Belated Birthday Greetings to Mario

   Yeah, Mario turned 25 years old yesterday. He doesn't look a day over 35 but who's counting. Reflecting on my wasted youth, I have good memories of the original Nintendo Entertainment System and all the games my brothers and sisters played on the thing. We even had the Gyromite Robot which we used once and then shoved into the attic. It's probably still there if it hasn't gone into the trash.

   The hottest game on the NES was Super Mario Bros 3. It had everything - running, jumping, raccoon cosplay, and the kind of platform excitement that hooks impressionable kids. SMB3 was released before the age of the internet so only way kids could trade information was by calling each other or by logging into bulletin board systems like GEnie, Prodigy, or CompuServe. Those systems were the precursors to the internet and I recall lively gaming discussions on PC games as well as console games. There was no GameFaqs back then so hunting for information on games wasn't as easy as it is today. It's safe to say I grew up with Mario and I've known him all my life so I had to break down and wish him happy birthday.