It's a Magical World...

Did a playthrough of Super Mario World a while back...
Almost forgot that I captured several hundred images.

A few favorite moments:

Underwater Ghost-Fortress.
Truly a level from hell.

Not a fan of the new "standard" Boo Diddly face...
But I do like the many faces of the Boo Buddies.

Knockin' Lakitu off his cloud

Still get a kick out of names like "Cheese Bridge", "Butter Bridge" and "Soda Lake".
Reminds me that I gotta re-stock the fridge.

World 6 (aka Chocolate Isand) seems to have the largest abundance of dinosaurs.
With very little vegetation, you may find a Triceratops eating a Twix bar.
(or possibly roasting s'mores)

Gettin' a sneak peak at Bowser's castle via secret areas (via World 2 and World 6).
As far as I know, this was unprecedented in Mario games.

More ghosties in the sunken Doom Ship.




(For those fascinated with shipwrecks, see the first worlds of Donkey Kong Country 2)

Just love that mystical MagiKoopa (aka Kamek).
Making his debut here in Super Mario World, he'd become a major antagonist in SMW2.
He was also slated to appear in "Mario Kart R" which evolved into Mario Kart 64.

"Mario Kart 64"
(Pre-Release Screenshot)

(Let's spontaneously start a rumor that Mario Kart R featured some explicit footage of Princess Peach deemed inappropriate for younger players)

The Dark Side of Podracing...

Sebulba!
(He always wins...)

Nintendo Power magazine from May 1999 (Issue #120).
This issue features a few pages from E3, including bits of Donkey Kong 64, Star Wars Episode I: Racer and Perfect Dark.

Possibly mentioned this before, but I still think it's neat...
Alternate covers for the issue of that month's magazine (May 1999 / Issue #120).

Some of these podracer pilots are more interesting than the characters in the main story.
(I just love it when Sebulba threatens to squash Jar Jar)

It's Ratts Tyerell!
"Splats" Tyerell fatally flew his racing pod into a stalagmite in a cave on Tatooine during the Boonta Eve Classic. He lives to race another day here in Episode I: Racer.

Seven Pages of 007 (Nintendo Power's "100 Greatest Ambushes")

"...GoldenEye is the greatest game in history."

Nintendo Power
Volume 100

Issue Number 100 of Nintendo Power is special - Not just for the abundance of ridiculous lists, but because it's from September 1997... Just one month after the historic release of GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64.


Favorite quote:

"There are two antagonistic camps at Nintendo - those who think GoldenEye is the greatest game in history and those who think the first group has been seriously warped by having too much fun shooting each other in the back.
The argument goes like this - GoldenEye hasn't been around long enough to prove its staying power, even though no one on the Power staff has slept in about two months because they've been playing GoldenEye..."

Have to realize that this was just one month after the game's release.
Granted, some of the NP staffers probably had their hands on copies of the game months before the general public (so their opinions might have been formed ahead of time).

Didn't technically get my own copy until 1998...
A borrowed copy of GoldenEye 007 was in my possession for months on end. It wasn't my intention to commandeer that cartridge - A fellow player wanted me to keep unlocking cheats for him!

Picked up a copy at that point because some of this stuff was REALLY difficult to unlock - And I wanted to work on my own game cart.

The screenshots from this issue are nothing special. The "Goldeneye Update" notice at the bottom right of the first page indicates "a few changes" that occurred since the previous issue (NP #99) went to press.
(Nothing major from what I recall. A few tweaks to the objectives perhaps, but still hoping to make it available at some point...)

Enough of my rambling. Here's the article in its' entirety:



"100 Best Ambushes (GoldenEye 007)"
From Nintendo Power #100


Ten Little Soldier Boys...

Even if there's really nothing "new" to see, it's still a blast to browse through an article that's a quarter century old.





Light Reading in the Bathroom...

Sticky notes adorn the Facility map... Must have been keepin' track of memory values.
If ever there was a game that was hacked to bits by fanatics, it's GoldenEye.





From the Archives, a Little Black Dress...

Thrills, chills, and promotional stills. Always liked the Bunker in Multiplayer (pretty sure you gotta meddle with the game to allow 4 players in the Bunker).
Archives was good too - Even with two players, absolute chaos!
(You'd think with everyone in the office packin' heat, the system would police itself)






Cleopatra's Castle...

As if the casual NP reader is actually going to unlock the Egyptian stage.
(this is WAY before knowledge of button codes)

I'll never forget when the other Mission levels were made accessible for Multiplayer via Gameshark.

Street Heat...

Statue and Cradle were first.
Followed by Silo, Aztec and Streets (if I remember correctly).


Fast forward to 2024: Searching for some completely unrelated information, stumbled upon someone mentioning a YouTube video with someone flipping through the mag.

Figured I could do one better, considering that a copy of NP #100 sits on my top shelf.
(the Instruction Manual is also found somewhere online as a PDF)
All this stuff should be made available for anyone craving a hit of nostalgia!




Editor's Note: Another piece of completely useless NP trivia from this issue:
The page numbers on the bottom corners include a tiny graphic representing previous NP covers.
The GoldenEye pages are 58 thru 66. Just for fun, the games featured on those issues:
58: Wario Land
59: Ken Griffey Junior
60: Super Metroid
61: Donkey Kong
62: Super Street Fighter II
63: Stunt Race FX
64: Mortal Kombat II
65: Illusion of Gaia
66: Donkey Kong Country

Constellation Prize...

The Nice List

Super Mario Bros. 3

The popularity of Super Mario is hard to match, with his games occupying the top three spots on the chart.

Diddy Kong and James Bond round out the top five.

A lump of Kremling Pirate Gold will be found in your Holiday Christmas stocking if you play as Oddjob in Multiplayer.

STAR CHARTS Navigating the Retro NintendoSphere  Game System Released 1 Super Mario Bros. 3 NES 1990 2 Super Mario Bros. NES 1985 3 Super Mario All-Stars SNES 1993 4 Donkey Kong Country 2 SNES 1995 5 GoldenEye 007 N64 1997

Donkey Kong Country 2:
Diddy's Kong Quest

Onatopp of Things...

Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp

Watching the 1995 GoldenEye movie and couldn't believe how young Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) looks...

She was only about 21 at the time of the movie's release.(Izabella Scorpuco as Natalya was 25).

Xenia looked more mature during the casino scene, but it was during the Bunker scene when she looked incredibly young.

Back then, my first thought was "Damn, now that is a woman!".
Now, my first thought is "Damn she's hot - and barely out of high school!".








From the GoldenEye 007 video game, can't recall ever posting this text from Miss Moneypenny.
It still makes me laugh:

A text message from the early days of instant messenging...

One of those women has hostile intentions...

Always glad when she gets there first...

These VHS tapes will barely fetch a dollar...

I technically own three copies of the GoldenEye movie - The VHS tape, GoldenEye DVD and another disc from "The Pierce Brosnan Collection".

How have these movies stood the test of time? Which ones have endured as the most watchable?
Some have aged like a fine wine, and others haven't fared so well.

GoldenEye

GoldenEye (1995)
Some of the "newer" Brosnan movies seemed more exciting at the time, but I'd still have to pick GoldenEye as my favorite Brosnan 007 movie.

This is also the first Bond movie to really feature the new "Internet" technology (complete with 14.4K modems!). Now the internet is everywhere, completely encompassing us as if we're in "The Matrix"...

Tomorrow Never Dies

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Not a great movie, but it still has many great parts that makes it genuinely entertaining.

Give it a chance. Like Darth Vader, this flick can still be turned from the dark side of your movie collection. "There's still good in it!"

The World is Not Enough

The World is Not Enough (1999)
Overall, the movie seems a bit long and tends to drag in spots... But I am still fond of this one, because it's different.

The talents of Denise Richards are a bit wasted, as I feel there could have been more of her...

Die Another Day

Die Another Day (2002)
Possibly the most agonizing Brosnan Bond flick to sit through (thankfully Casino Royale is up next!).

Even the villains in Die Another Day manage to be a little more than mildly interesting.

Brosnan looks old on the cover. At first glance, I thought Halle Berry was helping him hold his gun upright.

Speaking of Halle Berry, she pulls off the beach "homage" scene quite nicely, a testament to her ability as an Oscar-winning actress.
But sadly, the rest of the movie is just dreadful for the most part. But as a completist, I simply could "not" not have it in my collection.











I see they've cleverly incorporated the orange bikini onto future releases of the Die Another Day box art...

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DKC3: Harder Baby

Back in 1996, we assumed getting 103% on Donkey Kong Country 3 meant you'd found everything... Before the Internet, there was no real way of knowing about secret codes unless they were published in a magazine... Turns out that "Cheat" codes can entered to make the game more difficult... Doing so rewards the player with up to 105% upon completion.

While codes can be used on existing files, the game will only give you extra credit if difficulty-enhancing codes are entered before starting a new file... So you gotta do everything all over again if you want to earn the fabled 105%.

Enter Code Screen:
On the Select Game screen, choose a new file, and access the code prompt by pressing:
L, R, R, L, R, R, L, R, L, R.

You'll hear a sound effect, and "ENTER CODE" will appear.
After entering the code, choose a name your file as usual.
(When a code has been correctly, Dixie Kong cries)

HARDR
Removes some of the DK barrels. Find everything with this handicap and earn up to 104%.

TUFST
Removes most DK barrels AND replaces checkpoint save barrels with a banana bunch, rewarding you with 105% if you can manage to complete the game with this difficulty setting.

(It's advisable to use the HARDR and TUFST codes separately, as both codes used together will still have save barrels barrels without DK barrels.... So one could assume your final score may only be 104%)

Other codes:

COLOR (alternate character clothing color. Purple for Dixie Kong, green for Kiddy Kong)
MERRY (Christmas ornaments and music in bonus games)
MUSIC (Dixie Kong's Music Test: Listen to tracks from the game)
LIVES (50 lives - *game will flag this and if you finish the game will called out as a Cheatin' Chump*)