Connecting with my Autistic Child over Mario Maker (1st Impressions)

First, holy fuck this is different from the last time I blogged on here. 

Anyways, after a long hiatus I have returned to spread C-blog joy once again. To all 3 of you who might read this. Because none of you know me anymore.

My 10 year old used his Birthday Money (One of the few benefits of producing offspring!) to purchase Super Mario Maker this past Friday. He has basically spent every waking (and some not waking) moment playing it this weekend. Needless to say he appreciates the Jewish community for providing him with Monday off so he can play even more. I've spent plenty of time watching him build a couple of levels and helping him beat some others that he said he had to beat to unlock stuff. We've had numerous discussions about his levels and how to make them better and although he doesn't really take my advice it's still nice to find a way to connect better with him. He's been diagnosed as Autistic (low on the scale, more like Apsergers or something) so it can be difficult to interact with him sometimes. He loves games but until recently he spent all of his time playing Little Big Planet and Minecraft, 2 games I respect and appreciate but don't particularly enjoy playing. At all. So this has been great so far for our relationship.

We were both annoyed about the whole "spend 9 days playing to unlock shit" thing but he's a smart kid and just changed the system clock to unlock everything on Friday. Then he told me the game was racist because the hand on screen was always white, which worried me until he said he was "just kidding, but I bet some jerk will write an article about it to get some pageviews dad!", which made my heart scream with joy. He is so smart. Always cutting through the Bullshit.

As for the game itself, I haven't spent any time creating a level. This is due to my work schedule and the fact that I'm not heartless enough to tell him to take a break and let me play. But I have watched him create 2 insanely challenging levels. One in particular is ridiculous. Sure, I beat it, but it was a pain in the ass. He literally made it so that you'll likely have to use the 2 second window of invicibility after taking damage just get past the first area. Then you get to the second  room and you have to do the same thing. I told him it was a bit harsh and he said "Yeah but I give you a helmet and a fire flower to start" as if that really helps!

BTW, here are the IDs for each level: (Insanity: 08A5-0000-002B-AA51) and (Bowser Jr: D5EC-0000-002B-AFEC) Remember he is 10 so dont be harsh!

What  I found most interesting about both levels is how differently they play depending on which version of Super Mario you play with. I could beat the levels so long as we were playing with the 3 newer game filters. But when I play in the original Super Mario Bros. style, I cannot beat the damn thing. The lack of any poweup that allows you to float or fly really changes the difficulty. In my mind, I always think of Super Mario games being basically the same thing with better graphics or something of that sort. But this really made realize how much the games have changed over the years. The original game is definitely the hardest of the bunch and that was something I had forgotten over 25 years of playing. They don't give you shit. Mushrooms and fire flowers and that's it. Of course Super Mario Bros 3 and World are my favorite games in the series and I guess this was the reason why. I don't think I ever actually beat the original but I beat both of those games. Makes me want to try beating the original game again. After all, I was like 3 when I played the original game.

I know this blog isn't particularly impressive or entertaining but oh well. I never blog anymore, mostly due to lack of inspiration (I barely play anymore because every game bores me to tears, even the newest Batman game). This game has drawn enough of an emotional response out of me to get me writing about it and I honestly can give no higher praise than that at this point in my life. If you're an older guy like me who grew up with Mario, make sure you pick this up. Play it by yourself, play it with your kids, whatever. Just get it. 

Hopefully I'll find some more free time to write up another blog about gaming with my son. He recently discovered Mega Man games when we busted out the original NES a month ago. There was a filthy beat up copy of Mega Man 5 along with the filthy beat up console. Both worked after a few pats on the back and a couple cartridge blowjobs (20 odd years later!) Shortly thereafter he starting downloading emulators and roms of all of the Mega Man games. He wants to be Proto Man for Halloween! I'm really excited about where this all can take our (sometimes troubled) relationship. I try hard to play games I don't like with him but it's just so much easier to connect when it's over something we both mutually enjoy. Until next time.......

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