On January 23, 2021, we purchased a Nintendo Switch along with a few games; Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, MarioKart Deluxe 8, and Just Dance 2021. Nina and I had a Nintendo Wii before Niko arrived and used it a little bit after he was born, but then it just sat unused for a long time (because we had Niko to play with). I will remind you that Niko was 4 and a half years old at that time, and he was already much better at the Switch games than Nina and I; well, that is primarily, because he doesn’t allow us to play! I am kidding. He did allow us to play as he often needed our help to get him out of jams. When Nina and I do play, he is a backseat driver and tells us where to go and how to do it. When he plays, he gets so excited and he jumps up and down. It’s really fun to watch him play and see his concentration, along with his fingers on the controllers.
Since then, we have added a lot more games and Mario games. Just a few weeks ago, we got Mario and Sonic at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
In addition to Mario games, Niko has a closet full of Mario themed clothes and watches videos on YouTube Kids of people playing Mario games. He has had Mario birthday cakes and birthday parties. He was Bowser for a few Halloweens. When we go swimming at the neighborhood pool, Niko and I wear our Mario and Luigi hats. His backpack has a lot of Mario patches. A few weeks ago, we added a MarioKart Remote Control car. How can I forget that he has a ton of Mario lego sets. Oh, he also has several Mario posters hanging on his bedroom walls.
But last Tuesday, as me and him were relaxing in his bed before his nighttime approached, he told me that he just realized Mario is a stupid concept. Let me remind you and tell you this is coming from his 8-year-old brain. I then asked him if he wanted to write his thoughts down. So, here is what he came up with (unedited by me, well, I take that back, I just added punctuation):
Today, I realized Mario was a stupid concept. I’m still gonna play the games, but less. I am like why is he a plumber? I’m also like what does he do? Why is he jumpMan? Why does he parkour? Why does Bowser hate him? I have all these questions in mind. I would ask Nintendo if I could. How can he one hit goombas and how can he survive an infinite amount of deaths? He shouldn’t be that popular. I say Minecraft should overtake Mario also, why does he have more than 1 million courses? OKAY I guess Mario Odyssey is better. I might regret this in the future, but for now I don’t care.
Yeah, a lot of thought went into it! During winter break, he played a lot of Minecraft and Animal Crossing. Exploring and building activities instead of Mario is better in my opinion. I told him that when I was younger, I played sports and racing games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, not Mario.
