Throwback Thursday: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

One Christmas when I was a kid my parents bought me a bright red Game Boy pocket with a black carry case and a copy of Super Mario Land 2. I think it's safe to say that that was the moment when my addiction to gaming was born.


In his debut appearance, Wario has taken over Mario Land and cast a spell over the inhabitants, making them believe that he is their master and Mario is their enemy, before locking himself inside Mario's castle. The castle gates have been sealed with a spell that can only be broken using six golden coins, scattered around Mario Land and carefully guarded by Wario's henchmen. It's up to you to retrieve them and take the castle back.






Super Mario Land 2 was everything that a platformer should be; simple and fun. There are multiple levels to choose from, including hidden levels, and there's a lot of variety within them. It can also be surprisingly hard; navigating through water when everything is trying to kill you isn't very easy. Which, to be honest, it should be: HE'S A PLUMBER!

You also have a massive replay value, as you can play any level except from boss levels and the intro level as many times as you want, and you're going to want to do that because this game is addictive. I was going to try and prove that by including some gameplay videos but every single one I've taken is corrupted! Yay! Instead you'll just have to go and find out for yourself at Playr where you can play it in-browser for FREE!

#ThrowbackThursday - The Sims 2

Ah, The Sims. The game with unlimited potential, where you are God and your only limit is your imagination. What great adventure will you carve? Will you create a rich and famous movie star? Will your they marry the Sim of their dreams, buy a mansion in the country and raise six sickeningly gorgeous children together?

No. In  the average The Sims 2 (or 1, 3, or 4) game you will:

Create the most hideous Sim that you can









Give him an equally hideous wife, a cute dog, and move them into their own home.

Micro-manage like there's no tomorrow...

...because your Sims have to eat, sleep, play, bathe, clean, tidy, cook, study, sleep, work and entertain the random strangers who show up at their houses, all in approximately half the time it takes to do all that stuff in.

Have a LOT of cartoon sex, probably with just about every Sim in town.

 Why? For the same reason that you do everything else in The Sims: Because you can.

Experience the totally realistic birth of your Sim's children:

Ignore Biology class, babies actually fall from the ceiling

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And then, of course, the classic pool murder! No day on The Sims 2 - well, any The Sims game for that matter - is complete without a visit to a watery grave and from the Grim Reaper.

And then you get to do it all over again because, unlike in it's predecessor, that cute little bundle of joy that just fell out of the ceiling will grow up! Unless you forget to look after him and he gets taken away by the social worker...

The Sims 2 was an awesome game that allowed some of the freedoms that the original The Sims game didn't afford us, such as aging which added a feeling of progression, without any of the drawbacks that it's successor went on to have, such as hefty loading times and lag due to massive, open neighbourhoods. As someone who has spent a little bit of time Simming...

Just a tiny amount

...I preferred TS2's neighbourhood customisation - not being able to create vacation worlds in TS3 still hurts - and I think TS2 has a better balance of simplicity to creative freedom. 

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If you don't already have it, you'll have to look for a second hand copy of The Sims 2, as EA hate making money and it is no longer available on Origin. If you do have it then check out the mighty TheSimsResource, AroundTheSims2 and MTS for custom content that will literally make you squeal with excitement.


Now if you'll excuse me, I think I left my toddler by the pool...

(Sorry, outdated and bad The Sims 4 joke)