Remember Mario? Of course you do. He's the short, stocky, Italian guy in the red overalls who breaks bricks with his head and grows taller when he eats a magic mushroom.

Most college students cramped up their thumbs for the first time playing "Super Mario Bros." and "The Legend of Zelda."

They've wondered how exactly the gun in "Duck Hunt" works, and maybe even tried to find ways around it.

Some still even put the Xbox away once in a while and pull out the old-school Nintendo Entertainment System.

Whether you're a long-time gamer or not, one thing is clear: Nintendo hasn't made a comeback, it never went away.

Most of those who play Nintendo games don't just play them for the nostalgia, they play them because they're back to the root of gaming: fun.

"Lots of people grew up playing the original, hence all the classic gamer shirts with Nintendo controllers that are seen on people," said Dustin Olson, a UAF graduate.

Most gamers, when asked, said that their favorite Nintendo game was "Super Mario 3."

"'Super Mario 3' is the greatest game ever invented," said John Vainikka, a student at the lan party DeathNet two weeks ago. "Ever."

When asked his favorite game to play for nostalgia's sake, Olson answers, "Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3."

While the Mario Bros. tended to dominate preference, one student at the lan party DeathNet had a differing opinion. Joseph Weiss, a junior Japanese major, prefers "Godzilla 2."

While those unfamiliar with it might automatically think that a game based on a movie wouldn't be that great, he says that it was a great game of strategy.

Weiss, who was playing Super Nintendo at DeathNet, prefers it to the Nintendo.

"In my opinion, Super Nintendo has aged a lot better than Nintendo," and he still prefers the SNES to newer consoles.

Although Super Mario Bros. was released in 1985, before many college students were born, it still ranked No. 1 on both Electronic Gaming Monthly's "200 Greatest Games of Their Time," and IGN's list of top 100 video games in 2003 and 2005.

The EGM article mentions that "'Super Mario Bros.' bred a generation of Nintendo fanboys-4-life," which explains the popularity of Nintendo character and controller shirts, posters, and other random stuff.

Olson said he plays Nintendo for nostalgia mostly, and not because he prefers it over newer games.

"I like it occasionally, not more or less than," he said.

Also an employee at Game Stop, Olson is excited to see Nintendo's new console, the Wii.

It features wireless, one-handed, motion-detecting controller, far different from any console we're used to.

The Wii, released in November, is in hot competition with Sony's new Playstation 3, which was released two days earlier.

Initial Internet buzz indicated that some retailers had already sold out of PS3s, but would likely have Wiis in stock to customers who had not reserved them beforehand.

The imbalance of stock doesn't come from a simple cause-and-demand issue. According to an article on GameSpot.com, Sony planned on distributing 400,000 consoles to North America, while Nintendo intended to have 1 million consoles ready for North America on launch day.

Demand was evident at Fred Meyer on Nov. 18, around 10, a line had already formed near one of the entrances, with many parka-clad enthusiasts braving the minus 20 night waiting for Fred Meyer's one hour opening for the Wii. When asked what would happen if the entrance at the opposite end of the store opened first, one jokingly replied, "They'd probably have a riot on their hands."

Dan Bruington, a senior computer arts major, was expecting to be playing the Wii that night; one of his friends was going to buy one at opening.

He is glad that Nintendo is being innovative and trying new things, especially with a revolutionary wireless controller with less buttons.

He mentioned that the controllers for most of the newer game consoles, Xbox, PS2, and Game Cube, have nearly identical controllers, all with two joystick buttons, trigger buttons, and buttons on top, whether they're the A button or the circle button.

"The new one is finally taking things in a different direction," he said.

Bruington also thinks that Nintendo is less about "money-grubbing" and all about game play, as opposed to other companies, and pointed out that many games, even for other systems would be compatible with the Wii, and that there were maybe three games being released for the PlayStation 3.

Bruington said that Nintendo is going back to simpler, funner games.

"This is a big step in that direction."

While the world of gaming is ever-evolving, you can still bet that every once in a while, someone is going to put down that wireless Wii or Xbox controller and go back to a game of "Contra" or "Duck Hunt," just to take them back to the days when games' thrills were simpler. Playing Nintendo games is about the simplicity and fun, Bruington said, and not having to hit ten different buttons to do one thing.

Most games for earlier systems had to be good because they had to make a profit off of every game, he said, which isn't the case with a game being released for nearly every popular movie.

As far as how the "Duck Hunt" gun works, Bruington says, "I still don't know."

Whether he knows how it works or not, it's still fun to play.