Five favorites: Super Famicom games I'd play with my husband (if he actually played games)

Why'd I decide to limit the contents of this post to Super Famicom games? Actually, my first thought was to focus on Famicom games. Shortly after, I changed my mind, broadened the scope and altered the headline to "games I'd play with my husband (if he actually played games)."

The first three games that came to mind, however, were released for the Super Famicom (or SNES, if that's your thing), so I altered the header for a second time to the one you see above.

Don't worry, I plan on writing up a "Famicom games I'd play with my husband (if he actually played games)" post soon enough, and I'll probably devote another to "PC Engine games I'd play with my husband (if he actually played games)," too.

This time around, though, I'm going to focus on the following five titles, all of which appeared on Nintendo's super second console.

1. Pocky & Rocky--Although I'm listing this Natsume release first (simply because I'm an alpha-order kind of guy), I have a pretty good feeling that it wouldn't go over all that well with the hubs if I introduced him to it early on. That's because, like most overhead run-and-guns, Pocky & Rocky can be both difficult and frustrating. Still, I think he might like the adorable protagonists and the colorfully wacky setting--you know, if he had any interest in gaming at all.

2. Sanrio World Smash Ball--Now here's a game that I think anyone would like--yes, even anti-gaming crumudeons like my husband. It's barely more than good ol' Pong turned on its side, but for various reasons--such as its selection of cute-as-buttons characters and its wonderfully cheerful soundtrack--this Tomcat System-developed, Character Soft-published title a lot more enjoyable than that ancient classic.

3. Secret of Mana--Can you believe I've only ever played this game solo? That surprises me, as my older brother and I used to play games together all the time, and I'm pretty sure he was still living at home (as opposed to in a college dorm) when I first acquired this one. Anyway, as a result, I've always wanted to see what it's like to play through this epic, Final Fantasy-meets-The Legend of Zelda ARPG with another human being. In all honesty, I think my husband would find it boring, but you never know--the pastel graphics and soothing music may just win him over.

'A lifetime at the races'

While working on the following illustration, artist Ashley Davis says she was "inspired by the fact that everyone who has ever been important in my life has played a Mario Kart game with me."

Peach is her mother, she adds, while "Mario and Toad are my sisters, Funky Kong is a long lost best friend that I wish I could reconnect with, Wario is my husband, and Dry Bones is me."

Is anyone else jealous of Davis? I mean, she's played a Mario Kart game with her mom. I guess I should be happy that I got to play a lot of Super Mario Kart with my older brother back in the day, even though he beat me about 75 percent of the time.

To see more of Davis' wonderfully whimsical creations, check out her deviantart.com gallery or her website, oddlookingbird.com

Super Mario Kart's secret song

Did you know that some gamer (with too much money in his wallet, I'm sure) got his hands on a prototype version of Super Mario Kart a while back? I sure didn't.

Said prototype isn't radically different from the version that showed up on store shelves in late 1992 and early 1993, with one exception: The tune that plays on the Vanilla Lake track.

Here's the song that appears in the released version of the game, and here's the song that appears in the prototype:



After a few listens, I think I prefer the final track to the one that appears in the prototype. The former is bubbly and charming, while the latter is a bit too melancholy for my liking.

In related news: Super Mario Kart will hit the European Wii Shop Channel with an 800-Nintendo-point price tag on Friday. Hopefully it'll hit the channel's North American counterpart next Monday.