Frisch's Top 5 Favorite "Main Series" Mario Games

Good afternoon, ladies and germs!  I make no secret about how much I enjoy the Mario series.  It is by far my favorite video game franchise of all time.  Mario has done it all, from platformers to racing to RPGs to everything in between.  Today I'm having a look at my top 5 favorite games from the main Mario series.  That pretty much means all the platformers that have names that start with "Super Mario."  These are the ones that sell consoles!  And here are my favorites:

5. Super Mario 3D Land

Mario's first foray on the 3DS essentially plays like a greatest hits album of Mario history.  It has the style and charm of the Galaxy games, the bright colors and level tropes from Mario 64, the structure of the New Super series, and a heaping helping of Mario 3 references.  Especially the Tanooki suit.  Raccoon tails for everyone!

3D Land is much like the New Super games in that most of its elements are drawn from previous Mario games.  Unlike the New Super series, however, 3D Land excels at taking these familiar ideas and presenting them in a new way.  The levels play more like quick obstacle courses than full blown worlds to explore, but they are still great fun to speed through.  It lack an identity of its own, but 3D Land is probably the best example of pure, straight forward Mario goodness.  Anyone who liked any other Mario game will find plenty to enjoy in this land.

4. Super Mario Bros.

The original that started it all!  Super Mario Bros. is a classic no matter how you look at it.  And while I certainly spend my fair share of time playing the NES version, the SNES All-Stars version is the one that cements this game's place on my list.  The underlying game is essentially unchanged, but the graphics and music have been given a Mario World styled makeover that really enhances the overall experience.

But in any form, Super Mario Bros. is still just as fun today as it ever was.  It wrote the book on Mario games and platformers in general.  Later Mario games have expanded and played with the formula, but the original still holds up as one of the finest examples of why Mario is the big name star he is today.

3. Super Mario World

Most people claim that Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best 2D Mario game out there.  But I'd argue that Super Mario World is the one to hold that distinction.  The levels are huge, the secrets are plentiful, and the music is some of the best in the entire series.  Super Mario World does everything that Mario 3 did, but it does it bigger and better and with much more charm and style.

In addition, World introduces two of my favorite elements in the series:  Yoshi and the Cape Feather.  Yoshi's awesomeness should be self evident.  He's so awesome he even stole Mario's spotlight for the sequel.  As for the Cape Feather, it's one of the best power ups in any Mario game.  It looks way cooler than the raccoon tail and it requires a bit more skill and cleverness to use than just mashing the jump button.  Now that Nintendo has done the tail thing to death in that last few games, I'm hoping that comeback for the Cape Feather is in the works!

2. Super Mario Galaxy

Mario's first full blown Wii adventure is also one of his best.  The original Galaxy is an absolute joy to play.  The levels are large and numerous, with lots of little nooks and crannies to explore.  The orchestral music is phenomenal and provides the game with an epic scope than not even the sequel could match.  Galaxy also boasts some of the finest visuals on the Wii.  Even over five years later, Super Mario Galaxy remains just as impressive and enjoyable as when it was first released.

Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel are often cited as the two best games in the entire Wii library, and that's definitely true.  The second game is often said to be the better of the two, but I'd argue that the original is the superior game.  Galaxy 2 did expand the amount of variety seen in the levels, but it stripped out most of the openness and atmosphere that the original Galaxy had, making it almost feel more like a prototype to 3D Land than a sequel to Galaxy.  It feels sterile compared to the original, which is why Super Mario Galaxy remains the better of the two.

1. Super Mario 64

The landmark N64 launch title has been my favorite Super Mario game for years, and though the original Galaxy gave it a run for its money, Super Mario 64 still comes out on top.  As I did not have an N64 as a kid, playing Super Mario 64 was always a rare treat.  Nothing could beat running around that castle, exploring for secrets, and enjoying the incredible music.  Super Mario 64 is the reason I'm such a big fan of the Mario series today.

These days I've played through Mario 64 numerous times and most of the nostalgic charm has worn off.  But it doesn't change the fact that the game is still just as fun to explore as ever before.  More than any other platformer I've played, Super Mario 64 rewards the player for just goofing off.  It presents big open playgrounds to explore and lets you loose to do whatever you please.  You never know what you might find in Super Mario 64, such as secret stars, warp points, and even a hidden aquarium area.  No other Mario game has presented a world that is so much fun to simply play around in and explore.  And that's why it's still my favorite!

Top 10 VeggieTales Episodes

Howdy Howdy, folks!  You know, watching The League of Incredible Vegetables got me thinking about how much I used to watch VeggieTales.  Though I'm not as much of a fan as I used to be, it still holds a special place in my heart.  So I'm going to count down my top 10 favorite VeggieTales episodes!  You'll probably note a bias toward episodes that were released pre-2003 or so.  I've seen lots of more recent episodes and few do show up here, but I tend to favor the ones I grew up with.  Also, so this one doesn't become as crazy long as my past articles, I'm just going to describe each episode with a favorite quote of mine.

It's for the kids.

(And hopefully you didn't read my League review already because I already spoiled my #1 pick in it.  Oh well.  On with the list!)

10. Abe and the Amazing Promise

"What better way to attract a Boo-Boo than with a Boo-Bette!"

9. The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's

"Plus there's no decent food around here!"
"But these woods are full of rabbits and squirrels."
"Yeah, but they won't let me eat them.  Children's film..."

8. An Easter Carol

"A lesson learned is soon returned.  A lesson lived is wisdom gived."
"Uh...'gived?'"
"What? I'm dead!  Cut me some slack!"

7. The Wonderful World of Autotainment

"Where are we?"
"The future!"
"Wow.  The future sure is white!"
"Yep.  The future's been white since the 70s."

6. The Toy That Saved Christmas

"Billy has more toys than you."

5. Josh and the Big Wall

"Well...have fun!"

4. Dave and the Giant Pickle

"The Philistines are attacking!"
"Bob, what are the Philippines?"
"The Philippines are a group of islands off the coast of southeast Asia.  But that's not important right now..."

3. King George and the Ducky

"Did you just say 'wronger?'"
"What?  I don't know.  Perhaps."
"It should be 'more wrong' not 'more wronger.'"
"It had to rhyme!  Don't question the king's grammar!  Now go and get that duck!

2. Madame Blueberry

"Oops."

1. LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed

"Alfred, I'm alive!  I'm...flying under the ground!"
"Well, actually you're boring."
"Gee, Alfred, I know I'm not the wittiest of cucumbers but..."
"No no, not that kind of boring.  It's like drilling.  It's a boring machine."
"Oh."

Ranking the 13 Pixar Films.

Happy Friday the 13th.  To "celebrate" I'm going to rank all 13 Pixar movies from my least favorite to my favorite.  See what I did there?  13 Pixar movies on Friday the 13th?  Eh, it's almost clever...

13. Cars 2
Yeah, it's the obvious pick for "Worst Pixar movie."  That said, I don't really hate Cars 2 either.  It doesn't come close the level of most of the other films Pixar has created, sure, but it's not the terrible unwatchable crime against humanity that a lot of people seem to make it out to be.  It's flawed, sure.  And, it has virtually nothing to do with the first film, which is kind of annoying.  But it does make the most of the "hillbilly tow truck in a spy adventure" concept.  And tell me that doesn't sound at least kind of funny.  Cars 2 lacks heart but it is at least entertaining.  And I was surprised that, small though their roles may be, just about every character from the first movie does get some kind of part to play in this one.  So it doesn't totally abandon the established world.  It's worth watching, but probably only once.

Plus, Finn McMissile is awesome.

12. The Incredibles

Yeah, it's the...actually really not so obvious pick for so low on this list.  Why is The Incredibles so low, you ask?  It's not because it's bad film.  It's not.  Until Pixar unleashed the behemoths that were WALL-E, Up, and Toy Story 3, The Incredibles was a film that often seemed to top a lot of Pixar favorite lists I saw.  And I do understand why.  The story is very clever, the characters are remarkably well developed and it features lots of great homages to classic spy and superhero films.  Which is fun.  But the style of this film has just never quite worked for me.  I can enjoy this film, but whenever I feel like watching a Pixar film, I almost never pick this one.  So yeah, it's not a bad film because it's low on this list.  I just didn't care for it much.  Moving on...

11. Brave

Brave, I'd say, represents a lot of potential.  It's Pixar going in a very different direction by taking the Disney princess archetype and doing their own spin on it.  And parts of the film work beautifully.  The characters are mostly enjoyable.  The atmosphere of the film is gorgeous.  And it does make for an interesting twist on the Disney-type story by making the central relationship between the mother and her daughter.  That's pretty unique for this type of film.  Stylistically, it felt like a mash-up between How to Train Your Dragon and The Secret of Kells.  And that's a mixture that really does work quite well.

To me, though, it just felt like Pixar was maybe a little too far out of their element.  From a story standpoint, I felt Brave fell just a bit short.  The pacing seems a little slow at times and too fast at others.  And some of the plot points felt rather contrived, especially Merida's extremely vague description of what she wanted to happen to her mother when she was talking to the witch, among other things.  Such moments just felt like plot contrivances to move the story in a specific direction and didn't come off very naturally.

Overall though, Brave felt like a solid step in a different direction for Pixar movies, and one I hope they explore some more with other films.  It's just probably not going to be one I revisit real often on its own.

10. Cars

Honestly, there isn't that much I legitimately dislike about Cars.  Maybe it comes from my experiences playing the Putt-Putt series in my younger years (and on my iPod last week...) or something, but I take little issue to a world of living cars.  That always seems to be why people hate it so much.  And yes, it's an easy world to pick apart the logic of if you really want to, but I don't find it hard to simply enjoy the story that's presented. My biggest issue with the film is that's just a bit on the long side and the story drags a little at times.  Beyond that, predictable though it may be, I find Cars to be a genuinely entertaining film with some great moments sprinkled throughout.  Ka-chow.

9. A Bug's Life

My feelings about A Bug's Life are very much like my feelings about Cars.  The difference here is that I think most people actually like A Bug's Life as well.  I wouldn't call it underrated so much as just overlooked.  Sandwiched between two Toy Stories, it's an easy film to forget about.  But it's really worth watching. It's got a fun story, solid characters, a great score, and oozes that special kind of charm that only Pixar films have.  It doesn't quite reach the highs of some of Pixar's later efforts, but for only their second feature film, it's pretty dang good.

8. Ratatouille

 Ratatouille is a hard film to describe.  One one hand, it's a surprisingly dark and sophisticated tale that treats it's characters very seriously and doesn't shy away from scenes that really don't feel like they were meant for kids at all.  And, on the other hand, it's a movie about a rat who cooks by controlling a human like a puppet using his hair.  Ratatouille was definitely the first Pixar movie that really started pushing the envelope of keeping the goofy silly "kids movie" type elements and mixing in much more mature adult story telling, a trend they continued with their next three films.  The only reason this film doesn't rank higher for me is because it has some similar pacing issues as Cars.  It drags a bit at times.  And good luck getting all the way through if you happen to be watching a TV airing.  This film is nearly unwatchable with commercial breaks every ten minutes...

7. Monsters Inc.

I really wish I had a higher place on the list for Monsters Inc.  It's a real testament to the quality of most Pixar films that a film I like this much wouldn't even make the Top 5.  Because I really do love Monsters Inc.  I love it's characters, I love it's concept, I love it's humor.  Pixar is great at creating duos and Mike and Sully are one of the best.  Everything about this movie works very well for the most part.  The constant scenes in generic office-building hallways can be a bit tiresome and some minor plot holes do pop up.  But this is definitely a film where the overall end product is strong enough to make the small issues almost insignificant.  I just hope Monsters University can live up to it's...uh...sequel I guess.

Now put that thing back where it came from, or so help me...

6. Up

The opening montage, the scene where Carl flips through the Adventure Book, and the Ellie Badge.  If you don't cry you're not human.  Plus, Dug is pretty funny.  Adventure is out there!  *thumbs up*

5. Finding Nemo

Holy mackerel.  (Ha ha, get it?  It's a fish joke.)  By now you've probably noticed that a certain trilogy of Pixar films hasn't appeared on this list yet, and it's only thanks to them that Finding Nemo is #5.  This movie is perfect.  The humor is spot on.  The emotional scenes are spot on.  The music is incredible.  Never mind the fact that this film is absolutely gorgeous.  This film just hits all the right notes in all the right places to be a true masterpiece.  Plus, this film is home to yet another of Pixar's great duos: Marlin & Dory.  In fact, I'd be willing to say that Marlin & Dory are Pixar's greatest duo.  Watching the two of them interact is always a treat.  The writing and the voice acting in this film are spot on in every scene.  I'd love to end this paragraph with a quote, but there are so many good ones that I can't pick one.

4. Toy Story
And now for the Toy Stories.  I love them all.  My favorite movie franchise of all time.  All three Toy Story films are incredible and each in their own way.  Pixar found the perfect way to build on the previous film with each sequel.  Therefore, I ranked the films in reverse chronological order.  So technically, the original is my "least favorite."  But that barely means anything here, as it's still a great film.  Toy Story is definitely the least thought-provoking of the trilogy.  It's a buddy comedy and a very good at that.  It doesn't deal with the darker and more serious elements that two and three introduced, but it still tells a great story with great characters and great humor.  Plus the scene with Woody and Buzz trying to chase down the moving van at the end is one of the most fun and enjoyable climaxes in any film ever.

3. Toy Story 2

Toy Story 2 took everything that the first film did and made it bigger.  And, in my opinion, better.  The cast grew significantly, with the Roundup Gang, Wheezy, Ms. Potato Head, and Zurg all being introduced.  And, unlike a lot of films with growing casts, all the new characters here fit perfectly with the old ones.  It's easy to forget that Jessie and Bullseye and the crew weren't in the first movie.   On top of that, old characters like Rex get to have lots more jokes and screen time in this film.  Seriously, Rex steals the show here.  He single-handedly makes this the funniest of the three Toy Story films.  Well, he and Al.  I love Al.  He's hilarious.  He cracks me up every time he's on screen.  Toy Story 2 definitely packs in more comedy than it's predecessor.  But, at the same time, when the movie takes a more serious turn in certain scenes it goes to a much darker and mature place than the first film ever did.  Woody's struggle about the future doesn't seem quite as deep in the post Toy Story 3 world, but Jessie's back story is still as poignant as ever.

2. Toy Story 3

In a lot of ways, I find parts of Toy Story 3 to be less entertaining than it's two predecessors.  For one thing, it's not nearly as funny as the first two films.  There are quite a lot of scenes that are virtually humorless and even the comical scenes tend to be a bit more subdued.  I also found that some of the new characters in Toy Story 3 didn't fit quite as seamlessly into the world as the cast additions from Toy Story 2.  So why did I rank it as the best?  Two reasons.

First; the film strikes a tone that's almost eery at times.  Given that the characters spend much of the movie questioning their future and, at times, fighting for their survival, there's a certain melancholy feel that invades the entire film.  Which, in some films would be a bad thing.  I've seen a lot of films ruined by trying to "go dark."  But the story is handled so well in Toy Story 3 that it makes perfect sense.  The humor is downplayed a bit but the story demands it.  On top of that, the last half-hour or so of this film is so emotional that it tops even Up-levels of tear jerking.  From the climax to the end of the film, Toy Story 3 goes from being heart-wrenching to heart-warming, triumphant, yet still bittersweet all at the same time.  It never quite goes into gratuitous levels of sappiness.  It gets just the right balance.

Second:  The film bookends the series in such a fantastic way that it actually changes the tone of the first two films.  Toy Story and especially Toy Story 2 suddenly take on a whole new meaning when re-watched after seeing Toy Story 3.  Despite coming out over a decade after it's predecessors, Toy Story 3 really does feel like the third act in one complete story.  It wraps up loose ends you didn't realize were there.  Because they weren't.  I seriously doubt that was the intent of the series all along, and it's incredibly impressive that Pixar was able to pull it off so perfectly.

1. WALL-E

In the end, as much as I love the three Toy Story films, WALL-E takes the top prize for me.  I've already described other Pixar films as being perfect.  So I guess that would make WALL-E perfecter?

The story is obscenely clever and fun to watch.  It's emotional and thought-provoking at times with a liberal helping of comedy and even some slapstick humor thrown in.  Having virtually no dialogue for the vast majority of the film gives it a unique a fresh feeling unlike any other animated film.  The environments are incredible to behold and the attention to detail is as meticulous as could be.  The cast, while small, is very good.  And the music, courtesy of Thomas Newman, is among the best ever to accompany a Pixar film.

But the biggest factor that pushes WALL-E into the number one spot for me is WALL-E himself.  I love that little robot.  I loved the character even before the film came out.  So, as you can imagine, I was relieved to see that the film he starred in was able to live up the great character created to star in it!  WALL-E's curiosity and naivety are extremely endearing and fun to watch.  His design is extremely appealing to look at and his voice matches his personality perfectly.  WALL-E is easily my favorite character from any film ever.  And it just so happens that the film that bears his name is just as good as he is.  And that's what makes WALL-E my favorite Pixar film.

Frisch's Top 5 Favorite Songs

Howdy howdy, folks!  Check your calenders.  It's been two years and I have something to write.  Okay, it's actually been two days.  Close enough.  Though my intention for this blog is to mostly write reviews...I kind of have to have something to review first before I can do that.  And unless I feel like reviewing some old stuff (which maybe I might do eventually) I don't have a lot of material to work with right now.  So here's a Top 5 list instead...

Frisch's Top 5 Favorite Songs:

Though I'm not much of a musician myself I do love music.  And, in particular, I love soundtracks.  One of the most important parts of any movie or video game for me is the soundtrack.  In fact, the soundtrack of a game often has far more influence on weather or not I like a game than the graphics or gameplay.  (More on that in a future article...)

Here's a list of my five favorite songs of all time and why they have managed to receive this, ahem, prestigious honor.  And for the songs that are commercially available, I'll include the links to buy them.  Because, obviously, if they're my favorite songs they should be your favorites too so you'll want to buy them right away.  I'm always right, after all.

5.  Pictures in My Head - from Disney's The Muppets.

What better way to start off this list than with an incredibly depressing Muppet song, right?  Okay, so it's kind of an odd choice.  And, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure why I love this song so much.  Obviously, Kermit the Frog is no stranger to singing the occasional melancholy melody.  (How's that for alliteration?)  Usually, however, Kermit's sad songs are infused with a sense of hopefulness.  And this one...kind of isn't.  It's just Kermit feeling grey instead of green.  Feel-good fun for the whole family, this song!

But one of the things I always enjoy about the Muppets is that they can be funny, sincere, and a little heart-wrenching at the same time.  And this song is definitely all of those things.  It's also kind of an interesting departure from the optimism Kermit usually displays, and I do love to see familiar characters have to deal with situations different from what we have seen them go through before.  And, even if the song isn't very hopeful, in context you never really question that the Muppet will be able to "harmonize for one more song" so it's really not as much of a downer as the lyrics suggest.  That said, the first time I saw Kermit take a little peek at that painting of Piggy under the curtain without being able to bring himself to actually sing about her, my heart was officially wrenched.

So, yeah, it's odd that out of the many many songs that the Muppets have performed, this would be my top choice.  But with 129 plays in my iTunes library to date, it must mean that Pictures in My Head is doing something right!  Or maybe I just like depressing Kermit songs.  Trust me, folks, it gets less depressing from here on out, I promise.

Pictures in My Head can be purchased from Amazon here.

4. Crystal Caves - from Donkey Kong 64.

I can say with great confidence that Grant Kirkhope is my favorite video game composer.  I love virtually every soundtrack I've heard that he created.  The music from the Banjo-Kazooie series has a real tendency to be perpetually stuck in my head.  His music for the Viva Pinata series is also phenomenal, even for one who hasn't played the games like myself.  In fact, this may not be the last time you see him show up on this list.  Kirkhope also created the score for Donkey Kong 64.

DK64 is a game I never got very far in back in ye olden days of youth.  I didn't play it until well after the GameCube had come out.  Collectathon platform games are among some of my very favorite titles, but DK just never quite clicked for me.  About a year ago I revisited the game in college and discovered that I now disliked it even more.  It's long and tedious and relies way too heavily on frustrating minigames instead of rewarding the player for simply exploring the levels.  Ugh.

But the music, courtesy of Grant Kirkhope, is still incredible and Crystal Caves is easily the standout track.  Combining a peaceful but slightly off-kilter melody with haunting orchestration, it suits the mood of the level perfectly.  Sorta goofy and sort of somber at the same time.  It's definitely one of the best examples of why I love Grant Kirkhope's music.  Though it's unlikely to ever occur, I would love to hear Crystal Caves performed by an actual orchestra someday.

3.  Forbidden Friendship - from How to Train Your Dragon.

The score of How to Train Your Dragon, composed by John Powell, is my personal favorite film score.  I love the movie, of course.  But, more than any other film score, I find that this particular score is very easy to listen to and enjoy independently from the film.  With a lot of soundtracks, there's usually that one track that I skip over because, while it works well for the scene it plays under in the film, it's not that fun to listen to on it's own.  There are no tracks I skip on the How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack.

Forbidden Friendship is easily my pick of the bunch.  Not only does it underscore my favorite scene in the film, it's also spectacular on its own with a quiet sound that's easy to enjoy.  The soothing but building melody is excellent, particularly when the orchestra first starts to build up a bit between about 1:13 through about 1:40.  I love it when scores do things like that.  Forbidden Friendship is great in the movie and it's great on its own!

Forbidden Friendship can be purchased from Amazon here.  But you really ought to purchase the entire soundtrack.  Every track is enjoyable.

2. Cloud 9 - from Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.

The first four games in the Spyro the Dragon series all had soundtracks composed by Stewart Copeland.  Copeland managed to create a very distinct sound for the Spyro series that is unlike any other video game soundtrack.  There's definitely a signature sound to his Spyro soundtracks that make them so enjoyable.

Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly was the fourth and final Spyro game to feature Copeland's music and it shows.  He was clearly at the top of his game when composing this one!  Though the game itself was rushed to completion, leaving the final product riddled with glitches and unfinished elements, the soundtrack stands out as perhaps the best in the series.  Cloud 9 is the pinnacle of Copeland's unique sound.  I've listened to it dozens and dozens of times since I first heard it.  It's Spyro music at it's finest.  With its catchy melody and unique combination of instruments and sounds, listening to it really puts you on...(wait for it)....cloud nine.

Though I have to give an honorable mention to Rainbow Speedway, which also plays in the same level.  It's similar to Cloud 9's main music and it's almost as good.  But the main level music itself wins out as the best for me!

1. Showdown Town - from Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

I told you Grant Kirkhope would be back!  Much like Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, the best part about Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for the Xbox360 was its soundtrack.  Kirkhope's signature sound for the Banjo series translates perfectly to a full orchestra, creating a sound that would not be out of place in a Looney Tunes cartoon or an animated film.  It is without a doubt my favorite video game soundtrack ever.

Showdown Town is the main hub of the game.  It's the home to all the other levels.  And it's also home to the best piece of music on the soundtrack.  The Showdown Town theme is sublime.  From the moment I heard it the song essentially became the soundtrack to college for me, more often than not being the music I had on loop while working on a project or reading an art history chapter.  It has all the trademarks of great Banjo-Kazooie music and even features a callback to the theme of Jinjo Village from Banjo-Tooie, another of my favorite Kirkhope compositions.  Even almost four years later, very few days go by where I don't find myself humming the Showdown Town theme in my head at some point or another.  It's engrained into my mind forever.

But I can't talk about the theme for Showdown Town without talking about the nighttime version of the theme.  In addition to the main version of the theme, Showdown Town features five other variations that play at various points in the game, all arranged by Robin Beanland.  And the nighttime variation is by far the best.  It takes the already great main theme and transforms it into a soothing lullaby version of the song that is amazing to listen to.  Particularly at night!  This song, on loop, was played pretty much every night during my freshman and sophomore years of college.  And I still turn it on a lot of evenings to this day!  It's just that good.

Showdown Town was a no-brainer for the number one slot on this list.  This song alone convinced me to purchase an Xbox 360 so I could play Nuts & Bolts.  Unfortunately, the game itself didn't even come close to living up to the two original N64 games.  Eventually, I sold off the 360, and opted to just stick with a copy of the official soundtrack.  And that's what you should do too.

Showdown Town, in both its daytime and nighttime forms, is available on the Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Original Soundtrack.  Go buy it now.  You won't regret it.