Mr. Mario, Tear Down This Wall! | Ranking the NES 40

[@Vub.]

Does Jeff do live videos anywhere?

[@sarsmask]

www.twitch.tv/jeffgerstmann/

[@JeffGerstmannShow]

Yeah, on Twitch. twitch.tv/jeffgerstmann

[@Discospawn]

@@JeffGerstmannShow Have you disabled VoDs on the Twitch channel? Everything from the SCAT stream forward doesn't shop up under 'Past Broadcasts' (after typing that, I can maybe guess what the issue is). Edit: Nvm, 25:18 has Jeff explain that they've been disabled due to Capcom filing copyright on Ducktales music. It is kind of crazy how much potential Twitch had and how much Amazon has done to convert it into nothing but a source of PG-13 erotica.

[@papabaddad]

@@Discospawn you can thank the fed for that

[@Rukushin]

@@Discospawn more like erotica for 13 year olds which is way worse

[@itselisha222]

Mario shot JFK.

[@fredriksahlstenglimmevi3259]

”It was a-me!”

[@Kenny-Blankenship]

Mario and Jeff: still a threat

[@liveFOLK]

You’re telling me that was a “magic” koopa shell?

[@Discospawn]

He thought the 'K' stood for 'Koopa'

[@Spirit0f]

Luigi on the grassy knoll.

[@OrinLinwe]

This is the Mario game Rodd and Todd got to play.

[@furrymessiah]

The only thing we have to fear is SPONDEELOOS itself

[@DaydreamtombLP]

I’m still making my way through the Action 52 video. Now I’ve got two regular episodes to look forward to.

[@Mugicha808]

We all died a little inside watching that entire liminal space of games.

[@esmerylan]

I had to watch the Action 52 video an hour at a time, and limited myself to one hour a day. I watched nothing else during that time. I think making my way through it that way was far easier on my sanity than trying to absorb it all in one sitting!

[@colincampbell4031]

Paraphrasing Hank Hill: Don't you realize you're not making education MORE fun, you're just making entertainment LESS fun?

[@knightdehumidifier]

We all talk at great lengths about the Dynowarz and the destruction of Spondylous, but how is it we have yet to hear anyone who experienced the Dynowarz? Why are these veterans not speaking up about their experiences?

[@daneofurexistence]

My Uncle is a DWZ veteran and anytime anyone would ask about it he’d just stare off into the distance for a bit before changing the subject

[@houdin654jeff]

“You weren’t there…”

[@furrymessiah]

Mickey didn't come back from SPONDEELOOS

[@MonotoneTim]

I have a subconscious bias against Mario World because I played Mario’s Time Machine on some crappy embedded Java-based NES emulator as a kid. Those Super Mario World sprites are forever associated with that awful experience now.

[@JeffGerstmannShow]

trauma takes many shapes and forms, friend

[@fredriksahlstenglimmevi3259]

Jeff’s Better help ads practically writing themselves.

[@gjd646]

So glad to see Baseball Stars rank so high. The team creation and management options were so ahead of their time. My brother and I spent so much time creating and upgrading our teams and running full seasons against each other.

[@schtive81]

Mario's Time Machine does look like some sort of Chinese bootleg. Especially with the Super Mario World sprites. Marios Time Machine was made for the Super NES initially, and it seems like it was ported to the NES as an afterthought. I remember renting the SNES game My dad had the unlicensed Tengen black-cart port of Pac-Man, and looking at this one side by side, it is the same version, but re-released under the Namco Hometek label. Though, with this game, I think there is also a licensed Tengen port and an unlicensed one.

[@esmerylan]

Yep, Pac-Man was one of the few licensed Tengen games before they went rogue, and that was the version I owned. The licensed and unlicensed versions are identical, and are just Namco's Famicom port- unlike Ms. Pac-Man, where Tengen made their own version that was vastly better than the Namco port (extra mazes, closer resemblance to the arcade game, turbo option).

[@schtive81]

@@esmerylan Yeah, that is right. It is all coming back to me now. Some of those black cart Tengen games were decent, to be honest. I loved the look of the carts themselves. And the box art was always pretty great. It will be interesting to see how the Tengen version of Ms. Pac-Man will stack up to the Namco version. But the Tengen port is really quite impressive, and features a two player mode. Tengen had an interesting history in the console market, most notably on the NES. As far as I know, Namco had a large stake in Atari Games, and Atari Games were barred from porting games to the home console market, over conflicts with Atari Corp. So Tengen was formed to handle mostly Atari-Games and Namco home ports (as well as Sega ports, for some reason). Tengen also had contempt for Nintendo's third party contracts, so they went rogue.

[@ericfuchs123]

It’s just wrong that there’s SNES Mario sprites on the NES. People need to go to jail for this.

[@houdin654jeff]

You should see the Chinese developed port of Super Mario World that is playable on the Famicom. What a fucking tragedy.

[@Duckyofalarcon]

Ken Griffey Jr on the snes is still the best baseball game ever made but Baseball Stars is still pretty great. I also agree baseball games got worse once they tried to make them realistic. I had an issue with my copy of griffey that if I touched the cartridge while it was on it would erase my entire save :( Many very sad days were had.

[@MNeely]

I have to say, I did not expect to ever hear a 8bit rendition of Dixieland in some offbrand Mario game.

[@jgmweston]

Hope everyone has a nice long weekend!

[@Ghadius]

Lincoln REFUSED to sign the Gettysburg Address without his hat? What else did he refuse to sign without his hat?

[@MageBoySA]

All while listening to the famous Pennsylvania theme song, Dixie

[@fredriksahlstenglimmevi3259]

”This is not a good time! I’m trying to ball!” Can we get that on a t-shirt ASAP please and thank you.

[@ahappydogwithsunglasses]

I need to share my Platoon PTSD story: When I was 10 or so I was stuck playing that old Platoon game for an entire month. Why, you ask? Because my older brother, in a fit of sibling shitbaggery, stole the C64 disk drive! He just unplugged it, took off, and left it at his friend's house. So there I was, day after day, with the Platoon theme & gameplay music seared into my brain. I couldn't turn off the computer or load a new game-it was Platoon or nothing. And I don't even remember ever beating the first level.

[@GreatistheWorld]

All gave some. Some gave all…

[@TevorTheThird]

I didn't know Bowser was British. Learn something new everyday 👍

[@gameboi8417]

In dragon fighter when you are in regular sword fighter form you can do a charge shot by holding down attack. The charged attack is different based on your color, it's pretty rad.

[@GamerChex]

Dragon Fighter was pretty neat, looked fun

[@poposterous236]

Did you know about videogames? I did. And I suffered. This comment is to commemorate those we lost at the Destruction of Spondylus.

[@MercMercury]

Am I the only one sick enough that wanted to see Jeff finish Mario's Time Machine lmfao

[@Spirit0f]

NES Volleyball is the new #3 on my own personally ranked list. My list is based on sheer lewdness, not on Jeff's old-timey big brained "science".

[@kevinkuenn5733]

Obviously Ring King is #1 on your list, so what's #2?

[@Spirit0f]

@@kevinkuenn5733 Codename: Viper. Put some pants on, dude!

[@hikaruk.981]

Did anyone ever mention that in Dragon Fighter, if you hold the attack button until you flash, you shoot out a projectile?

[@vizuz]

All the OG Pac-man releases on the NES are identical I believe

[@aceking121212]

I feel like I have seen you play 5 different Burai fighters. Such a blur

[@mattwu64]

Jeff, you mentioned on your podcast that you're not a fan of LaunchBox. I feel the same. Have you tried RetroBat?

[@nathanielrohr3176]

Every time Jeff says "It's worse than Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight" I question the science. That game looked so rancid.

[@teeveeparty]

Pac-man was released on NES so late because apparently Namco had some sort of beef with NOA until that time. That's why so many of their big arcade ports were published by other companies.

[@cirnestuff]

I hope we all live to see the end of this series. We deserve as a Society

[@MrDowntemp0]

I'm watching this on VHS set to SLP

[@bdre5555]

Platoon somehow has you aimlessly wandering even more than Rambo.

[@bluespaceman7937]

Platoon scared me as a kid and I never understood how to play it.

[@confetti21]

We've all learned that there are more baseball games on the NES than any of us ever imagined

[@kevinkuenn5733]

Just so I have this straight: Abraham Lincoln... lost his hat... so he couldn't sign... a speech that he spoke out loud...

[@never4ever8]

Platoon sure looks an awfully lot like Jurassic Park 2 The Chaos Continues on SNES.

[@g.u.959]

The remark of “Volleyball doesn’t feel as solid as Tennis/etc” is fairly accurate, it was made by Pax Softnica instead of Nintendo themselves. Thankfully, their next sports title was WAY better - Nintendo’s Ice Hockey is so fast and stupid and fun, I love it. :)

[@juicedemon19]

wild that Dragon Fighter, Dragon Warrior, Double Dragon, and Double Dribble all ended up within 10 ranks of each other. Picking games with "Double" or "Dragon" in the title was more reliable than the Nintendo Seal of Quality.

[@digitaldemigod]

OMG Mario’s Time Machine was released on the NES in the year of our lord one thousand nine hundred and NINETY FOUR?! Looking at the Wiki for it, it’s an educational game to teach kids about history but it contains dozens up dozens of errors. 😂

[@jmiproductions8965]

It's really weird how different Mario's Time Machine on the NES is from the SNES version. The SNES version has you filling out worksheets with tons of questions about History to clear a time period. It is way more of an educational game.

[@digitaldemigod]

3:01:41 Happy to report from the 25th century that KZbin does still exist. In fact, all websites are KZbin now.

[@Maijo33]

Did you know? Jeff Gerstmann likes baseball. It's true! I can expand if anyone wants me to. Regards.

[@Tenfey]

Castlequest is infinitely better than Mario's Time Machine

[@NewAgeRed]

I think I lost a save on a Zelda cart because I didn't hold the reset button. Or at least I think that is what happened. It was like 23 years ago. So maybe my memory is busted.

[@ItMeDwaeji]

1:11:14 We have to add Little League Baseball:Championship Seriess to that conversation as well. What does the science say?

[@esmerylan]

Watching this made me wonder if Mario's Time Machine is one of those games where the manual gives you more of an idea of what to do. So I looked it up, and it doesn't. It just says to visit all the time periods and get all the clues, it doesn't provide any hints as to which item goes where.

[@Jagerbomber]

The spellcheck in the new notepad made it sluggish I had to turn it off completely, because Microsoft has never had that problem solved before

[@fisk0]

I was gonna comment that the Game Boy port of Burai Fighter was quite accurate until you got to the top-down section that is entirely missing from it.

[@toastrytoaster]

I'm hoping that science will once again be used to finish ranking ALL the fighting games

[@matthewkemmer]

When can we expect you to remake Mario's Time Machine in SMM2??

[@dyreschlock2]

It's worse than Mickey Mouse get paid. Lots of things are.

[@maxwellschott6660]

with the inclusion of "BC" in this game does it make Jesus Christ canon?

[@radjago]

1:13:17 It makes no sense that Burai Fighter's difficulty settings are represented by golf terms (eagle = 2 under par, albatross = 3 under par, ace = hole-in-one).

[@Bedlam83]

But it sounds cool

[@SuperDwango]

There's a reason Nintendo doesn't do edutainment too much anymore.😂

[@_gorezone_]

The twerking volleyball players are killing me

[@neauxway]

15:01 It's because thumbs weren't invented yet.

[@vookatos]

Finally this Friday is getting freaky

[@beelzebufo9406]

why are they moving like that

[@why7469]

Platoon looked like a device for torture.

[@inkyGhosty]

Is Platoon the prequel to Splatoon?

[@chrisbuttner9579]

Baseball games oh man. i've played a ton. Baseball Stars is good. I personally hold Baseball Stars 2 on the NEO GEO, though i played it for neo geo arcade machines. but i agree with Jeff. Arcade Baseball is the best Baseball. Super Mega Baseball 3, though 1-4 are really good, is probably my favorite all time baseball game.

[@JoeShufferton]

The science is a mysterious aether

[@sasnipes]

Just circled back and finished the action 52 video, and now to see how Burai Fighter places on the list (I know it's probably bad but I weirdly liked that game as a kid). As a scientist myself I know that sometimes the science reveals things you don't expect though, so I'm hopeful!

[@hideokojimajr]

very much looking forward to Bad News Baseball, should give Baseball Stars a run imo

[@hellrocker1212]

Did this mafucka really just hit us with the Gorbachev? I swear most of the old GB titles were unhinged, but this one takes the brick...and I love it!

[@vorlonesque1830]

I didn't realize until today that the Neo Geo games were sequels to Baseball Stars on the NES (I always assumed it was a port).

[@neuroflare]

When I was a kid I used to think Monster In My Pocket was a fake game made for that Nickelodeon game show. It looked like it was made just to screw with children it looked so bad.

[@houdin654jeff]

Mario stands a decent chance to have games that have the largest span on this list, from a current number 2 down to within sight of the bottom. Also, Mario helped fake the Moon landing.

[@Duckyofalarcon]

Platoon has a first person section. You should check it out in a playthrough. It's terrible!

[@oyesiamtomsawyer2]

The worst NES game I personally played was Star Voyager. Can’t wait to see that one.

[@HulkieD]

Pac-Man: DOTS OF DOOM

[@ice_queen9]

i didn't realize they made TWO Mario's Time Machine games. I had the one for the snes. this nes one actually looks a fair bit better. the one for the snes barely has any gameplay at all that i remember

[@GreatistheWorld]

the NES saw its fair share of unhinged licenses to make a game out of, but Platoon still might take the cake

[@blakebrown86]

Thought Mario's Time Machine was just a fever dream I had when I was a child.

[@LordHershebel]

40 oz of Famicom

[@TeskoLove]

Dragon Fighter makes me want to play Volgarr the Viking again.

[@Jaspertine]

NES Volleyball set to cbat, don't let me down, internet.

[@mikemetaled]

1:42:17 Oh, they're serving, alright.

[@Kenny-Blankenship]

37:12

[@mattwu64]

Hello! I'm here for the science.

[@bluespaceman7937]

I preferred Mario is Missing on the SNES but even that wasn't great. Edutainment works best through stuff like Civilization or Europa Universalis. Not a weird version of Mario with awkward controls.

[@Jaspertine]

The most educational games I've ever played was stuff like SimCity.

[@bluespaceman7937]

​@@Jaspertine They sure made an excellent version of Sim City for SNES. Great stuff.

[@fisk0]

yeah, the early Civilization games were great educational games, the last few have cut away most of the encyclopedia elements though, with just a single quote about each wonder or technology instead of 3-4 paragraphs.

[@bdre5555]

Now Friday can start!

[@bdre5555]

You were trying to remember who Mario's twin brother is. I believe that would be Waluigi, championed by one Dan Ryckert.

[@LordelX]

5 more Megamans, 2 more Castlevanias and a Mario 3…if those games aren’t in the top 20, then the science isn’t accurate.

[@funforalgernon]

Simon’s Quest ain’t got a hope in hell.

[@richglix]

Was not expecting a Hinckley Jr. reference!! 🤣

[@VagueStarshape]

Jeff, I have to admit, I wasn't watching the screen when you said "he bricks them up--" My thought for a brief second was unfortunately "Who gets bricked up by Mario; what are we discussing again?"

[@kyledodson2992]

Of course Mario (an Italian gentleman) would want to crush communism. Although he does have stalins stash

[@OMTstudios]

When he picks the women twice. Typical modern day streamer

[@bdre5555]

Goonies 2 is ranked WAAAYYY too high, and now you can add Baseball Stars to that list.