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Super Mario World Music and Memories
This morning I came across a collection of reworked “Super Mario World” music. I was skeptical at first but these songs are fun to listen to and they bring back the nostalgia.
The complete soundtrack to Super Mario World, covered by one man using dozens of instruments. Roughly in game order, faithful to the originals, with some bizarre artistic license thrown around. A private hobby made public. Dedicated to Koji Kondo. –XOC
Playing them reminded me of a Super Nintendo contest I was in a few years ago (a few being somewhere around 15). It was held at the Medicine Hat Mall. Four different Super Nintendo consoles were setup to play the brand new Super Mario World.
When the contest started the rules dictated that the winner would be the player that was able to “get the farthest” in the game within a short period of time. Each of the four consoles would be run as if it were it’s own contest so even if you got the second farthest in the game, it was possible that the person who got the farthest could have done so on the same console as you and you would still lose.
It didn’t take long for the organizers to realize that in a game like Super Mario World, where the map is a kind of maze that requires backtracking and allows warping it was going to be pretty hard to figure out which player actually made it the farthest. So after about 4 or 5 people had played attempting to get the farthest, they changed the rules. Instead of distance traveled, the decision would be based on high score. Players with the highest score on their own console would win a free Super Nintendo.
My turn was just about to start, and let’s face it, I played a lot of Nintendo as a kid. I subscribed to Nintendo Power and I even scored the occasional blister from marathon sessions of Super Mario World. Not only did I possess a lot of game playing experience, but I also had a secret technique and I really wanted to win.
I raced through the first level in record time. Then instead of moving on to the next level, I re-entered the same level and picked up that famous first empty turtle shell and sent it flying through the 8 or so live turtles running up incremental runs of points: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000, 1Up! Then came my secret: start followed by select. It was documented right in the instruction manual, (who reads video game manuals anyway?), pressing Start and then Select on a level you have previously cleared will bring you right out to the world map. So that was it, kill 9 turtles in one go, rinse, and repeat.
I totally clobbered any previously imaginable high score. It was insane! After about 5 minutes of running up my score the “judges” decided that what I was doing wasn’t fair to the people who initially thought they had to get as far as they could through the map so they told me to stop doing my trick, that I had obviously won and that now I should just go for distance.
My instructions were to go right. When I tried to go for the block palace (left) they told me that I had to go right. I think they might have thought I was going back into the first level. Anyway assured that I had won the contest, what did it matter?
I never won the contest. I had the second highest score of the day but I would not be going home with any of the four Super Nintendos. Apparently some other smart fellow did my trick as well and on the same console as me. The judges insisted it was all fair because they only let him do it up to the same amount of points that I did it for. Of course after he was done he went to the block palace and got the high bonus points for completing that level.
The lesson to be learned from all of this? Video game contests in the early 90’s were rarely fair. Judges always seem to be changing the rules mid-stream and they didn’t really know what they are doing in general. It doesn’t really matter that I didn’t win a Super Nintendo – I already had one, but still I felt ripped off. If you ever run a contest, try and be as fair as possible by deciding the rules ahead of time, thinking about what could go wrong by actually trying the game yourself and once the contest has started stick to your plan.
Friday
My day included:
- Cashing two cheques! (yay)
- Paying off my summer class tuition (boo)
- Browsing Chapters (meh – nothing to interesting)
- Shopping at the brand new Superstore that opened today and having my mom buy me food (yay)
- eating corn on the cob with my parents (yay)
- cleaning the house and spilling a bucket of mop water all over the floor (boo)
- Trying not to think about you know who (meh – breaking up still sucks)
- Blogging about my day (yay)
Well that’s about it. Hope you had a good Friday. Here is your moment of zen: Redneck montage.
Waterton
The family reunion is pretty much over. Jackie, Glen, and Ryker have headed down to California for Glen’s brother’s wedding and most of the other relatives have also left. Today I’m off to Waterton with my parents, my cousin Spencer, and his family. We all had a great time at the waterslides, eating some great food, and personally I had a lot of fun taking pictures.
Golfing
I went golfing yesterday with my sister, Jackie, and her husband, Glen. I may not have mentioned it before, but Glen is actually a tremendously excellent golfer, (in case you couldn’t tell by his Titleist hat). He used to be a golf pro and still wins the occasional tournament. It was fun to have him there to watch him play and for him to give me some pointers.
I have to say, he was impressed with some of my moves too. In fact he claims that he has never before witnessed someone hit the ball of their own shin. So other than the shin incident, I didn’t think I was so terrible of a golfer for someone that had never golfed before. Here is a video of my powerful swing (2mb).
Ryker
It’s been a long week. My job at the University is done and now I’m just sort of coasting until the Fall Semester starts in September. I’m in Medicine Hat for a few days for a family reunion. I’ve been taking a few pictures and this afternoon I went golfing at Paradise Valley. The photo above is one I took of my sister’s son Ryker. What a cutie.
War: What is it Good For?
Today is the 60th anniversary of the detonation of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. I asked my dad what he thought about it and, as expected, he said the Japanese got what they deserved. His main reason for feeling that way is the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
When I visited Japan in 1993, I was surprised at the extreme awareness and even fear of nuclear war within the Japanese students that I met. I couldn’t help but feeling that the country was still reeling from its effects. Everyone I met there were all very peaceful people and it was easy to see that many people who weren’t even born at the time of the war had their lives drastically ruined because of the radiation.
Having said that, during my visit to Malaysia I was shocked to learn of the atrocities that the Japanese soldiers of the Second World War committed in countries like Malaysia and China during their campaign across South Eastern Asia. It seems to me that if you are going to say “they deserved it” this is a better reason, but not that I’m saying that. I still think there could have been a better way.
The Atomic Bomb probably did save many of the lives of Allied Soldiers by ending the war and preventing the need for a large scale ground battle. I wonder if repeated bombing campaigns would have done the same thing, it gives one pause to wonder whether or not dropping the bomb was really necessary. It’s clearly a complicated issue, even 60 years after the fact.
Did the ends justify the means? Would the US have done the same thing to Germany if the war wasn’t going as quickly as it did? What about all the civilians that were killed during and after the explosion — was it really necessary? I guess the only thing that can be safely said is that war is a tremendous waste of life.
Mountains
Elevator Hacking
According to TheDamnBlog you can hack an elevator by pressing the door close button and the floor of your choice at the same time, then the elevator will whisk you to your floor without stopping at any other floors.
From the site:
“The designers of some elevators include a hidden feature that is very handy if you’re in a hurry or it’s a busy time in the building (like check-out time in a hotel). While some elevators require a key, others can be put into “Express” mode by pressing the “Door Close” and “Floor” buttons at the same time. This sweeps the car to the floor of your choice and avoids stops at any other floor.
This seems to work on Most elevators that I have tried! Most elevators have the option for this to work, but on some of them the option is turned off by whoever runs them. This is a rather fun hack, so the next time you are on an elevator, give it a try, you have nothing to lose, And this concludes Hacking Elevators 101!Elevators that have been tested and worked on:
Otis Elevators (All But The Ones Made In 1992),
Dover (Model Numbers: EL546 And ELOD862),
And Most Desert Elevators(All, But Model Numbers ELD5433 And ELF3655) “
Next elevator I ride in, I’m totally trying this.
(via Kottke)