One of my favorite parts of being a video game design student is getting to play games for homework. This week, my assignment was to play Donkey Kong, the Game Boy title from 1994.

Usually, my main focus while playing a new game is the fun factor. An academic setting can really help to break me out of my narrow point of view and see a game in a new way. While playing Donkey Kong, I was supposed to look for design elements and good ideas to inspire a class game project.

What strikes me most about Donkey Kong was the simplicity of the levels. Many levels were entirely visible from the start – making for easy strategizing. It reminded me of the simple mazes I used to have in travel fun activity books, but better. This maze involved a couple of stops and active enemies to avoid.

The foes in Donkey Kong were refreshingly different from the 3D platformer enemies I’ve grown accustomed to defeating. Some enemies can be easily avoided, but their heads can be used as platforms to jump to a higher level. Other enemies wouldn’t kill you outright upon contact with them, but they could knock you off ledges and be a general nuisance. These annoying enemies didn’t have complex A.I. behavior, but the level design was sophisticated enough to make them a formidable obstacle.

I had a hard time getting past the first level in Donkey Kong. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m very bad at Mario games, so it should come as no surprise that I had trouble controlling Mario in Donkey Kong. This game is much older than games I normally play, and the control scheme was much more simple. Instead of worrying about all the angles to make a jump, timing was most often the most important factor. I found myself climbing up the broken ladders, sure that I was out of the deathy barrels’ range, only to discover that the collision was slightly less accurate than newer games and I would soon be dead.

I hold no grudge against Donkey Kong. In fact, I really admire all the creativity in the level design and the simplicity in the puzzles. It’s great to see a game that focused on design before graphics and made the most of the limitations of its time. While this game may not be fun for someone like me accustomed to modern mechanics, I still find it an admirable classic.  

My friend with a DS stuck around for a while after we played Elite Beat Agents. We had the chance to check out a few other DS games on multiplayer, including Super Mario Bros.

It should come as no surprise that I failed pretty miserably at this, especially considering that I’ve never made it far enough to save. My friend has been a Mario fan for quite some time, so he had an enormous advantage. The premise of the multiplayer is to get as many stars as possible (up to a certain number you set). You play as either Luigi or Mario and you can make the other character drop their stars in a number of ways, some of which are jumping on them, hitting them with fireballs, or smacking into them when you have a turtle shell power-up.

I spent most of the game trying to avoid losing my stars, as I was in no position to go on the offense. I ran around the tiny level with wild abandon and killed myself more times than I’d like to admit. However, I did accidentally stumble upon one surprising moment of offensiveness. This occurred when I got my first turtle power-up. I never thought much of power-ups at that point since seemed to get hit or die so quickly that I lost them in a matter of seconds. By this time, I had been playing for several minutes and managed to stay alive long enough to ask my friend how to turn into a turtle. I figured it out, and soon I was sliding back and forth in a lowered area.

My friend, playing as Mario, soon tried to pass through this area but I, as a turtle, was simply too fast for him. I was able to hold him off for a bit, sliding back and forth and hitting him over and over again. He dropped quite a few stars, but he was more agile that I was and so he got most of them back. Soon, he came back with his own turtle power-up and the game was over before long.

I really enjoyed playing Super Mario Bros. with my friend. It was one of those instances where you get really engrossed in a game, simply because you believe you must survive. Even if my Mario skills were lacking, I went on the defense and did my best to keep on going. My friend did go easy on me, certainly helping to stretch the game out, but I have to admit it certainly made the game more fun. I really love playing with someone else because you can create such original experiences. It was much more fun for me to tackle my friend when I was a turtle than to kill some mindless enemy, knowing that my friend had been beating me by quite a large margin for most of the game. Maybe the game does not matter. In this case, it was my fellow player who made it fun.  

I have the privilege of living in university-owned housing, meaning we have a ridiculous amount of fire drills. From smoking in the stairwell to hanging coat hangers on sprinkler heads, the silliest actions can cause everyone to evacuate the building at odd hours of the day. So I thought it was no big deal when the fire alarm scared me half to death last Sunday afternoon. I grabbed my DS Lite and a handful of games, heading out for what I hoped would be a normal 20-minute exercise in patience.

I wasn’t able to touch my DS for the first 20 minutes I spent outside. My mother called on my cell phone and I felt slightly disappointed, as homework awaited me inside. However, we did not get let back in after 20 minutes. I started up the DS and played a little Mario Kart. I really wanted to play Elite Beat Agents, but I didn’t want to disturb the other residents nearby with some of the mediocre covers of decent songs.

Unfortunately, Mario Kart was a lot less fun outside. I was doing okay for a while, but the bright California sun was washing out my screen, even on the brightest setting. I think part of it was due to the relatively low contrast of the game, since most of the colors are equally bright. It got practically unplayable when I was racing in Luigi’s Mansion. I couldn’t tell a shadowed door from a solid wall, getting me turned around entirely and causing me to come in at 5th place.

At this point, I was slightly miffed because I was in first place for the cup before. I still did win the cup (as it was on one of the easiest difficulties), but decided it was time to switch games. I played Super Mario Bros. for a grand total of seven minutes. That was the amount of time it took for me to get a game over and accept that, despite my ineptitude with Mario, it was really hard to see because of the low contrast issue.

I then moved on to Brain Age. I’ve been playing that game for a while and I really enjoy using it to take short study breaks. I love listening to the happy music and solving puzzles. I never really understood Sudoku before playing it in this game but I now it's one of my favorite puzzles. However, my mother called back in the middle of my play session and I turned it off, as you can’t really pause easily in that game.

I was getting pretty anxious now, as we had been outside for nearly an hour and I was getting cold. Also, people had begun sneaking back in the building at this point so there weren’t that many of us left outside, preferring not to commit a federal crime by re-entering the building. I turned to Elite Beat Agents, hoping that my recent favorite would help me feel better. Unfortunately, this was also a bit hard to see and I was self-conscious about the music. Finally, I turned off the DS and stood around like everyone else.

While my DS did help to stave off my boredom for a while, I felt that my anxiousness regarding the fire drill prevented me from truly appreciating any of the games. Also, the sun made it difficult to see many of the bright, happy games (like the Mario games). I have certainly played my DS for an hour at a time, but I find that many of the games lend themselves to shorter play sessions. If I learned anything that day, it’s that the DS may not perform the best outside, but it is certainly handy when you’re stuck outside your building.  

I have never owned a Nintendo console until I purchased my Wii last December. I feel a little bit embarrassed to admit it, especially when many of my gamer classmates all have fond memories of Mario and Zelda. They can go on and on for hours, talking about their favorite Super Smash Bros. tournaments or nodding knowingly at someone’s Mario shirt. I wondered about this secret club of Children Who Grew Up with Nintendo and hoped to someday understand.

Perhaps that was why I decided to try playing the old-school Super Mario Bros. I loaded the game up and pressed all the buttons, trying to figure out what to do. I figured out how to move forward and jump, and did okay for a little bit. Then I found a nice chasm and seemed to have a magnetic attraction to it. If falling off a cliff didn’t killed me, I seemed to accidentally hit some random googly-eyed enemy within seconds. I had to admit the hopeless truth: I was a Mario Moron. I couldn’t even make it past the first level.

I quit the Super Nintendo game in frustration, hoping that failing at Mario didn’t mean that I was a failure as a gamer. I hoped to someday conquer it, but I didn’t try again until recently, with the New Super Mario Bros. for DS. I had originally seen this game last May while I was in Japan. The DS Lite had just been released there, and I would often see the commercial for New Super Mario Bros. on the train. It showed a young Japanese woman sitting on her bed at home, talking to the game as she played. I thought it was neat that they showed a girl playing, but it didn’t make me want a DS. I thought they were nice, but why would I want something so small? I changed my mind recently and haven’t regretted my choice.

New Super Mario Bros. was the second game I got for the DS. I had heard great things about it, and I was excited to play. I started the game and soon had difficulty getting past the first level. Again. I now owned the game, and I didn’t want to give up so easily. I took my DS with me later that day when I my sister and I were getting haircuts. After I had my hair done, I sat by the front desk, playing Mario with ridiculously good-looking hair. One of the other stylists sat near me and snuck a few peeks at my game. I’m sure he must’ve thought I was a little odd.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get very far in the game, but I did get past the first level. I figured out a few things, like when to jump to kill enemies and how the physics change when you grow or shrink. I made it past the first two or three levels, but that wasn’t enough to save. I was frustrated because I couldn’t save after each level. I should probably just read the manual, but I still don’t know how to save. I’m hoping that, when I get better, I will earn the privilege to save.

I haven’t played Mario much since that day at the salon. After becoming obsessed with Elite Beat Agents, I think it will be hard for me to play much else until I’ve completed that game. The only reason I brought Mario to the salon instead of Elite Beat Agents was the fact that Mario didn't need any sound to succeed. I think it just requires more patience and perseverance on my part. I hoping that, if I stick with Mario a little longer, someday I will no longer be a Mario Moron.