I bought my childhood back for about five bucks. When I posted this as my status in Facebook, many of my friends immediately commented, each asking how I was able to do it. Indeed, who among is not tempted to relive the glory of one’s youth even for one day, especially when we get stuck with the monotony of adult life. So how did I do it? Thru Wii, the latest game console that was developed by Nintendo.
My younger sister bought me and my husband a Wii as a wedding present. If we were the traditional family, she would have insisted on giving us a toaster or I would have asked a set of chinaware for our home, but apparently the influx of modern technology has affected us in more ways than one, even in gift-giving in such occassions as wedding. No complaints on my end though. My husband and I love the Wii and it has been a constant companion on many lazy weekends when we would play a game of bowling or two via Wii Sports, or race drive each other via Mario Kart.
One day, my sister told me that I can download old school Super Mario Brothers for a very cheap price. I got excited at the prospect of playing it once again so I wasted no time and made the purchase from the console itself. It was all very simple, I only needed a wireless Internet access at home and a credit card to turn back the time.
Mario and I (ok, Luigi too though I rarely played him) go back a long way and by that, I meant the age of family computers, or more popularly referred to as the famicom. For the kids today, it is nothing but a predecessor of the more current game consoles like Play Station, X-Box and Wii but for those who were born in my generation and were fortunate enough to own or to play it, the famicom was a childhood friend, one that eventually left but is always remembered with fondness and affection.
My mom gave us a famicom as a Christmas present when I was in sixth grade and I remember spending Christmas break that year playing and mastering as many games in the shortest span of time as possible. Truth be told, I can’t remember anyone in my family playing as much as I did, possibly because I hogged it especially on the weekends. Of course, it was all easy then to play the entire day, with my mind devoid of any concerns like how to budget our money until the next pay cheque or how to deal with a power-hungry boss. No, these were the concerns of a responsible adult and a child like me only needed to worry about how to quickly save Mario’s princess.
I was a naturally skilled player back in the day. I finished a number of games when none of my classmates and friends had. But finishing the classic Super Mario after countless attempts, thanks to the trick of getting the hundred lives in world 3, would always be the peak of my famicom career. It was a sweet accomplishment because I did it all by myself; one must know that cheat sheets were not as prevalent as today with the influx of computers and other technological devices which allow an easy sharing of techniques and strategies. Back then, we only got tips through the word of mouth.
Soon after finishing Super Mario, I grew up and discovered other things to spend my time with. I stopped playing altogether and the famicom no longer used by its devoted owner was thrown away in a box, along with many other objects that became mere remnants of the past. In a way, saving the princess fatefully marked the end of my childhood and became the threshold of my youth. In fact, I finished the game when I was a high school freshman, at a time when my interest already shifted to boys living and tangible and Mario, the small, plump, mustached mario, obviously was an alternate reality and no more than a childhood playmate who I needed to help save her princess. Needless to say, I was ready to move on to more important things in a teenager’s life.
When I played Super Mario the first time through Wii, I could not contain my excitement and joy. It was as if I was transported back to sixth grade and it was Christmas time all over again. I showed the same level of unadulterated enthusiasm that I had when I was a kid. When my mom saw me playing Super Mario, she said that I still sat the same way as I did before while playing. I suppose old habits don’t die even with the passage of time. Moreover, it was comforting to know that I haven’t lost my skills yet even though it’s been over 18 years since I last played the game. I managed to get the hundred lives and navigated myself through the last stage. Indeed some good things never change just as some realizations are made only when we become older and wiser, and take things more slowly. Purposely, I haven’t finished the game yet. I figured there is no hurry this time when there is so much more to learn about growing up from the adventures of Super Mario. This time around, it’s all about the journey.
Playing the game is akin to going through life. We set an end goal for ourselves and we work on toward getting to it; we are obliged to make wise decisions and act on them; we tackle the obstacles and hindrances along the way; we get help from time to time; we take short-cuts whenever we can; we bravely face the dangers ahead; we stumble and fall but we can rise above it all if we choose to. We may not have the luxury of obtaining a hundred lives and some ‘one-up’ in between; we’re lucky enough to get a second or third chance in life but we can always press the reset button if we want to start over again. And dreams do not end when we reach our goal or when the game is over. We can always move to better and more challenging things.
These are the lessons in life that Mario tells us whether advertently or otherwise. Now that I think about it, I thank my mom for giving me the game of Super Mario when I was young because it was source of entertainment and happiness, however fleeting it was. I also thank technology for allowing me to relive snippets of my childhood and consequently, learn from them. In truth, what the experience, both past and present, has done to me is something that cannot be quantified. It is, in a word, priceless.
(edited and longer version of the original post)
