The VC Advantage: A Very Special Anniversary Edition

by JC Fletcher { Nov 21st 2007 at 5:00PM }

The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

It's another special celebration this week at Wii Fanboy, and we thought that we would do something special in this week's VC Advantage, involving one of the most iconic Virtual Console games -- in fact, one of the most iconic video games of all time. Even though Super Mario Bros. didn't come out in the U.S. until Christmas, it's the canonical Nintendo game and thus seems like a perfect candidate for the Wii anniversary week VCA.

Two (more) caveats before we delve into our subject matter: first, we'd like to bring up the point that not all secrets are cheats, and not all are intentional. Some of the most interesting discoveries in video games were put in there totally by accident, or are the result of someone's imagination. Second, the images and subject matter of today's VCA are as not safe for work as unaltered Super Mario Bros. footage can be.

The Kintamario

In 1-2, or any other level in which you can get on top of the line of blocks acting as an upper screen boundary, you can perform a puerile visual gag that makes Mario resemble a tanuki, but not in the same way that Super Mario Bros. 3's Tanooki Suit did. Simply position the coin in the coin display between Mario's legs. The coin's "flashing" color is the same as Mario's skin tone, so Mario will appear to have a rounded protuberance between his legs. That's right, Kintamario is a portmanteau consisting of the words kintama 'balls, testicles' and Mario. Oh, how clever!

The Unkomario

This equally childish gag uses the same setup: positioning Mario in front of the coin icon. If you then crouch, it sort of looks like Mario is defecating, right there on the bricks! "Take that, bricks," we imagine Mario saying, "maybe next time, you'll just give me the star instead of making me beat it out of your friend over there." Unko means 'feces', of course!

Something as ridiculously silly can only be funny to children, right? Maybe not. Check out 9-Volt and 18-Volt's intro video from Wario Ware: Smooth Moves and see if you see anything familiar. Apparently someone at Intelligent Systems thinks it's funny too!

We like stuff like this not only because we're giggling man-children, but because we like the idea of finding new ways to enjoy our games. This is user-created content, right here.

Tags: hurr, kintamario, mario, nes, poop, super-mario-bros, supermariobros, unkomario, vcadvantage

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Mr Khan @ Nov 21st 2007 5:33PM

Probably the first VC advantage that didn't restate something (although in a nice, non-ghetto site, unlike Cheat Code Central, silent shudder) that you could get somewhere else

Yeah its childish, but in a good way

JC Fletcher @ Nov 21st 2007 9:46PM

I feel you on the restating. Everyone knows GameFAQs exists and that codes are available there. But I think that VCA has value not just in giving you readily available codes, but a) letting you know about secrets in games you may not have thought about, and b) presenting them in a very magazine-like column format. Mainly I hope it's just an interesting read. But your mileage may vary.