anybody else who wasn't a fan of the nes?

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Yeah, while I have never considered myself a "Fanboy" I have learned to appreciate all systems (yes all systems) because they have all contributed to the evolution of gaming in their own way, either by coming out with something new or learning from it's mistakes lol! I once thought I really didn't like 3DO but lately I been kind of enjoying some 3DO titles. Also I loved NES back in the day not giving much thought or having much exposure to Sega Master System but after recently getting a nice Master System lot including 3D glasses and light phaser I am really digging it. My taste have changed over the years and I am enjoying re-discovering some systems I intitally didn't give much thought to.

[VectorGamer]

Wow... 'lot of NES haters out there. I can see the generation that grew up on 2600 stuff not really caring for the NES. It happens with other generations too. I had a 2600/Coleco too(well, we borrowed quite often), but wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole anymore after NES came out. There was just no going back to such super simplistic games.

 

 

Also: d-pad > stick. Always.

 

Not a chance!

 

I didn't purchase the NES until 3-5 years after it was released in part because I lost interest in gaming. Even though it was the 5h1t at the time, it never left me in awe like the Atari 2600 or ColecoVision.

[tisaperfectdayelise]

NES was everybody's everything when I was growing up. We never could afford to buy new carts often, so we never branched beyond Zelda, the Super Mario titles, and Tetris. In fact, we had the pack-in Super Mario Bros. and Tetris for ALL of 1988, and most of 1989. Frankly, I spent most of my elementary school days lusting after the Genesis, so I never fully enjoyed the NES either.

 

That didn't stop me from buying a HUGE lot of boxed games at a neighborhood garage sale in high school, though (for only $25, as NES stuff wasn't quite sough-after yet). It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I really started playing the NES, beyond just the casual round of Mario.

 

The long and short of it is that I find it a VERY enjoyable system, and you can really see the quality standards that were implemented for their early titles. The step up in gameplay complexity and immersive storylines between the second generation of game systems and NES is quite incredible, given the time (please leave the 7800 out of this ).

 

I guess the NES has become an acquired taste...

 

That said, I do think the SMS has a lot more to offer...but I also think it's a matter of apples and oranges....

[Artlover]

I grew up with the 2600. Left thumb = fire, right thumb = direction. Never owned the NES so whenever I was at a friends house I found it hard to switch my thinking, and getting beaten at every game was not fun so I just never learned to like the system.

Oddly, I never had this problem.

 

I too am from the old school where buttons are on the left and the stick is on the right. Most consoles were that way, so were most arcade machines. At first, I thought having joypads with them reversed would be hard to play (just like arcade machines are hard to play when they are reversed (like DK)). But honestly, I found it easy to deal with and quite natural. So when it comes to joypads, I have no problem. But I do have a problem with stick makers now a days that insist on copying the joypad's reversed layout. Sorry, I'm right handed and simply do not have the left armed/handed dexterity needed. I can press buttons/pads with my left hand well enough, but move a stick, no. <sigh> I don't think I've seen a propper normal right handed joystick in over a decade.....

 

 

Anywho....NES. I dunno. I guess I could also say I never really loved the NES. I had a few games, like the Mario's and stuff. They were good and fun. Tho one thing that always got me was because of the tile style graphics, a LOT of the games all had a simmilar look & feel to them. It didn't seem like that many games broke out of that and used tiles in groups rather then individual units.

 

Even in emulation I don't play it much beyond the big games; Mario, Zelda, Dragon's Warrior, etc.. Most of the rest just seemed...mediocre.

 

It's funny, NES had the same problem the 2600 did; a few good games amung an ocean of crap, yet they managed to pull it off.

[The MilkMan]

I wasn't a fan of the NES. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a good video game system, but -- right around when the NES came out, I got a Commodore 64 as an 8th-grade graduation present. The graphics and sound were just as good as on the NES, and I figured hey, it's a computer -- it's a lot easier to make games for a computer than it is to make games for a cartridge-based video game console (then again, I never learned how to program games), so I figured a computer was the way to go. Also, it used my Atari joysticks, so that was a plus. (And sorry, but you can't play Crossroads on a Nintendo. )

I'm into the NES now more than I was back in the day. Mostly just because of the thrift finds today. But I was in the same boat. I moved from my 2600 to a VIC-20 to the C-64. I remember COMPUTE magazine, and typing all those codes (free programs) printed in the back pages.

[SnapCraft]

What's getting me recently (recently, I've been getting into the NES) are the graphic glitches. Why on earth do the games seem to deteriorate? You can tell immediately when you plug a game in and see the title screen. Take Castlevania for instance, right when the bat on the right side starts flapping it's wings on the title screen there is a vertical line that follows him. Others look like puke because nothing is matching up.

 

They are damaged carts. Yeah I cleaned them, no effect. I'd say Colecovision is a close second when it comes to the "percentage of it not working on the first time?" question.

 

What's sad is that the SNES is probably the most reliable cartridge system. It took Nintendo a video game generation to get it right. Plug it in, turn it on. It works. 99.9% of the time.

 

Do the NES top loaders have these graphic problems?

 

I bought an Intellivision cart with the bottom warped from sitting out in the sun for so many hours. Yeah, yeah, 72 pin vs. 22 pin (whatever), odds are in "Classic's" favor, I know. Cleaned it (everyone gets a cleaning), and good 'ole Utopia worked perfectly --first time.

 

Before you say it, these carts were tested on two different original NES's. Tell me the top loader fixes these problems...or that Yobo thing...

[Video]

Those Graphic problems are most probably due to the contacts being dirty (or for a frontloader, simply not touching) if most the pins are working, the game could work with missing sound or graphics. The Poor Nintendo console itself just needs a little TLC and you can take care of it.

 

Of course, occasionally something inside the cart goes wrong (bad cap, resistor, part burned out chip, or cracked trace, don't know) but that will cause problems similar.

 

If all games have problems (or most) it's probably the systems fault, if only a few do, it's probably with the cart.

[AtariLeaf]

What's getting me recently (recently, I've been getting into the NES) are the graphic glitches. Why on earth do the games seem to deteriorate? You can tell immediately when you plug a game in and see the title screen. Take Castlevania for instance, right when the bat on the right side starts flapping it's wings on the title screen there is a vertical line that follows him. Others look like puke because nothing is matching up.

 

They are damaged carts. Yeah I cleaned them, no effect. I'd say Colecovision is a close second when it comes to the "percentage of it not working on the first time?" question.

 

What's sad is that the SNES is probably the most reliable cartridge system. It took Nintendo a video game generation to get it right. Plug it in, turn it on. It works. 99.9% of the time.

 

Do the NES top loaders have these graphic problems?

 

I bought an Intellivision cart with the bottom warped from sitting out in the sun for so many hours. Yeah, yeah, 72 pin vs. 22 pin (whatever), odds are in "Classic's" favor, I know. Cleaned it (everyone gets a cleaning), and good 'ole Utopia worked perfectly --first time.

 

Before you say it, these carts were tested on two different original NES's. Tell me the top loader fixes these problems...or that Yobo thing...

 

Not that I've noticed. I use my toaster mostly though.

[BydoEmpire]

I grew up with the 2600 and Inty, but I still really enjoyed the NES when it came out. That said, I very rarely play it now. I don't have the time or patience for platformers and RPGs, which is what the NES really excelled at imho. Especially considering so many of them are hard as hell. Great when I had tons of free time to play games, but I don't want to spend three hours trying to clear the same level in Mega Man 4 nowadays. Another factor is that the same styles of games the NES had were available on the 16 bit machines, and I'd rather play the 16 bit version in a lot of cases.

 

Not that the NES wasn't a wonderful console, it just hasn't held up well for me personally. I do pop in DK Classics from time to time, but that's about it.

[bretthorror]

A lot of platform games counted points for those who still wanted to chase high score dreams. I figure if you like Pitfall, you can't really fault the NES platformers vs. Atari.

 

I plugged in the old NES today and fired up a round of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Super Mario Bros. and Bad Dudes. Bad Dudes is really bad... eek. I forgot the light gun doesn't work on HDTVs, so I was pissed when I realized I have never played my Gumshoe cart (or the game in general) and now can't.

[AtariLeaf]

I just played a bit of Metroid. Boy that brings back memories. Love that game. I just recently reaquired it too.

[BDW]

I remember I really liked Atari, but when I got my NES, I hardly ever played Atari anymore. Today, however, I would definately choose the Atari 2600. Although 2600 games are difficult to acquire in the wild where I live, they are always cheap and I buy plenty of them.

 

If I had to sell any system w/ games in my collection, the NES would go first.

[BydoEmpire]

I figure if you like Pitfall, you can't really fault the NES platformers vs. Atari.

I'm not faulting them, I'm just saying I don't have time for them (or interest) anymore. NES platformers rely more on memorizing and learning they layout and intricacies of each new level, where in Pitfall screen 2 is basically the same as screen 20. You have everything up front. NES platformers are a much bigger time commitment.

 

I realized I have never played my Gumshoe cart

I really loved Gumshoe back in the day - probably because it was the game I got with my light gun. Don't have it anymore, though... I wonder how well it holds up. Edited July 19, 2009 by BydoEmpire

[bretthorror]

I figure if you like Pitfall, you can't really fault the NES platformers vs. Atari.

I'm not faulting them, I'm just saying I don't have time for them (or interest) anymore. NES platformers rely more on memorizing and learning they layout and intricacies of each new level, where in Pitfall screen 2 is basically the same as screen 20. You have everything up front. NES platformers are a much bigger time commitment.

 

Yeah, I definitely meant in the grand scheme of things. For years, my only goal in Pitfall was to not fuck up and last the whole 20 minutes, but I meant for those that chase high scores in the game. I actually have only managed to go the whole 20 minutes once, haha. I think many NES platformers are easy enough to pick up and run through, though. But, platformers are what I'm best at.

 

I am with you on the time it takes to play games. Hardcore gamers may lose sleep and put everything on hold for their games, but some of us just don't have the time to do these things. That's why I don't think the Wii is a big of a mess as many people say it is - you can turn it on, play it, have fun, and turn it off. I haven't even finished GTA 4 yet for pete's sake - and I got it the day it came out. There's a deserved market for casual games because if you only have 30 mins at a time to give a game hell, who really is going to want to watch 15 minute cutscenes and pay attention to a storyline you'll forget by the time you pick it up to play it again? It's give and take, I guess.

[gdement]

A lot of platform games counted points for those who still wanted to chase high score dreams.

They do, but the scoring is useless on most games. They seem to just throw in a scoring system without giving it any thought. You can usually leech the score easily, and even unintentionally. It's not like most earlier games where the score actually meant you had played well.

 

To get a high score in older games, you take risks. In most NES platform games, you do it by not taking any.

 

===

Personally, I enjoyed the NES era more than any other. Their more complex adventure games blew me away.

Atari was what I played when I was very young, before my gaming prime.

[16-bit]

What's getting me recently (recently, I've been getting into the NES) are the graphic glitches. Why on earth do the games seem to deteriorate? You can tell immediately when you plug a game in and see the title screen. Take Castlevania for instance, right when the bat on the right side starts flapping it's wings on the title screen there is a vertical line that follows him. Others look like puke because nothing is matching up.

 

They are damaged carts. Yeah I cleaned them, no effect. I'd say Colecovision is a close second when it comes to the "percentage of it not working on the first time?" question.

 

What's sad is that the SNES is probably the most reliable cartridge system. It took Nintendo a video game generation to get it right. Plug it in, turn it on. It works. 99.9% of the time.

 

Do the NES top loaders have these graphic problems?

 

...

 

 

This is what gets on my nerves these days with the NES . It takes forever to get a lot of the games you find in working condition (if they end up working at all). It's not like I don't clean the games when I buy them or clean the system on occasion, but it seems like once they sit for a while you have to go through the whole process again to get them working.

 

I grew up mostly with NES as a kid and have a lot of fond memories of playing it. I loved it to death until I got my Genesis. However, these days when I sit down to play some old school games, I want to be able to put the game in and play. I actually tried to play my NES and just gave up after the 3rd or 4th cart with "the blinking light". I ended up playing some Dreamcast.

[MaximRecoil]

Wasn't the NES and the nintendo coin op technology (at the time) one of the same thing

 

the nes had the same hardware as the "Vs." line of nintendo arcade games, but i do not know if the arcade hardware was first, or if it was based off of existing famicom hardware

 

Nintendo's first widely successful arcade hardware was used in Donkey Kong; which was reused Radar Scope hardware from 1980; 3 years before the NES hardware. The same year the NES hardware came out (1983), they developed the Punch-Out hardware which was far more powerful than NES hardware. Compare the graphics, sounds, and animations of the arcade Punch-Out and Super Punch-Out to NES's Mike Tyson's Punch-Out sometime. Judging by the NES Donkey Kong port, the NES hardware wasn't even as powerful as their 1980 Radar Scope/Donkey Kong arcade hardware.

 

And you are correct about the VS. hardware which came out in 1985. It wasn't just based on NES hardware; for all intents and purposes, it was NES hardware. The same goes for PlayChoice-10 hardware.

 

 

Oddly, I never had this problem.

 

I too am from the old school where buttons are on the left and the stick is on the right. Most consoles were that way, so were most arcade machines.

 

I'm not sure where you got the idea that most arcade machines had wrong-handed controls. With the exception of track ball games (e.g., Missile Command, Centipede, etc.), there were pretty much no machines with buttons on the left and the directional control on the right. Track ball machines were set up that way because using an analog track ball requires far more precision and dexterity than using a digital joystick, and most people are right-handed, so it was put on the right.

 

The first really successful arcade game to use a joystick and button control layout was Space Invaders, and they put the joystick on the left and the button on the right. Note that Midway cabinets used two buttons for directional control rather than a joystick like was used on Taito cabinets; but the two buttons that were doing the job of the joystick were still on the left.

 

The next big game to use a joystick and button was Galaxian. It also put the joystick on the left and the button on the right.

 

Then came Defender; one of the top grossing machines of all time, which also had the joystick on the left and the buttons on the right.

 

The list could go on and on. Having the buttons on the left and the joystick on the right was a rare exception (I can't think of any machines that were like that off the top of my head), and controls like that were derisively called "wrong-handed". Arcade operators were notorious for wrong-handing the 2nd player controls when doing bad conversions.

 

Maybe you played a lot of Pac-Man back then, which had a centered joystick and no gameplay buttons; which allowed you to use either hand. If you always used your right hand, that may explain your inaccurate recollection of the situation.

Edited August 17, 2009 by MaximRecoil

[The_Laird]

I've played some C64 and Amiga games through emulation as of the past few years, and I just don't see it. The ones that I've played (and I have played quite a few) were much simpler than games like Ninja Gaiden, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Kirby's Adventure and the Megaman Games. I'd love to see a C64 try to pull of Ninja Gaiden!

 

Ninja Gaiden on the C64? See Shadow Warriors (European title) released by Ocean software. It was better than the NES version and so was the superb Spectrum version for that matter

 

My neighbour was very well off indeed when I was a kid and had lived in Singapore before England and had an NES with tons of games. I think I can count the games I would rate 8/10 or above on one hand. I especially hated the way so many conversions were altered like the pathetic and pointless sub-games in Double Dragon.

 

Virgin did a great job marketing the SMS in the UK because they got alot of producers to support the machine like EA (known for computer games at the time), Domark (who had the Tengen and James Bond licence) and also introduced a £9.99 budget range (mostly the card games IIRC) straight from the off.

[MaximRecoil]

I remember NES and SMS commercials appearing on TV at around the same time back in '85 or early '86 (I was 10 or 11 at the time). I was amazed by the graphics of the games they were showing in the commercials, especially the graphics of the SMS. They made the previous pre-crash consoles look instantly obsolete. Between the two, and only judging by the commercials, I was more impressed with the SMS. Not only did the graphics look better, but the console and peripherals looked better too; way better in fact. On the one hand you had something that looked like a real game console; sleek and black; which accepted cartridges that looked like real cartridges. On the other hand you had something that looked like a humidifier:

 

 

And accepted weird giant flat cartridges. I thought for sure that between the two systems, the SMS would be more successful (apparently I was right with regard to Europe).

 

A few weeks after seeing those first commercials for the NES and SMS, I went to visit my cousin who lived a few towns over. He has upstairs in his room playing his brand new NES (I was expecting him to be playing his formerly beloved ColecoVision). He had one of the early sets, which included Gyromite and Duck Hunt as pack-in games, along with two gamepads, a light gun, and the robot (which never actually worked, rendering Gyromite essentially useless). He'd also bought Super Mario Bros., Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda (he may have gotten that one a little later), and Excitebike cartridges. He was playing SMB when I walked in.

 

After my initial surprise of seeing my first NES in real life, I asked him why he got one. "You should have gotten a Sega Master System," I said. Then I started making fun of its appearance and that silly looking SMB game he was playing; and what the hell was up with those controllers anyway? Those weren't joysticks.

 

Well, since I was there for the weekend, and Mike didn't want to hook up his ColecoVision, I figured I'd give this weird "Nintendo" of his a chance. I tried my hand at SMB and it seemed like a foolish, childish, pointless game to me. Plus the controller was really, really weird. I asked him what other games he had.

 

Excitebike. Excitebike?! Damn! Unbeknownst to Mike, but knownst to me, Excitebike was one of my then-current arcade addictions. I'd been playing the arcade version down at the local laundromat most every day for a few months at the time. I was skeptical though. I'd played home console ports of arcade games before, and while some of them were decent, they all paled in terms of graphics, audio, and gameplay; in comparison to their arcade counterparts.

 

So when he put the game in and fired it up, I was stunned. It was the same game! The graphics and sounds were identical. And as soon as I started playing it, I discovered that the gameplay was identical as well. I couldn't believe it. Playing an actual arcade game on a home console (rather than a downgraded port) had always seemed too good to be true. All I wanted to do for the rest of the day was play Excitebike. Sure, I was still skeptical about those weird little gamepads, and commented more than once about how this would be absolutely perfect if I just had a real joystick; but all of the sudden that seemed like a minor quibble. This ugly duckling of a game console had suddenly transformed into a swan in my opinion.

 

Even when Mike finally pulled me away from Excitebike to go outside and do something, all I did I was talk about how amazing it was.

 

With my newfound respect for the NES, I decided to give that silly SMB game another chance. I wasn't very good at it (it was a totally different style of game than I'd ever played before; and I was still fumbling with those weird controllers); but Mike was doing pretty well, so I watched him play it. When we started discovering secret things like vines to climb and warp zones; I started getting really interested in the game. It seemed like some expansive, immersive world, the likes of which I'd never seen in a video game before. Some of my favorite memories from my childhood was when I'd spend the weekend at Mike's and we'd try to beat a new NES game. SMB and SMB 2 particularly stand out in my mind.

 

Now, getting back to Excitebike; what I didn't realize at the time was that the Excitebike I'd been playing in the arcade before I'd even heard of the NES was not a true arcade game at all. It was a NES game all along; and the Nintendo VS. hardware inside that machine was simply NES hardware with RGB output. Since I didn't know that at the time, I greatly overestimated the NES's capabilities. I figured that if one arcade game could be brought to the NES fully intact, than any arcade game could be brought to the NES in all of its arcade glory. I started dreaming about my all time favorite arcade game; a game that was manufactured by Nintendo no less; Punch-Out!!; coming to the NES.

 

I got my wish a year or two later with the arrival of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!; and what a reality-check that was. As it turned out, NES hardware was a joke compared to arcade Punch-Out!! hardware; and I was forever disillusioned of the notion that the NES was some boundless powerhouse capable of replicating any arcade game out there. The NES Double Dragon port further confirmed this for me.

 

In time I came to like Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! on its own merits; though not as much as the arcade Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!! (which I now own); and the little NES pads grew on me as well. I can use them just as well as any joystick.

Edited August 17, 2009 by MaximRecoil

[nebrazca78]

When I was growing up I had Commodre 64, Atari 7800, Sega Master System and NES. Here's my opinion on the systems in the order I got them:

 

Commdore 64

 

+ cheap games

+ keyboard

+ games almost always worked

 

- entire setup was more expensive (mostly due to buying the monitor I suppose)

- fewer memorable games

- no good controllers

- floppy discs instead of carts

- games came in cardboard boxes

 

 

Atari 7800

 

+ the few games it did have were good

+ inexpensive hardware

+ games always worked

+ system looks cool

 

- hardly any games

- terrible controller

- games came in cardboard boxes

- RF output only

 

 

Sega Master System

 

+ easily the best graphics of the four

+ highest number of good games (by percentage and total)

+ games came in plastic cases

+ composite output

+ games always worked

+ system looks cool

+ more mature games

+ excellent later box art

 

- mediocre controller (weak d-pad, no start button)

- mediocre early box art

- two-color manuals

- ugly cart labels

- SMS II has no composite output or card slot plus was highly irrelevant when released

 

 

Nintendo NES

 

+ best controllers by far

+ high number of good games (not by percentage)

+ composite output

+ excellent box and cartridge art

+ excellent manuals

 

- game library is overloaded with cutesy, soul-less and boring games

- mediocre graphics on most games

- system looks boring

- screwing with the system to get games to work

- reliable and better looking toaster NES has no composite output plus was highly irrelevant when released

- games came in cardboard boxes

 

 

Then when Genesis came out none of this mattered to me and my brother anyway...

[GameGirl420]

I remember NES and SMS commercials appearing on TV at around the same time back in '85 or early '86 (I was 10 or 11 at the time). I was amazed by the graphics of the games they were showing in the commercials, especially the graphics of the SMS. They made the previous pre-crash consoles look instantly obsolete. Between the two, and only judging by the commercials, I was more impressed with the SMS. Not only did the graphics look better, but the console and peripherals looked better too; way better in fact. On the one hand you had something that looked like a real game console; sleek and black; which accepted cartridges that looked like real cartridges. On the other hand you had something that looked like a humidifier:

 

 

And accepted weird giant flat cartridges. I thought for sure that between the two systems, the SMS would be more successful (apparently I was right with regard to Europe).

 

A few weeks after seeing those first commercials for the NES and SMS, I went to visit my cousin who lived a few towns over. He has upstairs in his room playing his brand new NES (I was expecting him to be playing his formerly beloved ColecoVision). He had one of the early sets, which included Gyromite and Duck Hunt as pack-in games, along with two gamepads, a light gun, and the robot (which never actually worked, rendering Gyromite essentially useless). He'd also bought Super Mario Bros., Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda (he may have gotten that one a little later), and Excitebike cartridges. He was playing SMB when I walked in.

 

After my initial surprise of seeing my first NES in real life, I asked him why he got one. "You should have gotten a Sega Master System," I said. Then I started making fun of its appearance and that silly looking SMB game he was playing; and what the hell was up with those controllers anyway? Those weren't joysticks.

 

Well, since I was there for the weekend, and Mike didn't want to hook up his ColecoVision, I figured I'd give this weird "Nintendo" of his a chance. I tried my hand at SMB and it seemed like a foolish, childish, pointless game to me. Plus the controller was really, really weird. I asked him what other games he had.

 

Excitebike. Excitebike?! Damn! Unbeknownst to Mike, but knownst to me, Excitebike was one of my then-current arcade addictions. I'd been playing the arcade version down at the local laundromat most every day for a few months at the time. I was skeptical though. I'd played home console ports of arcade games before, and while some of them were decent, they all paled in terms of graphics, audio, and gameplay; in comparison to their arcade counterparts.

 

So when he put the game in and fired it up, I was stunned. It was the same game! The graphics and sounds were identical. And as soon as I started playing it, I discovered that the gameplay was identical as well. I couldn't believe it. Playing an actual arcade game on a home console (rather than a downgraded port) had always seemed too good to be true. All I wanted to do for the rest of the day was play Excitebike. Sure, I was still skeptical about those weird little gamepads, and commented more than once about how this would be absolutely perfect if I just had a real joystick; but all of the sudden that seemed like a minor quibble. This ugly duckling of a game console had suddenly transformed into a swan in my opinion.

 

Even when Mike finally pulled me away from Excitebike to go outside and do something, all I did I was talk about how amazing it was.

 

With my newfound respect for the NES, I decided to give that silly SMB game another chance. I wasn't very good at it (it was a totally different style of game than I'd ever played before; and I was still fumbling with those weird controllers); but Mike was doing pretty well, so I watched him play it. When we started discovering secret things like vines to climb and warp zones; I started getting really interested in the game. It seemed like some expansive, immersive world, the likes of which I'd never seen in a video game before. Some of my favorite memories from my childhood was when I'd spend the weekend at Mike's and we'd try to beat a new NES game. SMB and SMB 2 particularly stand out in my mind.

 

Now, getting back to Excitebike; what I didn't realize at the time was that the Excitebike I'd been playing in the arcade before I'd even heard of the NES was not a true arcade game at all. It was a NES game all along; and the Nintendo VS. hardware inside that machine was simply NES hardware with RGB output. Since I didn't know that at the time, I greatly overestimated the NES's capabilities. I figured that if one arcade game could be brought to the NES fully intact, than any arcade game could be brought to the NES in all of its arcade glory. I started dreaming about my all time favorite arcade game; a game that was manufactured by Nintendo no less; Punch-Out!!; coming to the NES.

 

I got my wish a year or two later with the arrival of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!; and what a reality-check that was. As it turned out, NES hardware was a joke compared to arcade Punch-Out!! hardware; and I was forever disillusioned of the notion that the NES was some boundless powerhouse capable of replicating any arcade game out there. The NES Double Dragon port further confirmed this for me.

 

In time I came to like Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! on its own merits; though not as much as the arcade Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!! (which I now own); and the little NES pads grew on me as well. I can use them just as well as any joystick.

 

 

Haha that's a funny story. Really reminds me of the first time I ever played Super Mario Bros.I had absolutely no clue what to do lol. I let Mario just stand there until he got killed by the Goomba.That's when I noticed I had the controller plugged into the 2nd player instead the whole time. I remember being totally impressed by the catchy background music,it sounded more complex than Atari games. My older sister was the one who found the Warp Zones one day. It was really trippy first time finding that.

 

I loved Excitebike too but the one game that really raised the bar was Zelda. Came in a gold cartridge that even had a battery in it,the instruction booklet is just beautiful....the game successfully combined action with RPG and looked very anime influenced. I remember looking at the instructions and thinking wow they actually made an anime of it too.The NES boxes looked really neat if they were taken care of well.They were cardboard but if they were taken care of and left in mint condition in the shrink wrap it's just so cool.I loved the smell of a new NES game,love the posters too.