Game Center CX Season 3 – Back to Contents
#18
「スーパーマリオワールド」まだやるど～
Let’s Play More "Super Mario World"

Chousen

We begin on Day 2 of "Super Arino World." Arino starts again at the Forest of Illusion castle. Once again he’s foiled by the falling spikes at the beginning. But he reaches Roy again and begins the rematch. It’s over in seconds. On the next attempt he manages to get a hit in! After that, the walls close in, freaking him out a little, but he manages to get in a second hit. Before long, he nails it. Now, onto Chocolate Island.

The first course is hell for Arino before he even passes half of it! Eventually he gets a Game Over. Time to head back and do the 1UP loop. After 30 minutes, he has 99 lives again. He makes it through the island to the Ghost House. As usual, he starts tripping up pretty badly here. By the second half of the level he hits a perceived dead end. Eventually he figures out how to use the Boos that turn into blocks to get up where the next door is.

The next course is one of the trickiest in the game. Depending on Arino’s coin count, he may be able to get to the goalpost. He dies stupidly here, mostly at the part where you need a cape to fly over. He still hasn’t gotten the hang of the cape controls and dies repeatedly. With 29 lives left, he finally gets past it all and clears the course without much incident.

The next course is a cinch, but the path it opens up sends Mario in a constant circle. Arino needed to get through the hidden goal in order to actually pass through to the rest of the area. He figures it out rather quickly, though, and soon passes through to the fortress. The Thwomps and Thwimps psyche him out more than once in the fortress, leading to yet another Game Over. When he gets to the end, he encounters the boss: the Reznors! Arino immediately pauses the game in fear and tries to prepare. He destroys two of the four, but then the bridge below starts disappearing. He has no choice but to die. On the second try, he gets all but one down and then notices the bridge on the other side. Presumably thinking he can run away out there, he jumps over, but it’s just another edge and he dies again. On the next try he gets it.

Arino makes it to the main castle on the island and is challenged by the giant thrusting spikes and buzzing saw blades. He reaches the boss, Wendy, which is much like the Iggy battle, but for some reason Arino keeps tripping up. He burns through six lives trying to beat her. On the seventh try he camps out at the edge of the screen, hoping Wendy will come near, but it doesn’t work. He starts being a little more forward and somehow defeats her. He swims through the Sunken Ship and is surprised when the end of the stage is so anticlimactic. But completing that opens up the entrance to the last area, Bowser’s Castle. But there’s still a few more stages before Arino faces the big guy.

Arino enters the final Ghost House, and when he clears out a wall of coins that soon become blocks, he has to choose a door to lead him to the exit. He amazingly chooses the right one on the first try. Not bad for a man who was "haunted" by all the previous Ghost Houses. Course 4 is the killer. Arino faces a Chargin’ Chuck that digs up rocks that bounce toward Mario. They keep coming, and he keeps dying. Eventually he gets through by nailing down the timing.

The last Koopa Kid castle starts with another snaking platform. Arino barely gets through it, only to come across the dreaded Kamek again. He dies a few times (of course) but soon starts dodging and jumping over Kamek quite well, save for the fact that he and the staff are yelling the entire time. He makes it to the door just in time, but instantly dies against the boss, Larry. He repeats the exact same mistake. Back to the Vanilla Dome. Another 99 lives are gained. Arino beats Larry just as quickly as he previously died against him. And now we enter Bowser’s castle.

Arino weaves through the rooms of the castle fairly quickly, through the final darkened room and then to the top of the castle to face Bowser himself! Bowser throws out a pair of Mechakoopas periodically, but Arino barely has any idea what to do with them at the start. He eventually figures out to throw them up at Bowser, but his timing is so horrible that he never gets a hit in. He finally gets three hits in, but Bowser disappears. Flames drop from the sky, which psyche him out and he dies after running into one. The second try is slightly better, but Bowser’s new tactic of dropping giant balls onto Mario throws him off again. By now it’s been 13 hours. Urakawa steps in to tell Arino of the time. After some consideration, Arino once again decides to continue the game for a third day!

Day 3 begins where the last one left off. Arino engages Bowser for a third time, but dies pretty quickly. This continues, and continues, and continues. On the 17th try, he almost gets past Bowser’s second phase, but screws up at the last second. By now everyone has the giggles. Arino’s cursing himself at every turn. The failures pile up to the heavens! He’s well beyond 50 attempts! He starts wiping his hands on his knee. The counter passes 70 attempts. Arino puts on another cold pad. It goes without saying that he’s been playing alone this whole time — the AD hasn’t once come into frame. He has to do this… for the kids!!!

On attempt 72, Arino finally gets past Bowser’s second phase. But on the third one, Bowser starts stomping around on the ground in his clown craft. Yep, Arino dies. Attempt 76: he gets back to the third phase to a smattering of applause. Bowser stomps him again and he misses catching the secondary super mushroom. Attempt 81: Arino gets a hit in, but runs into a Mechakoopa and shrinks. The staff yells. Arino yells! More panic, but he ends up trapped in the corner. More laughter, mixed with exasperation. Attempt 85 goes much the same way. The staff is screaming and yelping at every move he makes. Death. Finally, Urakawa shuffles up to Arino. Arino is fully aware his problem is panicking when Bowser starts to come down, and then running right into him. He makes fun of himself, and Urakawa can’t help but laugh.

Arino has 3 lives left, but loses one of them before he even gets back to Bowser! When he does, he starts to dodge a little bit better. Maybe admitting his problem was all he needed to do! But it’s short-lived. He dies again. He grips his heart from the stress of it all. The pressure mounts as he tries again on one last life. The show’s soundtrack turns to heartbeats. Finally, he engages Bowser in the third phase.

Arino very carefully dodges, going "Yes!" every time he passes under Bowser. The Mechakoopas come out, and he lands the first hit. Good dodging in between the next set of Koopas. He grabs one, tosses it up…

And it lands! He’s amazed, but not as much as the staff, who give him a standing ovation. Arino panics as he looks at the screen, but it’s just Peach finally coming out. With one life left, he defeated Bowser! He grips his heart again. An incredibly well-deserved ending passes along the screen.

Moshi-Moshi Daisakusen

Arino finally comes across a huge boss thanks to help of a young female viewer, and finds a mysterious message that reads "AB AB AB."

Game Collections: 1986: April-July