Games Radar posted this nostalgia-orgasm today paying homage to the game Super Mario Bros. 3 in a simultaneous celebration of arguably the best video game of all time and jaw-dropping reminder that Mario 3 came out TWENTY EM EFFING YEARS AGO.
The comprehensively excellent post also brings back this original Mario 3 tv commercial, which I vividly recall giving me my first non-schoolbus-induced boner:
I mention this game not just to celebrate the random nostalgia or to complain about the severe psychological scars burnt into my brain from the giant jumping red fish, but to relay my own heartwarming experience with this legendary game:
My brother and I were the first two people I knew to own a copy of Mario 3, after our grandmother — who was constantly hell-bent on spoiling us to a mom-unnerving degree — somehow snagged a copy from Toys R Us at, like, 5 am the morning it came out. We were immediately mesmerized with everything about the game — the map, being able to run while carrying a shell, the raccoon suit, living the movie The Wizard right there in our living room (I kept constipatedly saying “Caaaalifornia…”) — and even when the initial rush wore off, we could tell then that this was already the best video game ever made (I’d argue even including the original Zelda).
One post-school afternoon about a week after the game came out, my mother invited one of her middle school students over to our house to try out the already-legendary game, and he too was immediately hooked, and after he, my brother, and I got along so well, he ended up coming over our house after school regularly, then eventually five days a week, and ultimately became one of our closest mutual friends, with our friendship actually involving (gasp!) more activities than just Mario 3. It also included Mega Man 3. And that’s it. (Kidding!)
Eventually, after a series of unfortunate domestic tragedies, this friend of ours ended up staying at our home for extended periods of time, essentially just living with us full-time, and quickly more or less became (and to this day remains) my second older brother. We don’t live in the same city anymore, but he’s made very clear to us the essential role my mother and our family ended up playing in his life and remains eternally grateful, and yet, everything that happened began as a direct result of him simply wanting to play Mario 3 and me happening to own a copy.
So there you have it. Super Mario Bros. 3: The game so good, it CREATES FAMILIES.
Top that, Modern Warfare 2.
