The Nintendo Entertainment System
The year: 1983. The system: The Nintendo Entertainment System or NES for short. It is the system that brought many of us back to playing video games. For many others, it was their first real step into the world of power-ups, warps and high scores.A little bit of history: The System, an 8-bit video game console, was released in 1983 by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Its Japanese equivalent was known as the Nintendo Family Computer, or Famicom.
The most successful gaming console of its time; Nintendo claims to have sold over 60 million NES units worldwide. The NES helped revitalize the video game industry following the video game crash of 1983, and set the standard for subsequent consoles in everything from game design (the first modern platform game, Super Mario Bros., was the system's first "killer app") to business practices.
Our hope with Memories of Video Play is to gather some of your experiences playing the video game system taht is highlighted. How old were you when you first played? What games did you play? Did this system set the bar for future in relation to video game play? Was this the last video game system you played? If so - why? We thank you in advance for sharing your comments.
2 comments:
I must have been 10 or 11 years old. I was in the basement watching TV. My parents came down the stairs with my birthday gift. The gift: The Nintendo Entertainment System Action set - complete with zapper gun, Super Mario and Duck Hunt games.
This was my second video game system. A few years before that I had received a Coleco Gemini - the Atari 2600 clone.
What a difference. Super Mario Bros. was simply incredible. The vibrant bluc colour of the sky; the gameplay, the warp zones - everything was perfect. This was now my new love. I would spend countless afternoons playing with Mario and his friends.
I didn't end up buying too many games for the NES. two of them stand out: Double Dragon (which I pay close to a hundred dollars) and Metal Gear which was simply a stunning action stealth spy game.
Essentially, the story of me and vid games can be found here:
http://palmer.grumpster.com/2005/12/up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right.html
But...to add to it, I would assume I was...8? Maybe 10 when I got my NES.
I was pro Nintendo. Nothing could compare. I also never had a game which I wouldn't complete. My reasoning was that if I spent $100 on a game, I better well finish the thing!
Off the top of my head, I can remember that I owned a dozen games. Then I had to sell them. If memory serves me right:
Super Mario/Duck Hunt
Super Mario 3
The Legend of Zelda - Aweeeesome.
Dragon Warrior - 1-4. Dragon Warrior were my fave games on the NES. I even bought the Super NES solely for the rumour that Part V was going to be released onto it. I was extremely disappointed when it never came out.
Actually, it did come out about 4 years ago on the Playstation. I played it, it sucked. I mean...Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross came out by then and took the world by storm. Please note that I never cared for the Final Fantasy series. I was more of a hard core old world RPG fan...not these UFO stories. Although FF7 was amazing.
MEGAMAN! I had them all. They were great. MM3 was my fave, although MM2 had Metal Man which was the coolest power.
Ahhh...what else? I can't remember any more games off the top of my head.
Anyhow, NES kicked ass. Oh yes...Ninja Gaiden. Yeah boy.
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