Video games a waste of time?

Not since Leather Goddesses of Phobos have I spent so many hours on a game, and that was quite some time ago.

I’m talking about Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo DS hand-held gaming system.

I bought myself a DS on a whim just before Christmas and immediately found myself playing Tetris on it. Old habits die hard.

But I had bought this other game, this thing with the Mario Brothers, characters I had vaguely heard nothing about in recent years. I knew they were popular and that Nintendo had been behind them, but I had basically missed out on them. I never owned a Nintendo console, you see.

In fact, the last console I owned was my Atari 2600, back in 1980 (unless you count the Xbox that I won in a raffle at LISA 2001, but sold on Craig’s List without even opening). Since then, the only video game I’ve owned was an Atari Lynx, back in 1989. I bought another a couple of years ago, just for the sheer nostalgia of those old games, which I still think knock spots off the ones kids play today.

Anyway, after quickly reaching the limit of my skill with Tetris, I decided to crack open the Super Mario 64 game I’d bought. I only really bought it to see what it would be like to play a game that had been specifically designed for the DS and used its touch-screen to the full. The only other games I had bought were GBA games, which the DS can also play, but which make no use of the DS’s special hardware.

So, I started to play Super Mario 64 over Christmas in Providence. It took me a while to get into it, as I hadn’t really played this type of game before. Progress was slow. I managed to collect just a few stars and found it difficult to get used to the wealth of manoeuvres that the characters can perform, if one only has the manual dexterity required to manipulate the touch-screen as required.

I persevered, though, and eventually I started to enjoy the game and get better at it. I soon realised that this was a large game, however, and was going to take quite some time to complete.

Well, to cut a long story short, tonight I finally finished it, almost three months after starting it. I’ve been playing this game many hours a week since I purchased it, so it represents great value for money. I managed to clear all 15 levels, each of which contains 7 stars, each star involving a different mission to acquire it.

Those 15 levels are thus good for 105 stars. A further star can be collected in each level by amassing 100 coins as one works one’s way through the course. That brings the total number of stars in the levels to 120.

There are hidden levels, however, which contain one or two stars each. Occasionally, a seemingly insignificant character will hand you a star if you stop to talk to him. One way or another, the total number of stars on offer rises to 150 and tonight I managed to grab the 150th star.

Lest you think that’s all there is to the game, there are rabbits scattered all over the course. They reveal themselves at different moments, at different times and in different locations, depending on which character you happen to be at the time: Yoshi, Mario, Luigi or Wario. These characters also have to be found and released from within the game, as certain stars can only be acquired using the special powers of one of the characters.

Anyway, back to the rabbits. If you catch these rabbits, they give you a key. Each key unlocks a mini-game, which is basically a quick and uncomplicated extra game on the cartridge that you can play when you just have a few minutes to spare. The main game, on the other hand, has so much in it that you really need a few hours at a time to play it.

There are seven rabbits per character to find, making 28 in all. Tonight, I found the 28th rabbit and unlocked the last mini-game on the cartridge. I’ve been so busy with the main game that I haven’t played most of the mini-games, but, funnily enough, Sarah has, as the simplicity of those games appeals to her more than the convoluted nature of the main game.

For sheer entertainment value, Super Mario 64 has to be just about the best $30 I’ve ever spent. It’s kept me busy for three months, made me smile, made me swear, amazed me with its imagination, depth and scope, confounded and frustrated me when I couldn’t figure out the solution to certain puzzles.

And now I’ve finished it. I have my life back! It’s hard to imagine not spending at least an hour on it each evening, trying to find those bloody stars. I’ll have to find something else to do now, like continue to search for a suitable name for Franbert…