The One About Super Mario Bros. 2

For me, it was Christmas 1988. In late 1988 Zelda 2 and Mario 2 were out but the chip shortage meant they were both in VERY short supply. As far as I could tell, Mario 2 hadn’t even shown up in stores. It was nowhere. I had absolutely zero expectation that I would get it for Christmas. On Christmas day I was absolutely floored to open a present and it was Mario 2. I was so excited that I didn’t even notice that the game’s shrink wrap was missing. I asked my dad how he found a copy. He then told me a story about amazing timing and the missing shrink wrap.

He had stopped by a toy store (40 minutes away, we lived in the sticks) and asked at the customer service counter if they had any copies; of course they didn’t. As he started to walk away, a woman walked up with a return. She was returning a copy of Super Mario Bros. 2! She had bought it for her 5-year-old son but he was too young to understand it, so she wanted to get him something else. My dad quickly got in line behind her and as soon as she walked away, he asked to buy it. His lucky timing and quick thinking created a memorable Christmas miracle for me. —j-rose