It's no secret around here that I loves me my Nintendo games. I consider myself a born-again Nintendo fanboy. I was a dedicated Nintendo kid back in ye olde pub days. I still remember that Christmas when my brothers and I unwrapped the very first Famicon Nintendo system (which included Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt with Zapper, and Track and Field with Power Pads). We were off-the-wall overjoyed.
The next few years, we got the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and we were just as bowled over.
But then something happened. There was this perceived notion that we were growing up. We were never treated to a Nintendo 64 system and then opted to buy a Playstation. I can't remember why exactly we turned our backs on Nintendo at the time. I think it was the perception that Nintendo was for kids. Since we were getting older, we were supposed to graduate to the Playstation. (Plus, games were *cheap* with easily modded systems [if you catch my drift]).
So we missed out on most of the more famous Nintendo games like Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Starfox 64. I remember my first impressions with the N64 were bad because the new Mario game was completely in 3-D and I found extremely boring to navigate (but apparently it's incredibly beloved).
We eventually graduated to the Playstation 2, basking in the graphics upgrades and real life simulations. And while PS2 was our primary system, I still bought a Gamecube when an opportunity dropped it on my door for a bargain price. But even after buying it, I found myself only playing a few games like Smash Bros.
It wasn't until the Nintendo DS that I fell back in love with Nintendo's classic and superbly designed games and even trying many series that I bypassed/missed/overlooked.
I've never beat a Zelda game because I was very uninterested in long RPGs. Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation, along with the handheld Mario & Luigi games, helped break those barriers. I had never cared for the Starfox series because I thought free-roaming in space was dull. And I never tried Metroid because it seemed too difficult and on the Gamecube, I wasn't into first person shooters. But the DS showed me such inventive ways of playing that I wanted to try everything. I gave everything a shot and with the backwards compatibility of Gameboy Advance games, I was able to catch up with classics like Metroid: Fusion.
Which brings us to today. A bunch of us went to the Nintendo Fusion Concert stop in Orange County where bands like Relient K and Hawthorne Heights were playing. But the real reason I wanted to go was to preview the new Nintendo Wii console. With motion sensing technology, Nintendo plans to change the way we play video games. And after playing some of their games, I think they're going to do it. The new ways of playing are so much fun. I've already committed to spending the night in front of Target to get one on November 19.
Wii-living past gaming memories,
Ricky
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