Do You Remember When? III

The final article in the nostalgic trilogy...
On
June 19, 2009
The third in a series always seems to kill the series. However, my DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN series has become my baby and I don't want it to die too early. After all, the Friday the 13th series and the Nightmare on Elm Street series lasted for several more sequels after the third came and went. Heck, I even liked the third Ninja Turtles movie, although it wasn't as good as the first two. To me, the second was always the best there. Enough of my ramblings.
DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN is a concept that I came up with just sitting at work one night writing down memories. I had written one article on the game RYGAR for NES, check it out in the archives, and needed something fresh. Thus, this series was born. People can relate to these articles, and I very much enjoy writing them. However, they cant last forever. It seems that this article will make the series a trilogy and that is how it will stay. Anyway, heres the finale. Enjoy!
Do you remember when...

It was really cool to jam to ICE, ICE, BABY?

Not all houses had certain channels? My family had cable for several years before I first saw Nickelodeon or even USA.

A satellite dish was huge and visible from miles away? Being a bit sarcastic on the size, but just barely.

You couldn't play some of the games with the bigger kids?

You had no need for nostalgia?


I actually got in trouble as a kid at the age of 6 or 7 for listening to my older cousins GUNS N ROSES USE YOUR ILLUSION 2 tape. My mom came in about the time they let out a string of profanity on the track GET IN THE RING. Listen to it and youll know why she got mad.

You could get in trouble for listening to certain music?

Some of the songs on classic rock stations today were new? I was listening to a local classic rock station the other day and they played a song. I was sitting there thinking to myself, HEY, I REMEMBER WHEN THAT WAS FIRST RELEASED! MAN, IM GETTING OLD.

You could play arcade games at a Laundromat?

THE SIMPSONS was good to watch? You know what Im talking about if you've seen it lately.

A videogame memory card only had 15 measly blocks of memory that wasn't enough to hold crap?


Lite Brite was totally awesome for a few minutes in 1988.

Two words. LITE BRITE


Pee Wee Herman. We all know what he did to get here.

You first saw that mug shot of PEE WEE HERMAN?

Virtual reality was the next big thing and there was that fad? VR TROOPERS, anyone?

STING was in WCW and had the blond flat top and neon face paint?

Another three words… EXPENSIVE BEANIE BABIES!

You used to get pissed royally by those MAGIC EYE books? I have still not to this day been able to see a single picture.

They had the GREMLINS Gizmo Furby?

It was actually cool to own a TOMAGACHI?

JERRY FALWELL labeled the Teletubbies as gay?

Parents practically killed each other over a Tickle Me Elmo?

Advertisements for a website actually had the prefix http://www. at the beginning of it?

You first heard of the coolness that was chatrooms?

Yahoo chatrooms were cool places to talk and not controlled by constant advertisements by bots?

AOL was the ISP to have?

From a fan of the series: Do you remember when most RPGs were turn based? Yeah, Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Ultima, the list goes on…

Even as a kid, you noticed the slightly cheaper animation value of a Disney TV show as compared to its movie counterpart?

Fox Kids had that promotion called WHAT IF KIDS RULED THE WORLD?

McDonalds used sports stars, especially Michael Jordan, to sell food on commercials?
The McDonalds play land equipment was outside and it sometimes actually burnt you to go down the metal slide?

Getting a toy relied on your parents decision and not your own personal budget paycheck to paycheck?

Country music was real country music?

Ozzy Osbourne was considered obscene?

Arsenio Hall came on TV?

ABC had that claymation intro to its Saturday morning commercial breaks? It was something like AFTER THESE MESSAGES, WELL BE RIIIIIIGHT BACK! Hard to write it without having music…

Wal Mart didn't have that security sensor at the door that goes off every time you buy a movie or game whether you paid for it or not? You look like a crook every time you leave Wal Mart if youre into games and movies.

Comic books could actually be found at a grocery store?

Nickelodeon GAK was a must have item?

The X Men had a base in Australia?

We were waiting for years upon years for an X Men movie?

A cheap Dollar Store toy could satisfy you?

Wrestling was a cant miss thing on Monday nights?

You didn't know what the hell a flash drive was?

FOX used to have a broadcast live from Mardis Gras every year? That's actually where they were at during the premiere of the Marvel Comics GENERATION X movie.


Awesome times. This was state of the art and simple at the same time.

Windows 3.1 was one of the coolest things around?

You actually might have to try a second access number to get on the internet because the first one was busy?

Girls in school were nowhere near as developed at 12 or 13 than they are today? Odd, isnt it?

Some of your favorite places to go as a kid were actually in business still?

All your favorite shows weren't available on Youtube or DVD and youd sometimes wait years to see a certain episode? Im still waiting for a few cartoons Ive not seen in years. Among them, RED PLANET, the cartoon miniseries on Fox in the early 90s that was based on the ROBERT HEINLIN novel.

Videogame magazines offered strategy? Before the dark times... before the internet empire. Yes, there was a STAR WARS reference there.

We 90s kids got to go see STAR WARS in theatres in the late 90s just like our parents did in the 70s and early 80s? Actually, we saw something that was MOSTLY Star Wars.

Those crappy and extremely loud dot matrix printers were all we had?

You were at the mercy of your mom as to what you could wear for school each day?


These are the new ones, but I had some of the old 80s and 90s style when I was in first grade or so.

Having cartoon character themed underwear was extremely awesome?

You never thought youd see Mario and Sonic in the same game?

You had to rewind a rental before taking it back?

You could rent wrestling pay per view tapes from the local video rental store?

There was a time between when we became adults and when the nostalgia craze hit that we didn't have a site like RETROJUNK or companies catering to us to get our fix? It wasn't that long of a time, but it was there.

And so wraps up another article. The third one looking back was surprisingly easy to write. Im actually proud of myself this time around. If this one does well, I may even consider writing a fourth article of this nature, but don't look for it too soon. I want to make everyone wait next time for one. Ive got some other topics to cover until then. As always, check out my own personal site as well, www.thetwilightgamer.com. Soon, Im going to publish these articles on there when a get a good library of them made. Thanks everyone for your support of my articles and I hope you all have a great day.
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