Super Mario 64

A series filled with as much greatness as Mario makes choosing a best and worst in the franchise like splitting hairs. Fortunately we love hair splittery at GR, as we list why every core Mario game could be seen as the both a series high and low point...

Nintendo has finally dropped the DS Lite price to $99.99, giving the six or seven people who have miraculously refrained from buying one an easy reason to take the plunge. Nintendo has also re-released six classic Mario games in bright red packaging to commemorate the price drop, and this week we're offering all of 'em - plus a DS Lite - as our weekend giveaway!

It’s a frequently cited "fact" that Mario is more recognized worldwide than Mickey Mouse (whoever that is), meaning everyone everywhere should know what he looks like, even if his official look has matured over the years.

But in his near three decades of existing, not every official or officially licensed representation of the mild-mannered jumping guy has looked the same. History is rife with Mario drawings that are a little off, laughably bad or just plain wrong. Here's a trip down memory lane to see the Marios you’re supposed to forget...

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light get reviewed, we reminisce about pioneering launch games, and more than you'll ever need to know about the music of Chess Games!

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is all up inside us, and judging from our review – hell, everyone’s reviews – any notion you originally held that the game would be a simple 1.5 re-skin have been brought out behind the shed and shot in the face. So while we’re on the subject “Marios” and the number 2, what about that other mustachioed bastard child that is far more guilty of palette-swappery? Of course, we’re talking about 1988’s Super Mario 2 for the NES, a game so classically upheld, it’s absolved of all its sins...

Holy effing s-word! Was it really 20 years ago when we first opened the distinctive yellow package in our living room and carefully placed the cartridge into the NES in front of the TV? When we made our first return trip to the Mushroom Kingdom? When we discovered the power of flight? When we could actually choose levels off of an overworld map? When we met Bowser's children?

Shark Week on GR is about sharks and games (and not at all about riding on the caudal fin of the Discovery Channel’s popularity). So what the hell could be a better way to celebrate sharks and games than by featuring the GAMESHARK. Just look at it, it has both words right there.

Death happens a lot in videogames, but for some reason it never seems to stick. From heroes who get infinite do-overs to supporting characters who “die” only to resurface at the nick of time down the road, videogames might be the only medium in which the audience feels surprised, and perhaps even cheated, if a dead character isn’t magically brought back to life.

Earlier in the week, we published an article showing some 50 versions of Sonic the Hedgehog to see which one is the 'best' to play as. But you can't do one without the other, so here are nearly 70 versions of Mario for your eyes to boggle at.

Numbers. Man, there must be millions of ‘em. Seems like every other game on the shelf has a number in it. Boy, I bet you could count to a hundred using just videogame titles and related items. Let’s see if I’m right.