By James Bowden (StreetPass Manchester)
A few weeks ago I and my better half took a trip to Paris. The 3DS’ were confirmed to be coming with, obviously – a plane trip to and fro offers a window for some perfect, uninterrupted play (defending accused witches being my personal selection for the trip), and Parisian StreetPasses were too tempting a possibility to pass up. However a couple of days before we were destined to fly out to Paris, Beth – the aforementioned ‘better half’ – chirped up one evening with news; “there’s a StreetPass event in Paris on the Thursday we arrive!’
See why she’s the better half?
Sure enough there was, DS in Paris were holding their 3DS 3rd birthday gathering on the Thursday we were landing in the land of baguettes, garlic, and bold coffee. We weren’t doing anything that evening so it was decided, we’d spend our first night in France gathering some guaranteed Gallic Green Lights.
The event was held in an Irish pub called Quigleys that was conveniently within walking distance (ish) of our hotel. A few wrong turns were made in search, admittedly, but we soon found the place and sauntered in. There were no 3DS’ in sight on the ground floor but there were stairs in the corner and our 3DS’ were twinkling green so, confident that this was the joint, we decided to grab a drink and ask. Being an Irish pub we knew we’d be at a slight advantage – the bar staff at these places are often hired on their ability to understand lost and bemused English tourists looking for a place that sells recognisable alcoholic beverages and broadcasts ‘footy’ – so we were able to ask a simple question of whether there was anything happening upstairs. The bartender was trying to explain exactly what was happening up there, so we brandished our own 3DS’, greenlights glowing, and he cracked into a smile and nodded that we should head up.
Upon clomping upstairs the sight that greeted us was immediately familiar. Happy 3DS gamers were sat everywhere, filling every inch of the room, as the exclamations of unfair blue shells and clutch victories bounced around the quaint venue. The words were different, sure, but the intonation of rage was identical. Bomberman, Starfox 64 3D, Steel Diver Sub Wars, and of Mario Kart 7; the language may be different but the games, and the passion of the players, was exactly the same.
I’d like to take a moment here to thank DS Paris and its many members for being utterly wonderful, courteous hosts. Your English was triumphant, a fact that sits in painful contrast next to our diabolical French. Yelping ‘désolé! Upon tripping up other players and giggling when we recognised the rude words was about as sophisticated as we got. Anyway, there were many games played throughout the evening and we tried our best to represent the UK.
I almost won in an eight player Bomberman match, coming second overall. After a confident start both myself and Beth were soundly trounced at Mario Kart 7. I did combine forces with one attendee for a few Fire Emblem: Awakening co-op battles at one point to show that us Brits aren’t completely bloody minded, but to counter that point I’d point out that my personal victory of the evening was coming out victorious in a series of Kid Icarus: Uprising matches against one of the group’s more prolific players.
I suppose what I’m ultimately saying here is not just that DS in Paris run fun events, but more that you should endeavour to attend a foreign StreetPass event if you have the opportunity. If you are going on holiday, and you do spot an event that will be easy to find, don’t back down. Yes there might well be a language barrier, but when it comes to actually playing the games all the issues melt away. Our tongues spoke very different words that evening, but the passion and joy we all found in Nintendo meant that it didn’t matter – we all came together through 3DS. It was fulfilling, touching and rewarding to find Nintendo fans, and enjoy Nintendo, with people from a different country, and it’s an experience I’d encourage everyone to seek out given the chance.
