Proletar
Deus Sex Machina
Just wanted to share some late experiences of mine. Long story.
A guy at work (ISFJ) started discussing gaming with me some weeks ago. Competitive fellow with practical intelligence and a snapping wit. I told him I was into the classic 8 and 16 bit. We exchanged our conquerings. He had beaten Ghouls 'n Goblins and all of the Mega-Man released on NES. I told him I usually played games like Donkey Kong Country (1, 2, and 3), Zelda, Super Mario Brothers and others of the kind. Sidescrollers.
On one of our coffee-breaks about two weeks ago, he invited me and some other guys from work to play a board game called Talisman. When we arrived on friday, he was playing Playstation 3. I saw his many consoles on the floor beneath the TV, and after he had finished his level or whatever, he reached under his table to show me his box of games. He had rows of NES games and some for his SNES. The one that immediately caught my attention was his copy of Super Mario Bros. 3. My favourite game, and it was a long time since I saw an actual cartridge. He told me we should play it sometime. I told him I was good at it, and he told me that I can't be better than him. From there it went from a friendly suggestion to a scheduled live event. The entertainment of kings. It was to take part on the next friday. That was today.
Every night when I got home for work, I played the game. All day at work, we were taunting eachother. I realised I made a mistake making this into a competition more for every hour that passed on that week. Practicing became worse and worse for every day that passed, and I began to believe that he could actually be better than me.
I had dreaded for the day until it came this morning, but now it was here. I felt untrained. I arrived an hour too late due to some other business, and the other ones were anxious to begin. After flipping a coin, we decided him to be the first runner. No warp, all levels, P-wings only used in pipes. When he turned on the console and began to play the levels, he seemed very slow. Steady, but very slow. Level after level, he trenched through in due time, rarely dying. Dying can be enough to end a run however, so he was really setting me up to take harder risks than him to win. After clocking out at what he describes as a very bad run, his time is on 1h 58m. I thought it would be easy.
It took me some time to get adjusted from keyboard to his actual controller. After bolting through a couple of levels in my frenzying crazy fashion of playing, I lost my first life. I lost two other ones in level 6 after failing a hard jump. After the boss, he was 1m 40s before me. The world I thought would be my best actully became my worst. For every world I beat after that, I slowly regained my seconds and was actually four minutes before at the end of the 7th world. But then I started dying, over and over again, on the last castle. I even tried using the frog-suit in my desperation. Ten tries later, when I finally got it, my four minute lead had turned into four minutes behind. After regaining some time on the 8th world, my time ended up being 2h 01m. I had lost.
Now I'm back at home, having just finished another run. This time 1:47:14. I'm not satisfied at all, even though it's close to his own personal record. I know he wont agree to play a second time, but I'm still more than ever determined never to lose at this game again. I will keep lowering my times until they are at 1:15. I will look up all the best strategies and plays online and learn as much as possible. I will re-run through the same stages until the exact button combinations and timings are as programmed into me as breathing.
A guy at work (ISFJ) started discussing gaming with me some weeks ago. Competitive fellow with practical intelligence and a snapping wit. I told him I was into the classic 8 and 16 bit. We exchanged our conquerings. He had beaten Ghouls 'n Goblins and all of the Mega-Man released on NES. I told him I usually played games like Donkey Kong Country (1, 2, and 3), Zelda, Super Mario Brothers and others of the kind. Sidescrollers.
On one of our coffee-breaks about two weeks ago, he invited me and some other guys from work to play a board game called Talisman. When we arrived on friday, he was playing Playstation 3. I saw his many consoles on the floor beneath the TV, and after he had finished his level or whatever, he reached under his table to show me his box of games. He had rows of NES games and some for his SNES. The one that immediately caught my attention was his copy of Super Mario Bros. 3. My favourite game, and it was a long time since I saw an actual cartridge. He told me we should play it sometime. I told him I was good at it, and he told me that I can't be better than him. From there it went from a friendly suggestion to a scheduled live event. The entertainment of kings. It was to take part on the next friday. That was today.
Every night when I got home for work, I played the game. All day at work, we were taunting eachother. I realised I made a mistake making this into a competition more for every hour that passed on that week. Practicing became worse and worse for every day that passed, and I began to believe that he could actually be better than me.
I had dreaded for the day until it came this morning, but now it was here. I felt untrained. I arrived an hour too late due to some other business, and the other ones were anxious to begin. After flipping a coin, we decided him to be the first runner. No warp, all levels, P-wings only used in pipes. When he turned on the console and began to play the levels, he seemed very slow. Steady, but very slow. Level after level, he trenched through in due time, rarely dying. Dying can be enough to end a run however, so he was really setting me up to take harder risks than him to win. After clocking out at what he describes as a very bad run, his time is on 1h 58m. I thought it would be easy.
It took me some time to get adjusted from keyboard to his actual controller. After bolting through a couple of levels in my frenzying crazy fashion of playing, I lost my first life. I lost two other ones in level 6 after failing a hard jump. After the boss, he was 1m 40s before me. The world I thought would be my best actully became my worst. For every world I beat after that, I slowly regained my seconds and was actually four minutes before at the end of the 7th world. But then I started dying, over and over again, on the last castle. I even tried using the frog-suit in my desperation. Ten tries later, when I finally got it, my four minute lead had turned into four minutes behind. After regaining some time on the 8th world, my time ended up being 2h 01m. I had lost.
Now I'm back at home, having just finished another run. This time 1:47:14. I'm not satisfied at all, even though it's close to his own personal record. I know he wont agree to play a second time, but I'm still more than ever determined never to lose at this game again. I will keep lowering my times until they are at 1:15. I will look up all the best strategies and plays online and learn as much as possible. I will re-run through the same stages until the exact button combinations and timings are as programmed into me as breathing.
*hug* 
...But see? You've still won in the long run.
