I've got two short stories, both involving Super Mario Bros. 3.

I had gotten Super Mario 3 for Easter, and I'd spent a good six months playing that game, learning new secrets (like pushing down on the white blocks) and finding weird new power-ups (I still remember freaking out when I found the Hammer Bro. suit) and figuring out how to skip ahead (the damn auto-scrolling water level in World 7 is STILL my nemisis, thank God for Lakitu's Cloud). But I had yet to defeat Bowser. I'd get almost to his castle, then run out of lives and have to start the damn world over again.
One night, I was actually playing rather well and I finally reached his castle. I can remember shouting "NO WAY!!!" when that first Bowser statue fried me, robbing me off my hard fought Tanooki Suit. I was enthralled by the gigantic lava pool and the door maze in the middle of the castle. And I found old school delights in the final chamber as I dodged fireballs as I leaped from platform to platform.
Finally, I reached him. Bowser. His kids were a walk in the park compared to him. He wasted no time, hurling a fireball at me, then jumping straight into the air, crushing Mario. It was a hard battle. More than once I accidentally fell into the pit, throwing me all the way back to the beginning. But I kept it up, each time getting a bit better. Finally, Bowser leaped into the trap I had set, and he plummeted down the pit. Then there was silence, then a pleasing "THUMP" meaning Bowser had hit the bottom! The locked door opened up, but I was too busy screaming and hollering "I DID IT!!! I DID IT!!!!!" Hey, I was 10, and this was the first video game I had EVER beaten. Hands trembling, I carefully jumped over the hole in the blocks and went into the door. And there was the Princess. I hollered some more as she delivered that cheezy "I'm sorry, our princess is in another castle! Ha ha, just kidding! Bye bye." line that was sorely missed in last year's GBA remake. At this point, my family had come in to see what I was hollering about, and they congratulated me, then went back to whatever they were doing. But I stayed and watched the end credits, as each world I had conquered flashed by. I must have stared at that red curtain and the words "The End" for at least ten minutes, before finally pressing start. And the rumor I had heard was true, I started the game over with 28 P-Wings! Woot!

Okay, my other story is much shorter. A year or so later I was playing Mario 3 at a cousin's house and I was trying to show him the ending. My sister and said cousin were tossing a nerf ball around. I had just gotten to the airship level in World 8, when my sister tossed the ball to my cousin. He missed the ball, and where do you think it went? No, no the priceless vase, nor the window. It went straight for the reset button on the NES! Plunk! The screen went black for a second, then we were greeted by the red curtain raising up on the title screen. We all sat stunned for a few seconds, then we all burst out laughing.