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Why I Picked Mario For My Guinness Record
After our Smash Bros. Guinness Record was beaten by two hours at E3, I decided we had to immediately get to work at obtaining another record. Guinness representatives were at the show, so I started discussing the idea of setting multiple world records simultaneously. It's been a couple months since the initial conversation, and we're ready to set six Guinness World Records over the weekend of August 6-7.
My record will be a new category: "Longest Video Games Marathon Playing Mario Games." This includes anything with Mario in the title, so his wealth of sports games, party games, and kart-racing games will all be options for my marathon. However, my plan is to mostly stick to the main series. (side note: click here for my top ten Mario games of all time)
I've beaten every core Mario game (most of them several times), and I've always shot for 100%. I finished all 96 stages in Super Mario World, beat Super Mario Bros. 3 more times than I can count (once as a Super Replay), and collected every star and shine in Sunshine and the Galaxy games. However, one achievement I've never completed is collecting all 120 stars in Super Mario 64.
Because of that, Mario's 3D debut will be the first game I focus on. I want to get every star, and I'm not entirely sure how long it'll take me. I have to play these games for at least 24 hours to get into the record book, and I imagine my N64 attempt will take up a good chunk of that time. If I need a break, I have Super Mario Bros. 1-3, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Sunshine, Galaxy 1 and 2, the Mario Karts, the Mario Partys, the Mario sports games, and even Super Mario RPG as options. However, I'd imagine the large majority of my time will be spent with Mario 64 and possibly some time with the 2D games.
I'm really looking forward to this attempt, even moreso than the infamous Smash Bros. ordeal. With that attempt, we were confined to one game that got very repetitive over time. This time, I have a collection of some of the best games of all time that I can switch between at will. Hitting the minimum 24-hour mark shouldn't be a problem, and I wouldn't be surprised if I feel like going several hours past. We'll see how things pan out this weekend.
Be sure to read write-ups from the rest of the team explaining their choices: Jeff Cork on Grand Theft Auto IV, Ben Reeves on Metal Gear Solid, Tim Turi on Resident Evil, and Phil Kollar on Final Fantasy.
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