks like.
Taylor: I'm okay with that.
01:02:10
Willie: In playing through this, I ended up playing Yoshi, too.
Joseph: Oh, nice.
Taylor: Aww, poor Yoshi.
Willie: Not Yoshi 2, but Yoshi also, um, which I don't think I had ever played on NES. That was literally the first time ever and I was like, what is this? Not Tetris, but not Dr. Mario, but dropping stuff down.
Taylor: Is that called Yoshi? Or is it...? Is it like Yoshi's Island?
Willie: It's just a puzzle game.
Taylor: Oh, okay.
Willie: It's like, imagine Dr. Mario, except instead of dropping little pills that are two separate colors, it's just dropping enemies.
Taylor: [laughing] Pills, for kids, what?
Willie: [laughs] It's just dropping enemies into the square in the middle.
Taylor: Interesting.
Willie: So like, it'll be, you know, a Cheep Cheep or a squid or a whatever, that's dropping. There's dropping two at a time that fall down and-
Taylor: Hmm.
Willie: They land on a platform at the bottom, but they're plates basically. And Mario's at the bottom. And he can like rotate the plates.
Taylor: Huh.
Willie: So he moves them once they land. You just rotate the plates and move 'em into a different column based on what's falling above.
Taylor: Okay. So enemy Tetris.
Willie: So like you're trying to get two of any item, two of any of the enemies in, in a line. So they go away.
Taylor: Hmm.
Willie: And I guess the key, is sometimes eggs, like cracked Yoshi eggs drop.
Taylor: Okay.
Willie: And if it's a top and falls on nothing, it just disappears. But if it's a bottom, like a bottom, half of the shell lands on one of those plates. Anything that falls on top of it will go... disappear, if you can also match up a top with that. So the whole column will go away and then a little Yoshi will pop out with the egg.
Taylor: That sounds difficult.
Willie: It was interesting and I had never played it at all. I was just like, what is this?
Joseph: I don't think I've played that.
Taylor: Yeah, I don't, I don't think I've even ever seen that.
Joseph: The game it led me to was Ghost and Goblins man-
[Willie laughs]
Taylor: Oh...
Joseph: -and I played that for a few minutes and I was like, fuck this! Because this game is harder than the Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts is fucking hard.
Taylor: See, what it led me to was not a harder game like you idiots. I went to Bubble Bobble 2, [Joseph and Willie laugh] because that was the next one on the list on the Nintendo emulator.
Joseph: Nice.
Taylor: And that was great. Just turning fools into toasters, floating in the air and stuff, and letting them fly off.
Joseph: Nice.
Taylor: Super low stakes. I loved it. Dig Dug may be next. I don't know. We'll see.
Willie: Yeah, I did see that in the-
Taylor: Ooh, so good.
Willie: -in the Switch store and I was like, man, maybe I should be playing that.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Taylor: [singing Dig Dug in-game music] "Dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun"
01:04:25
Willie: I'm glad that we started with this one because you know, it was nostalgic and there is something about it that immediately, it is challenging and it puts you back in a, a mindset of like, oh this is, I definitely don't wanna sound like an elitist about games ‘cause it's like, I'm glad the games are more accessible now.
But like, there was something that was just like, kind of frustrating about playing the game, dying a bunch and sti... like to my own like impatience. But also like when you finally do it, it's like, okay, I finally like mastered that one little section that I needed to, to get past.
Joseph: Right. Yeah. I was super, I'm a super impatient with... the same way you are. I just want to get through this, right? Like, I wanna speed through it. It's a game I played so many times that I'm like, okay, now I want to just be faster at it and be cleaner, you know? And have like no deaths and things like that. So like I'll get impatient with it too. And then it just leads to more dying.
Willie: Mm-hmm.
Joseph: Because then you're just making mistakes. I would be the most amateurist, wannabe, speed runner, Super Mario Bros. ever, so there's a lot of dying happening.
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: Awesome to go back and play it, for sure. And like you were saying, Willie, I think it was a great game to start with because I think so many people have played it. So many people are familiar with it and it gives us a chance to kind of test out, you know, what we want to talk about, you know, and, and the format we use today and how we can evolve that and make it better or find ways to streamline it. So good test episode, but also a game that's really fun to talk about and just catch up on.
Taylor: Maybe we'll rehash little Mario, either one of the other many Mario's out there or the Mario movie whenever that finally lands.
Joseph: Oh, right.
Taylor: If we're still doing this. I'm sure we'll have to talk about that.
Willie: Yeah.
Joseph: For sure. But, um, yeah, thanks for listening and joining us and you know, if you like what you heard, you know, hit that like button. I'm just kidding. [Joseph and Taylor laugh]
Taylor: Slap the like! [laughing]
Joseph: Naw dogs, YouTube, slap the like button. Hit the subscribe button.
Taylor: I literally don't ever. If, as soon as they say that, I don't.
Joseph: If you say it, I'm not gonna do it.
Taylor: Yeah. If you say it, I will not do it. That's, and I feel like there's a lot of people like that, but...
Joseph: Yeah. Just kidding. Uh, yeah we're just glad you're listening. But anyway, thanks so much.
[Outro theme begins to fade in - Caribbean Arcade by Christian Nanzell]
Taylor: Peace.
Willie: Thanks.
Joseph: Peace.
Taylor: Peace out.
01:06:41
Joseph: [In the melody of the Super Mario Bros. 3 music] "Doot doot doot, doot doot doot, doot doot doot doot, doot doot doot doot doot doot"
Taylor: [singing] Thank you for listening.
[in announcer voice while Super Mario Bros. 3 theme song still being hummed by Joseph] This Mario episode has been brought to you by Mario's Italian Loafers. Loafers that can get you through eight different worlds without burning off.
[Outro theme continues - Caribbean Arcade by Christian Nanzell]
Berries and Blades is an independent podcast created by Joseph Bullard, Willie Garza, and Taylor Garratt. Thanks for tuning in and consider subscribing if you enjoyed listening to this episode. You can also support us by telling your friends about the show, and we hope to see you in the next episode of Berries and Blades. Until then, thanks again.
[Outro theme fades out - Caribbean Arcade by Christian Nanzell]
01:07:19
Taylor: You remember the year was 2022. The pandemic sucked, and then you heard the White Noise [Joseph in background: "shoooo"] by Taylor Garratt. "shooooo." Now that's what I call White Noise 2022. [All laughing] Is that, dude, we may be on to something. Just cancel the podcast [Willie laughs] now. Turn it off. Th- we're wasting our fucking time here.