When I was barely more than a toddler, my cousins introduced me to Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, and Super Mario World.
That, of course, would change my life.
Then at some time in 2007, I came across this Wiki while googling stuff to reminisce Super Mario 64.
That, too, would change my life.
Marveled to learn names of creatures I never knew had names, and curiosities that I would never imagine, I would keep coming back to read more.
My Life with Mario
Early Years (the 90s)
I will never forget my first memories of watching my cousin play Super Mario 64 in my house. He taught me:
- “
jumps." [jumps a couple of times] "
punches." [punches a couple of times]”
- —My cousin
My cousin lived in my house for a while, so we would play it together a lot. He was 7 years my senior, so he was much more skilled than me (I couldn't even do a Wall Kick), but it was fun to watch him. Like the first time he found Eyerok and was so bewildered that he accidentally threw himself in the pit. I cracked up. (We then walked to his friend's house so he would tell him how to defeat them. I also recall said friend coming to check my cousin's progress, and almost instantly going: "You still haven't lowered the water yet??")
Lethal Lava Land was one of my favorite levels to play. I guess it was simply cool to navigate (plus, the painting looked really cool). In Dire, Dire Docks, I liked to dive straight into the whirlpool. As for my least favorite... Well, I didn't dislike Tiny-Huge Island, but it was one of the most difficult levels for me (mostly because just seeing Bubba there was enough to make me quit instantly). I didn't even know Wiggler was there until many years later. I also felt uneasy with the merry-go-round music from Big Boo's Haunt, but that was easy to fix: just mute the television.
I am guilty of certain crime, though. I really liked the sensation of starting a new game. Seeing the first-time dialogues, unlocking doors, turning ! Blocks solid, and all that. So when our file was at like 116 stars, I couldn't resist the impulse to erase it, hoping we would do it all again. I was like 4, so try to cut me some slack.
My parents would eventually buy my own Nintendo 64, and I remember unboxing it. It was a funny feeling - to get a new thing that I was already so familiar with. And I also remember talking about the game with friends that also played it, and hearing rumors like: "you can get a star if you mess with the windup key of one of the Heave-Hos", or "there is a star inside the Big Snowman's mouth, but you need to have 116 stars to enter".
However, as much as I loved the game, I wouldn't get to finish it at the time. When I was 6, my Nintendo 64 broke (mom said the motherboard had burnt, and there was no fixing it). I was heartbroken.
When I was little, there were 2 Mario games. The one where you got stars (see above), and the one where you didn't get stars (this one). I didn't really own Super Mario World myself, but every time I went to spend vacation at my great-aunt's house, my greatest joy would be to play it with my cousins.
That took quite a few years. Only getting to play it during school vacation, with save files being lost each year, made this a long experience. It was also sad when my cousins grew out of playing with me, but I still have some fond memories. I was overjoyed when I finally got to defeat Bowser, though. Figuring out on my own how to access Soda Lake, and managing to clear Tubular so I could do the rest of Special were also big moments of pride.
I did have a next-door neighbor who had Super Mario World, but alas, he never wanted to play it. He did let me keep his instruction booklet after some time, though. Not only it was completely translated, it also had pretty illustrations, cool descriptions, and a clear picture of the Koopalings, so that was quite a treasure for me.
I couldn't read, so I just called this track
"Em Volta da Estrela" (lit. "Around the Star").
That was Mario Kart for me. It's funny to remember people who would move their controller around while playing this back then. I liked to play as Peach because her hair looked beautiful from behind. Especially when flashing with the colors of a Super Star.
I didn't understand a lot about how the game worked, so I did stuff like pick engine power at random, and not worry about trophies. I did learn the word "bronze", though.
I liked to believe that each character performed better in tracks themed after them. I also remember not knowing what D.K.'s initials stood for; and that my cousin claimed that Wario was Mario's cousin (a common rumor of the time, I believe).
I have a couple of funny memories. Like when a cousin of mine had her father try to play, but he didn't even know how to start the kart, so she went: "Oh my God. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eight?!" And once with another cousin playing at my home, thinking she was supposed to outrun the vehicles in Toad's Turnpike. Her brother explained: "Those are just... computer", to which she mocked the word "computer".
After I could no longer play the game, I tried to appease the feeling by reading the instruction booklet (which was in Portuguese, surprisingly). I learned many things, like how the characters had different weight classes with different characteristics, how to throw items forwards and backwards, and words like velocímetro, guardrails, and Kart Mini Bomb. I also remember reading warnings about Thwomps and not even remembering what the hell a Thwomp was supposed to be. In fact, I was so fascinated about reading the booklet that in 2004, when I had to write a creative essay for school, I decided to write a first-person account of Mario explaining the basics of the game (which ended with him slipping on a Banana Peel, but luckily towards the finish line).
Honorable mentions
- Super Mario Kart: I did see it at a relative's house, but it never caught my attention. Maybe I just thought it didn't look as cool as Mario Kart 64.
- Mario Party 2: One day, my best friend's mom told my mom she'd bought this game for him. Funnily enough, I thought she said "Mario Part 2" (as if it was a continuation for Super Mario 64). I didn't even get to play it while my friend was showing me, but this was my introduction to the Party series. In fact, I was quite confused with my friend changing boards over and over, but it was interesting to see the many outfits of Toad. (Him playing the guitar was so cute.)
- Wrecking Crew: I played this at my best friend's house one day. It was cool. Until we got stuck in a drum and had to quit it.
- Super Mario All-Stars: My next-door neighbor had this. It was probably the Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World release, since he also had Super Mario World. But all that he wanted to do was having us play what he called "Mario Contra" (I suppose a proper translation would be "Versus Mario" - as in, a Mario game that is 1-versus-1), which was not really what I wanted. Playing this with him was also how I got to know Super Mario Bros. 2. I didn't believe him when he said "the Princess can fly" (and "Luigi can jump high", and "Toad can run fast"). Not sure we went beyond the second level, though.
- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars: My next-door neighbor also had this, but I only saw a little bit of it. He showed me you could sleep in the bed. I tried a few times, but I only got Mario to bounce on the bed.
- Super Mario Bros.: Surely I played the most basic Super Mario game at some point of my life, but I don't know when. I do remember we had a very similar game in my school's computer class (with the filename being simply "mario 2"), but I have a specific memory of there being a large gap near the end of the first level, that you could only jump if you were running. I struggled to figure out how to do it, so it was frustrating when my classmate refused to tell me (I cried).
- Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins: I saw a friend play it once, but I never forgot the Carrot that turned Mario into Bunny Mario. The Mario Zone was also a striking sight.
- Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2: Another neighbor of mine had this. Not much to say, but I did like the "Mario! - Luigi!" voice clips that played when you switched back and forth between characters.
The 4 Mario colors. Red is Mario, green is Luigi, yellow is Wario... and the fourth is a blue one...
- Mario Bros. (Game Boy Advance): I didn't really play this, but there's a very specific reason this left an impression on me. Seeing a screenshot of this game on a box at somebody's house, I noticed the "Blue Mario", and that was the first time I thought about the possibility of a Wario for Luigi.
- Donkey Kong Country: I played very little of it, but I definitely saw it around. I saw the one with Dixie around too, but I don't really know much about this series to tell each game apart. My best friend had the GBA version and I'll never forget how chewed his GBA was. (He had the bad habit of biting controllers and such when games got him frustrated.) When he got his GBA, he also told me it was "imported". I didn't know what that meant, but I assumed it meant his GBA was important somehow. Once I called a Croctopus a "sun" and got flak for not knowing what an urchin was. (Though it's not really an urchin either, so joke's one them, ha.)
Finding New Things (the 2000s)
In the early 2000s, I visited a rich friend who showed me a game I had never seen, in a console I had never seen. She warned me: "There's just a really long intro that we can't skip" (no kidding).
The game did look cool. But for whatever reason, I never really wanted it for myself. Only in feb/2019 I would actually get to play a run, when my brother's girlfriend lent her copy. And to be honest, it was probably for the best that I didn't have this in my childhood, because I would probably get really frustrated trying to 100% it.
In 2005, I visited another friend who had a GameCube. He played a bit of this, and I was mildly intrigued to hear the name, years after seeing Mario Party 2. (I believe I caught him in the middle of Team Treasure Trek with a friend, and accepting defeat: "It's over, they won".) We also played the multiplayer mode of Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg (I remember my friend complaining about hatching Cheese, from Sonic; while his brother kept throwing himself off for the entire duration of the round); the intro of Star Fox Adventures (with Krystal speaking Dino); and I think Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (it didn't really catch my interest, if we did).
Anyway, I told my mom about Mario Party 4, and some time afterwards, she surprised with a GameCube. In the years to come, Mario Party 4 would become the fun to be had with my brothers, and visiting friends. This game was my introduction to Waluigi and Daisy (which also led me to think Daisy was a "bad Peach" - a "Wario Peach", as opposed to a "Peach for Luigi"). Dungeon Duos and Paths of Peril were some of my favorite Minigames.
However, due to having a hard time with memory cards, I only got to 100% the game for the first time in 2019. (Feb/10, to be precise. Still with the very same disc as in 2005.)
Some months after getting our GameCube, my mom asked what we would want for Christmas. My brothers asked for Sonic (so they got Sonic Heroes). I decided to ask for Luigi's Mansion - a game I had only heard the name, but had no idea what it was like. (I believe I'd seen some stickers of it in my neighbor's bedroom.)
I was happy with my gift. The premise of the game was cool. It just took me a bit to get the hang of the controls. (In fact, in my first try, I died in the first room, because I didn't know the flashlight didn't really kill the ghosts.)
One thing was certain, though. I would need a memory card to play it properly. It was either that, or stay the whole day trying a run, with the risk of getting a game over.
I did end up getting my memory card. The ending was lovely, and I was fascinated by every ghost and room in the mansion. I replayed it many times, and kept learning new things about the mansion.
I also remember checking out the website in 2007 or so, during a time I was very into googling Mario stuff.
Nope, not Thousand-Year Door. What's the matter, then? Shouldn't we be in the GameCube era?
Something important happened in 2006. A classmate of mine taught me how to get emulators. (It all started with him playing Pokémon Ruby, and me saying I would like to play a Gen 1 game.) But if I could do this for the GBA, could I do it for the Nintendo 64? Could I finally appease my longing for my old Super Mario 64? (And Pokémon Snap, and others?) I could, indeed.
Some graphics appeared broken on the emulator, so I only learned what each
Star Spirit looked like as I cleared each chapter. (Also, I skipped the intro.)
And if all of this was working, why not getting to know new stuff? So I took a look at this game I only knew by name, and oh how beautiful it was.
It took me one month to finish it. I tried to do it all myself, but I needed a walkthrough when I got stuck in the maze to access Rosie. (Then again later for Bowser's castle.)
"Teresa" is pretty close to my aunt's name.
Not much to say here. But a fun fact: I accidentally got the Japanese ROM. So not only I couldn't understand a thing of the text, I was also faced with unexpected names, such as Teresa, Kinopio, Catherine, and all.
Such memorable Toad characters.
My best friend shared with me a big folder of GBA ROMs, and that was awesome. He showed me "Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town"; I tried a few different Pokémon games; and on rare occasions, I tried something new. I'm so happy I gave this one a try, cause it's such a cute entry of Mario Party. Tumble is a cute host, all NPCs are endearing (not to mention they're a list of iconic Mario characters), and doing their quests is as simple as it is adorable.
I cheated the entire time with save states to get convenient dice rolls, naturally. The one thing that kept me was figuring out the Yoshi-specific quest and the Peach-specific quest, because I didn't know I could change characters.
As a footnote on the GBA library thing, I should also mention that I at least tried to play Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Unfortunately I gave up when I got stuck at the first Ankoopa. I did catch a lot of glimpses of my brothers playing it, because they really loved this one.
I saw an Orkut community dedicated to Goombella in like 2006.
I remember going to a Toys "R" Us in 2007, looking for more games for my GameCube, and watching a Paper Mario: TTYD trailer in one of the display televisions. But I think they were all out and I had to settle for a lame Curious George, because I believe I only actually got to play TTYD in 2009.
Absolutely amazing game. It enhanced every aspect of the first title. The story is full of emotions, and the Pit of 100 Trials was a good challenge.
The sad part is, I never got to finish it. I stopped my run before the final boss, because I wanted to do all side-quests first, then our copy went missing in 2012. I was downhearted.
A Break for Cartoons (2007)
I couldn't believe it, even as I held it in my hands.
One day in 2007, I was probably talking about Mario at school, when a girl in my class said there was a Mario DVD in the newsstand across our school. "There's not!" I replied - I'd never heard of such a thing. She calmly assured there was. Skeptical, I went to check for myself after class. And there it was, right before my eyes. Of course I had to buy it at the same instant. And that's how I came to know The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, a cartoon from before my time.
(Maybe I should also add a prologue stating that, in 2003 maybe, I got a Mario VHS borrowed from my American cousin. But it was in English, so I only understood it in parts. I guess I often forget this was my actual first experience with Mario cartoons.)
The real stars of the show.
It was odd to notice Super Mario Bros. 3 was apparently so important in the history of Mario. It was the answer to one of Melody Pianissima's questions; it was referenced in the SMW manual; but it was a game I had never actually seen in my life. So seeing Mario going after a Super Leaf and become Raccoon Mario in the very first episode of the cartoon was something new for me. But I was happy to see the Koopalings get a lot of focus. I've always liked them as the bosses of SMW though I could barely see them onscreen, and before the cartoon I didn't even know they were called "Koopalings". So the show giving them all a chance to shine was a great way to get me invested.
