There I was, my sole self fighting against three others. They had their way with me at first, knocking me down quickly whenever it seemed like I would rise to the occasion. They kept on pummeling me with their shots, holding me down like a bunch of crabs who’d never let go.

I furiously fought on, trying to use brute force to break through their collective barrier. But I was playing a stupid man’s game; no matter how strong one may be, the strength of a trinity combined will always outlast that of one. Especially when they only have a solitary target to focus on. Again I was brought down.

Yet I never gave up, knowing that even one man was enough for a difference, even in the face of overwhelming odds. I started acting smart, realizing that only skill and cunning would get me to the top. I feinted, faked, and pretended I was going one way, only to quickly shift to another. For a while they couldn’t position themselves properly to stop my ascent.

With my newfound strategy, I went farther then I had ever reached. My opponents’s smug dismissals of my apparently futile attempts slowly turned into worry, and eventually hysteria when the idea that they would be defeated by one crept into their heads.

They adpated, learning to anticipate my moves and finally figuring out the underlying pattern to my maneuvers. Again, they were able to hold me back. They were skilled enough to realize when to take things seriously, and work together as a team.

But I was better than all of them. Little did they know that I had saved the best for last. Once more I lulled them into a false sense of security, a feeling of control that was more fragile than it seemed. It was then I brought all my years of experience, developed talent, and supernatural reflexes to bear. I saw the battle in a different light, instinctively knowing how to get around my opponents even before I was aware of what I was doing.

The feeling of injustice at getting ganged up on sustained me. Fury drove me to assail life’s unfairness and conquer it. It was close. It was close indeed. They nearly got me again just before I reached the goal and won the game. Yet winning by a hair is still victory. I had proved myself as their superior, triumphing even while outnumbered.

And as Mario jumped for joy on the screen, beside the virtual flag that was his ultimate goal, I raised my Wii controller into the air defiantly, letting loose with a battle cry that only winners earn. Now everyone knew that I was a force to be reckoned with. Even if I received the short end of the stick of a 1 vs. 3 mini-game in Mario Party 8.