PLAYING WITH POWER, a multi-part Nintendo-centric ReCollection [Part 1]

I will always be first to admit that I am, and will likely forever be, a Nintendo Shill. It's not a blind one, as I do have my reservations about the way the heads of the company handle fan relations. Not to mention their horrible, strong-fisted stance against emulation and the preservation of their own history. But that's not what I'm here to talk about today. My goal here is to simply gush about the product, the history, and my experiences with my absolute favorite developer(and the games that they and the many publishers put out on their devices)

As I talked about in one of the very first posts I made on this blog after starting it up two years ago, my video game history can be traced back to one specific video game experience, that being Mega Man II on my cousin's NES console in the early 90s. But that was just one specific experience with the Nintendo Entertainment System, and so that's where we're going to start in my illustrious 30+ years of "Playing with Power".

The Early 90s ('90~'93)

At 37, the fact that I can still conjure up memories from such a long time ago with some vividness is either seen as a good thing or a bad thing once dementia finally cracks down on me, and every memory I hold so dear comes gushing out like an open head wound. So, while my brain is still relatively healthy, let's get some of these memories out there while I still have the little twisty tie to go back onto the end of the bag!

As previously mentioned, Mega Man II was my grand introduction to the world of video games. Sort of that eye-opening experience that, for whatever reason, failed to happen at my own home on my older brother's NES. So naturally, I started looking at video games with a more serious glance. Browsing the Village Market's small selection, seeing what could potentially catch my eye. I remember always being drawn to the more fantastical covers, showing monsters or explosions of some sort.

But none had ever struck me harder than the sight of the box for Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!

Being a kid in the late 80s and the first half of the 1990s, if you weren't into dinosaurs, then something was probably wrong with you because they were the THING at the time. This even pre-dated the advent of the Jurassic Park adaptation, which just pushed the subject even further into the public eye. And thus, as a dinosaur junkie, one would naturally be expected to love Godzilla and all his other fellow kaiju brethren, right? Right. At least, that was true for little Ricky in 1990 because I had dinosaur figures out the yin-yang, and they all fought my 1989 Imperial Toys Godzilla figure on a regular basis.

Getting a game where you not only got to play as Godzilla (and Mothra, I guess) but also fight against an army of his actual friends and foes(some of which never even appeared in a Godzilla movie) was a truly awesome experience for a five-year-old. Even if the game is a monotonous chunk of an experience nowadays as an adult, I still get some satisfaction every time I fire this bad boy up with the DESTR0Y AL L M0NSTERS code.

It wouldn't be until years later, circa 1996~1997 that I'd beat the game, beginning to end, using an old turbo-charged third-party NES controller to hammer away at the bosses(which made dealing with Gigan's belly saw particularly easy)

Renting games was particularly fun because there was always an extensive selection available no matter where you went. Very few places had Genesis at that point, and even fewer had Master System, which was the NES' main competitor.

Gauntlet(though I never personally rented) was one that always stood out to me with its thick golden border. Trog was a Pac-Man knock-off with dinosaurs, so naturally, I gravitated towards it. Werewolf: The Last Warrior was one that I have no real recollection of why I rented so often other than it simply being part of those early Furry years of mine.

Stepping up to the plate in 1991, a year after its release, but the only time I can actually recall having rented and played it myself was Super Mario Bros. 3 in all its piggybacking off of Werewolf's box art glory!

If any box art screams "NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM" to me, it's this.

I specifically remember one Saturday afternoon, my father having to run "across the street" to the Village Market(A local chain of now-defunct gas stations) for a pack of cigarettes, my older brother and I tagging along. He(my brother) picked out some snacks while I got to pick out the game. That was when I saw the magnificent, timeless box art for Super Mario Bros. 3, sitting happily on the shelf alongside its prequels, which I had played extensively by then(and completed none). 

The snacks, though, are why I remember this specific day. It was a bag of Keebler's long-since discontinued brand of chips called Pizzarias.

I can't find any evidence of it, but I will swear up and down that a pepperoni flavor existed. But I digress; the flavor these things presented has been eternally locked into my taste buds' memories and is something I have been seeking out again ever since. Trying every pizza-flavored snack to come out but having no luck. The closest thing I have found so far has been the cheese pizza flavored Cheez-Its.

In the next entry, I'm gonna push forward and talk extensively about the period between 1994 and 1997 because prior to the Switch, my history with Nintendo consoles came in three-year clusters.