Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Defining Game #4: Nintendo

4. Nintendo (NES), 1985

Up until now we've talked about miniature gaming and roleplaying, but I would be terribly remiss (something that crops up a lot apparently) if I did not include videogames in my defining games. Here I am, a grown man almost three decades later and I still avidly play them, so this cornerstone is too important a piece to not mention, and at the number four slot to boot.

I have a great story about the first time I ever saw a home videogame system back in 1979, but that's for another time. Not having a lot of money growing up it was pretty epic (for me anway) when I got my first console at age eleven. We didn't have the fancy set up with the robot and all of that, but I had the console and some amazing games.

This wasn't the 'family console' set up in the living room, like the Atari which oddly enough I never really messed with. I had a tiny little television in my room with this thing hooked up to it, it was awesome. I had many great games too; Mega Man, Final Fantasy, Zelda, Mario Brothers, and the like. I don't know whatever happened to my NES, but it definitely got me started off in the videogame world; NES, then Sega Genesis, Playstation, Dreamcast, PS2, XBox, now XBox 360. My father jokingly, yet stubbornly, gives me a hard time about 'wasted time playing videogames' and the like, but I'm quick to point out hat they were really the ones to start me down that path, and it all started here.
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13 comments:

  1. M. Jared Swenson6/26/12, 2:07 PM

    "Here I am, a grown man almost three decades later and I still avidly play them,"
    You mean when you take a break from Mass Effect multiplayer? :P

    JK bro, i never got a console growing up. My parents thought it would rot my brain. So instead i secretly bought game magazines and hint books and poured over the pictures and screenshots of games for hours. Occasionally i went to a friends house who had one and played with him for hours. Sometimes i would play with the console in lieu of playing with my friend. I wasnt a very good friend when i think about it -_-

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    1. MIK6/26/12, 2:21 PM

      Heh, I gotta tell you, ME's multiplayer format is incredibly addictive, and have incredible replay value.

      I like your subversive videogame antics growing up, you were the closet videogamer! That's better than hiding girlie magazines under the mattress.

      Delete
  2. Simon Quinton 6/26/12, 3:15 PM

    I had a PC for educational purposes at 12 it was second hand from my dad mate at work. I played lots and lots of games on it. First console for was a Sega Megadrive my sister and Bro in law bought it to play during the Christmas holidays and I used to borrow it the rest of the year.

    Then I had the SNES which I miss. I have a Nintendo DS so I can play the SNES version of Zelda :D

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    1. MIK6/27/12, 1:43 AM

      There's actually a good number of DS games out there too making it worthwhile really. I had to look up what the Megadrive was, heh, I remember that now. As long as you can get your Zelda fix you're set.

      Delete
    2. Simon Quinton 6/27/12, 3:18 AM

      Theres quite a few DS games I like, Starfox, Castlevania classic games they are more fun

      Delete
  3. jmezz3826/26/12, 6:03 PM

    Funny, all the games you mentioned I had ... NES's original system was a blast and I have a ton of memories. Atari was just as up there though.

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    1. MIK6/27/12, 1:50 AM

      Yeah, Atari should be up there for me too. I remember playing Warlords with my neighborhood friends for hours on end. I guess I feel a little more fond of the NES because it was in my room and was all me, as opposed to the 'family' Atari out in the living room.

      Delete
  4. Unknown6/26/12, 9:55 PM

    I started off with playing Pong at my Aunt's house and then progressed to Atari at everybody else's. I think I have had almost all of the previous systems at one time or another but I am really digging my PS2 and XBOX 360. I would have loved to have gotten my hands on a PS3 that was backwards compatible but twas not in the stars. Oh well back to another run through Dead Rising whilst wielding only me mini-chainsaws and a healthy grin.

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    1. MIK6/27/12, 1:51 AM

      I really miss my Dreamcast, there's lots of good videogaming vibes directly tied into that particular console. Lots.

      Delete
  5. Spacejacker6/27/12, 12:24 AM

    I never had a NES, which is a strange (probably only) gap in my console history. You know I'm heavy into the 8-bit though!

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    1. MIK6/27/12, 1:51 AM

      Dude, 8-bit is the best. Glad to see you coming out of the doldrums and making some appearances by the way!

      Delete
  6. Whitetail!6/27/12, 5:55 AM

    Here is a list of NES emulators. Unfortunately, they are all for Windows and Linux. It is conceivable that you could get the linux client running on your macbook, but unlikely.

    http://www.freeroms.com/nes.htm

    Here are a suprising number of free NES roms, including the Megaman series.

    http://www.freeroms.com/nes.htm

    There are also places to buy roms

    There looks like there may be some NES apps to, altough I don't know how it would work on iPhone, since you don't have a way to install the roms.

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  7. Mike Howell7/9/12, 12:58 AM

    Somehow I completely missed the NES era, jumping directly from the Atari VCS (back before it had the 2600 nomenclature) to computers. My first console post-Atari was a PSX my wife bought me for my 30th birthday. Since then we've owned lots of systems but not lots of games. I wonder which ones my kids will post blog entries about later in life...

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