Growing up I was always a self-proclaimed Nintendo fanboy. My first console was the NES, with the SNES afterwards, obtaining a Genesis only as a passing interest. Like many of us, I subscribed to Nintendo Power for years, since I knew they would show me what the big N had in store long before anyone else. As the 16-bit era came to a close, I had a decision to make. Get the system that came out first, the Playstation, with its strange cd-based games and memory cards. Or, wait a year and get a Nintendo 64. The choice was not an easy one. The Playstation had nagged Final Fantasy from my beloved Nintendo on one hand. On the other hand, the 64 had twice the power, and would deliver the first-party titles that I was so in love with.



One day, a package showed up at my house that would cement my decision. The package was a promotional tape for the N64, from Nintendo Power. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, you too can view this video here. Watching this video now, I am aware that it is pretty crappy, and Ken Lobb is a creepy old man. But when my 8-year old self watched that, I was sold. Seeing Mario run in a perfect circle, and the colorful, vast worlds, I knew I had to own the game, and consequently, the system. The other games featured looked great too, but Mario 64 was what sealed the deal.



Unfortunately, the 64 came out in September, and the only time I could talk my parents into getting me a new console was Christmas time. So for 3 agonizing months I waited, playing my SNES constantly in anticipation, and watching that promotional video about once a week to remind myself how awesome it was going to be. Finally, Christmas came, and there it was, my Nintendo 64, with Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. While Pilotwings is a fun game in its own right, I wanted nothing to do with anything but Mario. I got to hook up the system to the main TV, which was an infrequent treat.



Super Mario 64 opened up two worlds of gaming for me. The first and more obvious was 3D gaming. As I said earlier, I did not have a Playstation at this point, so this was my first experience with the ability to move my character about in a true 3D environment. Sure, today we would laugh at how clunky the graphics are, but I was mesmerized. Mario 64 also served as my first foray into the "collectathon" genre. As you might have infered by my other posts, I am a bit of a collecting game freak, and this was my gateway drug to games such as the Banjo series. I don't know what about it thrills me so, but the task of collecting all 120 stars enticed me, and I played until no star was unturned.

Fear not community members, I still eventually got a Playstation and all the wonderful games that came with it. But I know in my heart that I made the right decision to purchase the N64 first, as Mario 64 was the perfect game to help me make the jump to the next generation of consoles, and is still one of my favorite games to date.