#29 The sheer joy of being Mario
Joy, thy name is Mario.
After a week where I lamented being bored of every game in my collection, it’s a sheer relief to be enjoying picking up the controller again.
It turned out it wasn’t something fresh I needed to break me from my apathy, it was something utterly familiar and comforting - everyone’s favourite Italian plumber.
Friday saw the release of his latest adventure - Super Mario 3D World, a game which draws on the best of Mario’s 2D and 3D past to create a compelling adventure. It’s not even a brand new game, but a spruced up rerelease of a game which first launched on the utterly forgettable Wii U. But as I never owned that lump of plastic, it’s new to me, and it couldn’t have arrived at a better time.
I shouldn’t be surprised that it was one of the oldest gaming institutions which returned the smile to my face. For as long as I can remember, Mario has been a constant in my life - something I keep coming back to, even though I can count on one hand the number of Mario games I’ve actually managed to finish. Why isn’t a mystery - no matter how bad I am at the game in question, Mario’s world and approach to life is impossible to resist.
As ever with Mario, the challenge with 3D World isn’t obscure or complicated - all you have to do is guide Mario through each level without killing him. But it’s an utterly joyous experience - and never more so than when you get to dress Mario as a cat and have him swipe at enemies. Even when I’m bad at a level - and trust me I’m bad at several of them, I never feel angry or like I want to hurl the controller at a coronavirus cell.
This isn’t a comprehensive or even half-hearted review - that’s not the point of this newsletter. But it is an endorsement - next time you’re feeling lost, bored, frustrated, anxious or stressed, go find yourself a Mario game and watch those feelings melt away.
Sending Mario spiralling into the air is as close to feeling completely free as any of us can get right now. That feeling of floating momentarily, accompanied by his loud yippee is a blessed release from the mundanity and pressure of daily life and I swear I can feel a little bit of stress melt away every time I press the jump button. And don’t get me started on seeing Mario in a cat suit scrabbling to keep grip on a cliff - I want to laugh out loud, even when that break in concentration inevitably results in him plummeting to his death.
What I find most remarkable about how much I’m enjoying Mario’s latest adventure is how much of that joy is coming from the familiar routines. Where I thought I needed variety to break up the mundane routines of lockdown life, what I actually needed was a different kind of familiarity.
Knowing that every boss will require three different bounces on his head to beat him, and that stars will be hidden somewhere off the beaten track, means my brain isn’t having to jump through hoops in search of solutions - instead its settling into a comfortable flow where everything just makes sense.
Even the plot - the weakest point of every Mario game hasn’t annoyed me. While the damsel in distress trope is long past its sell by date, I’m not losing sleep over it. In fact, not having to keep track of what’s going on in the story is part of the joy - I can skip past the cutscenes and carry on bouncing on enemies and leaping onto platforms, without having to worry about motivation or worrying about which ally will inevitably betray me.
It’s not just Mario’s digital adventures that are putting a smile on my face. I’ve been tinkering away with the wonder that is Lego Super Mario over the last few months - getting out my bricks whenever I am bored of screens and literature. All it takes is five minutes bouncing him around the course, pretending to bounce off Goombas and riding Yoshi to make me yelp with delight. It’s childish, simplistic and utterly intoxicating - whether I’m building out my dream course for him to bounce round or trying to guide him round it in 60 seconds, I’m grinning from start to finish. It’s not the cheapest investment - and in a one bedroom rented flat it takes up more space than is acceptable, but I just can’t help browsing the Lego site and dreaming of the next additions to my collection.
Mario’s return to my life couldn’t have been better timed. He’s bought me joy when I need it most and reminded me why I love playing games. Not bad for a 35 year old plumber.
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