Home > Video Games > PC > RuneScape > Mario Sunny's Bronze Fests
One day in 2005 (most likely during the second half of that year), I was browsing the events section of the official RuneScape forums when I happened upon a thread advertising a bronze fest
. The thread was started by a player named Mario Sunny, and it described an event in which all participants would wear a full set of bronze armor (along with a bronze or iron weapon), parade around the game world showing off this equipment to other players, and then finally head into the Wilderness and fight each other in a battle to the death using only bronze equipment. As it seemed to me a fun event, I probably posted a reply to the thread indicating my intention to join in, and made sure to show up on the planned date and time of it.
I actually participated in several of these bronze fests, which were spread over (I believe) the second half of 2005 and into the beginning of 2006; they were definitely one of the highlights of my RuneScape experience during this period of time. Apparently, Mario Sunny had been organizing and running them for some time prior my initial participation, and he continued to do so for a while after I took my first break from RuneScape in March 2006. Although I cannot remember the specifics of each individual bronze fest I took part in, I can still recall them in general.
We would first meet at the bank in Al Kharid dressed in full bronze armor. Mario Sunny (along with a few other co-hosts whose names I can no longer remember, and who ranked below Sunny in authority) would lead us, and we would set out from Al Kharid towards other busy parts of RuneScape. Occasionally Sunny would tell us to type amusing things into the game's chat for fun and to grab the attention of other players, who would often be confused by the mass of bronze-wearing players—some of whom had quite high combat levels—walking past them. A few times we encountered other players who, not understanding that we were wearing full bronze deliberately as part of an in-game event for fun, took to mocking us and inevitably calling us noobs; Sunny instructed us in turn to (playfully) tease them back. I recall once, when we were around Barbarian Village, some fellow who had the username Goobla followed by some numbers was so bothered by us and our bronze armor that he ended up ridiculing and following us on our march for some time. Naturally we all mocked him back, until eventually Sunny recommended that we simply add him to our ignore lists—which I did—and move on with the event. I have never removed that Goobla fellow's name from my ignore list since then.
During some bronze fests, I can also recall that we would perform a cabbage bomb
: Mario Sunny would lead all of us to the nearest cabbage field within the game and have us pick as many cabbages as possible (some of the more prepared participants had picked and banked the cabbages ahead of the event), after which we would head into a populated area and then, on Sunny's order, spread out a bit and begin dropping as quickly as possible all the cabbages we had in our inventories. After a short while they would become visible to everybody, and we would delight in the reactions of surprise and confusion we had created when, suddenly, the other players saw countless cabbages suddenly appearing all over the place.
Another prank similar to the cabbage bomb that I associate with my memories of Mario Sunny was making HellScape
. Again with Sunny as the leader, he would first ensure that each of us had a tinderbox in our inventories, and then direct us to chop down nearby trees to obtain a bunch of logs; afterwards we would walk as a group into a populated area, spread out, and, on Sunny's signal, begin making fires simultaneously and as quickly as possible. Pretty soon the entire area would be covered in fires, and again we all took delight in the hell
we had created, and in the confusion and shock of the other players. I remember us doing this maybe in the center of Varrock, and definitely in Draynor Village; however, I very clearly remember that we were wearing black robes instead of full bronze, so I am doubtful that it was part of a bronze fest—more likely this was a post–bronze fest activity for those who wanted to stick around.
Eventually, after we finished our parade, Sunny would lead us into the Wilderness for our final battle. As there was often a large difference between the combat levels of the various participants, we had to venture deep into the Wilderness (we reached the northern fence a few times). Back then I hadn't yet explored the Wilderness much, so I ended up following Sunny into areas which were new to me and unlocking new songs—in particular, it was during a bronze fest that I first heard the song Wild Side
, which sounds very dark and sinister, and which I took an immediate liking to all those years ago. Even today, whenever I hear it, it still brings back memories of the bronze fests, and especially the excitement I felt during the particular bronze fest when I unlocked it in the deep Wilderness.
Our journey to the deep Wilderness was not always without issues: as it was the Wilderness, we had to avoid PK'ers, and I have a somewhat hazy memory of Sunny actually getting killed by one during a particular bronze fest, and thereafter trying to direct the event from his respawn point in Lumbridge (or maybe Falador) via private messages with the other co-hosts (who hadn't been killed), which threw us into a bit of disarray. On another occasion, which I can remember much more clearly, we were in the deep Wilderness when we encountered a moderately high-level PK'er (his combat level was probably somewhere from the 70s to the 90s) who was wearing (I believe) full rune armor. When he began attacking one of the participants of the bronze fest, Mario Sunny gave the order for all of us to attack him at once. I will never forget the sight of 50+ players of various combat levels, using only bronze equipment—and some, in fact, using no weapon at all and only punching or kicking—all ganging up on that poor fellow deep within the Wilderness and killing him within seconds. I can still recall the last message he typed before he died: Wtf!!!
Most times, however, Sunny was able to successfully lead us to the deep Wilderness, at which point he would initiate the final free-for-all battle of the event (of which I was never once the last man standing); when this had been completed, the bronze fest was pretty much over. I have some faint memories standing around in Lumbridge (or Falador) after having been killed in the final fight, witnessing other participants suddenly respawning next to me while I was private messaging Sunny.
One of the things which made the bronze fests so enjoyable was Mario Sunny, whose constant jokes, playful antics, and general silliness made the atmosphere of the event very lighthearted and fun. As he continued to host bronze fests, and I continued to participate in them regularly, the two of us grew closer; soon each of us added the other to his friends list, and we became very close friends within the game. Even today, after all these years, I still consider Mario Sunny to be my closest RuneScape friend, though since 2007 he seems to have largely stopped playing the game. (Sunny, if you're reading this: it's Dark Yoshi40! How have you been?)
P.S. I should also mention that I took several screenshots of various bronze fests (and at least one screenshot of the HellScape
prank, which I remember very vividly was taken at Draynor Village), which later on I would view quite often and reminisce about the good old days. Sadly, due to several instances of malware infecting the computer I was using at the time and forcing me to restore to a pre-installed factory image on my hard drive, and because such infections occurred well before I began regularly backing up my data, all of those precious and irreplaceable images have long been lost to time. It is a loss which I heavily regret, and which even today still manages to haunt me.