I smiled as the familiar Super Mario Bros. theme started. Everyone knew that music, even if they didn’t play video games. I picked up right where I left off, humming along, even though I hadn’t heard it in years.
Yesterday I picked up an old Nintendo Entertainment System at a yard sale, along with a few games. It harkened back to my youth, when I’d spend hours playing with Mario. A twinge of guilt hit me. You see, I’ve never beaten the game. It was an embarrassing secret, sacrilegious in the gamer community. It was time to right that wrong.
Running across the levels, I was surprised how easy it was. The early stages were always easier, of course, but also, I was a kid when I’d last played the game. I was older now, wiser, and my skills had grown. I grabbed as many coins as I could, earning a 1up (another life).
Remembering the secret Warp Zone I’d found as a kid, I took it to World 4, and was halfway though stage one when I first died. A stupid mistake, but I forgave myself; I was still rusty. I’d get the hang of it, I was sure. I had time now.
See that’s the thing when you’re a kid: not only were you, well, I don’t want to say stupider – maybe inexperienced – but there was less time. Back then I could only play after school or on weekends. And even then there was still homework and chores and bedtime. Also, unlike most games today, when you died, and ran out of lives, it was game over. You had to start over from the beginning. It was hugely frustrating to get so far and then have to start over, but bedtime was in half and hour and you knew you’d never make it. Sometimes I’d throw down the controller or thrown a tantrum. What can I say, I was just a kid.
But I was an adult now, and I could tolerate failure much better. I watched Mario fall off the screen and began mentally plotting a run for me next…
Player Two’s turn was next.
This was odd because I hadn’t selected the two-player option when I’d started the game. The system didn’t even come with a second controller; just the light gun. The woman I bought it from said they’d lost the other controller and apologized for it. But it didn’t matter to me since I was a solo gamer. Even as a kid, and an only child, the only time I played with two players is when I had a friend over.
I watched as Luigi appeared on the screen on the first stage. He stood there, as I expected, with no one to control him. But then he turned around. Then faced forward and began to walk to the right. I put my controller down, ensuring that I was giving no input. Luigi kept walking until he ran into the first goomba and died.
Whatever that was, it was weird. But it was my turn again. I got further this time, finding the next Warp Zone and took it to World 8, the last one. I lost much confidence as I’d gained while playing when I started this level. It was longer and more difficult and even if I managed to make it to the end, it only got worse. The last dungeon was impossible to beat when I was a kid. There was a trick to it. You couldn’t just run until you reached the end of the level, you had to use a series of pipes that would lead to the final boss. But those pipes were like a maze, and I never figured out the correct combination.
Nowadays you can go online and get all the help you need to beat a game. You can read a walkthrough, or watch a YouTube video. This wasn’t an option twenty years ago since the internet was in its infancy, so I was on my own. Personally I consider that cheating, and prefer to play games straight up, the way the makers intended.
So yeah, I was nervous beginning World 8, and died quickly, jumping at the wrong time, nearly hitting a turtle, and dodged backwards into a chasm. I could’ve taken the hit, since I was big Mario, but instincts took over.
Luigi came on for his next turn, and this time I held onto my controller. I pressed buttons at random but they had no effect. So I sat and watched as Player Two wandered back and forth, not seeming to know where to go, but managed to get father this time, jumping goombas and climbing stairs. He didn’t reach the end of Level 1 though, so he still needed practice.
Back to me now. I carefully plotted my way though the first stage, but it still proved too hard to conquer on the first try and I ate a bullet, ending my turn again.
I didn’t watch Player Two this time, instead I inspected the machine. Was someone playing remotely? Was this NES modified somehow? I wasn’t an expert, and I hadn’t seen a unit up close with my own eyes in years, but everything seemed right, from what my memory recalled – unless the modifications were on the inside on the machine. I wasn’t about to take it apart though, since I don’t know what I’d be looking for.
I looked up to see Luigi finally pass the first stage. He then went on to beat the second stage, and nearly the third. World 1-3 was always difficult for newbies, since it took place in the sky and there was a much higher chance of falling to your death. It was almost as if Player 2 was just learning the game as well.
I picked up my controller for my fourth and final life. I played through the stages and got taken out by the Hammer Bros. in World 8-3. I wasn’t disappointed; in fact I felt I did great considering I hadn’t played the game it years.
Player Two, much like his turns before, continued to improve. But eventually he died, and that was the end.
I powered the machine off and on, just in case, and started a new game, making sure I chose single player mode. I did quite well with my first life, taking my time and skipping the Warp Zones so I could wander the worlds and get practice. A stupid mistake lead to my first death in World 3-2.
To my surprise, Player 2 came next. I watched as he cleared the first level perfectly and found the first Warp Zone. Then something eerie happened. Luigi seemed to look at me. I can’t say for sure because there was no animation for it, no sprite created for that pose. But it was a cross between the left and right sprites. Then it jumped up and moved the letters in WELCOME TO WARP ZONE 1. He removed the C and O from WELCOME and dragged over the P from WARP to make “WELP ME”
I was dumbfounded. Was Luigi trying to write ‘Help me’? He then looked at me again and I think he tapped on the glass of the TV. It sounded like that anyway. After a minute of staring, he jumped into the pipe and went to World 4. Those little spiked critters gave him some trouble, ending his turn shortly into the first level.
I continued through to World 4 myself but didn’t last long, preoccupied with what I’d just witnessed. Perhaps the cartridge itself had been altered? Certainly the code had to be edited to allow for this. But it was so seamless, so…perfect in execution it was hard to tell it wasn’t the real thing.
This time Player Two made it to the dungeon of World 4 and saved Toadstool and receiving the familiar THANK YOU LUIGI! BUT OUR PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE! Except that it didn’t quite read LUIGI. It read ‘LIUGIS.’ And again he started rearranging the letters. He put LUIGI back the way it belonged and added NOT in front of it. Then he put SABE NE! after.
Chills ran down my spine. This was seriously f*cked up. When Luigi, or not Luigi, or whoever it was, came on screen to World 5 he was dressed differently. It was hard to tell with the limited pixel count, but it looked like a blue shirt and khaki pants. His moustache was also gone.
No. No, no, no. This was all bullshit. My NES was not haunted. Someone had hacked the game. Maybe they were playing it remotely on their TV, or maybe they just altered the code to do this, but I wasn’t going to fall for it.
I was barely paying attention to the game now. I looked up and saw Mario waiting patiently on my screen for me to do something. I eventually started playing, but was taken out in the next level. I couldn’t focus on the game anymore.
Player 2 kept improving and kept passing stages. He had a couple close calls in the next dungeon but made it, saving Toadstool again. When the words came on screen once more LUIGI was now spelled LIUIS. Maybe he was trying to spell LOUIS? This time he arranged the letters to spell ELP NE AARON!
I turned off the game. Now I was really freaked out. Player Two – Louis – was talking to me. It wasn’t the programming – couldn’t be a coincidence; it knew my name.
I didn’t play anymore that night, and I didn’t sleep well either. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. How did he…or it…know my name? There had to be an explanation – one that wasn’t steeped in the paranormal. If I didn’t get some answers it would haunt me for a long time.
When I awoke the next morning I immediately tried some of the other games I had; Roadblasters, Battle Toads, Super Mario Bros. 3, even Duck Hunt (the other half of the Super Mario Bros cartridge) but they all worked flawlessly. So I decided to visit the woman I purchased the NES from.
I felt stupid as I knocked on her door. Do I tell her what happened? What would she think? I mean, it did sound crazy. Maybe she’d noticed the problem too and that’s why she got rid of it.
The door opened and the woman stood before me. “Yes?”
I cleared my throat and said, “Hi. I’m not sure if you remember me, but I bought the Nintendo system at your yard sale yesterday.”
“Yes?” she said again. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, of course, everything works great. Um, that is…except for one game. It acts…really weird. I’ve played it before so I know this one’s, like, different. So I was wondering if it was tampered with, or modified or-”
“I’m sorry,” she cut me short. “I wouldn’t know. They were my son’s.”
I nodded; I should have realized that. “Oh. Well is there any way I can talk to your son?”
She looked down, chewing her lip, thinking about it. When she looked up again her expression was worn, stressed. “No. Louis isn’t here anymore. He’s…gone. I’m sorry.”
Louis!
“Gone?” I asked. The way she said the word was weird, like she knew more than she was letting on. It wasn’t any of my business – or maybe it was since I bought his old stuff – but I had to know.
She sighed and looked down again. “Louis went missing years ago. We never found him.”
Now I’m sure it was my face that looked stressed. I didn’t know how but her son was trapped in the Super Mario Bros. cartridge. I didn’t make sense, and shouldn’t even be possible, but I knew it was true. And I had to find a way to free him.
I gave my apologies and quickly went home to fire up the NES. I began a two-player game and died immediately. “I know who you are,” I said, not knowing if Louis could hear me. “I’m gonna get you out of there.”
But when Player Two appeared it wasn’t Louis, or at least it didn’t look like him. This time the character was entirely black, as if it was a shadow. It ran along the screen, killing everything it touched, like it had a star permanently. The music wasn’t correct either; the dungeon theme was playing on every stage. When he beat the first world and saved Toadstool, the message came up as normal, but the name read XXXXX. And he began moving the letters around, like Louis had done, only it was weird to watch since the sprite was black, on a black background, so it looked like the letters were arranging themselves. Then the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I read it: SO YOU NO THE TRUTH.
I didn’t know if it was a question or a statement, but I didn’t like it. I watched helplessly as he easily walked through World 2, completely invulnerable. This time at the end of the dungeon he wrote: LOUIS IS INE. At the end of the World 3: HIS SOU BELONS TO NE. Then: I RACE YOU! U RIN HE SREE in World 4.
So this shadow person was keeping Louis a prisoner? And if I beat the game Louis goes free – was that the deal? What if I lose? He didn’t say, but I should at least try. But how did I even stand a chance if he was invincible? Nothing could stop him.
Then I got my answer. In World 5-1, Player Two, or XXXXX, walked off the cliff.
It was on purpose; I knew that. Was he giving me a sporting chance? Well, I had to make the most of it. I ran carefully through the level, taking my time, avoiding any unnecessary risks. I collected as many coins as I could, gaining all the extra lives I could. When the chance came I took the Warp Zone to World 4. Then in World 4-2 I took another Warp Zone to World 8. I’d overtaken him now and stood a chance, so long as I didn’t make a mistake.
Unfortunately, my luck ran out. I miscalculated a jump and fell to my death. It was okay since I had five extra lives, but only if Player Two made a mistake, which I doubted he would. I’d ruined my chance. But I could start a new game, try again, if I had to.
Then I learned that wasn’t an option. At the end of World 5 XXXXX wrote: YOU LOSE U INE. So that was the other half of the deal. Was it too late to back out? What would happen if I lose? Will I get stuck in the game like Louis? If only I hadn’t squandered my first life. If only I had selected a one-player game at the start.
That was it! That was the problem! When I was playing by myself it was just Louis and me. Now I was dealing with XXXXX because I chose a 2-player game. I hit the reset button on the console, thinking I could start over.
Nothing happened.
I tried the power button, but it also didn’t work. I tried taking the game out of the system, but it was stuck firm. This was beginning to get very dire. I watched Player Two finish World 6-1 and decided to unplug the NES from the wall. The power went off and the TV screen went blank. I breathed a sigh of relief, but was still uneasy. I waited a few minutes before plugging everything back in to see if it worked.
It didn’t. XXXXX was still walking along the screen, killing everything in his path.
What else could I try? Something had to work. I tried plugging my controller into the Player Two port. As I expected, it had no effect. Then I tried the light gun, desperate for any solution, anything that would buy me more time or end this cursed game. I aimed at the screen and shot.
The TV flickered and I heard the blasting sound. It worked. XXXXX stopped moving – or at least the screen did (it was a night world so I couldn’t see him). Then the screen moved again, so I shot again, firing at random. He managed to complete World 6 and left me a note at the end: YOU SHIT! U CANT STOP NE!
World 7 began, and in the sky-blue background I could clearly see him. I shot him easily, and smiled widely and jumped up and down, feeling like I’d won. But I’d only just started. Mario came on for my turn, but I wasn’t going to touch it. I was done. It couldn’t force me to play anymore. I hit pause on the controller, determined to let the game sit there for all eternity if I had to. Sorry Louis.
But the game didn’t pause.
I almost freaked out until I realized my controller wasn’t plugged in. So I put it back…but still nothing. The clock continued to tick down. I panicked, running across the screen. There was nothing I could do to stop the game, and now I’d wasted too much time. You get less time than in the earlier worlds to complete the stages in World 8, and the stages themselves are also longer. Adding to the fact that I was scared and running with little thought or control, I died quickly.
Player Two came out of the gates running for his life. Unlike me, the only obstacles he needed to worry about were the pits. I picked up the light gun and began shooting. He dodged back and forth, zig-zagging, heedless of enemies, avoiding my blasting. He put up a good fight and reached end of the level. An underwater stage came next so he couldn’t move fast. I took him out without trouble, and smiled, knowing there was no way he’d get by that level now.
I could relax now. I had played this level before and I could beat it if I just focused. Thankfully I slid down the flag pole seconds before the timer ended. World 8-2 was thankfully shorter. I managed to beat it without much trouble. But the next stage brought the Hammer Brothers. They were always tricky, and this time managed to do me in.
I kept XXXXX at bay and carefully completed my next level, taking me to the final dungeon, the level I’ve never beaten. I wish I could to look up the pipe sequence to get through it. I know it’s cheating, but I think I had a pretty good reason to. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to go to my computer and research because I was on a timer and couldn’t pause it. I only had two lives left so I needed to figure this out. I died, as usual, after getting lost and the clock reaching zero.
An idea then came to me: XXXXX would know the way. I let him beat World 7 and catch up to me, and watched as he wandered the dungeon. Of course I couldn’t see him, since he was a shadow on a black background, but I could see the path he took. I smiled, revelling in my own cleverness.
After he emerged from the fourth pipe I took him down, like a sniper. That was it! I’d seen the sequence – 3-4-3 – and could make it by myself now. And on my last life too! I couldn’t hide my smile as I followed his path as carefully as I could, and I could feel tears stinging my eyes as I emerged from the last pipe. This was the home stretch! I approached the bridge to find not Bowser, but…Louis?
What was he doing here? Did I have to defeat him? None of this made sense, but the clock was ticking down and I didn’t have time to waste. I ran and tried to jump over him, but he jumped up to block me. Had this been any other enemy I would’ve died right then and there. Thankfully this didn’t happen, since it would’ve meant game over for me. I tried again but again he stopped me, matching me jump for jump.
“Louis! What the hell are you doing?” I cried. “Get out of the way!”
I don’t know if he could hear me but I eventually got by him, faking a high jump and ducking underneath him. I hit the lever and watched him fall into the lava pit. I had beaten the game, but I didn’t feel like celebrating. Relief and guilt began to flood into me. Watching Louis fall…what if…
Mario walked to the right to find Princess Toadstool, and the end of the game. The words THANK YOU AARON. YOUR QUEST IS OVER. WE PRESENT A NEW QUEST. PUSH BUTTON B TO SELECT A WORLD came on the screen. But XXXXX must have been there because they began to arrange themselves into: THANK YOU AARON. LOUIS IS DEAT. YOURE NOW TRAPT.
I sat frozen in horror as the NES cartridge door opened and a shadow began to pool into the room. No, it was more than a shadow; it was pitch black. Light did not escape it, and somewhere inside I knew I wouldn’t either. When it reached for my legs I shuffled backwards until I hit my couch. Tendrils of darkness flapped out, like hands, searching, seeking. I hopped up on my couch, out of its reach.
Or so I thought. Suddenly it lashed out and wrapped around my ankle. I screamed. It dragged me back, into its darkness, into the NES.
***
Where was I? I blinked; it was impossibly bright…and colourful. I looked around at the flat landscape. On one side was a clear window.
No. It was impossible…
I stared out through the smudgy screen at the little boy with the controller in his hands.
The Chris Effect 