Well, I finally beat it.

A very long time ago, when I was just a few years old, my parents gifted this game to me and my older sister. It is one of the first bonding experiences I remember having with her. She was a few years older than me, and better at the game than I was. I struggled again and again on the early worlds, and was blown away when she got the credits to roll. She would help me along, and beat some of the tricky areas for me, but I never could conquer the game.

And here I am, 30 or so years later, and I finally beat Super Mario Land, on the very same cartridge we played as kids. As the credits rolled, my palms a bit sweaty… I thought of her.

It’s not a perfect game, and doesn’t play great even by early Mario standards, but it means a lot to me.