I remember my first Nintendo
I remember Playing with Power
I remember the trip to the mall
I remember saving up five or ten dollars that was put toward it
I remember being afraid of turtles until I saw ones that knew karate
I remember being afraid of World 1-4, and everyone that looked like it
I remember the glory of flying Cheap Cheaps and the frustration of the water versions
I remember renting Contra and Popeye and Donkey Kong from a video store that hasn’t been around for 20 years.
I remember not understanding why my local store in Jamestown had Sega games instead
I remember always wanting to play the Ghostbusters on this weird system I never heard of with all the white boxes
I remember Super Mario Bros. 2 and accepting it’s differences
I remember drawing in the instruction booklet with a red marker, fixing the “Birdo/Ostro” fuck up and drawing bad Koopa Troopas
I remember the glory of Super Mario Bros 3 unveiled in “The Wizard”
I remember stumbling on Mega Man 2 because the box art was cool
I remember that changing everything I knew about video games
I remember waiting for Nintendo Power every month
I remember keeping them in my backpack at school
I remember getting in a fight when a bully took one on the bus who was a few years older
I remember the thrill of “breaking the rules” with the Game Genie
I remember the confusion of it being released by the Micro Machine people
I remember the mystique of the Super Nintendo, and a whole Mario “World”
I remember watching my system fade away…
But before that…
I remember playing a computer at my cousins’ house with a dog in the middle of a keypad
I remember being crazy about Ladybug and The Smurfs