The Wizard, also known as Joy Stick Heroes is a 1989 movie starring Fred Savage, Luke Edwards, and Jenny Lewis. The film follows three runaway children as they travel to California so the youngest, who has a condition that makes him emotionally withdrawn, can compete in the Nintendo World Video Game Championships. The movie was North America's introduction to one of the best selling video games of all time, Super Mario Bros. 3^[1].

Plot

Jimmy (Edwards) is a young boy who has suffered from a serious mental disorder ever since his twin sister drowned in a river. He doesn't interact with anyone, he spends most of his time building things out of blocks or boxes, and he always carries a lunchbox with him. He tried to run away to California many times. The trauma of the drowning and Jimmy's condition has broken up his family: He lives with his mother, while his half-brothers Corey (Savage) and Nick (Christian Slater) live with their father (Beau Bridges). When Jimmy is put into an institution, Corey breaks him out and runs away with him to California. They are followed by a greedy, sleazy private investigator (Will Seltzer) hired by the mother, and also by Corey's father and older brother, who compete to find the boys and sabotage each other's efforts.

Along the way, they meet a girl named Haley (Lewis), who is trying to get home to Reno. Noticing that Jimmy has an innate skill at playing video games, Haley agrees to help the two reach Los Angeles to participate in a video game tournament with a cash prize of $50,000, in exchange for half the money. By doing so, they hope to prove that Jimmy doesn't need to live in an institution. The trio hitchhike across the country, using Jimmy's skill and appearance to hustle people out of their money by playing video games. Along the way, they encounter Lucas Barton (Jackey Vinson), a teenage boy who intimidates Jimmy by showing off his Power Glove and his skills at Rad Racer, claiming he is also entering the championships.

They finally arrive in Reno, where it is revealed that Haley wants the prize money to help her father buy a house. With the help of a friend, they use money won at the craps tables to train Jimmy on several games in the Reno arcades, using Play Choice 10 machines. They then head to the Championships at Universal Studios Theme Park, where the game they need to play is Ninja Gaiden. Jimmy qualifies as a finalist, but is pointed out to the private investigator by Lucas {another finalist) and the three are chased throughout the park, barely making it to the finals. The game in the finals is Super Mario Bros. 3, and Jimmy wins the tournament at the last second.

On the drive home with his family (who finally caught up to the children during the finals of the tournament), they stop at a giant building shaped like a dinosaur, a tourist trap at which the family often stopped when they vacationed in California. This is the place Jimmy wanted to go to all along, and he leaves his lunchbox, which contains photographs and other mementos of his sister, at the building.

Criticism

The movie was not well received by critics, receiving a 36% (rotten) rating at Rotten Tomatoes ^[2]. Many commented it was little more than a 90-minute commercial for Nintendo games and Universal Studios Theme Park. Also, many of the situations the children find themselves in, such as walking alone down desert highways or hanging out outside of casinos, are implausible or even dangerous situations. ^[3][4] Many video game players find the movie amusing, however, because of its campiness.

The movie is infamous for the number of video game related errors contained within. Some were so blatant that even those unfamiliar with video games, such as critic Roger Ebert, were able to notice them^[3]. These errors include a statement about how Jimmy hasn't taken any damage in the game he's playing (despite the screen showing damage being taken) and claimed high scores not matching what is shown on the screen. There are also many technical errors, such as the video game's background music not matching the action on the screen, games continuing to play without people controlling them, and systems shutting off without the power supply being affected (by pulling out a controller, etc...)

Games featured

The movie featured many NES games prominently. Most of these games are played in arcade cabinets, although the NES versions were never available in this format. They were available, however, for play in arcades on the Play Choice 10. These games include:

• Double Dragon
• Ninja Gaiden (NES)
• Rad Racer
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Several other games, such as Metroid, Super Mario Bros. 2 and Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, were mentioned or briefly shown.

References

1. ^ Gamecubicle.com Super Mario Sales data. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
2. ^ Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-09-07.
3. ^ ^{a b} rogerebert.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-07.
4. ^ Washington Post. Retrieved on 2007-09-06.

External links

• The Wizard at the Internet Movie Database

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