Forgotten Mario Games

In recent years, March has become defined for gamers by March 10th - a celebration of all things Mario (MAR.10).

To keep with this new tradition, R-CADE Glasgow has decided to make March a whole Mario month! To celebrate our favourite fictional Italian plumber, we’re ran a Nintendo themed quiz, and will be hosting a multi-platform Mario Kart tournament (March 16th) a family Mario Party (March 26th) and of course celebrating the main man all day throughout March 10th!

2023 is also the 40th anniversary of Mario Bros original arcade release! Over the years, across hundreds of titles, Mario has been a part of some iconic games and some truly random ones.

As a start to our Month of Mario celebrations, here’s five games you might have forgotten he made an appearance in.

Pinball (NES)

The base game features two screens that make up one pinball table. 

But! In the games bonus stage, the player controls Mario, running back and forth carrying a platform. This area is accessed by launching your marble into a particular section of the base level. 

A lady (Pauline) is suspended above by a false floor. Mario has to bounce the ball off of his platform so it passes through bingo lamps, removing blocks from the floor in the process. To complete the bonus level, once the platform has been destroyed, Mario has to catch the lady and bring her safely to one of the exits at either side of the stage.

Mario’s Time Machine (SNES)

In 1993 Nintendo released an education video game titled “Mario is Missing”, designed to help children learn about parts of the world, through a point and click adventure.

The team at Mario Discovery followed that with another title: Mario’s Time Machine. This would be their last game before this branch of Nintendo was disbanded.

Players learn about world history, controlling Mario as he returns stolen artifacts back where they belong. After returning each item, the player has to answer questions about its place in history, and the associated historical figure.

The original PC release was distributed through floppy disks, but there was a release on NES, SNES and a Deluxe version provided as a CD-ROM in 1994. This added voice acting and a Library reference file featuring Bowser's mother.

I am a teacher: Super Mario Sweater (Family Computer Disk)

Royal Industries Co., who produced sewing machines and other appliances in Japan, realised they could make money from a computer program that helped design sweaters.

This led to the development of “I am a teacher: Super Mario Sweater”, a sewing simulator where players would input their measurement sizes and design sweaters. They could add images of major Mario characters, including the titular plumber, his green brother, confusingly named pink love interest and spikey nemesis.

Released for the Family Computer Disk System on August 27, 1986, only in Japan, “I am a teacher: Super Mario Sweater”, it was the first of two Mario sewing games (the other being “Mario Family” available on the Game Boy Color).

Yoshi’s Safari (SNES)

“Yoshi's Safari” (“Yoshi's Road Hunting” in Japanese) was one of the few games to use the SNES's Super Scope light gun peripheral, while also being the Mario franchise first and so far the only dedicated rail shooting game.

Princess Peach asks Mario and Yoshi to save King Fret and Prince Pine, rulers of Jewelry Land - since invaded by King Bowser.

The in game enemies are Koopalings piloting mechs while also in charge of large groups of minions. 

NBA Street V3 (GameCube)

During the Nintendo GameCube era, the Japanese companies partnership with EA Sports led to the Mario crew ending up in a couple of uncommon situations.

NBA Street V3 (specifically the GameCube version) features Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach as playable characters, referenced as the "Nintendo All-Stars". The three also appeared in SSX on Tour as playable characters, along with a new race track called Nintendo Village. 

A basketball court based on the Mario franchise, named the Nintendo Court, is also featured in the GameCube version.

Mario’s had a varied career! If you want to take advantage of the loads of games that use his name, you can book time in our arcade through www.rcadeglasgow.com/bookonline

Important Changes At R-CADE Glasgow

We are very relieved to say that we are well and truly settled in to our new venue here at 121 Saltmarket. It has been a roller coaster 6 months since we dragged our retro collection across the road and welcomed everyone into our slightly larger home. We had a very worrying Christmas period with very little visitors but you all came to help us celebrate our fifth year of business in January and got us back on our feet!

We are now planning out our super exciting spring calendar here at R-CADE, but before we do we have to make a few changes. Starting in March we will have to increase our prices for arcade passes and parties. We would like to explain why:

When we moved to our new venue in July 2022 we kept our ticket prices to a minimum. Then October hit, with the absolutely horrendous energy prices affecting us all! Let me tell you that heating a larger venue and running power to all of the old CRT TV's and retro machines is not cheap to begin with! We knew that our customers were also affected by this added worry so we decided not to increase our prices and our business took quite a hit.

Now that the national minimum wage is about to increase on top of the skyrocketing energy cost we can't avoid changes any longer. If we were to keep our prices the same for everything we would not be able to survive more than a few more months. We have thought long and hard about how we can increase prices enough to keep us running without affecting our customers too harshly, so we have made the following changes which will take effect from March 1st:

The All Ages Arcade Pass & Quiet Time Arcade Pass: From March onward these will now be available at two price points, £7.50 for ages 5 - 7 (inclusive) and £9 for ages 8 and above.

Gamers under 5 play for free as always and we still offer free passes for carers and support workers (please contact us for a discount code if this applies).

Private Bookings: Our private party prices will increase a little too. For an arcade only booking the new price will be £140 per hour for up to 15 guests.

The price for a full venue booking will now be £390 for two hours but we will be increasing capacity for full venue bookings from 25 to 30 guests.

The reason we have been able to increase capacity is because we have added more seating in our cafe area. This does not mean that 30 people can fit into the arcade area at one time!

R-CADE Lates: The new price for a 3 hour Lates pass will now be £18. This was a very difficult decision but with the hourly price increasing to £9 we had to adjust this accordingly. As always Lates does unlock our full games collection without age restrictions and includes special events and such perks as quiz night prizes and giveaways etc. Starting in March we are pleased to announce that we will also be hosting special over 18’s events every Thursday too. Check our events page for details.

Corkage fees will remain the same price and our cafe menu will not increase either, but we are keeping an eye on possible price hikes in the food industry (fingers crossed no more increases please!)

We have always been extremely cautious about our pricing and we always want to make sure that everyone can have a fun and affordable experience here at R-CADE. Remember that our cafe is open Thursdays and Fridays from 12-7pm too, so even if you are in town and would like to hang out at R-CADE with a cuppa and a free board game we would very much appreciate the support and the company!

We can’t thank you all enough for your support and helping us to grow this amazing wee community. Every arcade pass, cup of coffee and keyring purchased helps us continue to share this space with everyone. Keep it up gamers! You can book arcade passes from HERE and read about our party packages HERE

R-CADE Goes Old School For 5th Birthday!

This year we reach a very important milestone here at R-CADE. On January 20th we will be celebrating 5 years of our little gaming haven, can you believe it!? To mark this very special occasion we will be digging out our blazers, packing our lunch boxes and sharpening our pencils for a Back To School extravaganza! As we turn 5 years old it's time to party like we are in primary 5! We have created a whole bunch of exciting events for you to join in the fun this month, all with a little nostalgic twist! School uniforms are encouraged, playground toys will be provided and a whole month of throwback fun is guaranteed. Check out our upcoming events below:

Saturday 7th at 7pm (+18) Back To School Quiz: Get those revision books out as we take you through 6 rounds of some old school subjects. Every team will win a prize so no one goes home empty handed!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday 20th-22nd from 12pm

To celebrate 5 whole years of R-CADE, our family friendly retro game sessions will be reduced to £5 for the whole weekend! over 1800 video games and dozens of retro consoles to play for only a fiver! (t&c's apply)

Saturday 21st at 4:40pm Join us for a bumper retro gaming session at R-CADE. This school party is suitable for the whole family, and school uniforms are encouraged as we will have a photo station ready to get your school pics taken! We are digging out the old Pogs, Beyblades, yoyos and other classic playground toys too!

Saturday 21st at 7pm (+18)

We keep the fun going with our over 18's school disco. Cheesy pop tunes will be blasting, the photo station will be in full swing and everyone can enjoy some birthday cake!

Saturday 28th at 7pm (+18)

To finish off our spectacular month of events, we will have our very awesome pals from Roll Wi' It hosting a very special one shot D&D campaign. There will be a school theme so make sure to dig out those shirts and ties!

But wait! There's more...

For the whole month of January, every gamer who books into our arcade for some retro gaming will get up to 15% off everything in our retail store. You don't need a discount code, just show us your booking confirmation at the till and we will get you discounted!

We will also be running little in store competitions and giveaways throughout the month too, so make sure to visit our cafe or book in for some retro gaming this month!

It's been a hectic 5 years, we have gone through a pandemic, expansion, new staff, thousands of video games, hundreds of board games, two floods, one smashed window and a visit from a cat! We hope you can come and celebrate with us this month as we want to thank you all for supporting us for so long! Visit our website HERE for events, bookings and venue info. Game on!