This theme is now available.
HOW TO USE:
- on your dashboard, click ‘customize’ and then the ‘theme’ tab. click on ‘custom theme’
- highlight all of the text in this (click here) text area.
- copy it and paste it into the big text box under the ‘theme’ tab.
you can’t possibly miss it, it’s huge.
- hit ‘save changes’ and enjoy!
Click to reveal.
Thanks to Nik for her invaluble assistance
A Mario Trio of Bullet Point Essays
While combing through Super Mario Bros. to write the Mario Melodies series, three topics/ideas/details in particular jumped out at me. I don’t have enough material/time to expand these ideas into essays. So, it’s that time again for a few “bullet point essays.”
Mario Out of His Element
The water levels in Super Mario Bros. are intricately designed to provide a different gameplay experience from the land levels while at the same time being familiar and complementary.
While the land levels are about forward momentum/flow that is punctuated with spry vertical jumps, the water levels expand the verticality by giving the player access to the whole screen to swim through. Because the water is always pulling Mario downward, maintaining one’s level or moving up is a constant struggle.
In the water Mario sinks rather quickly, yet with a few pumps of his arms, Mario can float gracefully forward at a nice pace. Because the run button is disabled underwater and Mario’s forward momentum is preserved (unless he runs into an object), players can get through the majority of the level with just the jump button.
Just like how Mario can’t jump downward on land, Mario depends on gravity to pull him downward underwater. This similarity links the gameplay of the land to the water so players can quickly become familiarize with the “jump” function even underwater. In essence, the “jump” mechanic can be further defined as “a push against gravity.”
To further contrast the land environment to the water, the aquatic enemies behave a little differently than the land enemies. The Cheep-cheep and Blooper can swim through the solid level elements.
The Blooper is also one of the few enemies that actively approaches Mario. Though falling Buzzy Beetles, Paratroopa, and Lakitu do aim at mario’s position by moving in the left or right direction, the Blooper is the only enemy that seeks Mario in 2 dimensions with the ability to turn around at any time.
Moving through the water is slower than running on land. So, water levels inherently slow down the pace of the game. However, though Mario moves forward more slowly, there are this just as many factors to consider to keep the player engaged. Because the enemies can exist anywhere moving through the level elements, they intersect the available space for Mario to travel in interesting ways not commonly found on the land. Plus, the invisible underwater currents help make pits a threat to Mario.
For all of these reasons, the water levels in Super Mario Bros. put Mario out of his element. Though the controls are familiar to land levels, it’s clear that Mario simply doesn’t belong underwater. Perhaps this is why there is roughly 1 water “level” for every 5 land levels. After all, the enemy and level elements underwater aren’t designed with a lot of interplay.
The Mushroom Kingdom is a tumblr theme created by 
