Many of you may be aware already, but March 10 is Mario Day! Maybe you’ll break out one of the 200+ games featuring Mario (no doubt Nintendo will have deals on a few), watch the Super Mario Bros. Super Show or read some Super Mario Bros. comics . No matter how you celebrate the day, you’ll be spending time with a character who has a long history and background. Your first experience with our favorite plumber may have been in Donkey Kong , Donkey Kong Jr. (the only game where Mario plays the villain) or the original Mario Bros . My first Mario experience, as is probably the case with many of you, was with Super Mario Bros. on the NES. Mario had already appeared in 21 games by this point, but it wasn’t really until Super Mario Bros. that audiences saw the character we recognize today. To celebrate the character of Mario, in true Never Say Dice fashion, let's talk about the story within that game. Think about the first time you sat down with that legendary game: Super Mario Bros.

This Tuesday, I turn 40. I share a birthday with both Lou Reed and Dr. Seuss, a legacy I’m doing my best to look up to. Needless to say, there will be no big birthday bash, no retrogames with friends, no late-night Dio singalongs. It hasn’t exactly been the way I pictured exiting my thirties. But, as I’ve said before, the best thing to come out of the past year is this very blog and the opportunities it gives me to both explore the media I enjoy and to share my discoveries with an audience. For the past few years, it’s been my goal to have something published by the time I hit 40 (curse you, 20 Under 40 story collection!), and, even though it’s in a way I never anticipated, my dream has come true. Never Say Dice has had more readers than I ever could have imagined when Andy and I started this endeavor a year ago, and it’s helped me regain a confidence in my writing that I haven’t felt since college - even if that still seems like it was just yesterday! Nonetheless, the event looming b

"The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative. The history of the capitalist era is characterized by the degradation of my people." - Paul Robeson, Speech in Support of the Spanish Republic (1937) The fact that the modern reactionary surge initially coalesced around an angry reaction to video games (and, significantly, how those games are criticized) might be seen as a darkly comedic indictment of our society. "I can't believe that history books will have to start this chapter with something as stupid as 'Gamergate'," goes the refrain, both presuming electronic gaming to be of lesser cultural value and ignoring the history of reactionary elements targeting new media and the voices it elevates. Comparisons between angry internet rants and Nazi attacks on impressionism and Jazz feel much less hyperbolic following the events of January 6. I've even seen "degenerate," the

Happy New Year from both of us here at Never Say Dice. For many, this is the time of year for reflection and setting goals. It's time for New Year resolutions. A lot of people set themselves up to kick a bad habit. Some use it to start a new healthy habit. Others have lofty goals to reach, like being able to hug their families again or to geting a new job. Remember when setting your goals to make them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). Whatever goals you are setting, smart or not, don’t beat yourself up if you aren't able to achieve them! Many start, many fail. As we often say here at Never Say Dice, trying is the first step to failure. For our part though, here are the Never Say Dice resolutions for 2021! - A A : My first goal for 2021 is to play in at least a one-shot TTRPG, if not a regular campaign, and I'd like this to happen by September. I'd prefer to do this with friends, but may have to settle for getting out of my comfort zone

I’ve recently come to the ending (such as it is) of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain . I’d been putting it off for a while, with a whole range of reasonable excuses. I need to play Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance first! I need to make more progress in Peace Walker - sure, I’ve made it to both endings, but not the Monster Hunter missions! I can’t hog the PS3, it’s our main household media device! And I don’t have the time for a game that size, anyway… Maybe I was scared by the reviews and references I had come across - did I want to delve into the final installment of my all-time favorite game series and be disappointed? One by one, though, they all fizzled. We got a PS4, so I was able to spirit its predecessor off to my desk for solo gaming whenever I have a chance… which meant I was able to play Revengeance ... and plow away at Peace Walker until I got sick of failing to take out that damn Attack Chopper (Custom) over and over. And finally… there was COVID. I should mention an a

 "This holiday is yours, but we all share with you the hope that this day brings us closer to freedom, and to harmony, and to peace. No matter how different we appear, we're all the same in our struggle against the powers of evil and darkness. I hope that this day will always be a day of joy in which we can reconfirm our dedication and our courage. And more than anything else, our love for one another. This is the promise of the Tree of Life." - Princess Leia Organa Andy : The Star Wars Holiday Special is something of a dark legend in nerd culture. Airing only once, November 17, 1978 on CBS, it was a quick attempt to cash in on the popularity of the original movie, released a year prior. Almost universally, it's agreed that the special is a horrible abomination. Copies of it have been historically difficult to find, as it was never rebroadcast or officially released. However, you might track down a copy on a torrent site or streaming video. Personally, I’ve seen enou

Good morning, if it is a good morning (to you) when you’re reading this. I certainly hope it’s a morning to be good on. Or at the very least, I wish you a good morning, whatever time you’ve decided to open this post. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that my son and I last left off our Hobbit adventures as Bilbo, Thorin and Company were escaping the Elf King’s Halls by hiding in some barrels. You can debate as to whether that was the best idea on my previous post. Now, we come to the end of our journey: Smaug. You’re probably saying to yourself right now, “Smaug isn’t the end! Are you crazy?” You’d be right, although I may, indeed, be crazy. The ending is the gathering of the five armies and what happens between Bilbo and the Dwarves. The final resolution in the story before our hero makes his journey home. Think back to your first reading of the book, or perhaps the first time you were with someone as they saw or listened to an adaptation, or maybe as someone listened in ex

Bugsy : While it may appear that we chose this topic to get out of talking about this year’s cancellation of Free Slurpee Day , this is actually something we’ve been meaning to cover since first starting the blog, and Andy’s finally given in to my whining agreed to go with it this week: video games. Or, if you prefer, “electronic gaming” - I know that some people go for this more inclusive term that removes implied platform limitations. We both grew up around various consoles and systems, and (unsurprisingly) have developed a few strong opinions over the years. The COVID-19 pandemic has also given us each an excuse opportunity to delve a bit more into the medium recently, and we thought this would be a good time to discuss the way electronic gaming fits into our lives as working adults and how they influence our approaches to tabletop gaming and storytelling in general. Andy : If you asked my mother (my mom thinks I’m cool!), she’d probably inform you that my first experience with el

Ian Holm's last film role was in 2014's The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies but he's made a surprise appearance in the past few months thanks to a meme that popped up with the COVID-19 lockdown referencing 1979's Alien , and one of Holm's most well-known roles. Of course, many (including myself) pointed out that the movie was even more relevant to the current situation than than the meme suggests: Ash brings the infected Kane onto the ship based on secret corporate orders, fully aware of the horror this will result in. Right around the time this meme first appeared, we began to hear calls for immediate "reopening," and that the countless resulting deaths would be a small price to pay for the good of America's corporate elite. Had Alien writer Dan O'Bannon given the character that kind of dialogue, ("The crew are expendable, but consider the good your sacrifice will do the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and its shareholders.") he would have