Before reading this you must watch the :30 second clip above. If you watched the video above, then you have to be asking yourself–Did I really believe this was fun? Honestly, I used to wake up at 5 am to run downstairs to play soccer on Nintendo on a 13 inch TV—

The truth is, as a little kid it didn’t get better. To me these graphics, this game, NES—this was the pinnacle of gaming!! As we all know the original NES is now a “classic” and the graphics comical, but that is where I came from. I am actually lucky enough to have a brother who, somewhat obsessively, collected these 8 bit masterpieces and throughout the years has amassed a collection of over 300+ games. Some of them–absolute timeless classics: Metroid, Tetris, Contra, Zelda–some not quite so well known: Wall Street Kid, Klax, and Qix.

Now as a 30 yr old “adult” I look back at those games, and as soon as I sit down and begin to enter the Contra code I cant help but feel 12 again! Did anything compare to settling in to a 2 player game of Contra with your best friend with 30 lives at your disposal? Do you remember you couldn’t go too far ahead on the waterfall level or else it would kill your partner?? I guarantee that anyone reading this who EVER played contra is reciting the code in their head!! Obviously gaming has changed since then as I sit in front of my Wii and throw a vicious tennis backhand towards my massive 60 inch TV, but I will never forget being 12 without a care in the world holding that 2 button controller tethered to that grey box 2 feet from that screen.

We all have our own favorite Nintendo games–and of course techniques to get the games to work (blow in it, lick it, bang it on the ground). Now this Nintendo technology may be obsolete and time may have caught up to me in age, but my youth will never escape me! Anyone out there who needs a reality check, and a sip from the fountain of youth, find a friend with a Nintendo and sit down for 20 minutes and I challenge you not to smile as you duck down that first pipe on Mario Bros, or hold the “zapper” in your hand for a shot at Duck Hunt.

I know we are all adults and most of us overly concerned with our “real world lives”, but it never hurts to take a few minutes and remember being a kid again–I promise you that. If you can’t find a Nintendo just log on to youtube and search for some of your old NES favorites…watch them for a few seconds. You will not be disappointed.

Joe