The Korea Report: Playground Piracy

A while back, I talked about my friend’s ten year-old son who’s become utterly obsessed with Mario along with all the kids in his yuppie grade school. This is a new thing in Korea, and it’s spreading like wildfire in the same way it did across America in the 80s.

I paid a visit to the same friend yesterday, and said son, now the proud owner of a silver DS lite, talked my ear off about Mario for well over an hour. He’s overjoyed that he’s found an actual adult who’s equally crazy about Nintendo, one from a different country at that.

So after we’d geeked out for a while, he showed me his latest scribble: Mario vs. Bowser, pictured above. Is that awesome or what? It looks like Mario’s feeding Bowser! Best of all, he told me I could keep it, and you bet I did. I might just go out and find a cool frame for it.

He went on to tell me that Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros. had been given him by a friend a few days earlier, and when I asked why, he revealed something quite shocking: the friend’s parents got him a flash card with all the games already on it, and as such, he had no more use for hard copies. I asked if a lot of kids have such cards, and he said yes.

While we’re on the subject, I should mention that Nintendo’s conquest of the Seoul metro grows by the day. Hordes of girls (and guys) tote them around each morning, and yes, the vast majority flaunt the hardly-inconspicuous micro SD card. From the subway to the playground, DS piracy is everywhere in Korea, and it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Oh, and I’d also like to add that Korean guys are most definitely not afraid of sporting pink DS lites. Jody and I think that’s cool, cause we’re obsessed with pink electronics.