The Mario Party

All I wanted was the Mario party. I call the final cinematic cut scene of a Nintendo Mario game the Mario Party.  After you've finished every stage of the game and vanquished Bowser and have been reunited with Princess Peach, Shigura Miyamoto (Mario's creator) has a final cut scene to show how all's right with the world because of your efforts.  At least their has been since Nintendo 64, in the games that I've played.  So, to get ready for the new Super Mario Galaxy 2, I had to finish the first game, Super Mario Galaxy.  To complete the game you have to gain 120 stars, and as of a month ago I had 95.  I figured I'd finish it in short order, but boy was I ever wrong!

You might wonder why a 41 year old dude (soon to be 42, so thanks for your early birthday wishes) would play video games.  I've actually addressed that very subject in an earlier post, Still in the Game...Sort Of... (and in case you read that one, no I haven't completed the Pit Of 100 Trials, and it galls me!) 

I ran into a sticking point in the game, not because it was necessarily hard, but because I suck at video games in general.  In order to get the last star before the finale, I must have died over 100 times!.  Below is a video of some ridiculously good gaming geek besting the very level that bested me for so long.



Now, you might ask why does a 41 year old, soon to be 42 year old, play cartoon games like Nintendo's Mario games.  I actually have a good reason for that; the XBox 360 is broken.  Also, when I play games like Call of Duty, Modern Warfare I get sick.  It's something similar to motion sickness, which I have a slight problem with (I've "chummed" the water on the last two deep sea fishing outings I've been on).  I barely survived Dead Space Extraction, which is a rails-on, first person shooter.  Fortunately, I was able to finish Dead Space Extraction in eight playing hours, which mitigated the ill effect.  I wrote about how Dead Space Extraction reminded me of the Church of Scientology in, Fun With Scientologists.  If you read that one, I have to tell you it's a true story.

So, last night I devoted three long, arduous hours to finishing the game.  I only needed one more star and then the finale.  I thought I was going to throw the TV and Nintendo out of the house!  But I persevered.  As I played, and yelled, and threw things, everyone in the house slowly migrated away to different rooms.  I was all alone when I finally got the elusive star.  I bested the finale by pounding Bowser in short order.  Then came the Mario party, and I felt so relieved!  It was over!  But, the sad part was, nobody was there to share the party with me.  I'd run everybody off. 

Oh well, it was over.  I could move on the something less aggravating and more conducive to "family time".  But, Mr. Miyamoto threw in a twist; after gaining all 120 stars and having your Mario party, you're rewarded with being able to collect all 120 stars as Mario's brother Luigi.  Dang!  I'm already five stars in.