A little story that some of you know.
Nov. 7th, 2004 07:21 pmEveryone has something that was traumatizing to them when they were little, whether it be a certain scene from a movie or words from a specific song. It may or may not be somewhat silly or ridiculous, when looking back upon it now. My childhood trauma was a video game - but not a scary one like Resident Evil or even Ghosts 'n Goblins. No, I was terrified of Super Mario Bros.
When I was around 5, my parents brought home a Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES) on loan from a friend, and I was eager to watch them play. Unfortunately, my young timid mind wasn't ready for the breakneck-paced nonstop action of Super Mario. XP The constant dangers throughout the level always had me on edge, but I was most nervous about the castles Mario would enter at the end of every level because they seemed so foreboding. Still, though, nothing came of them until one day, my parents made it to the end of level 1-3 - and entered a huge castle.
...and stepped into a bone-grey world of lava and spinning fire sticks. Compared to the blue skies of the previous levels, this was like some kind of ashy hell - and at the end of the level awaited a cruel, leering mass of green pixels - Bowser. Holy crap! What the hell kind of a demented monster is that!? And it blew fire? And it has spikes? How are you supposed to defeat something like that?? o_O O_o
After that experience, I'd freak every time Mario reached the end of a level, and would quietly go hide in my closet so I wouldn't have to see what sinister evils the castles (even the small ones) might have in store. Eventually I simply escaped to my room whenever anyone started playing the game at all. (I prefered it when my parents played The Legend of Kage, which looked more mellow. I didn't realize at the time that it was one of the worst Nintendo games evar. No wonder they always chose Mario. ^^;;) It took until the friendlier, cartoonier Super Mario World on SNES 6 years later for me to get over the adversion.
Nowadays, I'm a total video game geek. But my 10-year-old brother still ownz me at Mario. ^^;;
When I was around 5, my parents brought home a Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES) on loan from a friend, and I was eager to watch them play. Unfortunately, my young timid mind wasn't ready for the breakneck-paced nonstop action of Super Mario. XP The constant dangers throughout the level always had me on edge, but I was most nervous about the castles Mario would enter at the end of every level because they seemed so foreboding. Still, though, nothing came of them until one day, my parents made it to the end of level 1-3 - and entered a huge castle.
...and stepped into a bone-grey world of lava and spinning fire sticks. Compared to the blue skies of the previous levels, this was like some kind of ashy hell - and at the end of the level awaited a cruel, leering mass of green pixels - Bowser. Holy crap! What the hell kind of a demented monster is that!? And it blew fire? And it has spikes? How are you supposed to defeat something like that?? o_O O_o
After that experience, I'd freak every time Mario reached the end of a level, and would quietly go hide in my closet so I wouldn't have to see what sinister evils the castles (even the small ones) might have in store. Eventually I simply escaped to my room whenever anyone started playing the game at all. (I prefered it when my parents played The Legend of Kage, which looked more mellow. I didn't realize at the time that it was one of the worst Nintendo games evar. No wonder they always chose Mario. ^^;;) It took until the friendlier, cartoonier Super Mario World on SNES 6 years later for me to get over the adversion.
Nowadays, I'm a total video game geek. But my 10-year-old brother still ownz me at Mario. ^^;;