As the founder of a company with "Manifesto" and "Games" in its name, how would I not be charmed by this Flash movie of Comrade Mario, heroic defender of the socialist revolution?
And surely there is no more iconic representation of proletarian virtue than Mario.
I kept hoping it would turn into a game, but no, just a movie. Cute, though. (Via I Whine About Games.)
In Brent Anderson's Snowball's Chance, you play through a series of levels as a snowball. You start typically at one corner of the screen, and somewhere there's a goal you have to get to--sometimes by hitting switches and unlocking them first. The problem is that you don't move with the arrow keys; this game is somewhat billiards-like, in that you nudge your snowball with the mouse pointer, and can increase or decrease the force of your nudge. Some obstacles (like open water) cause insta-death, while wandering opponents can reduce your size. And you're slowly melting (more rapidly on some terrain than others), so you can't tarry.
This reminds me of this
This reminds me of this post:
http://nedmartin.org/amused/communist-mario
Although it seems pretty obvious when you state it, I don't think Mario ever really turned anybody into a Bolshevik. Quite a shame, actually...
The Spectre of Communism
I just wonder what's next...A "Fascist Mario", perhaps? Luckily, I don't see that happening any time soon, but what's really scary is that communist utopianism - while certainly long since dead as a viable political alternative to parliamentary democracy and free market capitalism - is for some inexplicable reason still quite acceptable as part of popular culture (just think of the enduring popularity of Che Guevara T-shirts...). Some may very well conclude that I'm the most pathologically humorfree gamer on the planet (which isn't far from the truth), but I have to say that I'd be much happier if people simply refrained from using totalitarian imagery in this way. In fact, it's actually worse when it's all tongue in cheek, over the top and clearly meant to be funny - just imagine, for example, how disgusting an allegedly "funny" Nazi Mario would be...
Yes, of Course
True, true. Nazism can't ever be a subject for humor. And there's no way one can ever make totalitarianism funny.
Just for reference...
Originally posted on Newgrounds (a "Daily Feature" on April 17, 2006):
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/307402