In Search of Lost Time is universally hailed as one of the most influential literary works of the twentieth century, having revolutionized the modern novel’s capacity to engage with the subjective experience of abstract thought. But did you know that you can also read through it as everybody’s second-favorite Mario Brother, Luigi? Here’s how to unlock the emerald-clad everyman in Marcel Proust’s seminal masterwork.
Volume I: Swann’s Way
Starting a new read-through, hold down A and B while collecting the first madeleine. Instead of being transported to a sense memory of the narrator’s boyhood in Combray, you’ll go straight to the Warp Zone, where you can skip to Volume V.
Volume V: The Captive
When Vinteul’s Sonata leads you down an unfamiliar path back to the main hub road from earlier stages, you’ll see a melodic phrase harnessed in silver, glittering with sonorities and as light as silken scarves — bring it back to Captain Toad and he’ll give you a Green Mega Moon.
Volume VI: The Fugitive
Upon receiving word of Albertine’s death, jump behind the bookcase to fight the narrator’s heavyset doppelgänger, Warcel. Defeat him without taking any damage, and you’ll also be challenged by Robert de Saint-Loup’s lavender-clad copycat, Wobert de Walla-Woup. Deconstruct them both before the time runs out to earn your second Green Mega Moon.
Volume VII: Time Regained
Play through this volume like normal, except that for each dialog option, select “It’s-a Luigi Time!” The third Green Mega Moon will be touching distant epochs in the place prolonged past measure, which is what unlocks the Lava World.
Volume VIII: Lava World
This secret volume contains much of the novel’s most challenging prose, but you needn’t read through all of it; you’ll find Luigi in the twelfth clause of Proust’s extended rumination on what it would be like to imagine remembering pretending to listen to a friend’s dream about a Spiky Turtle Castle Level.
Great job. Luigi is now the main character of In Search of Lost Time. Whenever you reread the crowning achievement of twentieth-century literary modernism from now on, it will be about the Nintendo character Luigi. Thank you!