Policeman's knowledge of Super Mario Brothers saves Chinese teen from suicide

Super Mario Brothers may be the game that, for my generation, most unites us: all of us know it, and most of us played it as kids. That’s true in China, too, and one police officer’s knowledge of the game recently saved a teenager’s life in Hubei.

Police were called to an apartment building at five in the morning by the boy’s father, who said the lovelorn teen was threatening to jump. When they arrived, they found him on the edge of the family’s fourth-floor balcony, leaning out into the night and mumbling incoherently. They tried to talk him off the edge, but their efforts were met with indifference until one clever officer noticed that the boy was humming one of the songs from Super Mario Brothers. They began to ask him about the game — ‘Do you like it? What level have you gotten to?’ — and he opened up a bit. During the conversation, police took advantage of a moment when he was distracted to rush forward and pull him away from the edge.

Now, it’s impossible to say whether the boy really would have died if he’d actually jumped, and it’s possible this story isn’t entirely accurate — the Chinese report is pretty thin on details and it just lists “internet” as the source — but I don’t care. There are so many sad stories about games and violence out there; let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. Super Mario, it turns out, really is super…and our hats are off to the police officer who was smart enough to recognize one of the game’s signature tunes and use it as a way to get the kid talking.

(Incidentally, if you haven’t played the original Super Mario Brothers, you can play it for free online here, although I’m not sure whether this website is officially sanctioned by Nintendo).

(via Tencent Games)