About three or four weeks ago, I walked over to a friend's house to drop off an old Toy Story book for his kids. He asked me to come in---the wind was blowing majorly hard outside---and I didn't want to at first; I've never liked imposing on other people, and I told him as much.
Then I looked up at his television and saw that he was in the middle of a game of Super Mario Bros. 2 when I'd arrived, and I changed my mind awful quick.
The first three SMB games have long held some of the greatest memories of my life, and I was able to make some more both then and yesterday. I paid my friend another visit, and we were able to sit down and play a 2-player game of SMB 3. It took about... two and a half, maybe three hours to finish (would've taken longer, but we decided to skip World 7 via warp whistle). Too, we both found secrets in the game that we'd either forgotten about or hadn't known before (he knew where some hidden 1-ups were, for instance). I'd forgotten how much fun playing video games with someone could be.
My oldest memory, in fact, is related to the first game. Back when I was around 3 or 4, the family went to another family's house for a barbecue. While everyone was busy talking and having a good time, I snuck inside their house and went straight to where I knew this little old black-and-white TV was kept. I wasn't able to play it for long, sadly; they found me right when I started World 1-2.
Nostalgia, kids. Look forward to it.