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Doug Bowser congratulated Xbox and Phil Spencer on Twitter for the launch of their new Xbox consoles.

So, I finished the demo. It's a bit short with only two main missions and one side mission. There are three playable characters: Link, Impa, and Zelda. There are also four difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard.

The thing that stood out to me was that Link basically has the same combos as in the original Hyrule Warriors, so it instantly felt familiar. I like that something carried over.

Anyway, I guess I have three weeks to play those three missions over and over, and grind Link, Zelda, and Impa to max level.

Cool that No More Heroes 1 and 2 are now on Switch. I never did play the Wii versions. I wonder if they still include the motion controls.

Speaking of control... Control is now on Switch?? Whoa, didn't see that coming! Also, it and Hitman 3 are the first cloud-based games on Switch available outside of Japan. Might have to check it out.

And finally, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity has a demo. I will be trying it out shortly.

Soccer should be available today.

I tried the NES version on the Switch Online app a little while back. I beat the CPU 14-0. (Granted, it was on the easiest difficulty setting.)

So, the First encounter with favorite series thread got me thinking about what series I would consider a favorite, and it turns out that's more complicated that I thought. There are quite a lot of series I used to think of as favorites, but don't really consider to be favorites anymore for various reasons. Either because releases became too sporadic, the series moved to other platforms, or it was discontinued altogether. Or in some cases, I simply lost interest.

Super Mario Bros. is a series I considered to be a favorite when I was a kid, but drifted away from over time. But when I think about it, have I really drifted that far?

You can find any number of articles or videos discussing how popular and influential Super Mario Bros. was, and being old enough to have lived through it myself, I can definitely say it's not hyperbole. Super Mario Bros. was the game to play. People bought NES's just for SMB, and in that sense, you could pinpoint it as the game that single-handedly saved the American video game industry.

I first played it at a neighbor's apartment (the same that I played The Legend of Zelda at), and while it struck me as weird (Mushrooms make you grow twice your size?), it left a big impression on me. I wanted to play it any chance I got, whether it be at a friend's or neighbor's place, or in the arcade. I eventually got my own NES, and Super Mario Bros was a birthday present later that year.

I think most of my being a fan of the Super Mario Bros. series was concentrated around this era, from the original up through Super Mario World. After that, traditional Mario games seemed to fade into the background. Most "Mario" games at that point were spin-offs (Dr. Mario, Super Mario Kart, Mario Paint, etc.). The only really traditional Mario games during this period were Super Mario Land 2 and Super Mario All-Stars (which included the first Western release of The Lost Levels/SMB2J). As much as I loved Yoshi's Island, it really didn't feel like an evolution of Super Mario World, and in reality, was the beginning of "Yoshi"-style gameplay.

By the time Super Mario 64 came out, it was considered like kind of a comeback for Super Mario, and was almost as influential for 3D platform games as the original Super Mario Bros. was for 2D. My first experience with it was magical, being my first time playing a game with a fully 3D world. However, once I finished the game and got all 120 stars, I was never compelled to play a 3D Mario game ever again. My attempts at replaying Mario 64, or eventually moving on to Sunshine, were ultimately left unfinished. At the end of the day, it just wasn't a replacement for the classic 2D Mario games I used to love.

I feel like I drifted further away from Mario in the subsequent years. I think even here on NinDB, I had complained about how "games with Mario" were not the same as "Mario games." But when New Super Mario Bros. was announced for the DS, and promised to bring back the classic 2D gameplay, I thought it might rekindle the love I used to have for the series. While I did enjoy it and finish it, I still felt a bit lukewarm. At this point, even going back to playing the classic games didn't interest me. Maybe I was just done with Mario.

Or was I? I still bought New Super Mario Bros. Wii when it came out, and I played it to completion. New Super Mario Bros. U was a pack-in when I bought a Wii U, and I have to admit, it was easily the best of the "New" SMB series. I likely would've also bought New Super Mario Bros. 2 if I had owned a 3DS. I picked up the original Super Mario Maker in 2015. And lately, I've been playing a lot of Super Mario Bros. 35. Heck, I even bought Arcade Archives: Vs. Super Mario Bros. last year.

I feel like I'm in a strange position with Super Mario Bros. I still don't feel like I would call it a favorite series, and yet, clearly, I keep coming back to it now and then. Maybe it's just comfortable familiarity, or some sense of attachment. But I need to admit to myself that I honestly still enjoy them, at least enough that I'm still willing to spend money on them and play them.

With the Super Mario Maker games, and now Super Mario Bros. 35, Nintendo has clearly been experimenting with new approaches to the classic 2D gameplay, and I find myself curious to see what they have in store for the future of the series.

So, yeah, happy 35th anniversary to Super Mario Bros!

Today is the 35th anniversary of the NES' launch in North America (according to Nintendo, although the actual date is up for debate).

Check out this Twitter thread by the Video Game History Foundation for more info: