#i hate watching movies and stuff where they're trapped underwater

[psi-groovin]

Super Mario 64 gave me a deep-seated fear of drowning and sunken ships (and, to a much lesser degree, eels).

Back when I was a child I had the motor skills of a plastic bag but would play Mario 64 anyways. I remember playing in the Jolly Roger Bay stage a lot and dying until I got a game over. Swimming in that game is difficult when you are a young child and I used to drown all the goddamn time which was SCARRING. I HATED watching Mario clutch his throat and kick his feet before going limp in the water and then Bowser fuckn LAUGHS at you and you get violently ejected from the painting (mama mia!).

Horrifying.

Seeing the sunken ship gave me a sort of pavlovian response. I’d see the ship (and the eel) and be like ‘oh this is where I die. this is where I drown.’ And I’d be struck with this paralyzing fear. My stomach would drop whenever I saw that ship!

And then there’s the Secret Aquarium stage..

No air at all. You had to collect coins to keep your life meter up. AND! Because I sucked at controlling Mario in the water, I’d always drown before I could collect all the red coins!! And I’d have to watch Mario drown over and over again! I would start to panic during that stage and STILL TO THIS DAY I get that uneasy feeling when I enter that stage (even though now I can beat that stage in under a minute because it’s easy and I’m an adult with good motor skills but when you’re a little kid its supremely difficult).

So, thanks Mario 64! Whenever I see a sunken ship in any media (even like Minecraft) I get a terrible gut reaction of fight or flight and an impending fear of drowning.