The year was 1986. The Nintendo Entertainment System had been out for about a year and absolutely every kid in the entire universe had one except for me. I’d resorted to casually inviting myself over to the houses of friends, non-friends, enemies, and strangers, just so I could play Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, and RBI Baseball. I wasn’t proud of it, but it had to be done. I was hooked.
The actual unwrapping of the console was somewhat uncomfortable, due to the fact that it was given to me on Christmas Eve by my grandmother and I was made to open it in front of all my cousins, none of whom had Nintendo but who desperately wanted it as badly as I did. I restrained my glee, anxiously fidgeted in the car as we drove what seemed like 100 miles home, and watched my dad try to hook the thing up for 45 minutes before grabbing the cables myself and proclaiming, “One side, father! I’m only seven, but someday I’ll be a gadget blogger.”
The brief nanosecond between pressing the power button and seeing the initial RC Pro AM screen materialize seemed even longer than the car ride home, but there we finally were, my four-year-old brother and I, driving remote control cars around on a 700-pound wood-paneled Zenith TV. I won, naturally, as I’d been playing every Nintendo game ever released over and over in my head since the console had been released. That, and my brother was four.
Christmas morning brought two additional games in Ghost Busters and RBI Baseball. I remember thinking to myself that nothing would ever eclipse that moment. I see those Lexus ads on TV where the kids get the best presents ever – an Atari, a pony, etc. – and when they grow up, they find that getting a Lexus for Christmas is somehow better (!) and I wonder to myself about the exact moment when their souls were sucked out of their bodies by the pursuit of the almighty dollar, punctuated by an overpriced status symbol.
Drop an entire dealership in my driveway — I’ll take the Nintendo feeling any day.
Ha, I hate those commercials, too :P The little girl got a FREAKING pony for Christmas, but her new Lexus tops it?!
I remember NES. I was about 12 when we got ours, my brother was ten. We didn’t have too many games, but one of our favorites was the hockey game. I would kick his butt for a long time in that game, but after a while he got a lot better at it. So I decided to play a joke on him. When he wasn’t around one day, I played the game all alone, and just kept running up the score. Then, I offered to play against him. I cued up the video tape and played it back, all the while he was thinking that it was the real game – after the score was like 10-0, he finally realized it was all a big gag.
My mom is getting my kids a Wii for Chanukah. I can hardly wait.
As for the damned lexus commercials – I just don’t get them. The economy is in shambles, people are losing their jobs. Yet somehow Lexus has the gall to encourage us to take on more debt and buy our families an IS 250 for the holidays. I also think about the shows that they’re airing these commercials during, and thinking to myself – out of all of the people watching ‘The Biggest Loser’ – how many of them are really going to go out and buy a lexus?
…Those commercials suck first and foremost. Secondy… I got nothin… those commericals still suck.
Great article!
Doug,
“Here, here” to The Nintendo Feeling.
Thanks for the memories.
Nothing beats the Nintendo feeling when you were five or six years old. Nothing. I could get a Ferrari and be told the insurance is paid for forever and it still wouldn’t beat getting Nintendo with Zelda on Christmas.
I think the original Zelda is still my favorite game to this day.
I don’t remember a specific Christmas present but I do remember one year when I was going to miss Halloween because I couldn’t walk (I had some mystery foot injury or something) and I was totally bummed/pissed. Later that evening as the kids started coming to the door to get their candy my folks walked into my room and gave me a present. As I ripped away the wrapping I saw the most beautiful sight…. an Atari 2600! Needless to say I did not care about stinkin’ Halloween after that. I played all night and later when my friends came by to see how I was doing they were freaking out and we all just played games the whole evening. That was awesome…… Best present ever!
Nice try, Lexus. Yeah, they’re not winning me over with those commercials either. My “year” for the NES was 1988. Good times with my brother playing the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo cartridge!
Larry “Liontamer” Oji
Assistant Soundtrack Director, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Head Submissions Evaluator, OverClocked ReMix – http://www.ocremix.org
Creator, VG Frequency – http://www.vgfrequency.com
Staff, VGMdb – http://www.vgmdb.net
I LOVED the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt It was the only one we had but it was my favorite.
We had to get rid of it when we moved but I’m trying to find one so I can play it again (even though I’m 18)
Does anybody know where to get one? It doesn’t matter if it’s used, just so it’s in working order.