Ok my Retro Junk addicts, following on from my previous article (Childhood Memories) and the positive feed back; here is my article on the Nintendo Entertainment System aka the N.E.S.

Now this isn't goin to be your normal 'top 10 games' or 'fav characters' instead im going to use this article with the aid of memories, experiences and debating skills to express why I feel that this games console is the greatest console ever made.

I don't actually recall in what year me and my brother was lucky enough to get one, but I do remember the endless hours of enjoyment we would get from just sitting quietly and playing on it.
The thing is that me and my brother were, and still are, a little spoilt!
Not 'daddy I want one of those now' spoilt, but spoilt in the way that we would generally get a lot of toys, board games and video games for birthdays and Christmas.

On a side track though, Christmas was always good, we'd get a sofa full of presents and when they were all open and done with we'd get told to take them upstairs to our rooms and get them packed away.
But what's this?
There's another present on my bed!!! Oh look it's the latest games console and games too!
This happened for a few years, it started with the N.E.S, then it was the Mega Drive, then The Super N.E.S, then the Mega CD, then the N64,then the plastation, and finally the Playstation2, after then we got to the age where we would actually buy these sort of things for ourselves!

But I digress, when we was given our N.E.S we got the 'Action Pack'
Would you look at that, 2 games on one cartridge and a gun controller too!
Hands up who loved duck hunt??
Right now hands up who wanted to shoot the dog in the face for laughing at you for not shooting any ducks??
Ah, all of you, I see im not alone!




This was a great way to start off our own games console experience, yeah my dad did have a Commodore 64, but we was young, we didn't have the patience to wait for that darn cassette to load!

I don't actually think we managed to finish either super mario or duck hunt, I think we just asked for a new game when we was tired of trying!
It wasn't like we had a million games, just the following:

And last but not least, my Favourite, my latest wii virtual console download...



This was great for a kid, not only did Mario turn into a flying raccoon (can raccoons fly?) he turned into a leaping frog and a stone statue!!!!

Right, onto the point, I feel that this was the greatest console ever made for a few reasons, lets delve deeper into that.

For a lot of us on this site, it really was the first 'stick in the cartridge and away you go' system, no waiting for the cassette to wind on, no 'now loading' screens or 'there is a new update for this game, would you like to download this now?'
It was child proof, which is what we were, low attention spans, I wanna play now, lets get on with it generation, at the time we didn't realise it, but looking back that's exactly what we was!




Its almost like we've gone backwards with new generation machines, yes I love the PS3, not so much the xbox 360 but that's for another time, 80gb hard drives, 1080p definition and multi gaming online capabilities??
Is this what our gaming experiences have boiled down to?
I don't want to spend more time tuning my Ferrari F430's suspension set up and breaking bias than im actually spending on the track racing the darn thing, theres too much of that nowadays with games, its killed the buzz a little for me, most the time spent on new games is learning what all the buttons do and what the character is capable of, if you want to know what the character does, read the instructions!




This draws me neatly to one of the leading reasons why I love N.E.S, the controller, simple, effective and easy to use. I know why there's more buttons nowadays, but is it really needed? there was nothing wrong with the '2 button system' run/shoot and jump, simples!





I thought to myself recently 'ah street fighter 4, that'll be good, pick up and kick the crap outta some random guys' game,
but no, now you have special bars to build up and perform super duper special moves, as if the haduken wasn't special enough.

What do we play games consoles for?
Do we play so we occupy 80+ hours of our time to build up a character, or to challenge a guy half way around the world to you for you to prove you can kill more aliens than him? Not me
Yes my Wii and PS3 are online, but that's only so I can download the latest release of old school games, I don't care that your harder, better, faster stronger than me, I play to occupy the little free time I have with a nostalgic kick, I know you get hardcore World of Warcraft players, but im sure deep down they really miss the good old days too.

The problem with online gaming is it's too convenient, get off your lazy ass and play two player with your mate at his place!
Like I mentioned in my previous article, me, my brother and cousins would sit around a spare 14'' black and white tv week after week to play the latest game, or show off how far we could get on a certain game we all had.
Think how cool I looked when I showed that I could beat Dr. Wiley in Mega Man 2 with bubble blast, top achievement yes?
Unfortunatly i was quickly over shadowed by my cousin Steven when he showed us that he could beat Spider Spike in Gremlins 2, and that had a finish video cut scene too, albeit we only saw it in black and white, but to us, for this acheivement, Steven was a nintendo God!
We would literally take it in turns bringing the main console around my grand parents so we wasn't without it, and often trade games for a week or 2, except with Aaron, he would always lose the inner game sleeve or lend our games to his mates!
This console brought people together.




Yes we progress to improve and no not every one will agree with my points, but tell me now, do you smile as much when your ganging up with thugs to take on rival gangs in Grand Theft Auto as you do when you find an old game that reminds you of when you was younger?
Beating a boss which that, when you was 8, was un-defeat able?
No, because with playing old consoles like the N.E.S, you're not just playing a game, you're returning to childhood, the exact same reason why you all come on this site, to remember what it was like being young and to share your experiences.




The graphics were basic, but spot on, you could always make out what the game creator intended.
The sound wasn't dolby surround, but you I bet all you guys remember the BGM to your favourite game!

That's why the N.E.S is the best games console ever made in my eyes, because its more than that, it's a time machine, and for the time im playing on my old N.E.S or on the wii's virtual console, im not a 26 year old surveyor, im an 8 year old without a care in the world...


Except for beating this pesky level!

Many thanks to google images again, and to you, the reader