“Dad, you may know a lot about old games like Space Invaders and Asteroids but in this house I am the Nintendo Master.”
He is right, in this house he is the Nintendo master and all will readily admit his overall skills are superior to the rest of us, but the Nintendo Master forgets his father can be ridiculously competitive.
The conversation started because he was watching me try to fumble through Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions.
The game had been provided for review by the fine folks at Nintendo and IÂ was happily checking it out or at least trying to.
Trying to meaning that the 3DS didn’t want to cooperate with my fingers or so I tried to claim.
It might have worked but the aforementioned Nintendo Master didn’t have similar issues and his hands are about my size.
The Nintendo Lesson
I listened to his laughter and instruction and after a few minutes agreed that it was worth passing the 3DS over to him so I could see how he played.
Don’t tell him I said this, but I enjoyed listening to him explain how, what and why he was doing certain things and was grateful that this teenage boy was happy to spend time with his old man.
He is a hair short of 17 now and while we haven’t reached a place where he is unwilling to hang out with me it happens with less frequency than before.
The boy who was once my shadow doesn’t always feel like being the shadow anymore.
That is normal and natural, but not without a bit of angst for the old man.
****
Anyhoo, as I sat there listening to him talk I thought about buying the Wii when he was around 8 and wondering how long Nintendo would hold his attention.
The games seemed to be geared to younger kids and while that wasn’t a big deal then I figured eventually things would change.
Except they haven’t completely, there are some games he has totally given up on but the Mario games aren’t among them.
He still plays some of the Zelda and Pokemon too among others.
That is not to say he won’t get on one of the other systems and play something more grown-up but he still gets lost in the games on that 3DS which I might add we have had since 2011.
That is a pretty good run.
The Nintendo Lesson Part II
At family gatherings, my middle sister sometimes likes to tell all of the children about how Uncle Jack/Dad and grandpa would play this game where I would end up being sent from the dinner table.
I can’t tell you exactly how or why this game started other than when I was a teen I was smarter than my father and I liked to try and prove it.
On more than few occasions, my dad and I would have a disagreement during dinner that led to my being banished from the table.
While I would like to say my dad was primarily responsible for my exile it is not true, I did quite a bit to make it happen.
Yeah, I was ornery back then and I guarantee there were more than a few comments that made my me that made him want to pick me up and throw me.
****
Fast forward to the present the Nintendo Master does an excellent impression of me as a teenager with one giant exception.
No one ever took my 3DS because I didn’t have one but he does and his mouth led to it being stripped from his possession.
I told him to consider it to be his Nintendo lesson but I don’t know that he took it as that.
Trust me when I say he is lucky I remember how fiery and feisty I was at his age. 🙂
****
During the time in which he wasn’t allowed to use or play on the 3DS the old competitive fire burned a bit brighter and I tried to take advantage of the time to improve my skills.
If this were a movie I’d tell you I gained a lot of ground and turned into a Mario powerhouse but that is simply not true.
I got better, but not enough to turn around and say I was the Nintendo Master but I did improve enough to get a thumbs up from him.
And that my friends is worth a lot.
I’ll keep playing these games with him for as long as he’ll let me. Sometimes it is the best way to get a teen to talk.
Disclosure: Product was provided by Nintendo but all opinions are mine.
