Poker, Football, and everything sports

This week's installment of 5 random thoughts is in honor of the eagerly anticipiated release of Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the wii next week. I've always been a huge fan of the Mario franchise , and the first version of the next gen consule did not miss as Super Mario Galaxy was a huge hit. With its release so soon, I thought I would look back on my top 5 Mario games ever.

5. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the 7 Stars(NES): This game isn't as critically accalimed as alot of the Mario titles, but this is easily one of my favorites. It was Nintendo's attempt at a Final Fantasy style RPG for the Mario franchise. This game allowed you to play as Bowser, and it had a throwback to an old childhood favorite, as you did battle with the Axem Rangers, who anyone with a brain could figure out was a shout out to the lovely Power Rangers.

4. Super Mario Galaxy(Wii)- This game was a fantastic opening number for the Wii, as it came strong out of the gates. The most fascinating part of this game is its sense of scale. This is a hugeeeee game. The worlds are ginormous. What hurt Galaxy in the end was its overall lack of extreme difficulty. Of the 120 stars in the game, I would say that I really only struggled to get about 20-30 of them. The rest were pretty mundane. I've heard they have uped the difficulty for hte next one, and I can't wait to see what they've added.

3. Super Smash Bros Melee(GC)- This fantastic adaptation of your classic multi player fighting game is one of the most successful game series of the Mario Brand. Spanning 3 consules, Smash Bros is one of the most popular games of all time. Starting on the N64, where my players of choice was Captain Falcon and Ness. I picked Melee because of the jump it took. The playable characters ballooned from 12 characters in the N64 to 26 on the Game Cube, where you would find me rocking Dr. Mario and Yoshi. And finally to the Wii with Smash Bros Brawl, where I played a number of characters. The great thing about this game is that it really never gets old. With so many options, it is impossible to.

2. Mario Kart 64(N64)- I have an embrarassing confession. I never actually owned Mario Kart 64. I played it a ton at friend's places, but I never owned it. Probably because I was busy dominating at Goldeneye. But this is probably the best racing game of all time. The following games weren't too shabby either. Mario Kart Double Dash for the Gamecube sported a great idea, giving you a vast array of combinations to rock with. And Mario Kart Wii is non stop fun, although the Wii Wheel really sucks. They need to work on that. But to this day, Mario Kart 64 is still a party favorite and will be for years to come.

1. Super Mario 64(N64)- This isn't even close. In my opinion, Super Mario 64 is the best game of all time. When this game came along, it was unique to see any game that was done in 3-d animation. Super Mario did that, and then took it up 40 notches. The graphics in the game were so mindblowing that it was impossible to believe that you were in the mid 1990's. Not to mention that, but incredible controls, and awesome worlds, and what you have is a game that if released today would still be truly unique and amazing. This is easily the best Mario game ever, and it is the golden standard for what all games should be compared to.

In honor of Super Mario Galaxy, here are a couple amazing speed runs of past Mario games that you MUST see if you haven't already.

First, a guy beats Super Mario 3 in 11 minutes!




Then, the most impressive, Super Mario 64 is beaten in a mere 16 minutes.



Enjoy, and thanks for reading.