Mario & Zelda Homebrews: Cinemassacre

Afternoon.

I stumbled across this video from self-proclaimed and highly popular The Angry Video Game Nerd; Cinemassacre. It's essentially him and his friend - James Rolfe - playing through and discussing two Super Mario and Legend of Zelda fan-created 'homebrew' video games on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

What I found intriguing about this video - other than their analysis towards these unofficial games - is when Mike Matei (Cinemassacre) is asked what his favorite Mario game is and why; to which he reminisces on his chosen title and flourishes in memories of receiving and playing the game as a kid. It's important for me to be able to have this unscripted access to a video game enthusiast's cherished childhood.
Matei clearly loves video games, the justification of this is evident in the shelves of video games, consoles and accessories in the background of the video; displaying a wide range of yearly releases; from old arcade-like mini-consoles to updated generational titles from the PlayStation.

I think that in exploring these off the wall fan-made games, I get to see some insight into the duo's fascination and imagination when describing and discussing specific events that occur and unfold in front on the viewer.
Often reminisce, but also personally exploring and questioning why small and often unnoticeable sub-plots are used. When discussing the first game's plot - of which Mario's whole quest is based around saving Yoshi, instead of the Princess - they question, humorously, the logic - or lack there of - in playing through the entire game to save a character that they would then use as a throw-away device in another game, namely; Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo.

'You know in the first Mario game, the goal is to get the Princess and then it's 'oh, the Princess is in another castle', in this you try and save Yoshi, and you know what's ridiculous; why do you even care so much about saving Yoshi if when you actually have Yoshi [referencing Super Mario World] a lot of times  you just commit suicide and jump off of him anyway? So it's like you're gonna  spend all that time saving Yoshi just to kill him...'

Although here Rolfe asks this as a rhetorical question, it's clear that he's developed a narrative, within a narrative, and is himself justifying a scenario based on another. It's these kinds of insights that generate from nostalgic memories, and creativity when discussing and exploring established story and plot.