I just spent the last 3 hours steeped in blissful nostalgia. While looking for an app for my Android phone I stumbled across a Ninentdo emulator. It allows you to play the old Nintendo games on your phone. I never actually played Ninentdo (officially). So why would this envoke nostalgia?
I think I need to back up a bit. I have always loved games. Always. I suck, big time, but I love to play them. All sorts of games. Boards games, card games, etc. My mother was opposed to video games. She was pretty hard nosed about it when I was young, though she eased up a bit on my brothers. We had a Commodore 64. Her idea of acceptable games were Where in Time is Carmen San Diego (which I still have the 5 inch floppies for), Math Blaster and Lemonade Stand. The Carmen San Diego game came with a 1,000+ page paperback encyclopedia and a dossier for each of the Evil Henchmen. You had to determine who did the crime, get the right warrant, and capture the Henchman. I used to play that game for hours. Though I wasn't allowed to play console games, my best friend had a Nintendo. Her mom would tell my mom every time I tried to play (they were best friends), but I was allowed to watch all I wanted. I used to watch all of her siblings play and beat Mario Brothers and Zelda. And Duck Hunt. I used to help her get her turn faster by doing something to make one of her siblings lose. Sadly, to this day I still can't figure out the console controller. I prefer PC games. And I think that is the root of my love of watching people play video games. I can sit an watch for hours and not get bored.
But I digress.....
So today when I found that emulator I thought I would download it, just to get a taste of the games I missed out on. It has been a long time, and I can't remember all the tricks to each game, but it was fun. They have a copy of Where in Time, as well as Mario Brothers and the original Zelda. It has been a long time since I allowed myself to be immersed in video games for that long.
Where in Time was just as I remembered it, from the lobby and elevator down to the faulty coffee machine in the break room. :) All the sounds were there, just as I remembered them. For a moment I was back in the end bedroom at my mom's house, sitting in front of that huge machine, thick paperback book in my lap, my brother whining about it being his turn and if I didn't let him play he was going to tell mom and she would take it away. I could almost feel our dog licking my bare feet, and hear piano lessons coming from the living room. There are very few memories from my childhood that end well. It was nice for once to have an experience that jogged a good one.
Nowadays I play games that are a lot more complicated. Doctor Who Adventure games, first person shooters, LA Noir......all with high end graphics that use more processing power than all of those old games combined. Still, it's nice to go back and play the simpler games from simpler times. When 64 megs of RAM was WAY more than you'd ever need. When beating a game was the most important thing you'd do all day. When ice cream was for dinner when it was too hot and getting caught in the summer thunderstorm was actually still fun.
Hey look....they also have Duck Hunt.....sleep is just an option, right? I can live on coffee tomorrow.....
I think I need to back up a bit. I have always loved games. Always. I suck, big time, but I love to play them. All sorts of games. Boards games, card games, etc. My mother was opposed to video games. She was pretty hard nosed about it when I was young, though she eased up a bit on my brothers. We had a Commodore 64. Her idea of acceptable games were Where in Time is Carmen San Diego (which I still have the 5 inch floppies for), Math Blaster and Lemonade Stand. The Carmen San Diego game came with a 1,000+ page paperback encyclopedia and a dossier for each of the Evil Henchmen. You had to determine who did the crime, get the right warrant, and capture the Henchman. I used to play that game for hours. Though I wasn't allowed to play console games, my best friend had a Nintendo. Her mom would tell my mom every time I tried to play (they were best friends), but I was allowed to watch all I wanted. I used to watch all of her siblings play and beat Mario Brothers and Zelda. And Duck Hunt. I used to help her get her turn faster by doing something to make one of her siblings lose. Sadly, to this day I still can't figure out the console controller. I prefer PC games. And I think that is the root of my love of watching people play video games. I can sit an watch for hours and not get bored.
But I digress.....
So today when I found that emulator I thought I would download it, just to get a taste of the games I missed out on. It has been a long time, and I can't remember all the tricks to each game, but it was fun. They have a copy of Where in Time, as well as Mario Brothers and the original Zelda. It has been a long time since I allowed myself to be immersed in video games for that long.
Where in Time was just as I remembered it, from the lobby and elevator down to the faulty coffee machine in the break room. :) All the sounds were there, just as I remembered them. For a moment I was back in the end bedroom at my mom's house, sitting in front of that huge machine, thick paperback book in my lap, my brother whining about it being his turn and if I didn't let him play he was going to tell mom and she would take it away. I could almost feel our dog licking my bare feet, and hear piano lessons coming from the living room. There are very few memories from my childhood that end well. It was nice for once to have an experience that jogged a good one.
Nowadays I play games that are a lot more complicated. Doctor Who Adventure games, first person shooters, LA Noir......all with high end graphics that use more processing power than all of those old games combined. Still, it's nice to go back and play the simpler games from simpler times. When 64 megs of RAM was WAY more than you'd ever need. When beating a game was the most important thing you'd do all day. When ice cream was for dinner when it was too hot and getting caught in the summer thunderstorm was actually still fun.
Hey look....they also have Duck Hunt.....sleep is just an option, right? I can live on coffee tomorrow.....
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