Picture this…

I have two more memories I’d like to share about Super Mario Bros., but since I’ve already shared some in prior posts, I’ll keep ’em short.

Picture a 5 year-old Andre sitting in front of his living room television – pretty much exactly like the video I posted in the “About Me” page, just a bit younger.

It’s early in the morning, and he’s snuck out of bed early to get some Nintendo action.  The volume is turned down low as to stay incognito, as he’s pretty sure the last thing he’d want is his folks getting woken up prematurely.

Miraculously, he makes it all the way to World 8-1.  He’s never been to World 8-1!!  This is unbelieveable!!  OK, so he makes it through to the end of the stage…

This looks intimidating…

Time to make some perfect jumps, here…  nothing fancy, just jump and—

BANG!!!
 
The screen goes black, and my nerves take a beating from the shock of the loud noise coming from behind the television.  NO!!!  This can’t be happening!!  I was at 8-1!!  Did I land on a pillar?  Did I fall to my death?  WHAT IS GOING ON??!?!?
 
Knowing the NES was on, and it might have just been a temporary television mishap, I paused my game.  By this time, my folks were up and out of bed, wondering what in the heck I could have possibly done to the television to warrant such a rude awakening.  My Dad checked it out, and noticed a burning smell coming from the back of the TV.  It was none of my doing – the television was about 10 years old, and a bona-fide piece of junk.  It was messed up real good, now.
 
It was a difficult pill to swallow, but Mario would have to wait far longer than any paused game would allow.  With great reluctance, I powered down my NES.
 
The TV ended up being repaired a few weeks later, but my quest to rescue Princess Toadstool had to wait another day…

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