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writermags's review against another edition
2.0
It’s past midnight as I write this review, but I just wasted 2 weeks of my life reading this poor excuse for a book, and this needs to be said. Harsh? Maybe, but that’s nothing compared to the verbal abuse I suffered at the hands of the author.
Where do I begin?
From the beginning, the author comes off as pretentious, arrogant, and all around not the kind of guy I would want to be spending my free time with. In the introduction, he tells us how he sort of stumbled upon the position of writing about video games, and how he “studied video games in a way very few others have.” Has he ever even met a gamer?
I brushed this off initially, because let’s face it, a lot of video game writers tend to have this sort of tone. However, unlike reading a snarky article in GameInformer, Jeff Ryan made me feel excluded and inferior. I didn’t laugh along with him, I was insulted. (This probably wasn’t helped by his myriad of obscure references and metaphors – it felt like I was reading Ready Player One and being treated as a moron for not knowing the characters from [insert cult classic here]).
Not only was Ryan’s approach to his audience irritating, but he continually lost credibility throughout the book, making me wonder how much of his word I could actually rely on. I’ll concede that I don’t know much about Mario’s history (other than videos from Game Theory and Did You Know Gaming?), but I do know a lot about the Pokémon and Legend of Zelda franchises. Perhaps I was being nitpicky and defensive, but the more I noticed he got wrong about these series, the less I trusted his work as a whole.
When talking about the original Pokémon games that were released in Japan, he mentions that they were titled Red and Blue. Those were the originals in the United States, but in Japan, the first Pokemon games released were Red and Green. Blue was later released as an additional version, but when the games were brought to the states, Nintendo just released Red and Blue. Also, the games have more significant differences than the two characters (Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak) that Ryan mentions. In fact, only one of those characters is related to the games at all, and isn’t even a point of difference between the versions (190-191).
Ryan also demonstrates a clear misunderstanding of The Legend of Zelda franchise as a whole – as much as this book is about Mario, it is also about Nintendo, and you can’t talk about Nintendo without talking about its other flagship franchise. This is inexcusable.
“Link, on the other hand, is a teenager after the girl of his dreams.” (149)
Link, the Legendary Hero, did not save Hyrule just to be known as a teenager with a crush. The plot of these games are so much greater than that.
“But Zelda was never about plot.” (156)
Without repeating what I’ve already said above, this is garbage. He also goes on to say that the Zelda series is a “constant retelling” rather than a linear plotline of sequels. I suppose the truth isn’t necessarily common knowledge, but someone who writes about games for a living should probably have some level of understanding of how one of the most well-known and beloved video game franchises works.
Though this book did provide some interesting information, it was not an enjoyable read. If you want a look at gaming history in an entertaining way, you’d be better off reading something else (or watching some Did You Know Gaming? Videos).
Where do I begin?
From the beginning, the author comes off as pretentious, arrogant, and all around not the kind of guy I would want to be spending my free time with. In the introduction, he tells us how he sort of stumbled upon the position of writing about video games, and how he “studied video games in a way very few others have.” Has he ever even met a gamer?
I brushed this off initially, because let’s face it, a lot of video game writers tend to have this sort of tone. However, unlike reading a snarky article in GameInformer, Jeff Ryan made me feel excluded and inferior. I didn’t laugh along with him, I was insulted. (This probably wasn’t helped by his myriad of obscure references and metaphors – it felt like I was reading Ready Player One and being treated as a moron for not knowing the characters from [insert cult classic here]).
Not only was Ryan’s approach to his audience irritating, but he continually lost credibility throughout the book, making me wonder how much of his word I could actually rely on. I’ll concede that I don’t know much about Mario’s history (other than videos from Game Theory and Did You Know Gaming?), but I do know a lot about the Pokémon and Legend of Zelda franchises. Perhaps I was being nitpicky and defensive, but the more I noticed he got wrong about these series, the less I trusted his work as a whole.
When talking about the original Pokémon games that were released in Japan, he mentions that they were titled Red and Blue. Those were the originals in the United States, but in Japan, the first Pokemon games released were Red and Green. Blue was later released as an additional version, but when the games were brought to the states, Nintendo just released Red and Blue. Also, the games have more significant differences than the two characters (Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak) that Ryan mentions. In fact, only one of those characters is related to the games at all, and isn’t even a point of difference between the versions (190-191).
Ryan also demonstrates a clear misunderstanding of The Legend of Zelda franchise as a whole – as much as this book is about Mario, it is also about Nintendo, and you can’t talk about Nintendo without talking about its other flagship franchise. This is inexcusable.
“Link, on the other hand, is a teenager after the girl of his dreams.” (149)
Link, the Legendary Hero, did not save Hyrule just to be known as a teenager with a crush. The plot of these games are so much greater than that.
“But Zelda was never about plot.” (156)
Without repeating what I’ve already said above, this is garbage. He also goes on to say that the Zelda series is a “constant retelling” rather than a linear plotline of sequels. I suppose the truth isn’t necessarily common knowledge, but someone who writes about games for a living should probably have some level of understanding of how one of the most well-known and beloved video game franchises works.
Though this book did provide some interesting information, it was not an enjoyable read. If you want a look at gaming history in an entertaining way, you’d be better off reading something else (or watching some Did You Know Gaming? Videos).
interphantom's review against another edition
4.0
Easy read, but informative. I enjoyed his writing style and definitely learned a few new things.
csgiansante's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting read and would be curious to know the author's point of view on the last decade of game evolution.
dalefu's review against another edition
3.0
A few fun stories, but ultimately it felt like a poor-man's version of Console Wars, a book I'd easily recommend reading instead.
There were several errors stated as fact, which any gamer or industry veteran will immediately recognize as false (the author claims Bowser is the villain in Mario 2...)
The final chapter, written at the height of Wii mania and before the embarrassment of the Wii-U, has the author claiming movement controls are here to stay and are the future of gaming with Nintendo as the king. An understandable prediction at the time, but clearly not how things ended up playing out, no pun intended.
There were several errors stated as fact, which any gamer or industry veteran will immediately recognize as false (the author claims Bowser is the villain in Mario 2...)
The final chapter, written at the height of Wii mania and before the embarrassment of the Wii-U, has the author claiming movement controls are here to stay and are the future of gaming with Nintendo as the king. An understandable prediction at the time, but clearly not how things ended up playing out, no pun intended.
mattyftm's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyable read about the history of Nintendo. Some really interesting stuff in there. There are a couple of minor factual inacuracies (e.g. calling the DSiXL the "DSX" or WarioWare "WarioWario) that are really weird, but on the whole it's a great read.
rachbook86's review against another edition
5.0
I'm a huge fan of Mario. It was nice to get a bit of background