Some games are hard to pick up again after a long absence. I’ve got a 75-percent-finished save file for Demon’s Souls on my PlayStation 3. I doubt I’ll ever go back and finish it because you need to be steeped in that game to find success. I know that if I go back, I’ll have to relearn a hundred little tics and techniques that I acquired when getting into it the first time. (That said, I also know from past experience with similar games that the relearning process won’t be as hard as I always imagine it will be—after all, I figured it out the first time.)
But some games are like riding a bicycle—a phenomenon I witnessed last week when I brought a Wii U with Mario Kart 8 over to A.V. Club editor-in-chief Josh Modell’s place for an evening of kart-racing fun. Josh is something of a lapsed video game fan, but he needed no instruction; he picked the game right up and even kicked my ass in a couple of races. Do you have any “bicycle” games that are permanently lodged in your muscle memory? Tell us in the comments—and share your weekend gaming plans, as always.
John Teti: What are you playing this weekend?
Josh Modell: Probably nothing, but I played Mario Kart 8 with you last weekend.
JT: I was surprised by how good you were at it, since you don’t play games too often anymore.
JM: I don’t, but I think I had muscle memory specifically for Mario Kart, and even more for—I realized as we were playing—whatever the Crash Bandicoot racing game was. Which is basically the same game. Total ripoff. I think even the buttons were the same. The button for weapons, the button for gas. I played a lot of that and really liked it, so I think that all came back. Plus, I played—whatever the Mario Kart was on the Wii.
JT: It was just called Mario Kart Wii.
JM: [Laughs.] Okay, Mario Kart Wii. I played that. With and without the steering wheel. And I also used to play another Mario Kart. So it all just came back, which doesn’t surprise me because I played so much of it. Like, the original Super Mario Bros.? I think I could win that with one life, even though I haven’t played it in 25 years.