Super. Mario. World.

I wrote:The first major text influence I will cite in my life, is none other than a 1990 video game: Super Mario World. One might say, “oh, how could a comical video game like one from the Mario series majorly influence one’s life?” Yes, the game is comical, what with the main premise being to play as an overweight, less than average height, Italian plumber who specializes in defeating less than benign walking mushrooms and anthropomorphic turtles wearing tennis shoes and whatnot. Others may consider my claim as laughable based on how power-ups, or objects that, when obtained, give Mario superhuman abilities, include a flower that, upon being touched, allows Mario to throw balls of fire from his hands at will, a feather that will give Mario an enchanted cape that will allow him to fly, and a mushroom that will increase Mario’s height and his damage, both dealing and receiving, capabilities. Some may even find it funny that Mario’s journey takes him through such lands as the Donut Plains, Vanilla Dome, Cookie Mountain, and Chocolate Island. All of this is so that Mario can journey into the lair of Bowser, a giant, fire-breathing turtle with horns, spikes, and orange flaming hair, to save Princess Toadstool from the monster’s clutches. Of course, Mario is unable to do this without help from the friendly dinosaur, Yoshi, and his brother, Luigi. Yes, the game’s concepts and designs are laughable, but it does teach some key points. It teaches the player not to give up, as hints or maybe even alternative pathways may reveal themselves in due time. It also emphasizes on team work, as, like I said before, some areas are inaccessible without the aid of a friend. These aspects are not what drew my attention, however. The main attention grabber in this game for me was, believe it or not, the fantasy land itself. To be able to place oneself in such an imaginary place as Dinosaur Land through the use of a 16-bit video game console was astounding to me. No longer did I have to draw out or imagine the places myself, as I could tour fantastic worlds by simply pressing a few buttons or switches. In a matter of moments, I could be taken from being Jason, a bored first grader, to Mario, conqueror of turtle armies and savior of princesses. It was because of this game, with it’s intrigue as to what was beyond the next corner, enthralling yet unrealistic storyline, and creative world, enemy, and character design, that brought me into video games, and led me onto the career path of video game design. I have wanted to be able to design these fantasy worlds myself for years (my friend Hunter and I even used to spend hours and hours thinking up our own little worlds and characters and storylines) now, even going so far as to draw out large, detailed maps of imagined worlds or type long, in depth documents on my ideas, advancing or elaborating on them more and more over the years. It is my dream to be able to help anyone escape from their troubles, at least temporarily, by having fun and escaping into these epically enthralling fantasy lands that I myself have devised, with the characters I’ve imagined and idolize. And that, all from the Italian plumber Mario in Dinosaur Land, continues to be one of my main life goals, proving the influence that this game has had on my life. I would hope that people do not dismiss video games as simple “fun” activities, because, as much as people may like to deny it, there is much, much more to them, as I have seen first hand.

Pickle wrote:...social communication being more to videogames....

Pickle wrote:

Pickle wrote:...social communication being more to videogames....

DRS wrote:I didn't start hacking consoles until I was 10 when I read over some of my dads old textbooks on circuit theory and motherboard components. Creating circuit boards then became my hobby and father-son activity until I took a liking to video games. My father sought no interest to take apart in what he considered an obsessive waste of time, but my big bro helped me until I was about 14 being that he was two years older and could drive. With his assistants we hacked an arcade machine, all the Game Boys, the Nintendo systems, the Sega systems, and many Macintosh PCs. Today I have stopped hacking licensed software but try to emulate it like so any people on the web, right now it's 3D0 and a N64 Clone-like system.