I was talking to a friend about playing old school games when this memory hit me. To set the scene, I was probably 10-12 years old and Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo had just come out. I was still a NES junkie, so I had not gotten around to buying a Super Nintendo at this point. Although I was fortunate enough because my Grandfather had bought a Super Nintendo, had a big screen TV and lived near by to me.
Over the next few months as I periodically went over to their house I turned on Super Mario World and played it as fast as possible. I knew it was going to be another major stint before another chance came up where I was going to play again. It was my earliest version of speed running through a game. Every time I was sitting down to play I had most of my immediate family and some extended family nearby watching me play the game. Felt like being at the biggest event of gaming when I sat down to play.
Finally on some major holiday. The actual holiday escapes me, as I really only remember playing Super Mario World with my entire family watching me. I had finally gotten to the 8th zone in the game where I got to see Bowsers castle. My entire goal was to rip through the levels as fast as possible and finally beat the game I had been playing off and on for months. Then, the moment came where I made it to Bowser. The end was in sight and I had my entire family watching and cheering through the entire 8th zone up until here. I went through the three stages of Bowser and nearly died in the process, while hearing the “oooohhh” and “ouch” echos behind me. Bowser went down for good on the last hit. I had a moment of silence just due to the fact where no one had seen the end or knew what was going to happen next. Finally the Princess was released and gave Mario the whole speech. At this moment my family cheered like crazy and congratulated me on beating the game.
I can easily say, the moment I beat the game and had people cheering me winning was the biggest moment in gaming for me. I see videos like the SF3 Daigo vs Justin fight and it reminds me of the way it felt back in the day to beat a game. There are moments now for me where I see my son playing games like LEGO Indiana Jones and I can see how cheering him on gives him a similar feeling. I have yet to experience anything like winning Super Mario World again.
What was the last epic gaming moment for you?
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