Super Mario Bros. is now 40 years old. To celebrate this big anniversary, Omar looks back over four decades of gaming's greatest verb and/or noun...

When's the last time you jumped?

Maybe when hopping from a kerb over an autumn puddle. Maybe bouncing up and down to House of Pain or that Blackpink song . Maybe you literally 'jump into bed' and enjoy the squeak of the mattress landing. All of this is commendable.

But in games jumps are a magic trick, alive with aftertouch even once airborne. Each one seems to thicken space with mid-jump control and momentum management - a micro flight, temporarily free. Rocketing up, space-jump high, but then that grounding downtug. And that’s just Mario 1-1.

Of course, jumping in games isn't always that, or only that. Jumping is one of the best

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