Honorable Mentions [Most Memorable NES Games]

These are five games that I remember fondly, but just didn't make the cut for my Most Memorable NES Games list.  They are not in any particular order.  Be sure to check back tomorrow for the beginning of the my Most Memorable NES Games list!

Maniac Mansion

I close my eyes and think back to this game, and just feel joy.  I remember laughing so hard at parts.  This game captured my imagination through its amazing narrative like few games had.  Any game that lets you microwave a hamster is going to sit pretty well with me.

I played this when I was younger with my friend Adam.  We got pretty far, but I don't remember getting the best ending.  When I was in middle school, my brother, Joby, and I took a two mile trek down to J & J Pawn one afternoon.  We found this gem for $4 or something.  I played it a bunch again and finally got the best ending.

Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers

This was a 2 player co-op dream.  Disney and Capcom in the early '90s were gold.  Solid gold.  It was easy, but so fun.  My brother and I played this one to death.  I think my sister may have even gotten in on this action.

We played this one a bunch out on my dad's farm.  On another one of those gargantuan console televisions with the round clicky dials.  We'd make cheese sandwiches and totally put up with our dad yelling at us to go outside.  So worth it.

Metroid

I never appreciated this game until I got a little older.  The atmosphere and ambiance is crazy good considering it's an 8-bit title from 1986.  This was a very early rental for me.  I remember playing this on our old 9 in. black-and-white TV that my mom let my brother and me have in our room.  I was totally lost.  I had no idea what to do or where to go.  Al Gore hadn't invented the internet yet, so I was stuck.

I came back to it a few years later with some help from my friend, Laramie.  We got through maybe half of it.  I finally finished this one while in middle school with some help from Nintendo Power and a few very late nights.

Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!

I never owned this one, but it was a frequent rental.  My first memories of this game were on a PlayChoice 10 arcade cabinet at Big Cheese Pizza.  There's just something about greasy pizza and video games.  I'd race through my salad, which consisted mostly of cottage cheese and sunflower seeds, to go play a quick game before our pizza came.

It's a magically addictive game that even holds up today.  I still play it every once and while.  I bought a used copy in my teen years, although it was just called Punch Out!!.  Super Macho Man is as far as I've ever gotten.  But who could forget 007-373-5963 to go straight to Tyson, even if I can only get in one punch?

Back to the Future

This is one of the most reviled of all NES games.  And for good reason.  It is electronic vomit in a cartridge format.  The only reason it gets a nod is because it was the first game my brother and I owned beside Super Mario Bros. /Duck Hunt.

We got this for Christmas the same year we got our NES.  I was so pumped to play this.  The movie was awesome, the game had to be too, right?  Let's play this thing!  Yeah...  After playing for about seven minutes, I'd had enough.  To this day, I still cannot get past the milkshake challenge at the end of level one.  Jeez.

What Video Games Mean to Me

I've been thinking about video games quite a bit lately.  No, not the Modern Warfare 3 that my students won't quit talking about.  I don't even care about most modern stuff.  I'm talking about video games from back in the day.  My day.

I've been interested in video games for almost as long as I can remember.  I have vague memories of playing on an old, wood-paneled pong console at my grandma's house when I was very small.  My cousins had an Atari 2600 that melted my brain at the time.  The first console I remember getting was an Atari 7800.  Pole Position II, anyone?  Good, because that's the only game we had.

Where the Love Began
But the machine that captured my heart was the Nintendo Entertainment System.  It would go on to be affectionately called the "regular Nintendo" by my brother and me.  I can still feel the adrenaline pumping through my eight-year-old body when my mom said we could rent one.  That's right.  Rent one.

It was one of the most exciting moments of my young life when we came home with that bad boy.  We got to rent several games with it too.  I distinctly remember R.C. Pro-Am and Life Force, for sure.  We finally got that baby hooked up to our old wood-grain console TV.  That's right.  A console TV.  I had played Nintendo at friends' houses, but this was different.  I controlled the games and the pace.  And my brother was the only person I had to take turns with.  Sort of.  I was hooked.

My brother and I finally got our own NES a year later as a combined Christmas present.  Ripping through that cheap, festive wrapping paper on that early December morning made me feel like, well, a kid at Christmas time.  Who would have thought a small gray box would have brought me such untold hours of joy, frustration, and imagination.

But Why Video Games?
Why am I still thinking about this more than 20 years later?  I haven't quite put my finger on it.  There was just something comforting about playing a video game when I was kid.  Video games don't judge you.  A game doesn't care if you're on food stamps or have jeans that are too small.  They don't mind your low-rent apartment.  Video games don't make fun of you if you're not good at sports, or have a lazy eye.

So many kids seemed to care about those things.  But I knew my games wouldn't.  My family moved around quite a bit when I was younger.  Changing schools and towns was tough sometimes.  Things could be so uncertain and unpredictable.  But, as cheesy as this sounds, I always knew Mario, Link, and Mega Man would still be there, and still be the same.

My own children haven't gotten into gaming like I did when I was their age.  Maybe that's for the best.  Maybe it will happen when they're older.  Maybe it will never happen.  I'm not sure.

Back to Ten-Year-Old Me
But games are on my mind right now.  So, over the next few days, I'd like to share the most memorable Nintendo games from way back when.  My way back when.  This is not going to be a TOP 10 BEST NINTENDO GAMES EVER! kind of list.  These will be the most personal and memorable games for me when I was growing up.

There will be a few honorable mentions and then I'll post one game a day until I've reached the top.  Thanks for hanging out with me as I take a trip back to visit ten-year-old me.  So go grab a SqueezeIt and turn up the Vanilla Ice.  It'll be fun.

Photo credit: kenfagerdotcom

My Sweet Little Girl

My little girl turns five today.  And that's messing me up a little.  I do not know where the time has gone.  I know every parent says that.  I know every parent means it too.  But, I mean... wow.  I don't just mean it.  I feel it.

I'm pretty good with her up until about three.  Then, somehow, these last two years happened.  They happened with a velocity that will leave blur marks on the timeline of my life.  It makes me uncomfortable when I make myself think about it.

She is the third of my four children.  Even that sounds scary sometimes.  She's my only girl, so there will always be an innate specialness that comes with that.

She (back before I knew she was a she) was the first and only child whose gender I had prayed about.  The day my wife told me she was pregnant again I began praying for a girl.  I'm not entirely sure why.  I knew I had always wanted sons and daughters.  I guess part of me knew that this one was going to be a little girl.

I wrote about it in my journal back when I used to keep one.  It's been one of the few things in life that I just kind of knew.  God answered my prayers one morning as I was writing.  That confirmation was so assuring.  I didn't tell anyone though.  I was too scared to really write it.  It was just between me and God.

When we went for the check-up to find out the gender, I already knew what the report would be.  The thing is, I can't tell you how reassuring it was to hear it out loud from another person.

I remember the tingly feeling in my palms as I watched the ultrasound tech preparing the machine.  My anticipation grew as she put the blue ultrasound gel on Nell's body.  I could hardly stand it, when she finally asked us if we wanted to find out what we were having.  I'm not sure if I was more joyful about "officially" knowing I was having a daughter, or seeing one more example of God's faithfulness in my life.

Happy birthday, Selah!  I waited so patiently and faithfully for you.  I'm thankful you're such a sweet little girl.  My sweet little girl.

A Nice Little Cuff

The crisp bite of Aqua-Velva always smelled good to me when I was a kid. I can remember my dad putting it on after his shower before he would go to work.  Sometimes I would sneak a little bit out of the bottle when I went to the bathroom.  I liked smelling like my dad.  He worked a shipping dock in the evening loading and unloading trucks.  I don't think he liked that job very much.

After he was dressed, he would come and sit on the couch and talk to us while he put on his socks and shoes. They were cheap, white Spalding sneakers from Walmart.  But I didn't care.  I wanted a pair just like them.  I loved those shoes because I loved my dad.  He always wore shorts to work since it got so hot on those loading docks.  I don't think he liked that job very much.  He would turn his tube socks down to make a nice little cuff.  I used to wear my socks the same way.

He would fix some supper for my brother, sister and me before he left.  It was often macaroni & cheese and these little chicken fried steak patties.  My dad used to make the best macaroni and cheese.  It came out of this generic white box whose bold black letters told the world it was simply Macaroni and Cheese.  My dad didn't make a lot money.  I don't think he liked that job very much.  But I sure did like that macaroni and cheese he made for us.  I make it for my own kids now.

*     *     *

I really don't think my dad liked that job very much.  But he did it anyway.  Maybe he disliked having cheap aftershave and sneakers too.  But he had them anyway.  Maybe he couldn't stand that he had to make the generic macaroni and cheese.  Be he made it anyway.  And he did part of it for us. 

So often I get caught up in the things of life.  I worry about the tangibles instead of the intangibles.  I worry too much about the stuff and too little about the people. 

I loved my dad because of who he was, and not because of what he had.  When I was young, I just wanted him.  I need to remember my kids are the same way.  It's easy to give things.  It's a lot harder to give yourself.

Breaking the Fast

Zeke: 2 waffles with butter & syrup- stacked and cut into 8 triangles, 1 cup of water (no ice), 2 pills, 1 purple kid vitamin
Eli: 1 bowl Sugar Frosted Flakes in 2% milk (aka blue milk) and a small spoon, 1 cup of 2% milk, 1 orange kid vitamin
Selah: 2 waffles with syrup (no butter)- stacked and cut into 8 triangles, 1 cup of whole milk (aka red milk) with a pink straw, 1 red kid vitamin
Titus: 1 bowl Tootie Frooties in whole milk and a large spoon served in a yellow plastic bowl on top of a napkin, 1 sippy cup of whole milk, 1/2 kid vitamin
Dad: 2 500mg Tylenol, 1 16oz tumbler of strong coffee


÷ 2-slot toaster + 1 whiney mouth + 6 grabby hands x EVERYDAY = Breakfast  


...Oh, and don't mess up or you might have to start all over.


Enjoy!

Photo by borja iza | argazkiak