It's time to step into the Wayback Machine and journey to the era when the Nintendo Entertainment System was king.  Yes, it's 1989 all over again as the infamous film packed full of Nintendo product placement, The Wizard, has hit DVD.  DVD Verdict has a great review of the disc that includes summaries of the major points of the film and a look at the film's biggest draw: a first look at the then-unreleased Super Mario Bros. 3.

At its heart, though, The Wizard is a ridiculously cheesy pre-teen drama. It has all the major ingredients: broken homes, running away from parents who just don't understand, and coming to grips with budding sexuality. But The Wizard takes a step into a whole 'nother world of awesome cheesiness by shoving Nintendo product placement in whenever possible. When Corey equates Haley's family losing money because of her mother's gambling problem with playing Zelda, it's such an absurd moment that it's difficult to believe the cast and crew didn't just up and quit when they got to filming it.

I saw The Wizard when it first hit theaters so many years ago.  How could I not have seen the movie?  My mother and I trekked out to the nearest good movie theater nearby which was way out in Merritt Island to see it.  I remember being annoyed at some of the misconceptions and outright errors presented in the film pertaining to games.  For whatever reason every game featured in The Wizard allows players to earn thousands of points in just a few seconds (even the games that do not actually keep score).  Still it was worth it to see a few moments of Super Mario Bros. 3.