Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Poison Mushroom

More like power-down, amirite? If you've played the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 or its American remake, The Lost Levels, you know what this is: A developer's hand slapping your face. You wanted "the one that makes you big," but you got served instead. Most insulting is the hardly visible characteristic that distinguishes it from normal mushrooms (in so far as any of this is normal). In the original game a tiny crack on the stem identifies the imposter, but in The Lost Levels it's more obvious with a bright purple cap and skull stigmata. Apparently, what was then a 5-year old game still wasn't easy enough for an American audience. Pfft.

Although it appeared in what is held to be the most difficult NES game ever, this is certainly a strange, almost off-putting item. Even a Nintendo executive once suggested that Miyamoto may have been depressed when he made SMB2. Or perhaps after their debut success Miyamoto and team thought it best to also represent the detrimental effects of psychoactive fungus. Not all hallucinations are super, after all.

23/06/08