In Super Mario Bros.

So, in playing a whole lot of Super Mario Bros. 3 today, I thought to myself "Where do those fireballs come from, and why is it a flower, and not some cool fireball thing?" If some one could help me, I'd be very greatful. Thanks!

I remember when I was little I used to call it fire spit. Those Fireballs seem to eminate from his nose for some reason.

Yeah, it does look that way. It was really bothering be as to why I couldn't figure out where the fire was coming from. Does anyone no the reason it is a flower and not something cooler?

The reason it is a flower is simple! You see, when you get the object in question, the pollen emanates into your body and.... ah heck, who am I kidding! Poor choice in game design!!!

Games back then didn't have to make sense. Almost all early video games were pretty surreal, whether it was due to the capabilities of the hardware of the time, the general idea of what video games themselves were capable of communicating, or just poor game design.

Picking up a flower doesn't make any less sense than picking up a floating icon.

That's why the video games of yester-year were awesome. They didn't have to make sense to be fun. Like say, for instance Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Who really wants to just play out the life of a criminal. It's far too realistic. That's why I'm a platform gamer. Platform games don't have to make sense to be fun. Like Mario! Yay Platformers!

Back when game design was actually something, and there was creative minds behind the games, they were more than "Hey let's go steal stuff". They were things you couldn't do in reality. And due to hardware limitations, in order to get into a game, you actually had to use your imagination to get into the game, in turn, making you get more into the game.

I think there's an easy reason for the flower. It's the same reason why Mario has a cap and a beard.
It's because of the "displayability". If they made something "cool", probably you wouldn't have recognized it because of the poor graphics.
So they made it a flower, which can easily be recognized.

And the fireballs DO come out of Mario's nose.

That's why the video games of yester-year were awesome. They didn't have to make sense to be fun. Like say, for instance Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Who really wants to just play out the life of a criminal. It's far too realistic. That's why I'm a platform gamer. Platform games don't have to make sense to be fun. Like Mario! Yay Platformers!

Back when game design was actually something, and there was creative minds behind the games, they were more than "Hey let's go steal stuff". They were things you couldn't do in reality. And due to hardware limitations, in order to get into a game, you actually had to use your imagination to get into the game, in turn, making you get more into the game.

I hate GTA games. They just contribute to the stupid fad of glorifying the ghetto.

I couldn't agree more. My 16 year old brother is obsessed with GTA. It's all he ever talks about. He doesn't seem to realize that by bying sthese needlessly crappy, ghetto games, he's just giving in to the corporate bullcrap that is modern video gaming. Where'd the love go?

The ghetto is not good. You send some of these so called "gamers" to the ghetto, and see how they make out. It won't be pleasent. I bet the would probably never want to play GTA again.

I hate GTA games. They just contribute to the stupid fad of glorifying the ghetto.

GTA can be fun, but it gets old really fast. It certainly has more playability than many of the modern games I've played...


--
Derek

Yeah, I love retro gaming, but I don't completely write off what's available on the shelves now. The GTA games are open-ended, fun to play, and written and acted very well. If the games glorified the mob lifestyle but weren't fun to play, they wouldn't be successful. Just look at all the clones GTA has spawned that fail miserably.

I play what's fun, not what I can relate with.

I like Super Monkey Ball and Feel the Magic (DS) just as much as I like the GTA series or Splinter Cell for example. That also doesn't mean that I expect photorealistic graphics, fully orchestrated music, and big name voice actors, either, though. I still love to sit down with my NES and play some Baseball Stars or Journey to Silius.

Yeah i agree wit u,he held dis flower in his hand and can shoot fire...somehow. i understand how the cape makes him fly but then he eats a mushroom and doubles in size or gets a leaf and turns into a raccon.

I remember watching the Cartoon and in one episode, the Mushroom actually got hold of one of these flowers, i can't remember whether he ate it, after that fireballs started to appear in his hand, he could shoot them and another one would appear.

I guess this is the actual story behind the Flower.
The appearing out of his nose is probably due to bad design. I am sure they meant from the hand.

The leaf thing is because Tanooki's (ie kind of racoonish) in japanese mythology use leaves to shape shift... and the mushroom I heard was because Shigeru was heavily influenced by Alice in Wonderland (she eats mushrooms and changes size)...

But the flower... I have no idea

I always thought his hand popped up really quickly and shot the fireballs, im pretty sure u can see this in all the Mario Brothers games if u look real close.

Also to me it looked like he just popped his hand out real quick and shot the ball from his hand but hey, its 8 bit graphics nothing has to be realistic