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Mom earns title of "Coolest Ever" - fulfills life-long gaming promise to her son

N

nrvalleytime

Member
So I happened upon this Twitter conversation earlier today, and I have to say - it's a pretty great story.

A quick summary - a few months ago, Mallory Ortberg (co-founder of The Toast) asked people to tell her about the best "mom thing" their mothers had done for them.

One guy responded that his mother made him a promise when he was in Elementary School to play Super Mario with him on the morning of his wedding.

https://twitter.com/mallelis/status/525380205284962305
https://twitter.com/martynwendell/status/525396704846434304

Well, turns out the guy got engaged and subsequently married a few weeks ago - his mother remembered the promise.

https://twitter.com/martynwendell/status/575796240182558722

B_2joReVAAEWhwl.jpg


Stuff like this makes me happy. And it's another reason to remember the best moments in our lives involve the people we love, not just the things we love. But it's fantastic when those two worlds collide.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
Haha, that's touching. I love when my mom plays games. I'll never forget her going nuts trying to get to the bottom of the "Penguin slide" (as she called it) in Super Mario 64.
 
G

GamerJM

Banned
This is sweet and touching, but I can't look at that and not think of how much lag that setup probably has >_>.
 
B

butalala

Member
Still wish that I could get my parents into my games. The closest I ever came was StarFox 64. Wii Sports, too I guess.


...I'm going to do my best to be interested in what my kids are interested in.


My parents are really great though, this is no knock on them.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
butalala said:
Still wish that I could get my parents into my games. The closest I ever came was StarFox 64. Wii Sports, too I guess.


...I'm going to do my best to be interested in what my kids are interested in.


My parents are really great though, this is no knock on them.
Click to expand...

Have you tried Mario Kart?

My parents are VERY choosy when it comes to games, but it seems like everyone is willing to give Mario Kart a go.
 
B

butalala

Member
timetokill said:
Have you tried Mario Kart?

My parents are VERY choosy when it comes to games, but it seems like everyone is willing to give Mario Kart a go.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried anything since high school and StarFox. There was one family get together where everyone got into Mario Tennis 64, but that was just watching; no playing.

I'm considering Nintendo Land. Everyone seems to get Mario Chase.
 
C

Charles Alan Ratliff

Member
Great story! One of my earliest memories is of playing Super Mario Bros. with my mom. I think the latest game she played, with the exception of our playthrough of New Super Mario Bros. Wii U with my brother, was Banjo-Kazooie for the N64.
 
R

RoyaleDuke

Banned
It makes me sad that my Mom let alone either of my parents would never actually do this for me.

They don't even know my favorite colors, games, etc because it doesn't matter to them at all.

It's like I don't matter, unless I'm making money.

Anyway, I wish my mom would do something as cool as this. Congrats to that guy.
 
A

AlteredBeast

Fork 'em, Sparky!
RoyaleDuke said:
It makes me sad that my Mom let alone either of my parents would never actually do this for me.

They don't even know my favorite colors, games, etc because it doesn't matter to them at all.

It's like I don't matter, unless I'm making money.

Anyway, I wish my mom would do something as cool as this. Congrats to that guy.
Click to expand...

None of that shit matters to them because it isn't actually important.
 
A

Azure J

Member
Charles Alan Ratliff said:
Great story! One of my earliest memories is of playing Super Mario Bros. with my mom. I think the latest game she played, with the exception of our playthrough of New Super Mario Bros. Wii U with my brother, was Banjo-Kazooie for the N64.
Click to expand...

The rivalry between my mother and my aunt is the biggest reason why I have such a passion for this hobby. They went so hard in Super Mario Bros and Tetris/Tetris 2.
 
Neff

Neff

Member
My mother came home from a shopping trip with a SNES and Super Mario World for me on the day of launch for no reason whatsoever. Wasn't my birthday, wasn't close to Christmas, just an out-of-the-blue "Here you go, have fun." Totally unexpected and awesome.

She did the same thing 8 years later with the Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure. She's great.
 
S

squall23

Member
My mom introduced me to video games since she plays them from time to time.

The most amazing thing I remember her doing was getting an S on Max 300 in DDR. She was already 40-something years old by then and she still kicked my ass in DDR.
 
I

ironmang

Member
RoyaleDuke said:
It makes me sad that my Mom let alone either of my parents would never actually do this for me.

They don't even know my favorite colors, games, etc because it doesn't matter to them at all.

It's like I don't matter, unless I'm making money.

Anyway, I wish my mom would do something as cool as this. Congrats to that guy.
Click to expand...

Be happy they tolerated the hobby. When I was younger it would have been incredibly easy for gaming not to exist in the house at all.
 
Z

Zelda Williams

Banned
Awesome story. I have fond memories of watching my mother play the original Metroid on NES when I was young. When she finished the game and we found out the Samus was a woman, it was quite the moment for us. I was fortunate enough to have both my parents be avid gamers.
 
N

nrvalleytime

Member
Zelda Williams said:
Awesome story. I have fond memories of watching my mother play the original Metroid on NES when I was young. When she finished the game and we found out the Samus was a woman, it was quite the moment for us. I was fortunate enough to have both my parents be avid gamers.
Click to expand...

Zelda, appreciate you commenting - thanks for sharing. What a great moment.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
Zelda Williams said:
Awesome story. I have fond memories of watching my mother play the original Metroid on NES when I was young. When she finished the game and we found out the Samus was a woman, it was quite the moment for us. I was fortunate enough to have both my parents be avid gamers.
Click to expand...

Very cool. My parents aren't really "avid" gamers -- they played occasionally in arcades when they were big in the US, Pong, Ms. Pac-Man, Centipede, that kind of stuff -- but even so I definitely have fond memories playing some games with them at home. My dad got really into some of the NES baseball games and into Mario Golf on the N64. My mom loved Super Mario 64 and Mario Party. And they're always willing to give Mario Kart a shot.

Even with story-based games, though, I do have some memories. My mom loved to watch me play some games, like Ocarina of Time. She would always get really invested in solving the puzzles. "Oh, move that block there!" but she would also have some really funny ideas that weren't possible "in-game" but came off as more absurd to me than her.

For instance, my first time going up the Zora River to enter Zora's Domain, I was having trouble getting to the other side of a part of the river. She said, "Maybe you could cut down a tree and make a bridge?" I laughed and laughed, and she asked, "what?!" I went to the tree and hacked at it a few times to prove you couldn't cut it down.

Nowadays it's funny to me because it wasn't a bad idea that she had, but as long-time players you get used to the rules and "language" of games very quickly. The idea that the trees could be cut down was obviously wrong to me, but I can understand now why it wouldn't be obvious to a non-player.

I don't know why but that moment has always stuck in my head.
 
A

adamsappel

Member
Zelda Williams said:
Awesome story. I have fond memories of watching my mother play the original Metroid on NES when I was young. When she finished the game and we found out the Samus was a woman, it was quite the moment for us. I was fortunate enough to have both my parents be avid gamers.
Click to expand...

That is a nice memory and sentiment. Gaming with my daughter has given me some very fond memories.
 
C

Coconut

Banned
I don't know my mom would wake up early on saturday and play Mario Kart with me when we first moved to some apartments and I didn't know anyone there.
 
T

TheSpoiler

Member
I lived with my parents before going off to a "real" college, and on one of the last days while playing Tekken 6, my dad walked into the game room and sat down. I was finishing some scrub and my father asked if he could fight me.

He picked Raven, I picked Armored King. It was two matches that were very close, but I remember that shit vividly - I landed a few normal throws and he threw out some wild combo, which is weird because he doesn't play video games. The stage was the exploded tanker on fire in the background in a tunnel.

As the embers rose, his Raven did that dive kick shit and he took it, 2-1. He dropped the controller and left. I think he was about to cry, which was good, because I was about to cry too.
 
Northeastmonk

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I think a lot of new parents who never gamed wont have this. They'll throw them a 3DS and be like, "here's something I never enjoyed growing up".
 
Northeastmonk

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
RoyaleDuke said:
It makes me sad that my Mom let alone either of my parents would never actually do this for me.

They don't even know my favorite colors, games, etc because it doesn't matter to them at all.

It's like I don't matter, unless I'm making money.

Anyway, I wish my mom would do something as cool as this. Congrats to that guy.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. I've met people who could care less. There could be Street Fighter on the TV and they'd call it Mario or something. It's kind of pathetic no one outside my mom knows how much it means to me. I totally understand. My parents knew/know the games I like and some days that's it. I have a few friends that know that side of me, but that's it. Some days its discouraging when there's a comment made or something gets said. My mom gave my sister and I a copy of Mario and the 6 Gold Coins for GameBoy around the time it launched. She bought them out of nowhere. I was excited, but my sister never played hers. She never liked gaming and it's weird because she never said a single thing about them until she had kids. Now it's like gaming is the last thing she wants in her life. It's down right pitiful because she's never said anything about it before. I think a lot of it comes from her husband who is also a big nerd, but he's not into video games. He sort of looks down at it. Which is not my fault. I remember meeting the guy while I was playing Halo 2 and it was just this weird sense of judgment. I've had friends who would dis on games a lot, so it's not like I'm new to it. I guess for whatever good is said about games, that much has been said to bash people who game. I'm thankful I had 2 people in my life who know how much it means to me. I still don't get why some think I know some magical cue to their negative input. Not all people feel the same way about gaming or want to completely alienate it from their lives. Don't feel too bad. Even though it's not a matter of life and death, it still has meaning and I believe it can be a great thing in our lives.
 
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