Super Mario (franchise)/Awesome: Difference between revisions

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* The ending cutscene of ''Mario Super Sluggers''. Essentially, the gang throws a party, with Mario and Donkey Kong hitting and pitching Bob-ombs into the air as fireworks. Suddenly, Wario and Waluigi appear, and load a Bullet Bill into the baseball machine. Mario, who is scared witless, is just standing there like a sitting duck. (A standing, sitting duck, mind you.) Donkey Kong can't reach him in time, so who comes to the rescue? Bowser. Some slo-mo shots of him and his bat later, he just bunts the Bullet, sends it flying straight back, where it picks Wario and Waluigi by the shirts, sends them straight upwards,and then explodes into an AWESOME fireworks display! Link [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3qa2kNgnQE here], starting around 3:20.

** The cartoon Peach got hers when she gained the Starman power and rescued the Mario Bros. and Toad from Bowser's troops in ''[[Super Mario Bros Super Show]]'' episode "The Trojan Koopa".

** Worth noting that the plot of both of those games is that Mario's gone missing and it's up to Luigi to find and save him. Heck, even when he had his solo-moment in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, it was because Mario was sick! The one time where he had his own adventure without Mario being sick or kidnapped was in in ''Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door'', but that was just pure text and his heroic accounts were contrasted with more embarrassing versions of the tale. However, there was a true Moment of Awesome in the fluff: Luigi stormed the castle of the Chestnut King to save Princess Eclair in spite of the terrifying description of both the place and the monster. {{spoiler|But the epic battle is stopped by the Princess, who reveals that the Chestnut King is her bewitched lover. Turns out that the person who sent for help, Crepe, was an evil sorcerer that cursed the King as part of an [[Xanatos Gambit]] to get Luigi to reassemble an ancient powerful artifact from a long-gone evil empire which he used to find the Princess.}} Although he beat the fiend, he didn't get the girl.

*** That doesn't really detract from how awesome it is, though. ''Luigi's Mansion'' is a great example. Since we see ''just how scared'' Luigi is the entire time he's trying to get through the mansion, it makes it even ''more'' awesome. Yeah, he's trying to save his brother, but that just crosses the Moment of Awesome over with a [[Heartwarming Moments (Sugar Wiki)|Heartwarming Moments]]. {{spoiler|Particularly the ending, where he finally accomplishes said goal. D'aww.}}

** Particularly for Peach, who manages to fight off being possessed by a demon sorceress to heal you. The main games make her overly ditzy, but she's particularly effective in the RPGs.

 

* In a few stages in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'', ''the sun itself'' drops out of the sky and tries to kill you! When you first begin the level, the game fools you into thinking that the sun is just part of the background, then BAM!!! it starts trying to dive bomb you throughout the whole rest of the stage! It reappears near the end of the game, in oddly enough, a level that takes place at night. The best part: if you take an invincibility star into the stage or pick up a Koopa shell you can use it to ''kill the sun'' (which the strategy guide refers to as "forc[ing] an early sunset").

* World 5-3 lets you ride around in Kuribo's Shoe, a giant '''boot''' that prevents you from taking damage from spikes and lets you kill any enemy in the game with a single stomp. Sadly, it only appears in one level, and hasn't appeared in any of the sequels.

''Oh shit! I got the shoe! I'm so invincible! Oh! Eat it, you bitch! You don't understand! I got the damn SHOE! It's the shoe! And look at how cute I am with my stupid plumber head poking out of the wind up sock! I am the cutest invincible shoe rider ever! Mario! Mario! He's in the ULTRA green SHOOEEE!''<br />

This went on for about 10 more minutes as I kept bouncing back and forth on the level screaming nonsense about the damn shoe until the time ran out. We sent a copy to my mom. I heard she cried."|'''[[Seanbaby]]'''}}

* As a matter of fact, ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' in general is just one big Game of Awesome. There were 8 worlds with a total of 90 levels, 5 special suits (not counting mushrooms and stars), a slew of bonus games, a duel mode (if you're playing with a friend), scores of enemies, and an obscene amount of ridiculously well hidden secrets ''everywhere''. On top of that, this game was on the original, 8-bit NES, before 3-D graphics, memory cards, and FMV cutscenes. It still managed to be amazingly successful, selling over 18 million copies, the most of any non-bundled game ever.

** And with such a long ass game back in the NES days, you might think that the level design might get repetitive and boring, but no: every single level is masterfully made and especially the Army levels in World 8 were truly [[Nintendo Hard]] without ever being unfair. There's a reason why Super Mario Bros 3 is regarded as pretty much the best platformer of all time.

* If you think about it, Mario taking on (and defeating) Bowser's entire military, navy, and air force in World 8 single-handedly is pretty awesome.

 

* Teaming up with Yoshi for the first time. What, don't ''you'' think it would be awesome to ride a giant dinosaur around and devour all of your enemies in a single gulp?

 

=== Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island ===

* ''Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'' has perhaps one of the ultimate Moments of Awesome in video games, in the form of its final boss. The whole game in general is ''Yoshi's'' MOA; it shows that Yoshi saved Mario as an infant, and so the main hero of the series actually owes everything to Yoshi; but the final boss is still the best part. When you first enter Bowser's castle, it's scary to go through the level, but when you fight Bowser, you find out that he's just an annoying, bratty little kid, whom you can easily defeat. Things looked so simple compared to other Mario games -- and then Kamek comes and supersizes Bowser, the whole castle crumbling as he grows exponentially. The final battle takes place with Yoshi on the pile of rubble, and he is looking out into the background, where the now gigantic Bowser looms. The monstrosity tromps toward you Godzilla style, occasionally breathing fire and throwing boulders that further smash the rubble, with an epic heavy metal song (a rarity in the Mario series) rocking out as the showdown rages. When you finally do beat him, if you're a long-time Mario fan, you get an even greater bonus if you sit through the credits. The babies are returned to their parents, and you hear the classic flagpole theme of Mario games, trumpeted up, as you're treated to a picture of the baby Mario Bros. with the caption, "Our heroes are born!"

 

* Mario gets another one in ''Super Mario 64'', in the iconic Bowser fight. In order to beat him, you have to grab him by the tail, swing him around, and throw him into a bomb. The result? A HUGE explosion, and a pwned Bowser.

** Even better with the final battle, as Mario has climbed far into the sky to fight him, and the battle being set to some epic background music. Grabbing the star afterwards and flying into the sky with heroic music playing... perfect way to end the game.

 

* ''Bowser joins you and fights alongside you''.

** You get to fight the toughest boss in the game, Culex, as a [[Bonus Boss]]. Fans of [[Final Fantasy]] may recognize FF4's boss music, as well as the four elemental crystals iconic to [[Final Fantasy]]. And after you're done beating that long hard battle, you know the standard victory fare isn't enough. BOOM, He turns into colorful sparks and your party does their victory pose, while you get a load of EXP and coins, and the epic ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' victory music is blaring out of the speakers.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s4mPl2Iu0Y Midas River 100 coin run]. Enjoy.

 

* In the not-quite-Final Battle, Bowser has made himself invincible by using the Star Rod, but Mario undoes the invincibility by using the Star Beam, a power granted to him by the Star Spirits he rescued in the game. When Bowser's taken enough damage, he flees. In the ''final'' Final Battle with Bowser, you're on a special energy-booster platform -- the platform's energy boost, combined with the Star Rod, makes {{spoiler|the Star Beam fail to work}}! At this point, Princess Peach (along with just about everybody in the Kingdom) makes a wish for Mario to win, giving just enough power to the Star Spirits to help Mario take down Bowser once and for all.

** Don't forget the [[Awesome Music (Sugar Wiki)|Awesome Music]] that plays for that ''final'' final battle.

* The opening of the game is a huge Crowning Moment for Bowser. He managed to storm the heavens, become invulnerable, kidnap an entire castle, and almost kill Mario. Holy wow.

 

* The Sand Bird ride. You run around the Sand Bird, collecting Red Coins, while the Sand Bird wonderfully screeches like a hawk.

* In Pianta Village, after getting all red coins, and when you're on the gigantic palm tree, you grab a piece of "fluff" (a giant dandelion seed), then it flies all the way to a cloud that has the Shine out in the middle of the sky.

 

=== Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door ===

* Cortez causes a few of them. Not only does he {{spoiler|survive you beating him, and pretty much making fun of you for it}}, but he really brings down the house when {{spoiler|his ship gets repowered, and he busts out of a wall calling Lord Crump a foolish mortal. Then, with the Ghost Ship that crashed anyone who got close to his island, he heads into an epic ship battle with the X-Nauts.}} After him making me feel so screwed several times, he's got a pretty nice exit (or entrance).

* If you bring Vivian when you engage the Shadow Sirens for the last time, she says what many consider to be the best line in the game to her abusive sister Beldam.

{{quote| "No sister, this time ''I'm'' going to punish ''you.''"}}

 

* Not only is the star itself absolute 8-bit awesome, but the Mega Koopa involves an enemy picking it up and becoming a gigantic 8-bit Koopa, and running you down.

* Peach gets one in Super Paper Mario, where she {{spoiler|kicks Mimi's behind. (Mimi insults her, she gets angry. Including a large-text 'Understood' that scares the crad out of Mario and Luigi.) She scared them so badly that not only do they say it's ok for Peach to fight Mimi alone, but they also walk away BACKWARDS to emphasize how scared they were.}}

 

=== Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time ===

** Then, there's the fight against {{spoiler|Bowser and Baby Bowser}}. It just feels so... right to defeat the duo.

 

* Broggy Bonker. Just the plain attack itself. It's already quite funny that the giant angry guard dog you fought and buy items from earlier in the game is beating up bosses, including Dark Bowser. It's freaking awesome when, if you get the attack perfect, about twenty Bitties attack the enemy after it in a line, possibly making the enemy confused. See for yourself at about 2:18 into [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8KPx5zjrp4 this video].

 

* Here's one that takes place during gameplay that's pretty easy not to notice when you're conditioned to hop around from platform to platform, but if you see someone else play, you'll notice just how badass the game can look sometimes. In some of the fortresses and castles, Mario jumps onto a wobbly tightrope with lava below, then jumps from that tightrope over a large gap onto another tightrope.

 

* Before that, there's the entirety of level 8-7. You ride on a fast-paced undead dragon roller coaster, dodging geysers of lava while it periodically screeches. It's a favorite level in the series for many.

 

* [[Your Mileage May Vary]], but the opening sequence could be a moment for Bowser. Ever wondered how he and his kids seem to be able to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom and kidnap Princess Peach so easily despite Mario's presence? One word: '''''BLITZKRIEG.'''''<ref>For those that don't know, a blitzkrieg (German for "lightning strike") is defined as 'a sudden, swift, large-scale offensive warfare intended to win a quick victory.</ref> An attack of this scale had not been witnessed in any prior Mario games, and it was a good way to show the player the kind of action that was to come.

** The Freezeflame Galaxy's purple coin challenge is a particular highlight. You have to scour the entire area for coins, then make a slow danger-filled climb to the very top of the mountain to end up with... 98 coins. To get the final two coins, you have to ''jump off the top of the mountain'' onto a tiny little platform below. One of the most epic-feeling moments in the game.

* The final level. The final boss. The final blow. {{spoiler|Mario faces off with Bowser in the ''center of the universe,'' and hits so hard with the final blow that '''''he knocks Bowser into the sun.''''' Even more amazing? [[Made of Iron|Bowser somehow SURVIVES this.]]}}

* Rosalina deserves some mention here. After you retrieve enough power stars, {{spoiler|she proceeds to transform her space station into comet mode and blasts though the armada surrounding the castle like the ships were nothing but cheap toys.}}

 

** Granted, it comes back down, but it's still pretty cool.

* The final boss, even if it is a bit easy, is this. After defeating Bowser like the other two times you did (which includes ''knocking him into a bottomless pit''), the Grand Star comes down on the platform you confronted Bowser at. Right before you touch it, Bowser pops back up and then ''eats the Grand Star, turning him huge again.'' Then he ''summons a black hole,'' and you fight ''free falling in it'', landing on meteorites and then ''ground pounding them into Bowser.'' Once you knock the final meteorite into him, he ''falls into the black hole in slow motion, and it closes up.'' And all this is topped off by what is arguably the most epic music in Mario history. Holy crap that needed a lot of italics.

 

=== Other Mario games ===

* Mario Party DS has the mini game Bowser's Block Party. Bowser has a belt that turns himself into various forms using blocks, and one of them has his face on it. He mainly uses fire attacks throughout the battle. How do Mario and friends beat him? Nothing but kicks and punches (with star power), which is kind of awesome in a way for them.

 

=== Adaptations and Other Media ===

* In [[SMB 3]] the show, we have Luigi '''''SCARING BOOS IN MISADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING''''' as seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pS6ezvFXdE here]