Take me back to '86

It's a testament to Nintendo's greatness that in the age of cinematic 3D experiences with full orchestral scores, an unassuming side-scroller about a roly-poly plumber lost in a world of giant mushrooms can still be great entertainment. Indeed, fifteen years after "Super Mario Bros." first caused a home video game sensation, I still get a chill every time I pop the cartridge into my Game Boy Color and hear the familiar music that I first experienced on Christmas morning in 1986. I've owned just about every video game console in existence since that day, and I owe it all to the goofy little plumber invented by Shigeru Miyamoto, the man who gave us "Donkey Kong".

The game has been pretty much ported over directly from the original Nintendo Entertainment System version, so all of the neat things about the game that you remember are still there - the goombas, the koopas, the warp zones, the power-ups. Nintendo has added a few new surprises, as well - most notably, the ability to save your game in progress. Back in the old days, if you were two fireballs away from defeating King Bowser and your little brother accidentally kicked the plug out of the wall, it was back to Level 1, folks.

Aside from being a great game in its own right, a good deal of the game's success can be attributed to the fact that it's a video game classic, a true nostalgic experience. Give a 25-year-old a Transformer toy that he loved in 1986, and he'll smile politely and put it on a shelf. But put a copy of "Super Mario Bros." in his hands, and you'll watch his eyes light up and his thumbs twitch as he anticipates another epic battle with Bowser and his baddies. When you watch a movie you loved as a kid, there's a certain bittersweet realization that the actors have all grown up and gone on to other things. Mario, on the other hand, never grows up.

Though any company with a lot of money and the right kind of people can produce a flashy video game, Nintendo's strategy has always been simple and straightforward: make the game fun. Make it challenging, make it interesting, make it beautiful - but above all, make it fun. It's the fun, as much as it is the innovation, that keeps players coming back for more and feverishly snapping up every game and product that Nintendo has to offer.

Games like "Super Mario Bros. Deluxe" are the reason that the Game Boy was invented - though time-consuming role playing games like "Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" and "Metal Gear Solid" are undoubtedly great games, the greatest thing about a Game Boy is that it provides an amusing diversion while you are out on the road, waiting in line, or sitting on a train. Lengthy, complex games like "Metal Gear Solid" are best played at home, where you can devote a good deal of time and concentration to the game. And when you're home, why not play a console system, instead? It is this reason that more simple games like "Frogger", "Tetris", and the great "Super Mario Bros." are still so popular in the age of Dreamcast and Playstation 2 - when you get past the shaded textures and impressive frame rates, the magic word is still 'fun'.