Hi

[Nate the Great]

Erm, no.

I played the original LOZ (GBA edition), and I just ... it wasn't very good. The graphics were great, the music was great, the enemies were great, the gameplay... just wasn't great. Too nonlinear. I am a firm believer in "even if the overworld is nonlinear, the dungeons should be arranged in a distinct linear pattern that gets progressively harder. Granted, even in OOT you can do the Fire Temple before Forest and Ice Cavern before both, but in OOT you were given incessant hints from Navi, Saria via Ocarina Wireless, Kaepora Gaebora, Shiek, etc, etc. where you should go next. Original LOZ: none of that. You just walk around and around and around and if you don't bomb EXACTLY the right rock, no dice. Sold that sucker right back. It should be theoretically possible to play any game without the strategy guide and a minimal amount of backtracking. Even games like Star Tropic (also a favorite) were good at keeping things semilinear without making you feel totally lost.

Original Mario--okay, good game. It set the trend for all that followed and all that, but to me it fails in comparison to Mario 3 in several important respects:

1. Extra lives are commonplace in Mario 3. Mario 1, hardly.
2. Get hit as Fire Mario in Mario 1, dead. Get hit in Mario 3, you still have a chance. I'm a firm believer in powerups actually increasing life energy.
3. Mario 1 is too linear. No sidetrips for necessary powerups allowed. At all.
4. No P-wings! No music boxes! No hammers! No frog suits! No Kuribo's Shoe! Come on, people!
5. White overalls and a red shirt? Can you spell "tacky?"