So there was a thread about the original Ecco the Dolphin pretty recently and it, along with the rest of the series, was discussed as being a hard game. I remember the game being ridiculously hard myself, so I wanted to see if it was indeed as hard as I'd remembered. Turns out, it was even more difficult than I'd remembered! I hadn't played the game since back in 09' when I had acquired a Genesis for the first time, but man was it difficult! So I went about playing the rest of my collection, in a 3-4 hour burst, to see just how difficult the majority of my games were.

After Ecco, I went ahead to play the Sonic games. The first Sonic was so-so, but I felt that Sonic 2 was still awesome. Even today, I'm not to keen on the whole Tails addition, but the ability to charge up the spin attack was a godsend. I didn't even feel like I lost any speed at all. Sonic 3 was more of the same, but really fun too. They weren't to difficult, but I felt at some stages if I was going to fast and ended up falling into spikes or from drowning underwater.(Which was surprisingly macabre......)

After some Sonic, I popped in Super Hang-On. It was just as incredible as I had recalled. Not only was it fun, but the music just was perfect for flying down the road. Flying through those checkpoints with a second left was still extremely satisfying.

There was a plethora of just total crap too. Quad Challenge has always been an awful game in my mind, Pugsy was just plain weird, and those eclectic bargain priced sports games like Tommy Lasorda Baseball, and Hockey Games. Theses aren't the greatest games anymore, but they are fun to look back at, even if you can only play them for 5 minutes without getting bored.

Vectorman was a huge highlight of the festivities. Not only was it outrageous and crazy, but it looked really good too. I popped in Eternal Champions not understanding the fighting system at all, and was pleasantly surprised to have a big ass T-Rex scream, "SEGA!!!!," at me. I got way too caught up in a game of Flashback as well, which was perplexing as well as entertaining.

All in all, I just wanted to play Ecco for a while but ended up taking my collection apart. Most of what I played was garbage, but there were still a few shining moments that made the trip worthwhile. It probably isn't all that interesting to anybody that I played these old ass games with so many new ones coming out, but what the hell, it was worth it. Most of these games were still totally hard, yet despite this, I sure had a blast.

Whatever you may think, I'm truly not trying to hate on Super Mario 64. I recognize it's place in the upper echelon of video games and it deserves to be in the same group. It's just, the game has always irked me and never really found a way for me to enjoy it. Super Mario 64 was great when it first came out, but would we really have to think so now?

I'm not so myopic as to think there is an answer, or that my argument is totally valid and correct. I'm just shooting ideas out at the moment and have only my personal experience of the game to go on. That said, my main gripe is it's awkward controls and in-concise nature.

I absolutely love every other Mario game released to the major consoles. Super Mario World is a game I frequently return to every year or so, during the dry, arid months of new releases. It's a game I can always come back to and enjoy. There is a fun game to be had in Super Mario World, and it has just what Super Mario 64 lacks.

I've never felt fully sure about myself in Super Mario 64. What I mean is, the game goes to great lengths to present problems for you. The snow level with the penguins really cements this in my mind as well. Throughout the level you are forced to slide like a maniac to wherever it is you want to be. Why can't i just calmly and smoothly position myself to where I would like to be? I don't know, and the rudimentary camera didn't help either. But the technical issues aren't my sole problem with Super Mario 64.

Super Mario 64 always felt rather shallow and empty as well. The outside courtyard was pretty, to say the least. But the worlds were never really populated with things I wanted to see or explore. The worlds always felt empty and seemed more like mazes than actual locales to visit.

A great game that comes to mind when i think of this is Banjo Kazooie. The worlds were so lush and vibrant, and each had a distinct feel to them. And not only did they look good, but they were chock full of cool and quirky things to do as well.

However; I'm not trying to compare the two, because I know Super Mario 64 was the revolutionary. And this comes back to Super Mario World as well. There was so much shit to see in that game, as was Super Mario 64, but it was just more interesting.

Really in conclusion, I don't detest Super Mario 64, I just feel a little disappointed when I think about it. It's one of those games that many follow the bandwagon on, because saying anything else is heresy. But, putting all the cards on the table, I never saw Super Mario 64 offer me anything but a shallow game that did little to entice me.