http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-Mario-Bros-Cl … dZViewItem

Perhaps someone can explain it to me??

cheers,

-avatar!

People, in general, are crazy.

It wasn't a fluke, either.

*mind boggles*
Well, I know what I'm doing if I find any copies of that sitting around. :)

Maybe the quantum interconnectedness of consciousness? Someone wants the game very badly, produces strong thoughts, others also want it badly. It would be interesting to conduct an experiment. Get one of those crazy buyers and place him in a room with non-crazy buyers. Let them simply mingle about for a few hours. Release them and track the buying patterns of the non-crazy buyers, to see if they start paying high prices for common, easy to find video games.

My real guess is that this has something to do with the iPod phenomenon, in which people love having collections of things in ultra small sizes. It's a smaller cartridge and is probably "cute" by some standards, thus giving it a greater appeal.

I still just don't understand... Super Mario is SO widely available, that I fail to see why someone would pay over $80 (that's a third the price of a Wii) for it!!  In fact, the SNES and Gameboy Color versions were far superior and had lots of goodies (such as the Lost Levels)!  And of course Super Mario will be avialable to download into the Wii.  I would never have guessed that one of the easiest games to find would skyrocket in value...

WEIRD!!!!

cheers,

-avatar!

Also, while we're on the subject of Super Mario, I just finished (not that it was particularly hard) "New Super Mario Bros" on the DS.  It was probably the worst Super Mario I've ever played!  I can't believe just how short and easy it was... and the controls were HORRIBLE!!

Graphics were nice, that's about all I can say for it in terms of positive encouragement. 

-horrible control
-bland music
-you skip 2 whole worlds...what's up with that??
-very very easy
-little to no diversity
-Big Mushrooms and mini mushrooms were hardly utilized
-no reason to go back and play it again

A big dissapointment.  It had such potential too...

cheers,

-avatar!

Even the worst Super Mario is still a worthwhile play, I say. It was on the easy side, but I was happy just to have a new 2D Mario after years of nothing but 2D Mario rehashes on the Advance.

As for your third point, look into your sixth point some more.

Oh, one more thing to add:

"-no reason to go back and play it again"

I felt the same way when I finished Superstar Saga. Nothing unlocked, no new modes, no nothing. But then I remembered that for a long time, getting nothing at the end was the norm--finishing the game meant the game was finished, and beating the game was its own reward. It was kind of nice to see that back, just once. These days, some games seem too overwhelming because you have to play it three times or more to experience everything, it's ridiculous. I don't have time or interest for that anymore.

I ended up getting rid of NSMB when I realised I was just plodding through it without really enjoying it. It also makes a huge mistake for a handheld game - it forces you to play through several levels before you can save each time. Many times I picked it up for a couple of minutes, played a level or two then had to switch it off without recording my progress.

While New Super Mario Bros. is far from perfect, I had absolutely no problem with the controls.  I also don't see it as being any easier than the rest of the games (except for the original and Lost Levels/Jp Mario 2), seeing as I can blow through all of those with the same amount of ease that I did this one.

Oooh, I wanna try selling my copy for that price...

Sans the complaint about controls, I felt very similarly about Super Mario World when it first came out. I had beaten Bowser without even seeing half the game thanks to the various shortcuts.

I haven't even played a DS yet, but I get the feeling NSMB might be similar in that regard.

Oh, avatar!

I loved the old school meets new school look of the game. The colors are very vibrant!

What do you mean by horrible?

They were secret worlds to probably prolong the life of the game and to give people an incentive to look harder for those alternate exits, although they weren't hard once you figured out what to do!

Yeah, word. Totally agreed there. It seemed like they were there for secrets only.

Unless you really liked it, which you didn't. I dug it a whole lot, and I'll probably go back and play it again, but not for a while. I will say that it was a damn fun game for me, but it doesn't have that "classic" appeal like SMW does. I can still play that through, even though I've beaten it dozens of times with varying amounts of completeness. I still bust out the old SNES for that 12-level game every once in a while.

I may be in the minority, but I was quite dissapointed by the control.  Super Mario 3 had such tight control, and Super Mario World was really tight too!  Even Super Mario 2 was more fluid in my opinion... now I realize that it's quite likely that the controls were purposely designed to be as they are, but I didn't like them. 

I totally agree with Zane, SMW rocks!!  In fact, one of my biggest gripes is that NSMB didn't bring anything new to the stage (except for the barely used huge and mini mushrooms). I also felt that the stages in SWM were much better designed, and there were good rewards for finding alternate routes!  I also felt that the challenge was greater, and that the music was MUCH better!  I think all the Super Mario games to date have had really catchy tunes...except for NSMB.  I seriously don't recall one track from that game.  For those of you who are really enjoying NSMB, more power to you.  It's simply not for me.  I must say though, that I loved the last Mario game (Mario Sunshine) and found it to have great graphics, great music, and it was really challenging (for me at least

cheers,

-avatar!

I have to disagree with that.  In SMB3, there is momentum.  It takes a small bit of distance for Mario to get running and he does not stop on a dime.    He feels more like the pudgey plumber that he is.  Super Mario 1, 2, and World had the "tight" control scheme.

NSMB plays like SMB1 with a few conventions borrowed from other SMB games.  I agree that the blue shell, mega mushroom, and mini mushroom are strategic items and not part of the core gameplay.

My absolute favorite thing to do in NSMB is play Mario VS Luigi against someone in the ice level, grab the Blue Shell and just slide around like a maniac. I have gotten 10-0 victories several times just by ramming into my opponent and stealing all their stars. So cheesy, so diabolical, yet so AWESOME.