DigitalSpace
06-02-2007, 11:50 PM
It was the early nineties, and it may have been time for Klax for some, but I preferred to spend my time with what I consider is the best NES game of all time - Super Mario Bros. 3.
I couldn't sleep one night, and everyone else was sound asleep. At the time, my family consisted of myself, my mom, and my two younger brothers. I had just reached the final fortress in World 7 earlier in the day, and it was the furthest I had gotten in the game at that time (I had yet to learn that warping in the Warp Zone would allow me to reach World 8). All I could think about was SMB 3. I decided to go downstairs and see if I could get any further. At the time, we lived in a two-story apartment, and the NES was hooked up to the living room TV.
So I quietly snuck downstairs, turned on the TV and put it on mute and started playing SMB 3 as quietly as possible, sitting as close to the TV as I could so I could quickly turn off the TV if my mom woke up and came downstairs. Only the glow of the TV screen and the red light on the toaster provided any light.
I had to turn off the TV three times, staying as still and quiet as possible, hoping that I wouldn't have to end my game prematurely. Fortunately, the noises were either from outside or the adjoining apartment.
I spent about an hour and a half playing. Unfortunately, World 7-4 drained most of my lives, and I only made it as far as World 7-8. By that time, it was a little past 1:30. I turned everything off and made sure everything was the way it was when I came downstairs. Then I quietly snuck back upstairs and went back to bed. About five minutes after I closed my door, I heard my mom get up and use the bathroom. Talk about luck!
Looking back, it was kind of a dumb thing to do, and I never did that again. This was during the summer, so it didn't affect school, and I don't remember feeling tired the next day (though I didn't have any problems getting to sleep that night). A few months later, I finally beat SMB 3. Unfortunately, nobody was around to witness it - I was a latchkey kid, and on that particular day, I had gotten home from school and started playing as soon as I put my stuff away.
However, I could actually share that at the dinner table.
I couldn't sleep one night, and everyone else was sound asleep. At the time, my family consisted of myself, my mom, and my two younger brothers. I had just reached the final fortress in World 7 earlier in the day, and it was the furthest I had gotten in the game at that time (I had yet to learn that warping in the Warp Zone would allow me to reach World 8). All I could think about was SMB 3. I decided to go downstairs and see if I could get any further. At the time, we lived in a two-story apartment, and the NES was hooked up to the living room TV.
So I quietly snuck downstairs, turned on the TV and put it on mute and started playing SMB 3 as quietly as possible, sitting as close to the TV as I could so I could quickly turn off the TV if my mom woke up and came downstairs. Only the glow of the TV screen and the red light on the toaster provided any light.
I had to turn off the TV three times, staying as still and quiet as possible, hoping that I wouldn't have to end my game prematurely. Fortunately, the noises were either from outside or the adjoining apartment.
I spent about an hour and a half playing. Unfortunately, World 7-4 drained most of my lives, and I only made it as far as World 7-8. By that time, it was a little past 1:30. I turned everything off and made sure everything was the way it was when I came downstairs. Then I quietly snuck back upstairs and went back to bed. About five minutes after I closed my door, I heard my mom get up and use the bathroom. Talk about luck!
Looking back, it was kind of a dumb thing to do, and I never did that again. This was during the summer, so it didn't affect school, and I don't remember feeling tired the next day (though I didn't have any problems getting to sleep that night). A few months later, I finally beat SMB 3. Unfortunately, nobody was around to witness it - I was a latchkey kid, and on that particular day, I had gotten home from school and started playing as soon as I put my stuff away.
However, I could actually share that at the dinner table.