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NINTENDO Video Games & THE WIZARD (1989)

Sliding down drainpipes… chucking smiley-faced vegetables at ghost-faced villains… transforming into a raccoon and flying through the air… either we just took a large dose of LSD, or we’re entering the weird, wonderful world of Super Mario. (Possibly both!)

In the pursuit of channeling the competitive spirit of our youths when our main concern in life was finding warp zones, we spent a whole day playing decades-old video games we loved as kids, including Tetris, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, Goldeneye and every Mario Brothers game from Super Mario through Super Mario World.

In this episode, we discuss the experience of playing these old-school games as adults, debate the gender fluidity of Super Mario 2 boss “Birdo,” and vex our many frustrations regarding the 1989 film THE WIZARD, Nintendo’s grand attempt to create a movie-length commercial for Super Mario 3 and the Power Glove. Listen as our hosts are joined by lifelong gamer Mike Van Gorder from Countless Thousands (countlessthousands.com!) and find out if our gaming marathon inspired us to welcome the plumber brothers and all their pixelated companions back into our hearts.

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and you can email us your episodes suggestions at wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, teleporting through pipes, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung