Imagine with me for a moment–it is 1997. Your parents’ station wagon is all packed up. Your mom left strategic lights on around the house, and your dad left the radio on his favorite station to make it look and sound like the house is inhabited. Both of your parents seem stressed and not like they are about to embark on a fun family vacation, but you have everything you need right next to you in the space between you and your sister–your Gameboy, a few games, the latest Animorphs book, and some snacks. Your dad starts the car and the road trip begins as you reach in your carrying case and pull out a game to start playing while you have precious daylight to illuminate your screen. Sure, road trips are probably a little different these days, but back in the day when options were limited, what was your go-to road trip game?
Now, I’m not talking about what was your favorite game of all time growing up. Or what game you even played the most. I’m talking about the comfort game that helped the hours pass as you sat in the back of the car traveling to various family vacations. Did you hold on to a game so you could play it for long stretches of uninterrupted time, like The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening? Maybe it was a terrific puzzle classic like Tetris, Penguin Wars, or Alleyway.
For me, it was always a Mario mainline game or spin-off. Most specifically, Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land. I can’t explain why this was my game of choice, but I have so many memories of being in the back of my parent’s car and playing this game. I loved the music and the variety of the power ups, and it felt like an edgier take on a Mario game – which was important to pre-teen me. This was no kid’s game. I played it so much that I distinctly remember one time the batteries in the back of my Gameboy exploded while I was in the middle of playing, and somehow, after I cleaned everything up and made sure it was still safe to play, it saved my progress. “Consoles just don’t get better than this,” I remembered thinking.
As my own family gets ready for our first real road trip with three kids under the age of 4, I’m starting to wonder which games my four-year-old twins would want to pack once they are old enough to have their own gaming system. What was your go-to road trip game? Was it always the same game? Or did you change it up with each trip? Let us know by commenting below or join the conversation on the Boss Rush Discord.
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