The night of the J.V. team’s match against Canastota I sat up in the bleachers with the rest of the spectators, not knowing my fate, not knowing if I was going to have to go down there shortly, to that brightly lit mat in the center of the Middle School gym, and wrestle. I still wore what gym teachers and coaches always referred to as my “street clothes,” a phrase which always seemed terribly urban and therefore out of place in a school which was surrounded by cornfields and forests. “Be ready to change out of your street clothes and into your singlet on a moment’s notice,” the coach had instructed me before the match. “We may need you tonight.”

I probably looked like I was cheering that night. No doubt I clapped and maybe even hooted for our team, and seemed, at least on the outside, like a normal person enjoying a wrestling match. Inside, I was once again filled with the old terror. I didn’t want to wrestle. I didn’t want to have to be the deciding factor in another goddamned wrestling match. I did not want to change out of my street clothes and put on a singlet and go down there, in front of all these people, with my bare legs covered in goosebumps (it was always ice cold in the Middle School gym, an ancient structure outfitted with clanging heating pipes that gave off no heat) and look up at the gap in the bleachers where, only minutes earlier, I’d been sitting comfortably.

I’d been hoping for someone–either our team or their team–to dominate that night. That didn’t happen. Instead, the two teams went at it hammer and tongs. Our team would win a bout, and then another bout, then Canastota would win the next two bouts. Our J.V. squad was wrestling superbly that night, keeping the score close, as close as any of our wrestling teams had come to beating a Canastota team in 20 years.

After each bout, I’d look down at the coach, to see if he was trying to signal to me. Our team lost the 158-pound bout, but then quickly won the 167-pound bout with an exciting pin that got the crowd roaring. After the pin, with the gym on its feet all around me, I looked down at the coach only to find him looking back up at me.

He nodded in my direction.

I stood up on shaky legs. I took a deep breath.

The Hero, it seemed, was needed one more time.

Level 4-1. The first of the new JUNGLE levels sprawls across a pair of horizontal, vine-filled screens. Note the pair of mechanical alligator jaws patrolling the central vines. Pro Tip: He’s easily avoided. But the large birds? Which emerge from a blurry nest on the right side of the screen then fly a counter-clockwise? They prove to be far more dangerous. Here’s why: 1. They move quickly, resulting in constant, inadvertent collisions with Mario; 2. they pause above Mario’s head and drop deadly eggs and/or large bird turds.

The thing to keep in mind on any of the vine-filled levels is this (look at me, talking like an old Donkey Kong pro–ha, ha!): Mario always descends at a far more rapid rate than he ascends. So, whenever I find myself on a collision course with a bird, I always go down, not up. And, by doing so, I was able to narrowly escape death on several occasions.

I’ll admit: there was a fairly substantial amount of death this morning, and even a bit of despair. I began the day with 38 Marios. Now, after today’s level, the current number of Marios in my possession: 34.

The trickiest part of today’s level happens on the far left side of the screen. The key is here–on a small platform high above a pit of sharpangles. There’s also a put-it-wherever-you-want-to-put-it spring power-up. Now, listen closely: the spring power-up must be positioned above the sharpangle pit, approximately halfway between the platform closest to the pit and the solid ground where the exit door is located.

Once the spring power-up is deployed in this general area–and it took me two tries to get this right–the countdown music begins to play, making my blood pressure rise. I hustle back up to the platform where the key is located, press the B button to grab it, then use the series of narrow platforms on the lefthand side of the screen to make my way down to the lowest platform. Once I’m on the lowest platform, I jump into the void, land on the spring, then watch as the key and I sail across the sharpangles until we reach solid ground and the exit door. And just like that, the first of this new round of JUNGLE levels is behind us.