The "L is Real 2401" conspiracy from Super Mario 64 posited that the game included Luigi as a playable character, leading players to exploit glitches to find him. This conspiracy marks the top of a meme iceberg of other in-game conspiracies all implying the game to be personalized to each player. These theories are supported specifically by non-emulated, cartridge-based gameplay. This article argues that the persistence of these conspiracies illuminates a unique intersection of nostalgia for pre-internet, cartridge-based gaming void of visualized veracity, and that these conspiracies queer obsolescence in their nostalgia for a pre-hypermediated gaming collectivity.
Travis L. Wagner is a PhD Candidate in the School of Information Science at the University of South Carolina. Their research interests include critical information studies, queer archives, and alternative information spaces.
Citation: Travis L. Wagner, "'Every Copy is Personalized': Queer Obsolescence and Ludic Nostalgia in Super Mario 64 Conspiracy Theories," Artifact & Apparatus: Journal of Media Archaeology 1 (Fall 2021): 22–44.