Game news This photo of a mother playing Game Boy Mom has been seen by millions of people. It hides a touching story full of nostalgia
This photo went around the world without anyone knowing its origins. A few months ago, a YouTuber recounted her touching story.
Do you know the “Game Boy Mom”, this popular internet meme from a vintage photograph that has become a true global sensation. This image, visible below, dates from 1989 and shows four children huddled around a Game Boy, while the mother appears to be concentrating on the probably difficult level of a game. For years, a handful of Internet users have tried to trace the precise origins of this cliché, in vain. And Now in October 2023, a few months ago, a YouTuber interested in niche content discovered the identity of the family. Sakura Stardust posted the story behind the photo in a nearly 20-minute video, which even includes testimonials from the family.
We therefore learn that this famous image was posted for the very first time on June 12, 2012 on Reddit by the user u/ZosaCloud in a post called “My mother helping me pass a very difficult level in Super Mario Land on the day the Game Boy came out”, which garnered more than 7,500 likes. “It was just an innocent, ‘here’s my mom and a cute photo,’ and it blew up, with millions of views in a matter of weeks, and we never expected it.s,” said Scott Wolford, one of the children in the photo; and added: “We knew it was popular. But no one really knew who we were“. We now know the family originated from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
In general, Mom loved spending a lot of time with her children, and Nintendo was one of them. She was our best player for Super Mario Land.
Children’s heroin
The mother, Debra Tooley, was the only one in the family who could beat a particularly difficult level in Super Mario Land for Wolford, his sister Jenna, and his cousins Dean and Dustin Millis. “They were watching to see how I was doing it so they could pass too… There were a lot of times that day where they were bringing it to me to surpass it (the level), but ultimately they succeeded“, she confides in turn. The photograph was taken by her sister, Janet, visibly gifted at spotting the good moments to capture. “It was only when Sakura and Scott got together on this project that I I realized how popular it was… It’s all over the world in other languages. So, that blew my mind,” Debra Tooley finally said.