[dropcap size=big]K[/dropcap]arma can work in weird and mysterious ways but in the case of a burglar who decided to mess with Mia Mazadiego and Mark Guenther, the owners at Neon Retro Arcade in Northridge, poetic justice was served swiftly and to the tune of Mario Bros.
In the early morning of February 15th, a burglar broke into their small but mightly arcade shop in Northridge. Their security camera caught the whole incident from various angles. It shows the burglar running to grab their cash box while continuously pulling up his pants. As he is escaping, he trips on his pants and falls on his face. Their surveillance camera captures it all.
Mazadiego and Guenther share what went through their mind with L.A. Taco.
“Our first thought was, ‘Oh s***!!!’ It sucks when something like this happens to anyone, and it is shocking when it happens to you. A lot goes through your mind with something like this, but thankfully we’ve seen a ton of support from friends, customers, and other local businesses.
“Our way of dealing with this is to turn it into something we can laugh at to take away the sting of it.”
Staying 100 percent on brand, this meant syncing the burglar’s antics to the tune of the first level of Mario Bros, along with a few sound effects. “We shared the story with a fellow arcade owner, who joked that it would go well with a Sonic sound effect. But we grew up in Nintendo households, so we decided to add a Super Mario Bros sound effect. Watching the clip with the Mario sound was hilarious to us, so we added in another sound, then another, Mia suggested adding the ominous ‘hurry up’ music as he ran out. Eventually, we figured we should just go all out and put in all the sound effects and music we could to this clip. It’s our way of coping with the incident. It’s also a good reminder for us and others to be vigilant and tighten up our security, and we’re glad our security measures helped minimize the impact.”
The owners of the arcade share that the burglar got away with a “small bit of money.” The suspect has not been identified by the local police yet but it begs the question: What other unfavorable situations in life can be made better when paired with Super Mario Bros?
