Share your Nintendo NES memories!

Please start from the very first time you ever heard about the NES, to the first time you saw it, to the first time you got one, memories in between, until finally when you got rid of it.

I recall seeing the NES for sale when it first came out in 1985. Quite frankly, I was shocked that anyone was releasing a video game console: after all, home computers had already over-taken the video game market and killed off the Atari, Intellivision and Colecovision. I certainly didn't expect this system to be a success or last for any length of time at all.

I did think the graphics on the NES were EXCELLENT, but at the same time, they didn't seem any better looking than what my current computer at the time (the Commodore=64) could do. In fact, the graphics looked to me to be right on par with the Commodore 64 - so what was the point? Besides, games on the C=64 could be copied from disc to disc for FREE. Why in the world would I pay $30 for a clunky old cartridge anymore??

I knew quite a few friends who had a Nintendo, and I was quite surprised with it's popularity. I held out and didn't get one until years later - around 1991 - by that time, my C=64 had been dead for a while, and I was getting the urge to play video games again. I was particularly impressed that the Nintendo "VS" games were so similar to the arcade counterparts - they were obviously running the same hardware, which was a first in videogaming, and wouldn't happen again until the Neo-Geo.

I had some mighty fond but brief memories of the system, for later that year, I bought a Sega Genesis, which I was REALLY impressed with. I sold my NES when I got the Genesis.

Of course, these days, I have an NES with probably most of the games ever released for it. I still enjoy playing it quite a bit. A game genie and an "auto-fire" keypad are a must.

 

Ah yes.....

Actually, I purchased the Sega Master System first, because in a side by side comparison, the Sega's specs (eg color pallette etc) was better as was the graphics - unfortunately, with a few exceptions, the games sucked and third party support was not the greatest.

So......I purchased the NES and bought Double Dribble and Blades of Steel first. Me and my cousin would play these games for hours, totally addicting. Mike Tyson's Punch Out came next..... Then, all the "Mario's" the third one just may be my favorite game of all time.

By the time the SNES came out I had well over 100 games.

Does anyone recall a game called Shadowgate? Not the most popular game but I loved the vibe and the puzzle solving.

JQ

 

I smashed both my joysticks with a hammer because I couldn't for the life of me defeat the final boss on Bubble Bobble.

 

We played Tecmo Bowl for days on end! I was always the Seahwks with those great pink uniforms!

 

Not even sure where to begin. Started with a 2600, saw a NES demo unit in K-Mart one day and immediately began begging for one. It was early enough that it still came with the ROB robot accessory (useless), but it must not have been at least until 1986. I didn't have to do too much convincing with my folks since my dad still regularly played the Atari and he thought it looked like a cool upgrade too.

From there it was just pretty much a lifelong obsession. I got a Genesis and SNES and other stuff, but I never really abandoned the NES. Around 1996 I got heavily involved in the beginnings of the "emulation scene" and NES was my specialty. I never did the coding of the actual emulators, but those ROMs that are floating around everywhere? Yeah, lots of 'em probably came from my cartridges or at the very least through my "release group," where we'd all pitch in money to buy games that hadn't been dumped yet, or one-of-a-kind prototypes. I went to the trouble of learning to "read" the Japanese kanas so we could come close to figuring out the titles of Famicom games (I never could understand most of it, mind you, and I was never any good with the kanjis, but I could at least romanize the titles and get halfway close, heh.)

I've honestly forgotten more about the damn thing than most people ever knew, but yet obscure memory mapper names and chips are still floating around in my head (Konami VRC4!) and I still play the games now and then. It'll probably never really completely be out of me.

 

Yeah Shadowgate was great back then. I also really liked Ys for the Sega Master System

 

The NES is still my favorite system. 2 Zeldas, 3 Marios, Final Fantasy, 6 Mega Mans, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Tecmo Super Bowl, TMNT II, Tetris, Metroid, 3 Castlevanias, etc. So many classics!

 

I picked up the NES around 1988. I got the set that included Duck Hunt and gun. The first game I purchased, I believe, was Super Mario Bros., and I played the crap out of it. I picked up a copy of Nintendo Power around the same time, and subscribed so I could get the SMB guide that came with the sub. During that first year, I read about Mega Man 2 in NP, and liked the designs and idea so much, I bought it. To this day, it's my favorite NES game.

Next, I hunted down a used copy of Mega Man for big bucks - this was pre-Internet and pre-EBay, so it took a long time to find. It wasn't as polished as MM2, but it was sooooooo much harder. I destroyed at least two controllers in angry Roger Daltry microphone-whirling smashes on the dining room tile floor due to MM.

I probably only purchased a couple dozen NES games over the course of time, but the Mega Man, Zelda, and Ninja Gaiden series were my overall faves.

I still have that original system and all my games. I break it out from time to time, and play the greatest hits. Still love 'em today.

 

my favorite memory of the NES was having to keep it powered on for days at a time in order to "save" your progress in a game, and tip-toe ever so gently by it so it wouldn't freeze!

also, the subtle art of blowing into the cartridge and tapping against the side of the unit in order to get your games to play

 

Oh yeah, forgot about Y's! I think I also had a version for the TurboGraphx CD.

 

Incidentally, it's pretty common knowledge now, but while everybody associates NES cartridges with blowing in them to get them to work... it was actually a myth and didn't really accomplish a thing. The problem wasn't dust on the cartridge contacts, it was with the loading mechanism on the NES itself. Because of the way it pushed down, it was easy for the pins to eventually get a little bent and not quite make proper contact with the cartridge. The blowing on it didn't help anything, it was simply the removing/re-inserting of the cartridge that did it.

 

The funny thing about the whole "blowing" method was that the instruction manuals for NES games specifically said not to blow into them... but everyone did it anyway!!

 

I loved the NES. Me and friends loved the original Street Fighter and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game. And I lost a lot of sleep playing the original Final Fantasy (still play it even today).

 

I was a little late to the party. Held on to 2600 Atari as long as I could. Finally gave in and got NES for Christmas, not sure which one. Mario/Duckhunt to start, of course. I love the Mario games. Sucked at Duck Hunt. Couldn't shoot the side of a 8-bit barn. I remember getting Super Mario 3 in late spring and spending the entire summer mastering it, exploring every crevice. Other games I wasted too much time playing:

Double Dragon (could never get past guy with machine gun at the end)
Mike Tyson Punch Out
Friday the 13th
Empire Strikes Back (they never made a Jedi games, bastards)
Tecmo Baseball
Spy Hunter
Ducktales
Golgo 13 (way too hard!)
Silent Service (I preferred just to cruise around and avoid fights. So peaceful)
Mad Max (awful game but I couldn't give up on it)
Predator (so bad...)

I need to find one of these "simulators" so I can play my old favorites again....

 

I will never forget opening that box on Christmas morning. Great memory made all the more special with the realization that something like that was a huge expenditure for my parents.

I was addicted to Faxanadu....

 

After the video game crash of the early 80s my dad picked up the Intellivision for dirt cheap... So from 83 to 84 that's all I had.. But I got bored with it and I think my dad gave it away... Enter 1987... My cousin has the NES and I was blown away by Super Mario Bros, Punch Out and other games from the time.. Also I was developing a game addiction due to my dad being on a bowling league at the time and id go and hang out in the arcade and blow through 5 to 10 dollars of allowance.. Which was a lot for an 10 year old in 1987!

So when I was not blowing money at the bowling alley arcade I'd get my home console fix from hanging out with my cousin and playing his NES til the wee hours of the morning. The one game that really did it was The Legend of Zelda.. That was such a fun game at the time with the overall sense of adventure, exploration and intrigue it offered at the time.

My grandma had a Video Rental membership at the time so she was able to put a small deposit down and actually rent a NES for me for a couple days and a few games to go with it. Sometime in early 1988 the price of the NES dropped to 90 dollars once they stopped selling it with R.O.B. so finally I got my first NES and the rest was history. I still remember getting the old Nintendo fun club magazine around the time they were turning it into Nintendo Power.. When the first issue of Nintendo power was sent to me I was floored because it devoted many pages to the upcoming super Mario brothers 2. Those were the days.

 

Super Mario Bros. is still one of my most favorite games. The NES is easily my favorite system. So many fantastic games. Super Mario Bros. 3. blew me away when I first played it.

 

I remember the day my parents and I went to Service Merchandise in 1987. Fond memories in early childhood playing tons of fun games like Maniac Mansion, River City Ransom, Pro Wrestling, Punch Out, Classic Concentration, Double Dare, Family Feud, Double Dragon, Mario, Roger Rabbit, Karate Kid, and many more.

 

Tetris...

 

I've never been a "gamer" and was never really good at most video games but I do have lots of fond memories of the NES. I never owned one myself but so many of my friends did that it didn't matter. I can remember in the summer during the late 80s after a long mornings of skateboarding the heat was too much to stay outside (Texas and Arizona) so we'd all go to someone's house and fire up a session of Super Mario Bros or Zelda and basically do that and eat junk food and sodas or gatorade then when it got cool enough outside we'd go back out and skate some more. I also remember when I'd stay with my aunt she'd run an NES and me and my cousins would stay up late playing and even my aunt got into Super Mario Bros.

 

No Skate or Die??

 

Heh, on that note allow me to throw out a recommendation for Konami's awesome early Game Boy game Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad. It's completely unlike the NES games or any other S&D and instead is a typical Konami 8-Bit action/platformer type game... just involving skateboards. I always wished they'd have released a NES version of it. But yeah, don't mean to get off-topic, just wanted to point that one out since it seems many people don't know about it or pass it over because they think it's like the other S&D games.

 

I had a friend who thought he was a great skateboarder, and would always try to force me and his other friends to play the NES Skate or Die. We hated it, and he would always say "It's because you're not a skateboarder!"

 

Ah man, on a family trip to California my cousins had one and we spent a lot of time playing it. It was probably the first time I'd ever played video games. Then right before we left, my uncle surprised my brother and I with one. The box was big, as this set came with the gun and Mario / Duck Hunt. I blew entire summers on Zelda, Kirby, trying to get the last castle in Mario I, and learning to fly in Mario III. Great times.

 

I bought my NES not long after I got married. I'm not sure how I was able to swing that as we had almost no disposable income at the time. There was one particular game that I remember picking up in the bargain bin at a toy store that my wife enjoyed watching me play: "Solstice". It was a puzzler/exploration game sort of like "Crystal Castles" and it had a really neat soundtrack too.