Mario (024)
Papaw had an NES in his tiny trailer in Houghton, MI. I don’t know if he bought it before or after he left Grannie and moved back to Michigan without us, but I know he spent a lot of time playing Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. Besides that one cartridge and gun, he also had Star Wars. I’ve never been able to figure out how to play that game, but he did teach me about Mario and Duck Hunt when I was 5 years old. I still lived in Kentucky, but my mother would bring me up to spend long periods of time with Papaw and my aunt, affectionately called Sissy to this day. We would go fishing on Houghton Lake in the morning, and he would fry our catches while I hunted ducks with that silly ass dog.
I have his Nintendo because he moved back in with us a year before brain cancer killed him. It still works. My cousin, who Papaw thought shit himself while playing Super Mario, had an SNES and the original Game Boy. I eventually inherited his Game Boy when he got the next best thing. I also still have that in working condition. After seeing how much I loved playing, my mother bought me an SNES of my own, which now requires a new power supply if I ever want to use it again. Over the years, I continued to upgrade the mobile systems and used the SNES even as newer consoles were released. Of course I have never sold any, because Logans don’t do that. In my mobile gaming museum are: Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, DS Lite, and 3DS XL. I purchased a working Game Boy Printer at the flea market about ten years ago. I also have the Switch and Switch Lite, but they haven’t been relinquished to the museum yet. The only Nintendo system I ever bought that’s not currently in my possession is the Wii, thanks to a separation.
Mario and I are the same age, created officially in 1985 for Super Mario Bros., though my friend reminded me that Mario has been around since 1981 as Jumpman in Donkey Kong games. This same friend gifted me the SNES Classic for Christmas, hacked and full of countless titles, so I will probably never fix the original. The reason I’m writing about Mario today is that I bought the limited edition Game & Watch at Target and it made me nostalgic for the original NES. I made it to World 6-3 before dying. Yes, I used the warp tunnels, but I didn’t use the cheat code for unlimited lives. I have never beaten this game, and now I’m determined to because I can carry it with me everywhere.
