I walked into a friends house and saw IT sitting there in front of the T.V. Now, at this point, I KNEW what the NES was... of course everyone at school pretty much had one or was talking about it. I knew I loved playing the Atari at my grandma's house... but this was the first opportunity I'd had to actually PLAY an actual NES. At the time, the graphics were a huge improvement and I felt my stomach twinge. I could hardly contain myself. Looking back, I remember the anxiety of waiting for the right moment to ask the magic words: "Can we play the Nintendo?"
My friend was cautious. I remember her saying suspiciously, "Well, I guess so. But not all night."
Well, at least I can play it,I thought as I eyed the selection of games.
Immediately, I went for the shiniest, most wonderful game cartridge she had - The Legend of Zelda.
Upon beginning the game, a feeling of euphoria came over me. The game was HUGE! I could go wherever! I found a cave! I found Rupees! I don't know what those are, but they're AWESOME!
By the time I finished playing, my friend was thoroughly upset. I remember her saying snottily, "This is why I never want people to play."
I thought, "...You have a Nintendo and you never want to play?"
We called it a night, a couple of eight year olds with issues about video games. I snuck out after she fell asleep and played some more; the lure of the exploration and shiny gold pretty cartridge was too much to bear.
Needless to say, I was never invited back over to her house. That was okay, because less than a year later, I had my own NES and went to Gibralter Trade Center and got games every week. That'll show her to get mad at me for playing video games.
Strangely, this attitude has still lost me a couple friendships. So what? I love gaming. It's what I do.
