Alright, I’m finally going to contribute to The League of Extraordinary Bloggers, a fellowship of pop-culture-minded bloggers who contribute to a weekly topic. This week’s topic is:
What is something you absolutely hate or love or just don’t get, or maybe it’s something you have never even seen or read. What is your deepest, darkest geek confession?
Deep breath.
Here it is. I’ve never beaten Super Mario Bros. on the NES. Never got to the end of the game. Never reached the final castle. Through countless issues of Nintendo Power Magazines and the invention of the Game Genie; through game guides and multiple cartridges, ports, and emulations, through childhood to adulthood, I have failed to do one thing: save the princess. Not with warp zones and infinite lives tricks. Not with cheat codes and secret tips. Not even with the Power Glove. Although let’s face it, you couldn’t do anything with that.
“Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!”
It’s the story of my life.
Beating Mario Bros. was something of a prowess in elementary school. There were kids who could beat it no mushrooms, no one-ups, and no warp zones. Kids who could beat it in one turn, no damage and no deaths. There was even a kid who claimed he figured out how to jump over the flag pole, but nobody believed that.
It’s not even a difficult game. Mario Bros. invented the archetype for platformer games to come. The game is comprised of just thirty-two levels with intuitive controls that are easy-to-learn. The basic controls are just two attack moves, stomping and shooting fire balls. The beauty of the game is that it does have a deeper complexity, however it’s also simple enough that it can be beaten in a world record five minutes and eight seconds.
It wasn’t like I’d run blindly into the first Goomba I’d see in World 1-1. It wasn’t like I was a slouch at video games. I knew the Contra Code. I knew the code to Mike Tyson. I knew the secret cave in the Legend of Zelda, the secret to beating King Hippo, and the secret to the Power Pad by pounding your fists onto it instead of your feet. We didn’t call it cheating. We called it efficiency.
Our Nintendo was hooked up to the television in the family room—a television that was shared by my mother’s daily appointment with Judge Wapner and The People’s Court, my father’s sports, my sister’s cartoons, and of course, my own schedule of cartoons. Some families run their lives by a calendar. We ran ours by the TV Guide.
Between television, catching up on my Choose Your Own Adventure books, devoting time to advancing our plots in the ongoing saga between the Ninja Turtles and Barbies with my sister, and spending time outside riding bikes and collecting sticks in the woods for my “top secret” project, getting in quality time with Mario was difficult. Not to mention quality time with Link, Pac-Man, Jimmy and Bimmy.
No wonder I didn’t have time for extracurricular activities, organized clubs, and summer camps. Sure, I’ve paid the price as an adult being a social weirdo who doesn’t know how to swim, pitch a baseball, or play nicely with others in board games of Monopoly, but at least I can score 50,000 points in Double Dragon on an arcade machine at a bus station.
And seriously, you put a hotel on that Boardwalk and I’m flipping this board upside down and scattering the pieces everywhere.
Mario and I drifted apart by my teenage years. We didn’t move on together to Mario World or Mario Sunshine. Mario went into the back of the closet for twenty years, and though I had a brief affair with one named Sonic and his cool 16-bit Genesis ride, for the most part I moved away from gaming. That’s not to say I didn’t suck at my other hobbies. Alright, I’m about make a couple more gory confessions. I’m a writer, and I’ve never read Hemingway. I’m a rock fan, who’s never listened to Hendrix. And I’m a vegetarian, and I don’t like vegetables.
Seriously. And what the hell are my excuses? Oh you know, the usual: lazy, tired, working, too much delicious bread to eat, playing Minesweeper obsessively until eyes bleed, For Whom The Bell Tolls too heavy to lift off bookshelf, busy listening to corny 1980s R&B instead, busy wiping blood from tear ducts, still collecting sticks for secret project.
Jesus, I’m a horrible person.
People, I’m going to do it. I’m going to read Hemingway, eat some baby carrots which are very good for my complexion, take Bell Biv Devoe off my record player, and beat Super Mario Bros. In the end, I’ll be a better person. I’ll be nicer to old people and kinder to animals. I’ll have ten percent fresher breath. I’ll go better with Coke.
Or I’ll die in world 4-1 after getting hit by a Spiny, curse the game, throw the controller down, and sulk—because I never learned how to lose games with dignity, a skill that I would have no doubt picked up at summer camp, along with swimming and macaroni art. And I’m talking precision macaroni art, which is a true art form, not the kind where you get glue smeared all over the paper.
But just you wait. One day I’ll reveal my big secret stick project and I’ll take the art world by storm.
Damn I love this Blog. Not to sound stalkerish or whatever, but Ive’ been following your written works for some time now, and you always seem to paint a deep enough picture in your stories that take the reader on a visual and Nostalgic quest back to their childhoods. Keep up the great work!
Thank you! You’re not stalkerish – you’re awesome!
Heh, your Super Mario Brothers screenshot was taken with an emulator set to smooth the edges. I prefer my games to be like my memories of playing them: rough and grainy.
Anywho, I have beaten this game with warps, and even beaten hard mode. I think a greater thrill though is beating Contra w\o the code.
…but what about the Lost Levels?
I’ve beaten Super Mario, but only once. However, I have never been able to beat SM#2 because I will only play as the Princess, who can’t dig for anything in world 2; and I know I will never beat SM#3. Like, as soon as I blow the whistle to get to level 8, it’s as if all the lives and mushrooms/leaves I’ve hoarded instantly disappear.
Also: thanks for making me feel like less of a freak for always pounding on the PowerPad instead of actually running on it. You rock!
Yeah I had a period where I got good at the 2nd Mario. I think it’s actually my favorite one, though I’ve forgotten how to play it. But I’ll never forget how to play Mario 1 and 3. That shit is muscle memory to me. But if I suck at the first Mario, I’m completely hopeless at the 3rd.
We plugged our original Nintendo in during a move a few years ago and I 100% remembered how to play it. Every secret block to smash, every perfect spot to jump from. Total muscle memory. I never beat it alone but between my little brother and I we made it through a couple of times back in the day.
I feel you on this one, I’ve always wanted to beat Super Mario Bros, but never could! I think I have been spoiled by newer games that don’t make you start all the way over once you run out of lives. I’ll start up SMB for 5 minutes and then become a whiny baby, shout obscenities and quit. One day I tell myself, one day lol.
My geek confession? At 27 years old I still spend the occasional weekend day off playing The Sims for hours. Haha, it’s sad I know.
Great post as usual!!
my wife, who doesn’t even play games, sometimes plays the sims. she made one for her and me and regularly kept me updated on “our” progress. I used to play SimCity back when it was a DOS game in the 90s, but I guess that’s not really the same thing. Sigh.
There should be a support group for this. Despite being a major Nintendo fan and beating every other console Mario game, I have never managed to beat the first one. I always get stuck in 8-2. One day I will though.
Do not worry about not having social skills, they are quickly becoming irrelevant anyways.
haha – yeah a support group is a great idea!
My name is Joe and it has been 25 years and I have yet to save the princess.
8-2 is my Death Zone too. 22 years of trying (with a 5 year hiatus during which my brother thwarted my Princess-saving plans by shoving a pop-tart in my NES) and that Princess will forever remain “in another castle.” But then again, Dr. Robotnik will always have control of the woodland creatures and Link is still wandering in the woods somewhere. I am no good at saving things. Smashing zombie skulls Left4Dead-style – now that is what I am good at.
I’m a ridiculous nut for Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles. Pathetic I know…
This was me too. Actually I never beat any games because I always sucked too bad. I’d go to school and listen to my friends talk about beating games and I was thinking ‘Whaaaa?’.
Then one day I rented the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie game for Sega Genesis and played it for a couple hours and actually beat it. I was so pumped, but I couldn’t go brag about it at school because everyone in my class hated MMPR and I had to act like I did too.
lol. thank you for admitting you’d never beaten any games — because the extension of my confession is that I never did either. I had to hate MMPR too… except I was in middle school by that time, so I’m not even sure kids were hating on it. I’m not even sure it was on the radar. I mean, it was 8th grade. kids liked EACH OTHER at that point, while I liked megazords.
I think most everyone was a closeted MMPR fan! I know I was.
I would venture to say that this is one of my favorite blog posts I’ve read anywhere in a LONG time!
“…at least I can score 50,000 points in Double Dragon on an arcade machine at a bus station…”
thanks! I’m glad you got the reference.
That is pretty fantastic. . . Wait. . .did you say there was a secret cave in zelda. . . DANG IT!
Jeez. I have some sort of zen connection to the first Mario. I suck at the rest though.
I remember playing Mario at my cousins house in Iowa. I was always astounded that they didn’t have cable but they had Nintendo. I think I beat SM1 once. I always like SM3 best because of the giant world (world 4). I never beat SM3 because I would immediately warp whistle to world 4 and that was it. Also, you could jump over the flag poles in SM1 but it didn’t do anything cool. You just had to turn around and run back to the flag pole. It was kind of a waste because instead of getting a great running start and getting 2000 coins (or points?) you could really just jump on at the bottom for a sad 200.
As an aside, this is the only blog I read where I read all the comments after I’m done with the post.
I’m thrilled my blog has that honor!
Do you even really want to beat Super Mario Bros? I mean, I never beat it either but I witnessed my sister do it. The ending was so anti-climactic I didn’t even care to after that point.
You’ll make it to California. I have faith in you.
haha, thank you!
Dude.. I never even had a nintendo, how do you think I feel….
it’s not too late!
Totally relate to not moving on with Super Mario World. My nine year old self was too busy beating down dominatrices in Streets of Rage II.
YES! What a great game.
Nice use of the plural for dominatrix!
I’ve never beaten it either. Your courage in coming out about it is an inspiration. I’m glad to know I’m not alone in this scary world of Bowser beaters.
I have beaten Super Mario Brothers, and let me tell you, the ending ain’t that much different than Toad’s “the Princess is in another castle” message. The Princess wasn’t much to look at either. So you’re not missing much.
Though I do (sorta) feel your pain, as years ago, after a night of dancing, a friend and I went back to her place, where she, drunk as a skunk, schooled me on the original. Beaten by a drunk girl, while I sat, shocked and chagrined.
Jesus, I thought I was alone. In my 28 years on this earth, I just cannot beat this freakin game. I must have bought it at least 20 times. In my house right now I have it on two Wiis, a 3DS, and a Gameboy Advance version. Still… I somewhere in the world eights, I always die.
Oh wow,I can beat Mario 1in about 6 minutes (my uber special claim to fame) … I had no idea how close I was to the record time… Starting tomorrow I am going into ‘rocky’ training mode to attempt to shave that extra minute and a half off my personal best and attempt to become the wold champ… I now know what it truely means to have the ‘eye of the tiger’…
Pingback: The League has confessed. Forgive us. — Cool and Collected - collecting pop culture memories and memorabilia
Very well written. Good luck on your quest. NES came out just as I was getting out of video games; Initially I thought it was awesome that we could have our very own authentic version of Super Mario Brothers at home that we could play without feeding quarters into a machine, but the novelty wore off quickly—for me, at least. My younger brother, on the other hand, totally mastered it with his friends, and it was pretty entertaining to see all the cool “secret stuff” they could come up with. Perhaps the most vivid memory was seeing them do that weird little trick where you corner a turtle shell against a wall or something and continually bounce on it forever, racking up coins and points to your hearts content.
The only video game I’ve ever been good at was Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (for which I still have the poster and mini comic), but I was never able to beat it either. I don’t recall when/why I stopped playing it, but by the time I wanted to start again, the Super NES was gone. I got an emulator version of it once, but it wouldn’t run.
As for Super Mario, I am that person who dies on the first screen every time.
Mario! <3
http://katieraspberry.wordpress.com/
haha awesome post!
My brother once beat Pitfall on the Atari, if I do recall…
;)
You have yourself a new fan on this particular game of life. This post epitomizes a generations childhood, maybe not the adult years, but definitely childhood. No wonder you had this post freshly picked. Great post
Enjoyed your post, and congrats on being freshly pressed.
I am right there with you. Never beat it, despite countless tries, and now it hangs like a cloud over everything else I accomplish in my life. Maybe that was the beginning of every failure I have ever known. Maybe you are telling me to rid myself of this bugaboo and the world will be right. Guess I am going up to the attic tonight…
I think I completed the All-Stars version on the SNES but never the original.
Notice how the clouds are just the bushes but coloured white? MIND BLOWN!
And here I was embarrassed because I never beat Super Mario Sunshine…Thanks for making me feel better about myself. :P
I love these games because I can actually play them – donkey kong, mario, pac man…..the new gen of Halo & such ? I get shot or blown up before I figure out how to run away !
you wanna know something? i’m horrible at video games! every time i play halo, my character ends up getting a halo above his head!
“And seriously, you put a hotel on that Boardwalk and I’m flipping this board upside down and scattering the pieces everywhere.”
LOL, love it :-) The only game I’ve ever beaten was Zelda for Super Nintendo (it was pretty epic though). Could never get enough face time with the controller due to my lil’ bro.
This made me think about video games where once you shut off the machine it didn’t save the game. You had to re-start all the way from the beginning. Those were the days.
my son found an app on his droid that lets him play all of the *old* video games – but unless they bring back Ms. Pac Man, I’m out:)
Yeah you ain’t the only one who hasent been able to pass the game for a long time. I mean i never passed it on the regular NES and it actually took till i owned a gameboy color to actually save the princess. Sadly once i did i had no more use for the gameboy and gave it away just because i felt i was now amoungs my peers and the millions who have beat the game. So don’t feel alone and speaking of mario games i have a game site with dozens of them so feel free to check it out by clicking on the link below. -,o
The Most Stable Flash Games Online -
http://wp.me/p2aAA8-g2
And here I’ve been beating myself up because I only ever finished half of the Star levels!
I never beat it either! However, I confess that I am a terrrrrrible video game player. My fiance and I have the new Super Mario Bros for Wii and we would play the 2 player version together until he realized I was bringing him down and I finally got banned from playing that with him. He beat it very quickly without me, haha. I mean, it doesn’t help that I like to drink wine while I play, which makes losing/falling into a pit/running into bad guys that much funnier, but I digress…
I so rarely beat videogames it is ridiculous. I think I only beat two as a kid, X-Men for the Game Gear and Final Fantasy 6 for the SNES (which I had to do at a friends house because my parents wouldn’t let me use the TV…ever). My parents never understood videogames and as such didn’t really allow me the time and practice necessary to advance my budding skills. Now as studies come out that kids who play video games are more likely to succeed in science and math and get high paying jobs in Tech fields, they often ask why I am still stuck as a desk monkey. Well mom and dad, its because you made me read books and play outside instead of letting me learn how to cheat at Mario.
Odd, I just made a Mario-themed post (http://wp.me/pqfQ3-3P) and then saw this on the WP home page. In any case, DON’T GIVE UP! YOU CAN DO IT!
Nintendo was the best! I think today’s games are way too complex. Give me Punch-out anytime!
Cute site!
Cheers,
Courtney Hosny
http://www.oneweektocrazy.com
I’ve never beaten the game either. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve only made it to, like, level 9.
I’m terrible at Nintendo. Just terrible. If I knew how to cheat at the game, I would…I would cheat so fast.
5 minutes and 8 seconds for real?! How is that possible…I think it took me longer than that to get through one level!
Mmm my secret confession…I like playing rpg puzzle games ;p And it is a bit of a secret because I almost never tell anyone since they will think it’s too geeky and dull.
And I completely agree with the 27 old person who plays sims on the weekends! I’ve always wanted to play sims 3 but my computer is too crappy to play it on…but I’ll definitely play it sometime in the far away future on a new pc!
Really enjoyed the article. So what if you can’t do that stuff? You’re an excellent writer.
Beautifully written and incredibly witty! It has even inspired me to admit my deepest geek shame – I never beat Janken the Great in Alex Kidd in Miracle World. I have no right to wear my adult sized AK t-shirt!
I’m looking forward to reading through the rest of your blog. I saw that there’s a post about Dinosaurs, the tv show. I thought I was the only one who remembered that!
You know, not beating a video game really DOES get at you! I never beat Toy Story on the Sega Genesis, and it has been haunting me ever since…=(
I had to share this with my friends. It’s the true story of… every one of them. Myself included. You are fantastic. Just so you are aware.
Ahhhh you remind me of the origin of the Space Giraffe riff:
CONGRATURATION! YOU SUCCESS!
A WINNER IS YOU!
BUT OUR GIRAFFE IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE!
:D
Just yesterday my daughter showed me how access a Mario game on line. Did that ever bring back memories.
I had just gotten out of the Navy when i was introduced to Mario. I didn’t have a job. My husband would go off to work at about 7:30 am and I would play Mario ALL DAY LONG. i’d stop at about 4 to quickly clean house and shower so he wouldn’t know I sat in front of the game all day. when He would go to bed I’d play till about 2am. And THAT is the secret to beating the game. Play it for 14 hours a day for 2 months straight and eventually you will beat it. That’s how I was able to finally rescue the princess. The nagging music filled my dreams and I had callouses on my thumbs for several months – but it was worth it.
Never played a video game before then or since then. There was just something about Mario.
You had me until lack of Hendrix. You must!
:)
Great post, congrats on Freshly Pressed
You can totally jump over the flagpole in the original Mario!!
Despite all my years with an NES, I never beat Super Mario Bros. either.
One of the most depressing things that has happened to me recently is that my little cousin broke the NES. I could download it on the Wii, but it’s not the same…
Jumping over the flag pole isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You just have to run backwards and jump on it anyways ;)
This post sounds entirely too similar to myself. I practically had a jamboree when I conquered Pokemon Snap!, a game I have had for I’m assuming a minimum of ten years. Imagine, a sixteen year old ‘model’ camped in front of an ancient Nintendo 64, racing to take pictures of new species and finding all those damn secret hidden images…I never did beat Mario. And every time I would fall victim to a level, I would shout and throw a tantrum. Grace is not one of my attributes. Thank you for letting the rest of us know we are not actually alone in this.
I know this is going to rub it in your face, and I know I’m not the first person to do this — but when I was in 6th grade I played Super Mario Brothers so much and beat it so many times that my best friend and I grew completely bored of it. So to freshen it up, we would lay upside down on our backs on the floor and play it that way. And I could still beat it.
Why I’m not President of the United States, I’ll never know. Probably because I don’t eat enough carrots.
I’ve read Hemmingway. Don’t bother, nothing life-changing or even helpful. Just stuff.
Thank you for existing. And writing. And existing.
The first blog I’ve read on my first day with WordPress. If this is any indication of what to expect then I’m in. And seriously don’t beat yourself up. I never beat Mario either.
Wow really good blog i can actually relate to not ever beating Mario bros lol i think i could never get passed level 7 but i wasnt really a gamer back then
Thanks for sharing your deepest and darkest secret. After the multiple posts here, I guess you really don’t feel alone. Great, fun thoughts.
Thanks for sharing. You Matter! Smiles, Nancy
super mario will always be my frustration.
=|
Thanks for the walk down memory lane! I’d almost forgotten all about my Nintendo days. :)
For someone who doesn’t play video games, Super Mario Brothers was the only thing I ever managed to complete. It helped to find out the secret about how to get 99 lives. It’s been a long time, but I do think you can jump over one of the flag posts or go through some warp zone to skip levels. But, I agree with a lot of the people who posted earlier. It wasn’t that much more exciting by saving the princess. If you save the princess and continue on, it’s like going back to level 1-1 but all the mushroom goombas turned to hard-shell beetles. Everything else is the same… at least as I remembered it.
Keep trying. Never give up. Live the dream.
None of the NES SMB games are hard at all I have always thought (although I haven’t played 2 in years). The levels on 3 are super short and 1 can be easily beaten with the two warps on worlds 1 & 4. I guess those were the games I grew up with though and I spent hours upon hours playing them so they were imprinted on my brain. A hard SMB is The Lost Levels. Quite simply: screw that game. It has been on my wii for 5 years and I can’t beat it (or ninja gaiden which is another evil game). The NES had some seriously hard games, but I never considered Mario to be one of them.
I never beat Crash Bandicoot 3 on Playstation. I just couldn’t get the Platinum time trials on the underwater levels. Still devo’d :(
I don’t know…..maybe finally winning the game will be like coming to the end of a really fantastic book….the kind that kept you reading all day and through the night….to when you finally see that you have only a few pages left….and not wanting to suddenly be done and left with that empty feeling…..you close the book and walk away.
GASP! What a confession! Ha, I never reached the end of American McGee’s Alice and felt like a total loser. I actually wrote a post about it on my blog, so I definitely understand your secret shame. Congrats on FP.
It’s funny. I remember some of the things you’re talking about like Sim City, pogs, and even the original Ninja Turtles tv show.
Although my memories of it are rather vague, because it happened early in my life.
Charming post. The only Mario installment I was able to finish is Super Mario Bros. 3 on NES, I was like 8 or 9 that time. I suck at the rest. Thanks for sharing this again, I had fun reading this and congrats for making this post on freshly pressed. :)
I was a Super Mario pro and found the princess quite a number of times. The only thing used to be that you had to start over again in another world where those mushroomy creatures turned into those hard shelled ones. Then they’d just keep getting faster and faster depending on how many times you found the princess and decided to play in the next ‘world’. Ahhh thanks for this post – quite nostalgic now. Wish I could play the game again :).
And – you’re not a horrible person – you’re awesome! Congrats for being on Freshly pressed and thanks for the great post :D.
I miss the good ole Super Marios Bros. on family computer :(
Super Mario was a kind of stress buster once upon a time. I still remember the time when I paraded around my house after winning it for the first time. But yeah I know what it feels like not to win . I once bought a Harry Potter video games CD but I never crossed a few levels . I should atleast win it for the money I wasted on the CD !
Great Post ! :) Congrats on freshly pressed :)
Love your writing style!!! Will be back for more!
Ha! I remember hoarding 1-ups till I challenged 8-4 with Mario x C or something (hint: numbers only went up to 9). The only way to beat that thing is to skip through as many levels as possible by using those hidden pipes and hoarding your lives!
Anyone remembers Kid Icarus and the eggplants? The original Metroid and the Mother Brain? Clu Clu Land? (Damn, did I just tell everyone how old I am?) XD
Tremendous Post. Tremendous Blog. Took me back to me own (what’s the opposite of abbreviated?) childhood.
great post, very funny!
What can I say? I’m a Sega-boy and a Sonic fanboy hahaha! Never had a NES, and never played much of Mario. I have however, finished Sonic 1 and 2!
Me, being a big Nintendo fan, too, never completed legends like Mario nor Zelda. I had only once played Zelda then got addicted, but I can’t remember where it got lost. And yes, I didn’t own the console, the game was lost itself.
Because of your post, I am downloading the NES’ emulators and the same legendary games which I never could, never will be, able to complete.
I have loved the Mario from my childhood (being a child still), but I never intended to complete it but take the joy of bumping on the turtle and other stuff. :P
Oh how similar our childhoods were! Although I actually beat Mario and unlocked the new world where goombas were replaced with Buzzy Beetles. And you CAN jump over the flag on some levels!
Sorry, geek out.
Unlike you, I followed Mario into his World and further into 3D land. However, I also have other, sportly interests. Honestly.
Great post, and well deserved freshly pressing.
This is *awesome*. I agree with creeped above… well deserved freshly pressing! Congrats!
this is incredible
It’s always good to leave one leaf unturned. It gives us something to live for. Now you have a life goal. That’s the kind of thing I like to put on my resume.
Love it!!
I hope you do eventually beat Mario. Its a synch :P
Also, baby carrots are cute and yummy. Definitely try them :)
Thanks for a good read.
Dammit! Where is the like button? :)
on the top…
I love Mario! Keep trying and never ever give up. You’ll get it eventually. I know you will.
I sincerely thank you for this little slice of nostalgia Pizza. Have you had a chance to watch G4 lately? They are doing a list of the top 100 video games of all time and some really classic games are showing up on the list. If you’re interested you should give it a look.
Don’t give up though man. Mario can be challenging for sure, just because some folks find one platformer easy, doesn’t mean it’ll be easy for everyone. I completely understand man. I had a hugely hard time with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and never managed to get to the end of that NES classic.
If you’re interested, I do have a blog that’s dedicated to games, Perhaps, if I can’t directly help you with your Mario solution, I can at least provide you with a slew of games to fill the void and provide further entertainment. Thanks again Pizza. This was really a sweet look back at one of my favorite games of all time!
This is awesome. Seriously. I’m a huge Super Mario fan. The only games I want to play are Mario ones, on whatever platform I can get my hands on. My phone has a Mario ringer, and I’m planning on getting a Mario-related tattoo. All that to say that it took me forever to conquer Mario. I got a bunch of games, got together with people who got all the Nintendo trick magazines (I didn’t get any, my family could only afford the Nintendo and not the fancy magazines) so it wasn’t until 8th grade, many, many years after the Super NES came out that I finally conquered Mario. It was tough, I’m sure you understand. But oh so worth it. You can do it!!
even i could nvr beat mario :(:( but i love it..:):)
Reblogged this on speedtosped and commented:
A wise, interesting take on Super Mario Bros.
Your Mario Brothers is my Carmen San Diego. Awesome post! (and oh, vegetables can be your friends, believe it or not. =P)
I’m glad I checked out freshly pressed. I usually log in and see how my blog is doing. I remember playing countless hours on Mario and the other games you listed. Sadly, I never beat the original. I am a closet gamer. What I mean by that is most people are surprised to hear I play video games. My favorite is the Zelda series. The Ocarina of Time was the first game I beat by myself. Since then I’ve played the other games. Mejora’s mask was annoying, I haven’t beaten it. I almost beat Twilight Princess, until someone lost my memory card :’(. I finally got my own Wii, so I’m looking forward to checking out skyward sword.
Hahaha, that was hilarious! Boy does that game bring back memories — it used to make me so angry because I couldn’t beat it either!! XD Good times, though.
great confessions!
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
Reblogged this on robert's space and commented:
i’ll wait and let knan flutter.
It’s not such a bad thing. I’ve never beaten ANY Mario game… but then again, I hate Mario.
Much more of a Link fan, myself. Although I curse myself for not having played Ocarina of Time yet…
I feel your pain. I have never beaten super mario either. The worst part is my mom decided to give away my old nintendo without telling me. Gosh I miss that thing. Maybe some day I’ll buy one off the internet and beat super mario. Great post though, it really takes me back.
I am the same as you. I grew up being a 90′s kids and mario bro was a game i can play. But i “cheated” wth warp pipes and what not. Now that i think about it, i dont think i have beatin the game. But it will be my challenge to beat it wthout cheating. Plus the other games i have to beat like zelda and super mario world. Ps i bought a nintendo 64 so i can beat a few games as well
I absolutely love this game! It’s better than the rest – maybe cause it was the first video game I’ve ever played but that’s my opinion. Also, it is true that Mario can jump over the flag pole – I’ve done it and you just get extra point!
Mario is THE GAME….. if you’ve spent your childhood in 90′s and if you haven’t played this game, you’ve seriously missed something BIG. I loved the game and we use to play like crazy during summer vacations.
I have never finished the game (all levels) since I was OK with the game and as I grew older, I lost the touch with the game (and of course, other games came in).
Very nicely written blog…. keep it up!!!
It is rare to feel so instantly connected to a stranger solely by their words… bravo and congratulations on being freshly pressed.
p.s.- the power glove did suck and that kid was totally lying about the flagpole jump… and we all know it.
Haha! What a wonderful post! :D
When me and my brother were kids we pretended to connected the Duck hunt gun to the consol, gave it to our baby sister and said: “See, you can shoot all the enemies”, so that we could play as Mario and Luigi without any disturbance from her. ;)
http://bitterfia.wordpress.com
Video games! I never got into those. My sister and I played with Barbies and toy horses. We only played them when we went over to our cousins’ house. But I do enjoy playing them whenever I’m at someone’s house who has them, they’re fun!
We did have some computer games though. There was one we were obsessed with called the Magical Land of Zoombinis–I never did manage to beat the whole thing!
Absolutely awesome blog! This is about the first time I’ve actually used WordPress’s recommendations to find a blog and now I’m hooked. If it helps, I had a similar experience with the game boy equivalent: Super Mario Land. I remember the first night I got the game when I was just a toddler and how I woke up next morning to find out the game had no save button and all the time I spent getting to the first boss (note: first video game), had been wasted . Well, at least I was still using the best technology man had to offer-the game boy pocket. ;)
Awesome blog! I feel you my friend. One of the things on my bucket list is to beat Super Mario Bros 3 without the warp whistles.
This is an amazing post! Can’t wait for you to finish Mario, though. World 4 is the hardest, but it gets much better after that.
The best line is being a vegetarian without liking veggies, but that I guess could be very common, where someone being a meat eater and not liking beef, chicken, or pork may be strange. I dig your writing skills and as for beating Mario Bros and saving the Princess, I had to wait till I got a gameboy advanced with classic games and it allowed me to save my progress before I was able to beat 1,2, and 3. Good Luck, oh and Hendrix is very over rated BTW
I just love this – I’m deep in nostalgia these days as my parents are moving and I’ve finally been forced (5 years after moving out) to pack up my childhood bedroom. I’m featuring a countdown of memories over on my blog and you’ve totally inspired my next post! :-)
Reblogged this on ruawordster and commented:
Amazing post. Made me miss my old school video game. Loved Mario and Luigi and played it all day :)
haha, loved this, i miss mario too! don’t give up, man! good luck;)
You shouldn’t give up no matter what. You will save the princess someday.
Reblogged this on The Storyteller's Vault.
Can u teach me to be a great blogger like you
Somewhere in the basement or attic is a20 year old photo I took of my son, standing in front of the TV, right after I beat the final level. He was 4 years old. Sadly, I think his life may have peaked on that day. Don’t tell him!
This was so awesome! I actually laughed out loud several times. (And I never do that, for the record.) And while it seems you’ve already gotten your fair share of love for this, I’ll just add a thanks for the sarcastic blast-from-the-past.
P.S. I never finished Mario Bros either. ;)
I think maybe its time for you to get a girlfriend.
I beat Mario Bros. 2 and 3, but never the original. As for Hemingway? Overrated. Read Twain instead. As for Hendrix? How dare you. There’s always time for music. Buy an album already.
Reblogged this on inkfilledsky and commented:
I’ve never experienced the NES or N64, which isolates me from a lot of gamers who have fond memories of Mario, Banjo Kazooie and the original Zelda. I grew up with a Sega, then Playstation One. I’ve never finished a Mario game either, not on DS or on the Wii.
Well . . .except for Mario Party 8, but that took so long I thought I’d fall asleep or throw the damned controller. Nothing like trying to play with a Wii-mote that the sensor doesn’t read properly.
ah.. very well written buddy.. this is one of the blog i have been following for quite some time now.. very creatively written blog..
Nostalgic :) Awesome post
When I beat the Super Mario bros game I became a better person. Colours became brighter, food was tastier and life was good…you deserve that man.
I finished the SNES version first. I got trolled by my friends for not finishing the NES first.
I am so excited I found this blog! I’m a writer who’s never read some of the biggest, most profound authors either! For example, I’ve never read The Great Gatsby and I couldn’t finish 1984.
I also love to play tennis yet I’m terrible at it and haven’t picked up a racket in years. After reading this I just might make a list of one or two things I need to accomplish and see how far I get.
Great post!
I’ve beaten Super Mario but only with the help of my kid brother lol…I felt such a sense of achievement when I reached the end :-D
I got my copy of SMB in 1988. I beat it in 2004. So in a way you’re not alone.
Don’t beat yourself up, the only game I’ve finished was Duke Nukem 3D, but it felt good in the end… Well, you’ll get the princess one day :)
I have a geek confession to make too… Well, I never finished Super Mario Bros. as well. No no, worse… I never had a nintendo… oh god, I just said that. Every time I wanted to play that game, I went to my friend who had one. And the princess was never in that castle! I think I’m gonna buy a nintendo just to play Super Mario Bros. I’m sure I’ll find her… Haha! What a childhood.
As a vegetarian who doesn’t like salad I fully support your love of bread. People insist they couldn’t eat salad all the time when I say I’m a a vegetarian. I couldn’t either. Good thing ten billion (this is an uneducated approximation) other foods exist.
Pretty sure “bimmy” was a programmers’ typo
hahahahaha!!
too good. took me down the memory lane :D
great blog! very well written. new follower here!
I never finished the Mario bros game as well.
I still have my original NES, and Mario 1, 2 and 3. For the record, I have seen my brother jump over the flag pole, but I have never been able to replicate the move, and I doubt that I’d be able to beat the game without him. That is what older brothers are for.
To be fair, Super Mario Bros. is a difficult game especially by today’s standards.
And the secret to the Power Pad was actually getting two friends and pounding six fists, not two, onto the mat. :P
i wish we got a super like button to use in this post. i know the feeling. it’s not that we are so alike but i can relate to you. i’ve never beaten the game too, sometimes i could only swear at the very long gaps that Mario needs to jump over. i love writing but i do not have a very strong opinion about writers and their works. and i’m also trying a little too hard to go vegan.
congrats on making it to freshly pressed. way to go!
Nice post! I’ll be following you now! :D
I’ve never finished the game either. I would get frustrated and toss the controller to my younger brother. He’s one of those who could fly through the game with little or no effort. Most excellent post.
This is exactly how I’ve always felt about Commander Keen! As a 24 year old, I feel like I should’ve beat it ages ago. I even downloaded DOS so I could play it on my circa-2012 computer… still to no avail. I give up after 4 levels or so. Best of luck to you! :)
Reblogged this on whiteysis and commented:
a geek confession
There is no excuse for having not beat Super Mario Brothers!!! Shame on you! LOL! And yes, it actually was possible to jump over the flagpole although tricky. You had to climb the brick stairs to the top the scoot Mario back to the point where he wasn’t on the stair but due to some game fluke he didn’t fall down to the other step. Once ypu find that magical place on the step you run and jump! It didn’t work everytime but I remember doing it more than once as a youngin!