So for those unaware, we got our sons a Nintendo Switch this last Christmas. I got the wrong Minecraft game, but since we got a Nintendo, and I’m old, I naturally had to get the Mario set. One of those was the new version of MarioKart. It is a blast. The other was a 3 part game that included the old Mario64. A blast.
I did, of course, have to check out the game and make sure it all worked correctly. Father’s rights, I say.
So before I flew to go meet them for Thanksgiving I had the game out and was playing the old Mario. It took a while to get back into the swing of things, but I eventually started racking up the coins and advancing through the levels. I didn’t beat the game, though.
Then Christmas happened and I had to go back to the duties of the man of the house.
However, my wife informed me how much she loved the game. She used to be great, or so she tells me.
As I write this post, I’m watching her overcorrect with every mild mistake and use up an infinite number of restarts. She tries different levels when the aggravation of one level annoys her enough that she momentarily gives up. It is quite hysterical, actually.
When I made it to the TV after my shower, she was in an icy level where you are required to race a penguin down an ice slide. If you win, you get a star. So far, she has made it past the first few turns less than a handful of times. She made it to the end of the slide only once during the race, and that was the time she accidentally found the secret shortcut that allowed her to beat the penguin. Fortunately for my sense of humor, you can’t use that shortcut. The penguin immediately accused her of cheating and she was denied the reward.
She has just now reached her 30th, or so, game over where she has died too many times that the game makes her reset all the way to the start.
During this entire abdomen cramping time, I’m trying to be polite. She starts telling me how she used to be so good at this game, before proceeding to immediately fall off a ledge or otherwise fail to navigate the obstacle necessary to complete the level. Inevitably, she always goes back to the penguin slide. Where, in very quick succession she proceeds to die several times and receive another game over.
“I used to be so good at this,” she repeats. As if that is somehow supposed to distract me from the laughter I’m trying so hard to hold in.
Several times, she thinks I didn’t see it, or I think she thinks that. So I try to hold in my laughter. Then I look at the side of her face (I’m sitting behind her) and can tell she’s holding back laughter. It doesn’t help.
I’m in tears watching my adult wife on the video game struggle bus. I took the controller for a few tries at the penguin, and also failed, but I needed to write this post. I’ll try again and hopefully not fare as poorly as my distraught wife who has learned that video games are a skill of attrition the hard way.
At least she can laugh about it.
If you also want to share in the laughter, get yourself a Switch and the Mario pack. Well worth it. If you are like me and had plenty of friend hangouts with hours of MarioKart, you’ll enjoy the deluxe as well.
Plus, I’m sure you “used to be good at this,” as well.
Don’t let my crying dissuade you, because these are tears of laughter.
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