How Super Mario Saved My Semester
January 9, 2023
Writer: Sabrina Sugg
Editor: Keara Keelty
No one prepared me for how difficult it would be to go from living in the dorms to living in an apartment. In the dorm, I knew everyone — those of you who lived in South Quad are probably thinking, “What?? How is that possible? You must have only ever gone to dorm parties.” Well, my friend group could throw a hell of a dorm party (imagine a clothing swap party where guys ended up in bikini tops and girls looked like they were trying to start a new trend: oversized suits), and I knew everyone because I lived in Baits, specifically the Thieme dorm. There were about 40 of us and we quickly formed two separate groups. Over the course of the year, my group became really close, as the 20 of us could always be found in either the lounge or the theater.
This year, there is no lounge or theater. No shared dining hall table filled with bright lights and loud laughter. Despite our initial hopes of finding a space that could replace those locations, we never did — everyone is always so busy. Beyond that, buying and making my own food seems to be unnecessarily exhausting. How could we have expected it to be the same when we went from walking across the hall to walking 20 minutes across campus? The short answer to this problem, I suppose, is effort. But, ultimately, that is a lot to ask and, at times, a lot to give.
Then, about a month into the school year, one of my roommates, Tobi, called her mom and asked her to send their old Wii to the apartment. A few days later, a package arrived and we figured out how to connect it to the TV. Her mom had sent us some games as well. A few of us were also able to acquire our old Wii games over Thanksgiving break. The result? My friends and I were given a new, effortless reason to hang out; thus designating our apartment as a space to spend time together and forget about the stress of school for a little while.
Many of us grew up playing this gaming system when we were younger and, oftentimes, with our family. But now, as college students, my friend group has rediscovered the sheer entertainment of watching two people go head-to-head in a Wii Play game. As we began to reminisce about our prior Wii experiences, I found myself learning things about my closest friends that I never would have otherwise. I learned that Tobi and her sister spent quarantine creating Miis of their family and friends, along with their pet fish, Nemow (the ‘w’ is not a mistake — it is a very aggressive name). I learned that Jackson and his friends used to play “Mario Kart Tag,” where one person would be “it” and give the other players time to drive away and hide in the secret shortcut places. The person would then need to run into one of the other player’s karts to tag them. There is one other rule, though: if you cross the finish line, you are automatically “it.” In case you’re interested, Coconut Mall is the best course to use when playing tag. Honestly, it is super fun: I would 10/10 recommend it.
We don’t only play Super Mario Smash Bros and Mario Kart. We also have Just Dance battles, and some of the guys like to spend long hours playing Tanks!, a minigame on Wii Play. By having the Wii in our apartment, we have made great memories and extremely entertaining videos on Snapchat; it is a stress reliever in a stressed-out apartment. Best of all, it is the reason for some of my favorite people to come over and hang out. So, as annoying as the Tanks! music is, I am grateful that it means my friends are around.
