Super Mario Brothers 3
The original Super Mario Bros. was The Game that Started it All and everything, but SMB3 took the basic idea of the original and improved upon it in every way. It introduced new gameplay elements like the inventory of items you could collect along the way from Toad or the Hammer Bros. stages and use as you saw fit before going into a level. The levels themselves were far more diverse and more interesting--like the level in the above video that bobs up and down in the water while the giant fish tries to eat your ass. It had some novel power-ups like the tanooki suit and cool easter eggs like the kuribo's shoe. And there was just a lot more of it. The guy in the above video obviously has the game down to a science and breezes through it, but assuming you didn't use the warp whistles, the game was long, and didn't give you the benefit of saves or passwords. To beat the game, you had to set aside a big chunk of time to work through it.
The game's difficulty curve was just right. The first couple of worlds you could get through without incident, the next few started throwing more elaborate obstacles at you, like the aforementioned oh-crap-the-platforms-are-sinking-into-the-sea level, and by world 7 you were wading through gauntlets of piranha plants. Levels would have a different feel to them depending on how you were going into them. Levels that just threw a ton of enemies at you might be easier with a fire flower, while levels with a lot of traps and jumps might be easier to fly over. Even though most of the game ultimately came down to timing, a fortress level where you were dodging fireballs and running through thwomps had a much different feel than, say, some of the midair platforming levels where the screen scrolled regardless of whether or not you kept moving forward. The game encouraged creativity and experimentation. A lot of hidden pipes were tucked away way up in the corners of levels that you'd have to go out of your way to find. There were a lot of cool tricks you could do with koopa shells if you set them off in just the right spot and watched them ricochet into enemies or power-up boxes or both.
Most importantly, even though the game was made long before the days of unlockables and branching stories and the like, it was still infinitely replayable. It had just the right amount of difficulty to keep most players from getting frustrated, while still providing enough challenge to not make the game feel like you were just going through the motions after a while (although the above Youtube video is kinda pushing that). A few years later after the SNES's release, Nintendo came back with Super Mario World. Some people might prefer World to SMB3, and you could certainly make a valid argument for it. The better hardware allowed them to create a more detailed art style, had some cool puzzles, especially in the ghost house levels, and had levels with hidden exists for you to find that would bring you along an alternate path. All of those things are cool, but there's just something about Super Mario Brothers 3 to me that's just aesthetically pleasing. The levels are all just the right length, there's just enough of them, they're diverse enough to not seem completely repetitive, and it had just the right amount of challenge to it. Simply, some of the most fun you'll have playing video games.
Day 25 - A game you plan on playing.
Lotta different directions I could go with this one...
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