And Here we are, the last entry. I can't really give much of an intro. Most every gamer remembers the first
time they played a game. I'm one of the gamers who's first memory is a video game. It was Super Mario
Brothers 2, and 20 years later at age 23, I'm still playing.

1. The first clear memory I have, playing Super Mario Brothers 2.

I've got to say it, classic gaming can be defined in 3 letters to me, NES. The Nintendo Entertainment System
was what turned home game consoles from toys into something more. It turned games from something
needed to play the system, to must have items. I'm lucky to have been around when all this was happening,
and while I was young, The NES made a big impact on my life. I didn't want to go on winded rant, but I think
we all know the NES's importance. Hell, I think that playing the NES is a gaming right of passage before
advancing on. I know when I have kids, they'll have to learn from the NES before moving to more advanced
consoles. I loath seeing kids 8-12 in the “Know Your Roots” t-shirt with the NES controller.


[b]When I worked at Target, I would see so many people wearing this shirt, who made me want to hurt them
for their ignorance. [/b]

I've always wanted to quiz them on some basic NES knowledge, where's the first warp zone in Super Mario
Brothers, name ten NES games/franchises, simple stuff to see if they are deserving of the shirt. Why does it
hold so much importance to me, well it's the system that turned me and millions of others into gamers, it's the
one console I can always play no matter what mood I'm in, and the NES along with Super Mario Brothers 2
are the first clear memory I have. All my memories prior to this are because of my family telling me them, but
the NES and Mario 2 is the first thing that I can recall nearly everything about. It was January 1989, my
brother's sixth birthday. I was just shy of three years old. He had a party with his friends from school, and I
remember the last few gifts he received. My dad brought out this big giant box along with a few of smaller
ones. He tore the paper off and was the happiest child in the world, it was the NES Powerset. The NES, two
controllers, the Zapper, the Power Pad and the 3 in 1 cart with Super Mario Brothers, World Class Track
Meet, and Duck Hunt. The smaller boxes contained an NES Advantage joystick, Blades of Steel, Mike Tyson's
Punch-Out!!, and Super Mario Brothers 2.


Just like this, but we had the grey zapper.

Back at our house after the party my dad and brother unpacked everything and hooked the system up. I have
to assume my brother had played or even beaten Mario 1 at a friends house because he skipped over it to
pop in Mario 2. He picked a character, and I was taken to a world I couldn't even imagine. I believe my first
thought was, oh its a cartoon that's cool, so my eyes were glued to the screen. I recall dogs in masks (I later
learned they were shy guys), magic potions, vegetables as weapons, and some pink thing shooting eggs out
of it's nose.


Seriously what the hell is Birdo?

My attention drifted from the screen to the system itself, I followed the cord on the front to what I thought
was a remote control in my brother's hands. So I started watching him instead of the TV. I noticed when he
moved his thumb, the character on screen moved too, if he pushed a button, the character jumped or picked
up a vegetable. Now I was really confused, was he controlling this cartoon? I had to ask him, “What was
this grey box?” The reply was simple, “A video game.” Naturally I needed to know more “What's a video
game?” He replied back “A game you play on the TV.” I asked him about a dozen other questions, who's this,
what's that, why is that thing shooting eggs at you? His patience for me was wearing thin. Finally I asked the
big one, “Can I play?” Of course, being children, it turned into a mini argument. He didn't want to let me, after
all it was his new toy. I continued to beg and plead, hoping that he'd let try. Finally, either because our
parents intervened or just to shut me up, he agreed to give me a turn. After he died, he passed the controller
onto me, and the simplest acts astounded me. This was a world I had control over. I jumped for joy within the
game and in our family room. My one turn lasted all of ten seconds, but I was hooked.


Ten seconds with this, changes an entire life, it happened to me.

Until I had to go to bed, I sat just mesmerized in watching him play it. When he played the NES those first
couple of months, I would sit and watch. And every single time I did, he'd give me a life or two in whatever
game he played. It was still his toy, and I knew I didn't have his permission to use it. After a while I wanted to
be able to use it on my own, so I asked my parents, “Can I play with Zach's NES too?” My brother wasn't
happy when they agreed but I think he also knew if I knew how to use it on my own, I'd quit bugging him
when he played. It would also give him a better opponent in World Class Track Meet, Super Mario Brothers,
and Blades of Steel. So he taught me how to work the system, changing the TV to channel 3, putting the
cartridge in, how if it isn't working you have to blow on it, a crash course. I was now officially a gamer, and I
played at every free moment I had. While my dad and brother were watching sports, I was playing video
games. When it was bad weather outside, I didn't fret because I could use the NES. The only time I would
have to give up playing is if my brother wanted to play a single player game. It was his system, so I had no
choice. Later on we would join forces in games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game,
Super Mario Brothers 3, and Battletoads. That helped both of us see each other in a different light (Except
Battletoads, which got us pissed off at each other).


Seriously, Fuck Battletoads, it's amazing, and too fucking hard.

We still would fight and argue like brothers usually do, however when we got in front of the NES together it
would be all about the games, helping each other out. This is my number one pick for two reasons, first it
cemented the relationship of my brother and I. He and I are two completely different people, when we were
young he was into sports, I was into school. He had no trouble gaining friends and becoming popular, it was
never really that easy for me because while I was (and still am) nice and well liked I have trouble expressing
my personality to people I don't know. The NES and enjoyment of Professional Wrestling were our two
common interests as kids, and they helped us mature into friends as adults as they are still common interests.
We will get into arguments about stupid shit, but hell that's just what brothers do. Then naturally the big one, if
this one event wasn't so important why would it be my very first clear memory? Naturally my playing of the
NES made me want to game more and more and drove my passion about Video Games. But I've got to take a
look at what a first memory really means. There's a difference between recalling an event, and actually
having memories of it. I can't consider this recalling because until I talked about this recently with my parents
and my brother, all they could remember was the NES as a gift, and my brother playing with me watching.
That really eliminates any possibility that they told me this story. Yes I admit, I've got some foggy spots, I can't
remember the dialog word for word, I don't know if it was my brother or parents that got me my first turn, but
everything else is all my memories of that day. That's really all I can say, twenty years later I'm still gaming,
and I still remember my first time.


Yeah, My first time was kinda fast, and I don't know how well I did, but I always remember it.




Well that's all of them. Thanks to everybody who read, commented, and enjoyed my posts. Thanks to the men
in charge at D-toid, for putting me in top C-Blogs of the day multiple times. For my next post, I've got two
options. First is a look at Profestional Wrestling Tag Team, The Super Smash Brothers, who are video game
characters trapped in a pro wrestling world. The second would be my first Bipolar review, a look at some
media I enjoy, be it game, movie, tv show, whatever, where I will critically analysize it, and discuss the things
that make me happy, the things that depress me, and the things that just send my mind up and down and
make me say what the fuck. The first topic in that would be The Transformers-The Movie from 1986. And on
a final note, if anyone ever tells you videogames don't make an impact on people's lives. Give them a middle
finger, from me.

Also one final thing, does anybody know how i can rid myself of these annoying line breaks in my paragraphs, I have no clue why they are appearing.