I recently noticed that I never shared my contributions to rhythm-gaming on this blog. Granted, they are not the biggest in the world, but they were done over a period that lasted almost a third of my life up to that point. It’s a huge part of who I am and who I used to be, and I figured there was the off-chance that one of my readers would enjoy discovering this aspect of my past life.

I thus present to you: the MarioNintendo Complete Works!

This is a collection of songs playable on Stepmania, and more recently Etterna. It is a game where you use your hands to tap arrows to the beat (similarly to Dance Dance Revolution). The “MarioNintendo” in the archive’s name doesn’t refer to the nature of the music in the pack (i.e. these are not all songs from Mario games, though there are some). “MarioNintendo” is simply the username I chose for myself when I was 10 years old! I retired the username in 2019 when this archive was made available to all.

One thing I am particularly proud of is how comprehensive this archive is. The README.md is full of interesting information that would have easily been lost to time, including a song creation timeline. Each song also has an aboutThisFile.txt written to document everything I could think of regarding the song. This way, it will help newcomers which files were more important to me, or the community.

Here is an example of a song I charted for the game:

That was back when I was part of a vibrant community and was able to push my creativity on a daily basis. While the game doesn’t suit me now (my “gamer hands” are starting to hurt more quickly than ever in long play sessions), I am nostalgic about all the great interactions I was able to have through the game.

Here is what I have to say when I originally released this archive:

(deep breath)

I have been creating charts for StepMania and FlashFlashRevolution for over 11 years. This body of work has brought me so much more than internet bragging rights. It has brought me closer to the FFR community, from which I made many acquaintances. Some of these acquaintances blossomed into amazing friendships. By playing these songs today, I am reminded of 11 years spent playing the game I love the most with this community. I am reminded of the laughs, the drama, good times and bad times. Mostly good times. :) I am reminded how much I have grown as a person; I think you can actually see this growth by playing the files in chronological order! Funny to think that every step of the way, I was already feeling all grown up. It goes to show that we never stop growing. It makes me hopeful for the future. It makes me smile because I’m sure whatever I do today, surely I’ll end up doing myself that makes my future self cringe.

It’s kind of funny how I’m still not sure how to view my body of work. It’s not perfect. I am far from the best at the hobby I chose. And I did not always take the smartest approach at doing things. I am honestly impressed by the constant quality of charts released by fellow steppers in the past years. Sometimes I remember my accomplishments with rose-tinted glasses; while I reached several personal milestones, I never was a groundbreaking stepartist.

However, this IS my work, and just its existence is meaningful to me. I poured my heart and soul into the making of every song listed here (well, almost every song). Hours, days, weeks, months were spent trying to refine charts for strangers and myself to experience. As silly as it may sound, to me this pack fully documents one of the dimensions in my life. I am eternally grateful to still have these songs after all this time, and I hope you will enjoy playing them.

I do not know what this collection of files will mean to you. I leave this here as my legacy. I hope I’m not sounding too pretentious, really I’m just moved by the passing of time. If you want to make my day, let’s have a chat to reminisce about the past and how far we’ve come!

Join me in celebration, and enjoy the pack!

Links: