Boo (SMB3)

"Boo" Diddly was the name given to these ghosts in the instruction manual for Super Mario Bros. 3.   Should the quotation marks be around "Boo," or rather, "Diddly?"  He and Morton Koopa Jr. seem to have Americanized joke names given to them during localization.  I enjoy going back and rereading the descriptions of things in the instruction manuals for NES games, mainly because they tend to butcher whatever carefully created backstory the Japanese original may have had.   The American manuals tend to just take a bunch of the cool cartoon artwork and just jumble it around.  

Of course, Boos show up just about everywhere afterwards, so you've surely seen them whilst playing Mario Kart, or pretty much anything Mario has his name in.  Boy, there are a lot of Mario games.  But since he shows up in a misty spooky mansion most of the time, he seems about right for a Halloween post.  That, and I almost forgot to post something in the first place.  Whew, I'm done, with only a few hours to spare....

Bub (Bubble Bobble - NES)

There is a green dinosaur in Bubble Bobble.  And yet I never played this game as a kid.  There is a blue one as well (his name is Bob).  They were always around when I was playing Bust-A-Move in college, cranking that bubble shooter, but since that was more of a puzzle, Tetris-like game, I hardly paid attention to their cutesy antics.  Time to play catch-up....

After reading reviews about this game, it seemed like a nice two-player option, of which I'm sorely lacking on my NES.  What do you expect from an only child? Well, after picking up a decently preserved cartridge, I could see why I missed it.  This game is infinitely more fun with two players.  It would be pretty boring and repetitive otherwise.  You could end up playing this all night if you aren't keeping track of the time.  If it weren't for the ridiculous jump in difficulty when you reach the end boss, we might have even finished it. Although, I doubt a game this simplistic has much of an ending.  Still, it's been an enjoyable purchase, and perfect for playing a few rounds (or more), and not getting too stressed about dying too much.  Though, I really want to know why it's so hard to beat that last boss....