image courtesy of DeviantArt’s Bumipoo

“Don’t invite me over if you have framed artwork in your house, ’cause I’m going to jump through them like Mario 64” – Unknown

It is Christmas morning, 1996. I am 8 years old. I am powering up my Nintendo 64 for the very first time.

Along with the system I had been given a copy of my first Nintendo 64 game, Super Mario 64. One of my first memories of the game was seeing the “(c) 1996 Nintendo” on the title screen. Thinking how novel it was to play a game that was made in the current year. Before this time I had been raised on Genesis, Game Boy and Super Nintendo games that were made years prior to the time I rented them from Blockbuster or received them as gifts.

Mario 64 came at the perfect moment in my life. It was at the very beginning of those most formative years in a person’s life. The Nintendo 64 launch was the first I had been conscious of, with all of the attendant promises of a brighter tomorrow that such an event brings. Promises of three dimensional space to move about in and explore.

Exploration is the sensation of being lost and then slowly mapping your surroundings. This is what Mario 64 gave to me, what no other game had given to me before. Playing it in 2013, after 15 years completely away from the game, I still half-remember a million little details about the game. The shortcut in the ice slide, the garden filled with ghosts, the additional star that can be obtained by getting 100 coins in any level.

These details make the game for me. Released in an age before the internet, the secrets of Mario 64 were hard-won. Figuring out how to beat even the first boss (King Bob-Omb) took me at least a day. This is the sort of trial and error that sticks with you in your head, that generates lasting memories.

“I like to imagine the tip of my nose is the snowy mountain from Super Mario 64.” -@CraigJohnsJr

“im not entirely sure what i been whistling for the laSt four minutes but i think it’s the super Mario 64 slide song” -@dudehuge

[Just in case any of you were wondering what pure joy sounds like in videogame music form, take a listen here.]

And what do I remember about this game besides minutia? I remember getting lost, I remember the thrill of discovery, I remember swapping secrets and tips on the playground. I remember dicovering, for the first time in my life, a culture and a comradery around video games. This is a culture that has stayed with me throughout my childhood and early adulthood, it is a community that I will proudly claim membership in for years to come. And it all started here, with Mario.

“Super Mario 64 is a whole lot more fun if you imagine Lakitu (the guy with the camera) is in fact a tiny Werner Herzog.” -@TimClarePoet

I originally intended to have this article up the week after I posted about Pilotwings back in the fall. Why did it take me so long to complete this? Because it is honestly hard to play Mario 64 again. Every time I power up the game it is Christmas morning all over again and I am 8 years old. It takes me back to the time of my life that I first played it, when the world was still big, and exploring in a game was as close as I could come to independence. And it is hard to revisit your past like that after having put so much distance from it. Despite that difficulty, I am glad I took the time to play Mario 64 a handful of times over the past several months, it is necessary to remind ourselves how far we have come and yet how quickly we can return to our earlier selves.

p.s. When you beat Bowser the first time and he gives you a giant key to the basement, why is it shaped like his head? Did Peach have Bowser-shaped keys made for her castle? Did he have new locks put in after he invaded? Did he send a goomba to the locksmith? Is “Bowser Head” a type of novelty key you can have made in their universe like getting your keys skinned for the Dallas Cowboys? The world may never know.