The Nintendo Entertainment System
by Thonos
11/17/2015
Being my first foray into gaming, the NES brings back a lot of memories when I step back and think about it. This is the system where I started playing so many classic franchises, some of which I still play today. Growing up if it was a Friday or Saturday night, you could usually find my brother and I engrossed in some Nintendo game. It was also the first system that I started collecting for years after the systems heyday. While this is not my favorite system of all time, it ranks pretty highly up there.
When my brother and I got our first NES console during the Christmas of 1988, little did I know this would be a start of a hobby that I would still be doing, as of this writing, 26 years later. My first experience with the NES system was actually in a hospital when I was 6. The kid that I was roomed with for most of the time had a NES system that his parents brought in for him. I remember playing Super Mario Bros and that was all I remember about the system. Apparently I enjoyed it since later that year for Christmas my brother and I got one.
One thing with the NES system I had was when we got it we also got the NES Advantage controller to go with it. My mother thought it would be easier for my brother and I to play games with. And using the NES Advantage had plenty of advantages when playing most games, particularly having a turbo button. However, when I play NES games now I use the standard NES controller that came with the system and I have never had a problem with it. I actually found a few games to be easier with the standard controller.
Early games on the system are memorable to me even today. Games like The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Kung-Fu and Super Mario bros for me were great ways to spend my afternoon and evenings. Mike Tyson's Punch Out in particular was one of my favorite games for the system and I partially credit that game for my love of boxing games on consoles. I remember my brother made it a mission when playing Super Mario Bros. to try and bust every block in every level he could.
A lot of my friends at the time were also into these games. I remember being in grade school during recess and I would have my world map of The Legend of Zelda in hand and we would go around the playground trying to see if we could find items that matched items on the map. I remember finding a twig that looked like a key. We also used to attempt to reenact scenes from some of our favorite games. While we did go outside and do things, we also spent a lot of time playing our NES systems.
As the years went on with the system, I did get a lot of great games that I really enjoy like Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, POW, Jackal, Duck Tales, the list just goes on and on. My top ten list is only a small sampling of games I enjoyed on the NES, I could have easily did a top 25. I will say that 1989 was the best year I had for NES games. That was the year I got Double Dragon amd Bionic Commando for my birthday, two of my all time favorite games.
Another big thing going on at this time that helped me get more immersed into these games was all the tie in media going on around it. During the late 80's and early 90's Saturday morning was all about getting to see Captain N The Game Master and the Legend of Zelda animated series. 1989's The Wizard, while not the best movie ever made and not completely a video game movie, was still an enjoyable movie that involved gaming. Getting Nintendo Power magazines was a great way for me to see new games coming out, get tips to beat games that I had and overall was something to look forward to each month. The Worlds of Power books helped flush out some characters while the comic strips and books just added more stories to others. While the games made the system, all the extra stuff going on around it made me get more into the systems and characters I was playing.
Late into the consoles life span I still got a decent amount of NES games. Die Hard was probably my favorite game from this time, however others like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Star Trek 25th Anniversity, Star Trek the Next Generation and Crash 'n the Boys Street Challenge were still great games I found enjoyable. At this point though my brother and I got a Super Nintendo system and we started focusing more on that system. Not saying we just gave up on our NES, but anyone could tell that if we wanted something new it was for that system. One of the last games I remember getting for the system was M.U.L.E., which was interesting since this game came out in the middle of the consoles lifespan. For some reason I enjoyed this game and still do.
Playing cooperatively with my brother was a big thing for me. It was, and still is, a great way for him and I to enjoy playing games together. I was never a fan of going against other people since I would usually end up losing. There were also many games that I would let him play while I would rifle through out Nintendo power books trying to find tips and tricks to beating the games that we owned. Shadowgate became a classic game for us, we tried off and on for years to beat this game. We finally did beat it in 2001, only to find out this whole time we missed one item to beat the game.
As time moved forward and I moved onto newer systems, I never really stopped playing my NES. I would still go back from time to time playing old favorites or try to beat some games I could not beat when I was younger. In the early 2000's I started collecting NES games since for the most part it was cheap. I found games I always wanted as a kid like Rambo and Friday the 13th and others I never heard of like Desert Commander and Taboo The Sixth Sense. And now at the time of this article I still go out in person and online and try to find games that might interest me to add to my NES collection.
To me the best thing about the NES was the amount of genres that I was exposed to and became a fan of. Final Fantasy made me a fan of JRPG's while Double Dragon 2 reinforced my love to 2D beat'em ups. I spent a lot of time on my NES as a kid. Even as an adult I spend time with it when I get an itch by play some classic games. And while I have other systems and platforms I hold in higher regard now, I still have some of my best gaming memories on the NES.
by Thonos
11/17/2015
Being my first foray into gaming, the NES brings back a lot of memories when I step back and think about it. This is the system where I started playing so many classic franchises, some of which I still play today. Growing up if it was a Friday or Saturday night, you could usually find my brother and I engrossed in some Nintendo game. It was also the first system that I started collecting for years after the systems heyday. While this is not my favorite system of all time, it ranks pretty highly up there.
When my brother and I got our first NES console during the Christmas of 1988, little did I know this would be a start of a hobby that I would still be doing, as of this writing, 26 years later. My first experience with the NES system was actually in a hospital when I was 6. The kid that I was roomed with for most of the time had a NES system that his parents brought in for him. I remember playing Super Mario Bros and that was all I remember about the system. Apparently I enjoyed it since later that year for Christmas my brother and I got one.
One thing with the NES system I had was when we got it we also got the NES Advantage controller to go with it. My mother thought it would be easier for my brother and I to play games with. And using the NES Advantage had plenty of advantages when playing most games, particularly having a turbo button. However, when I play NES games now I use the standard NES controller that came with the system and I have never had a problem with it. I actually found a few games to be easier with the standard controller.
Early games on the system are memorable to me even today. Games like The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Kung-Fu and Super Mario bros for me were great ways to spend my afternoon and evenings. Mike Tyson's Punch Out in particular was one of my favorite games for the system and I partially credit that game for my love of boxing games on consoles. I remember my brother made it a mission when playing Super Mario Bros. to try and bust every block in every level he could.
A lot of my friends at the time were also into these games. I remember being in grade school during recess and I would have my world map of The Legend of Zelda in hand and we would go around the playground trying to see if we could find items that matched items on the map. I remember finding a twig that looked like a key. We also used to attempt to reenact scenes from some of our favorite games. While we did go outside and do things, we also spent a lot of time playing our NES systems.
As the years went on with the system, I did get a lot of great games that I really enjoy like Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, POW, Jackal, Duck Tales, the list just goes on and on. My top ten list is only a small sampling of games I enjoyed on the NES, I could have easily did a top 25. I will say that 1989 was the best year I had for NES games. That was the year I got Double Dragon amd Bionic Commando for my birthday, two of my all time favorite games.
Another big thing going on at this time that helped me get more immersed into these games was all the tie in media going on around it. During the late 80's and early 90's Saturday morning was all about getting to see Captain N The Game Master and the Legend of Zelda animated series. 1989's The Wizard, while not the best movie ever made and not completely a video game movie, was still an enjoyable movie that involved gaming. Getting Nintendo Power magazines was a great way for me to see new games coming out, get tips to beat games that I had and overall was something to look forward to each month. The Worlds of Power books helped flush out some characters while the comic strips and books just added more stories to others. While the games made the system, all the extra stuff going on around it made me get more into the systems and characters I was playing.
Late into the consoles life span I still got a decent amount of NES games. Die Hard was probably my favorite game from this time, however others like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Star Trek 25th Anniversity, Star Trek the Next Generation and Crash 'n the Boys Street Challenge were still great games I found enjoyable. At this point though my brother and I got a Super Nintendo system and we started focusing more on that system. Not saying we just gave up on our NES, but anyone could tell that if we wanted something new it was for that system. One of the last games I remember getting for the system was M.U.L.E., which was interesting since this game came out in the middle of the consoles lifespan. For some reason I enjoyed this game and still do.
Playing cooperatively with my brother was a big thing for me. It was, and still is, a great way for him and I to enjoy playing games together. I was never a fan of going against other people since I would usually end up losing. There were also many games that I would let him play while I would rifle through out Nintendo power books trying to find tips and tricks to beating the games that we owned. Shadowgate became a classic game for us, we tried off and on for years to beat this game. We finally did beat it in 2001, only to find out this whole time we missed one item to beat the game.
As time moved forward and I moved onto newer systems, I never really stopped playing my NES. I would still go back from time to time playing old favorites or try to beat some games I could not beat when I was younger. In the early 2000's I started collecting NES games since for the most part it was cheap. I found games I always wanted as a kid like Rambo and Friday the 13th and others I never heard of like Desert Commander and Taboo The Sixth Sense. And now at the time of this article I still go out in person and online and try to find games that might interest me to add to my NES collection.
To me the best thing about the NES was the amount of genres that I was exposed to and became a fan of. Final Fantasy made me a fan of JRPG's while Double Dragon 2 reinforced my love to 2D beat'em ups. I spent a lot of time on my NES as a kid. Even as an adult I spend time with it when I get an itch by play some classic games. And while I have other systems and platforms I hold in higher regard now, I still have some of my best gaming memories on the NES.