Mario Again

What I remember is Saturday mornings in pajamas, playing Super Mario World before everyone else woke up, cookies getting eaten, hot chocolate going cold on the side table. That’s the specific thing.

There’s a whole market now in refurbished consoles from back then—Super Nintendos, N64s, Game Boys, all of them painted fresh and actually cheap. Come with games. I think that’s funny and kind of sad and kind of smart all at the same time. Like we’re all collectively trying to buy back something specific.

The weird part is it almost works. Not the exact feeling—I’m older now, the room’s different, everything’s different. But I put in a cartridge and play for an hour and I get back to something. Maybe just the memory of the feeling, but that’s not nothing.