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      <h5><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">//<a href="../../../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">loonygames</font></a>://<a href="../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">issue 
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          <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%"> <font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> 
             </font> <p><webdog><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#0022A8"><b><font color="#693A0C">What's 
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                      <h5><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="2">Birth 
                        of a Gamer: </font></i></font> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i><font color="#904C10">Waxing 
                        Nostalgic </font></i></font><br>
                      </h5>
                      <div align="right"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">By 

                        Heather &quot;<a href="mailto:heatherhazel@eudoramail.com">elki</a>&quot; 
                        Haselkorn</font></div>
                    </div>
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                  <td width="45%" align="right" valign="top"> 
                    <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E">Vol. 
                      2, Issue 10<br>
                      February 1, 2000</font></b></h5>
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              <p align="left"><loonystart>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Anyway, 
                I finally found the first level. There I am, swinging on vines, 
                climbing trees, having a great time, but getting nowhere. How 
                frustrating! I was almost in tears by the time I just gave up. 
                loony game over, pointed out a vine that I could climb, showed 
                me to Funky&#146;s store where I bought a gun, showed me how to 
                aim and fire, and then basically took over the game until he suddenly 
                realized he already had a saved game which was much farther along 
                than mine. Two hours had passed and I just didn&#146;t want to 
                look at it anymore. I couldn&#146;t believe how disappointed I 
                was. </font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Still, 
                I hadn&#146;t yet played <b>Mario 64</b>. I figured it would be 
                like all of the other <b>Super Mario Bros. </b>games I used to 
                play as a kid...just plain and simple fun. True to form, I found 
                myself in the midst of a brightly colored cartoon world with my 
                pudgy little plumber buddy trying to save Princess Toadstool. 
                Maybe it&#146;s just my own perverted mind set, but I have to 
                wonder about the beginning of the game. The princess invites Mario 
                to her castle to eat a cake she just baked. Hmm...I wonder if 
                that&#146;s all he&#146;s going there for. Well, the dating habits 
                of video game characters aren&#146;t any of my business, so I&#146;ll 
                just let that thought die there.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Again, 
                I had some trouble navigating the 3-D landscape. Particularly 
                troublesome was the camera. I could never find the right angle. 
                Either I was too close or too far, and at times I couldn&#146;t 
                see Mario at all through the trees and hills. I also got dizzy, 
                which was a surprise because I thought my bouts with simulator 
                sickness were a thing of the past. And there was this one feeling 
                that I couldn&#146;t shake. Call it dejaz-vous if you want. I 
                just couldn&#146;t help but feel that I&#146;d played this game 
                before. Maybe I did, a couple of years ago on a visit to my brother 
                out west, but I doubt it. I didn&#146;t have to learn how to do 
                anything new. I could already jump, run, pick things up, climb, 
                and everything else. It was just intuitive. Within half an hour 
                I had pretty much gotten the hang of moving around, and in spite 
                of getting lost a few times, I managed to diffuse the big Bob-omb 
                in the first level and win a star. For the first time since I 
                began writing this column, I actually saved a game so that I could 
                return to it later. That was really a momentous occasion.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Still, 
                there are a couple of drawbacks (in my book) to <b>Mario 64</b>. 
                For one thing, those pesky camera angles. Maybe that&#146;s why 
                I got so dizzy, all that zooming in and out. But then there were 
                other things. The reason that I loved the old <b>Super Mario Bros. 
                </b>games is that they were so simple. You followed the screen 
                from left to right, jumping on enemies, hitting blocks, and collecting 
                coins. It was perfect simplicity. Although I like this next generation 
                of Mario games, I can&#146;t help but notice that in adapting 
                the game to new technology, its creators had to leave that element 
                of simplicity behind. And it&#146;s unfortunate. Not that this 
                is an extremely difficult game to play, but I just feel that there&#146;s 
                something lacking.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I guess 
                that old cliche is true. You can&#146;t go home again. You can 
                go to a place that looks like home, with familiar faces and names, 
                but something is always different. No matter how many improvements 
                developers make when they update old favorites to new tastes, 
                I can&#146;t help but feel that some of the spirit has been lost. 
                I&#146;ll never touch<b> Donkey Kong 64</b> again. And while <b>Mario 
                64</b> is a great game that I can&#146;t wait to continue playing, 
                I long for the old one. So I think I&#146;m just going to sit 
                in a corner tonight with my GameBoy Color and play <b>Super Mario 
                Bros.</b> until my thumbs hurt and it&#146;s past my bedtime.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p></p>
              <p></p>
              <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>-Heather 
                &quot;<a href="mailto:heatherhazel@eudoramail.com">elki</a>&quot; Haselkorn 
                actually enjoys this.</i></font> </p>
              <p align="left"></p>
            </loonystart>
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              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="index.php"><font color="#7C420E"><b><font size="+1">&lt;&lt;Prev</font></b></font></a></font>
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 2000 Dan Zalkus. Birth of a Gamer is &copy; 2000 Heather Haselkorn. All 
  other content is &copy; 2000 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction 
  is prohibited, you cartoonish villian, you.</font></i></p>
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