Super Mario

My love for the Mario franchise started with a SNES when I was little. Even if I only had a few games I loved it and was one of my favorite pastimes. My favorite games was the Donkey Kong Country series and of course Super Mario Bros! I had the three Donkey Kong games which I played a lot together with my little brother. Even tough we were not that good at them and sometimes needed help from one of our older neighbor kids to finish a course. Of the Mario games I only owned Super Mario All-Star. Even though it being a remake of the three original Super Mario Bros games and the lost levels it was brilliant! I could play all of them in one which I thought was cool. So for just owning one Mario game I think it was then best one.

Still works after all this years

But one game that really made me love the Mario franchise was Super Mario World which I borrowed from a friend. Yoshi just stole my 8 year old heart away. I loved the soundtrack to the game and still do! It was just such a fun and colorful game to play. Even if I did not get very far (I thought it was pretty hard if I remember correctly). I could not borrow it forever so I was sad when I had to return it. It's one game I still would love to add to my collection.

Yoshi I made with mini Hama beads

At that point I was pretty hooked on the Mario games. So when we saw the Nintendo64 me and my bother was thrilled. It surely is the best and most played console I have ever owned. To be able to play four players even if the screen was small was just so much fun. Super Mario 64 was at that point the best game I had ever played! But to be honest there were a lot of awesome games for the N64 for example the James Bond games. I really loved to play that with friends, even if me and my brother played it a lot just the two of us. But it is with four players that the game really shines. I had both Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough. Both of them are excellent and so much fun. Of course if your in to multiplayer games and Mario you could not own a N64 and not have Mario Kart and Mario Party! I ended up playing Mario Kart so much I started playing it with my feet instead just so it could give me a new challenge.

Mini garden made by me with Hama Beads

Two of my retro game coasters also have two mushroom coasters
and a bunch from other games

After that I did not play that many other Mario games for some time. But then the Nintendo Wii Mario Anniversary Edition released I new that I really had to get it! With it I got Super Mario Bros Wii. It's a game in a similar style to the old bros games. Except with a lot of new features. I have played it a bunch but mostly with friends. The game is so messed up with four players that it is hilarious (due to player collision). I might not play Mario Games that much anymore and I have yet not tried Super Mario Galaxy (gasp!). Instead I do Mario crafts. So this week I finished up my second Mario related painting. The first one I did was a big painting of the first part of the first course in Super Mario Bros 3. I used both mini Hama beads and acrylic paint on a canvas that is 70 x 50 cm (about 27.5 x 20 inches). It took me a lot of hours to complete but I am so happy with it. I could not wish for a better piece of art on the wall above the sofa. 

My first Mario theme painting

Close up of Mario

So after completing such a big painting I was pretty reluctant to paint for sometime. Even if I painted other things it did take a long time before I felt like doing another Mario painting. This time I knew I wanted to make something smaller and from another Mario game. So I chose to do a painting of a painting! Specifically a painting from Super Mario 64. So my goal is to make a set of four world paintings of the courses 1-4. So as I said I have just finished the painting for the first course Big Bob-omb On The Summit and are working on the others. They are much smaller only 15 cm (or about 6 inches) wide square painted with acrylic painting. I´m so pleased with the first painting. Hope you like it to!

Big Bob-omb On The Summit