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Today, Mario Legacy celebrates it's 2nd
anniversary! While it hasn't been the greatest of all
years, it's still something to take note of! There's not
a whole lot of sites that can make 2 years and still be
active, so it's definitely worth the
mention! As I always do, let's take a stroll down memory
lane (oh man is that cliche) to revisit where we've
been. Here's the year in review!
The
year started out with a bang 3 weeks after the site
tuned 1. On July 31, 2007, we managed to collect our
100th piece into the Fan Works sections! That was really
great because ML was so much more than a information
site. Actually, our fan sections, specifically Fan Art,
were some of the most popular sections throughout the
whole site! In fact, the Fan Art page cracked the top 15
most viewed pages most months.
Our next big thing came in late August, the 28th to be
exact. With the success of our Character Profiles
section, we decided to add a sister page: Area Profiles!
The first profile added was The Forest Maze from Super
Mario RPG, and they became a hit. We actually had a lot
of requests as to the order to do them in. The section
didn't really expand at the fastest rate ever seen, but
it was nice to have.
A
month later, something special happened. After hearing
it from the Message Board members that I wasn't going to
be able to do what I promised, I did it anyways. On
September 24, 2007, we had our single largest update
ever. In total, a full 88 pages were added to the site -
really, it was a truly remarkable update. Ok, so it
wasn't necessarily the greatest pieces of content ever
added, but to have that much added in 1 update is pretty
good. I bet Hisak still remembers that quite well.
Part of the update was the so called Brawl Report, which
we took a lot of heat on. The Brawl Report consisted of
numerous signs that pointed to Square-Enix somehow being
involved in Brawl. Of course, we can now say that they
weren't. It turned out that the report was wrong due to
the source: The person who leaked it to us, despite
being credible in some other things related to Brawl
inclusions, was completely wrong in giving us this info.
Still, it was worth a try.
Surprisingly, at the time, there wasn't a whole lot of
reaction to the Brawl Report, so we didn't have much
until October 19. Bramble Blast was announced as a song
in Brawl. Ok, that's nothing big to anyone else, I just
love that song. And I am mentioning it here just because
I can. But yeah, don't worry, I'll stop now =P
A
little 2 weeks later, Super Mario Legacy introduced Game
Challenges to the site. Well, they weren't quite that
original, since I originally ran a whole site about
them, but they were minimized into their own section.
They actually were quite popular if looked at by the
number of challenges we had. I let that section kind of
drift which never really gave it a fair chance. All and
all though, it was a great section to add and was one of
our unique ideas.
Not a whole lot happened after that for a little while.
There was just a whole lot of steady updating with a
bunch of new content additions for the next 2 months or
so. The week after the new year was the next big thing:
Our week long Comic Series Marathon took place! Each day
a new comic was added, and it single handedly revived
the comic series in terms of the amount of viewers.
Maybe they weren't the best comics in the series, but a
lot of people started to read them again.
Some news soundtracks and such were added after that,
but nothing major occurred until mid winter. On February
20, 2008, Super Mario Legacy reached 1,000,000 page
views! This was a major landmark for the site and
actually surprised a lot of people. It was kind of like
the day where we really established ourself as one of
the major Mario sites behind the likes of Tmk and Smbhq.
Truly, 1,000,000 is a special number!
A
month later, our next major addition was added. In light
of the success of the Comic Series, I decided that we
may as well try and go the fan fiction route. Our own
site-wide fan fiction, Super Mario Legacy High School,
was started. It was based loosely around another
infamous fan fiction series, Metroid High School, and
was a highly satirical account. We only got one chapter
done before it was stopped (see below), and that chapter
ended up being re-written (this version was never
released) anyways.
...And that's kind of where it all fell apart.
Quite honestly, I could go into what happened, but I'm
not going to. I probably should because regardless of
whether I like it or not, it is part of the year in
review. But I'm not going to. For those who weren't here
when it happened, it goes like this: The Message Board
members and I no longer got along due to a
misunderstanding, and together on both sides, a chain
reaction which led to the site being closed. May 10 was
the day.
And for a while, the site was closed. The Blacklist, a
collection of names I wrote out to for a final send off
was made, though few people saw it before the site was
reopened and the Blacklist was removed. And why I
reopened it will remain a secret because quite honestly,
if I explain it, I will have to compromise someone's
privacy to fully give the details. It was just reopened,
simple as that.
Since then, well, nothing's gone right, and it doesn't
look like anything will continue to go right. All the
sections involving the members of the board were
removed, and only 2 pieces of content were added.
Actually, those pieces were done right before the
closing, so essentially, no new pieces have been created
or added.
And that brings us to today and the future. Today was
supposed to be a happy and celebratory occasion, but
unfortunately for myself, it just really isn't. I do not
like to be associated with Sml after the disaster it's
turned into, and the experience Sml has given me has
literally caused me to change my life plans. For
example, I no longer go to college for web design. It
has also negatively impact the way I interact with
people - friends and fans alike.
The future of the site...well, I just don't know. While
I would like to try and do some reconciliation with
myself, those involved, and those who were unfairly
afflicted (mainly the fans), the point remains that the
site can no longer be what it was. We were so, so unique
compared to other sites, but it just can't be that site
anymore. My motivation has literally been taken away
from me by some people, and I have literally started to
develop a hatred for it.
I
see 2 months. The site's already paid for until this day
next year, but in terms of activity, well, I just can't
see if going longer. Not to say that I'm doing it
intentionally (because in reality, I'm not), I seriously
struggle to make something of it. Essentially, something
needs to happen that tells me, "you know what, it's
worth doing something online again." I just don't know
what that is, and unfortunately, I see nothing of the
sort upcoming.
I've already tried to take step 1 into developing a
fresh start. Unfortunately, only, 3 people know what
that is (which I hope they do NOT tell others), but the
rest will find out. It's a new year for the site. While
I can't see much progression, I'm hoping for less and
less regression. But we can't run from our past, so
we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.
As
said in one of my favorite songs ever: "From bonfires of
trust to flashfloods of pain"
Like last year, here's a comic to "celebrate" the
anniversary. Unfortunately, it just seems like there's
nothing to celebrate. We thank the few and far between
who've supported us throughout the year.
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