Rabeaah Patail
There I am on Yoshi Island. I jump up to collect a gold coin but duck as a huge bullet attacks me. I then swing through the air, collect my mushroom and land on my green dinosaur, Yoshi.
As the enemy surrounds me from all sides, I do a twisting jump on their heads while Yoshi eats them up with his big red tongue saving my life.
The above scene basically sums up my childhood.
Before I go on, I need to explain my burning passion for Mario.
Mario is more than just a character or a plumber. To me, he represents a kind- hearted, brave hero. His roles in previous games, such as Donkey Kong, showed him as a humble man who helps those in need.
He loves Italian food, especially pasta and ravioli, and is skilled in sports like go-carting, soccer, baseball and tennis. But Mario was also was a party animal, as shown in the Mario Party game series.
Sounds like an ideal man, huh?
Anyway, I believe it was my grandma who bought the Super Nintendo for my brother, now 24, back in 1991.
The system came with only one free game–Super Mario World.
It was not until later that we started to buy games, but from what I recall, we played Super Mario World every day for more than four hours.
I remember sitting on the floor with my twin sisters, now 22, and staring up on the television screen with thick glasses.
My brother always sat in front of us because only he played the game consistently. He had taken command of the Super Nintendo, making it his own.
After all, it was his system.
No one was allowed to play the game till he reached the final level and “defeated the boss,” because he wanted to be the first one to finish the game.
My sisters and I sat behind our brother, not even allowed to speak. Every time we let a word slip, he would turn around and say, “Shut up! Whenever you guys talk, I lose a life.”
The funny thing was, we all took his word so seriously and sat there in silence, afraid that our talking would somehow make Mario fall off a cliff or get attacked by the enemies called the “Koopas.”
Chocolate Island proved to be the deadliest level for my brother. As he struggled to bring the game to an end, the enemies repeatedly got in his way.
But it wasn’t the enemies that angered my brother, it was the system, my sisters and I.
Although we sat quietly, we were constantly blamed for my brother’s mishaps, especially during his time on Chocolate Island.
Here’s why: It was on Chocolate Island where our Super Nintendo refused to work.
The system automatically shut down, or someone might have pulled the plug, and my brother lost control of Mario. Luckily, when the system was revived, we were all happy to know that my brother would not have to start the game again from the beginning, but we still had to hear, “Oh my God. Look what happens when you guys talk.”
Despite all that fuss, our biggest sigh of relief was watching our brother defeat the first enemy, (Iggy Koopa), killing the final and main boss (Bowser) and finally saving Princess Peach (Toadstool) of Mushroom Kingdom.
However, the moments of “ahs” and “ohs” presented themselves as well when we learned that Mario could shoot fire flowers to destroy enemies and that he could, in fact, fly when he had his cape.
And finally, our biggest disappointment was staring at the television screen when the game ended-all we saw was, in big bold letters, “GameOver.”
Yeah, that’s it.
The game, released in 1991, has never lost its appeal for me. Even now, when I plug in my Super Nintendo, the first game I play, after blowing several times inside the cartridge to make it work, is Super Mario World.
Sure there were other games like F-Zero and Donkey Kong, that we played and played, but Super Mario World holds a special place in my heart.
Nothing beats sitting on the floor with “ginormous” glasses, staring up at a television screen with a controller held tightly by both hands and flying through level to level with Mario by my side.
Nonetheless, examining the television screen while my brother played Super Mario World became an everyday tradition at home, and we all loved it-even in our silence.