Super Mario Bros.

My first game system was the NES. Of course, I had the Apple II, but with four-color graphics, music that can't be called music, and frequent problems like disk errors, lockups, and spilling 7-Up all over the mainboard (oops), it wasn't exactly something I looked forward to playing. It was more a way to keep myself from biting my head off from boredom. Then I saw the commercials. "Now you're playing with Power." The first 8-bit Nintendo commercials were great! "Hits like Super Mario Brothers...Donkey Kong...Baseball..." It looked so cool. My friend got one, and I begged and pleaded with him for hours to let me play it. Eventually he let me, and I was awful at it. I wasn't used to the gamepad, having used an Apple Joystick all my life. But it was like nothing I had ever played before. Sure I'd seen the Atari and it's brothers and sisters, but the Nintendo was like a new car. I couldn't wait to get in it and try it out.

So, eventually, I got one. I saved, mowing lawns, doing odd jobs, etc. And then one day I went out and got it, just the basic set with the two controllers and Super Mario Bros. I remember playing it for hours the first day. I was so enthralled with it, I left it on Pause rather than turning it off when I had to go to a dinner party. Of course, when I got back it was crashed..:) Then I saw the Zapper Light Gun. And of course I had to run out and get Duck Hunt. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't exactly like the arcade, but it was still as fun as heck. Gumshoe, Hogan's Alley, Wild Gunman, etc.

Then there was the Gyroscope, and ROB, your Robotic Operating Buddy. I didn't get the set with ROB or the Gyroscope, but I played with my friend's. I wonder what Nintendo had in mind when they introduced a robot into the general market. Gyromite (the game that you were supposed to play with ROB, was great. One of my favorites, in fact. I loved the way Nintendo games always had characters with cute mustaches. The professor from Gyromite...Mario, Luigi...various other characters who all had some resemblance to Mario (remember the guy from Golf?).

Then there was Zelda, and Link. And Super Mario II, and III. And then that awfully pathetic movie with Fred Savage, The Wizard. Ugh. And then the Super Nintendo. But that's another story.

Nothing can replicate the nostalgia you feel when you play Super Mario Bros. Still one of my favorite games, it never loses its fun. Sure, there's sequels and clones up the wazoo, but it's still great fun. And the other Mario games still have some sort of attraction, whether it's the always-present turtles, or the Donkey Kong series' barrels and hammers.

Reviews - Here's a page with a couple of reviews on classic Nintendo Entertainment System games, with more to be added soon.