Burfday Leest

Hooray for me! I'm getting old and gray! And to celebrate, my friends are family are going to reward me with all manner of gifts, cakes, and witty jabs and clever put-downs. So, to celebrate my fastly approaching prostate problems, I have compiled a short list of games from way-back yonder, before the dawn of motion controls and touch screens.

Quite obviously, the first game I remember playing is Super Mario Bros. for the good ol' NES. Never since (and likely never again) has a game sold over 40 million copies. Unreal. But there's a reason for its glory. Atari was starting go downhill, and people began to think that video games were just a fad. And they nearly were. Until Nintendo stepped onto the scene. Nintendo's innovative style, mixed with inspired game designers such as Shigeru Miyamoto, took the entire world by storm. And Super Mario Bros. was the flagship that ushered in said storm. I can still remember my older's brother voice screaming "We got Nintendo" on Christmas morning, as my younger brother smiled, but had no idea what was happening. A glorious day indeed.

The next great game I remember was Ducktales for NES. I got it for my birthday one year, and I loved it (and still do). It was a great game based on my favorite TV Show at the time. But Ducktales isn't just cool because it's based on a cartoon. It's cool because it's well made. The level designs are well done, but not hard figure out. The controls and tight and intuitive, and the music and sounds are nicely orchestrated. It's a gem of a game.

Unfortunately for me, things went a little downhill from there. My Mom told me to pick a game from (I think) the Sears catalog. After browsing the titles, I decided that Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde was the one for me. After playing for several minutes, I was a little discouraged. Even today, I can't get much further than a couple of minutes in. I mean, seriously, when the entire world is out to kill you and the only weapon you have is a walking stick that only kills bees. Bees?! Seriously?! Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde was one of the worst-designed games of the NES era. More recently though, bigger travesties such as Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball and Halo 2 have made the game shine ever-so-slightly brighter. Kinda like how chocolate makes a caesar salad taste a little better.

The next game I owned was actually from a trade I made with a friend. He had Tetris, and I had Ducktales. I had played Ducktales hundreds of times (literally) and was ready for some new game fun. So we traded games. Tetris is a lot of fun. It's not Ducktales fun, but it's pretty fun. But after a few years, I felt myself longing for the sweet sound of hitting monkeys with rocks and cane-stomping giant rats. So, we traded the games back. Actually, now that I think about it, I somehow ended up with both games. Weird. Oh well. I'm not complaining.

Anyways, I think that's probably enough rambling and brambling for today. I shall now go and eat the miniature loaf of banana bread that my wife made for me. The secret ingredient is love!

-benjamines

Currently Excited For: PRESENTS!!