Nintendo @ E3 '15: Our Muppet Bodies Weren't Ready

[S.Peelman]

Heh, well talking about memorable Nintendo moments, there are so many I wouldn't even know where to start. I'm in Europe so I won't be able to participate anyway, so I'll keep it a bit short. I already mentioned the 'dog story' a couple times here over the years, and some of you may know that already, so I'll mention something else:

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I have a small family. Divorced parents each with a new partner and a family of their own make it artificially bigger, but blood-relatives, I can count them on one hand. Especially now. A while ago however, definitely over ten, maybe fifteen years ago if I had to guess, things were still different.

I used to have an aunt and an uncle. Two in fact, and three cousins. Relations between my mother, grandmother and aunt on one side were already strained with my uncle on the other. Two sisters and their mother against the brother, because he chose a woman nobody really liked as a companion. At this time though, they still kept it mostly under wraps for us, my three cousins and me. One of those cousins however, was the son of my uncle and because of our parents we never really saw that much of him already while the other three of us were (and are) like brothers. Of course, they are brothers, but because I am alone and we lived only a block away, I was always with them.

Until one faithful day, mother's day, when my other uncle with my cousin and his wife actually decided to show up at my grandmother's apartment when the day approached it's end. There we finally were, the entire family together; my grandmother (who was happy with the occasion), my aunt with my two brothers/cousins and her husband, my uncle with my third cousin and his wife and my mother with my step-father and of course, me.

When dinner was had, we proceeded with what we usually did at my grandmother's. Playing a video game. This practice had evolved from playing Soccer or Duck Hunt on NES to Mario Kart 64 on the N64. And that was what we were going to play. The four of us, all racing together in the living room. The rest of the family watched and laughed and eventually, wanted to get in on the action. Especially my own parents and my aunt, who were fairly adequate gamers themselves during those days to say the least. And so it was, we took turns and held a small tournament between the now 8 players. My grandmother didn't dare play, and my uncle and wife kept in the background, but at least they were there.

My aunt, she was Wario, as she aways was, and won most races. Her husband, was Bowser, again like he always was and mostly got the Lightning power-up, because he was riding somewhere behind, like always. And he tried so much. My mother, she was Peach, like, you guessed it, mostly mimicking the voices Peach does in game. My step-father, he was Yoshi, and fairly good too, at least very competitive as he always played time trail back home. My nephews, they were Toad and Donkey Kong. One of them likes Toad so he's Toad in everything, while the other feels that way about Donkey Kong. My third nephew, he was Luigi, because he didn't really care and everyone else was taken.

And I? I was Mario, of course. Competing mainly with my aunt and my step-father for final victory.

I don't remember who finally won, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter as this would prove to be the final time we would ever all play together. When my uncle left my grandmother's apartment that evening with his wife and my cousin, that would be the last time I ever saw them. Relations between our parents deteriorated even further and even my grandmother stopped visiting my lost cousin on his birthday. Later, my aunt would turn ill with the worst possible outcome, after her husband already had.

My family is now even smaller, but luckily, the bond between me and the two cousins I was closest with never vanished. One of them isn't interested in gaming anymore and the other is in a tough spot, but at least, some days, we still game on.