One of the most heart-warming mental images offered up by gaming news this week, is of the novelist Sir Salman Rushdie, on the run from murderers, losing himself in the Mushroom Kingdom.

“ He had grown fond of Mario the plumber and his brother Luigi and sometimes

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In his memoirs, Rushdie reveals that playing Super Mario World while in hiding helped him to cope with the loss of his liberty and the fear of assassination. His son Zafar (about ten years old at the time) introduced Rushdie to the Super Nintendo game, which he completed despite the disapproval of his wife, Marianne Wiggins.Rushdie’s memoir, written in third-person, is called Joseph Anton (the fake name he used while hiding from would-be murderers).He wrote, “Marianne came around and scolded him for playing video games. Thanks to Zafar, he had grown fond of Mario the plumber and his brother Luigi and sometimes Super Mario World felt like a happy alternative to the one he lived in the rest of the time. ‘Read a good book,’ his wife told him scornfully. ‘Give it up.’ He lost his temper. ‘Don’t tell me how to live my life,’ he exploded, and she made a grand exit.”He added, “Alone at Hermitage Lane he reached the end of his Super Mario game, defeating the big bad Bowser himself and rescuing the insufferably pink Princess Toadstool. He was glad Marianne was not there to witness his triumph.” To this day, Iran’s religious leadership refuses to revoke the ‘fatwa’, although Rushdie leads a more normal existence, living in New York and splitting his time between academic duties and writing. Rushdie, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007, has become an icon for freedom-of speech. However, it is not known if he remains committed to the safety of Princess Peach, and the defeat of Bowser.Thanks to The Millions via Kill Screen

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