This is a question that I asked on of my best childhood friends back in the 80’s while we were walking home from school on one of the very cold winter days we get here in Scotland. It turned out he was talking about the original Mario game for the NES. I went to his house for dinner that day, but we never ate any food… instead it was where my addiction to Mario would start!
I could not get over how amazing this game was. I was mind blown at how great this game looked. I understand that to many younger gamers, looking back at the original Mario game, you may think that it looks terrible. But at this time I was still playing on my Atari 2600 and thought nothing could ever beat The Smurfs game.
I remember that on my first play, this game was so tough, that we never beat the game. But over the next week, we eventually got good enough at the game, that we were able to beat it. One thing I want to add, and this may blow many of you youngster’s minds out there – but you could not save your game on the original Mario! So, every day we would try to beat the game we would have to do those first levels again and again. It was as much a test of your patience as it was your gaming skill!
Of course, on my Christmas list for that year was a Nintendo with Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt, and despite having beaten the game a few times with my best friend, my love and excitement had not diminished at all. For me, the original Mario is one of my most cherished gaming memories and you know what – I still fire it up every once and a while to this day!
