Super Mario Bros. ~View 6~ Easing Away Worries

I've been kind of stressed lately.

For starters, there was the whole threat of finals in the past few weeks, and let me be the first to tell you that I hate math more then anything else. It's kind of put a dent into my calm psyche, not to mention there was the hullabaloo of the graduation requirements (they waited THREE YEARS to tell me I was missing three books from 9th grade? Seriously), so it's kind of put a dent into my free time and I swear I would've finished this off much sooner. Add to the fact that I was wondering if something was wrong with my Super Mario Bros. cartridge, that I wasn't playing Mario Galaxy 2 enough, and the approaching presence of this year's E3 conference (more on that, later), and you have one very tired Anthony.

Then the other day, I turned on Super Mario Bros. and let my anxieties fly away.

It was like magic! Everything I was worried about just disappeared into thin air and I just concentrating on Mario's adventure in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Well, in retrospect, it's not so surprsing. Many gamers use video games as an outlet to relieve them of their troubles and stress, to escape from whatever struggles that the harshness of reality has been chucking their way. I remember back in the day, one of my favorite things was to turn on Super Mario 64, travel to the first world, grab a Wing Cap, hop into a cannon and shoot myself into the sky...then just soar.

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Of course, you can't always relax in Super Mario Bros., it being a side scrolling action game and all. One of my favorite examples is a stage set right after your first time underwater, in which you set on a seemingly abandoned bridge.....

Wai-what?!?

Cheep Cheeps are leaping and flying all over the place! Nyaarrggh! You gotta dash here and hope you don't get hit!

You eventually meet some more troublesome enemies. Like, for example, Lakitu.

This devil's apprentice takes his time tossing spiked turtles, or Spinies, at you as you run the hell away from him. It's pretty much impossible to do so, unless you manage to take a leap of faith and stomp on him. Lakitu didn't stop his reign of terror here, he's still with us tormenting Mario and taking the role of referee for Mario Kart races.

Those big bullets are known as Bullet Bill, and they really suck. Seriously, if you're tiny Mario, you're pretty much screwed, since they spawn all over the place.

We certainly can't forget the Hammer Bros. either. These cretins throw a flood of hammers at our poor plumber and are hard to get by. When they're on the bricks, I like to smack them from underneath.

And of course, there are the stages in which you have to leap onto platforms that sink thanks to your weight. I've screamed many a curse word at these levels.

It's a tough game, but I've always found that it has a way of encouraging even when things look impossible. I pushed myself to my limits yesterday playing this game, and I howled a yell of triumph upon reaching the final world.

..only to get game over two stages later. Banzai!

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That was a short one.

Well, we're at the end of the road with this one. Thing is, as much as I'm enjoying myself talking about a famous game I never really acquainted myself with before, there's much more important things to go over, such as Super Mario Galaxy 2 (oh how I've neglected thee!) and, of course, today's E3 conference. So here's the deal: I'll hold off on my final entry until I beat the game.

My impressions following Nintendo's conference are to follow tomorrow. See you then!

...I guess I'll be honest. Judging from the Microsoft presentation, pretty much anything goes for this year's E3. In other words, don't be surprised if you don't end up playing too much this year.