Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Nintendo Power

As I'm sure most of you did, I grew up on the Original Nintendo Entertainment System. I had Nintendo pajamas, ate nintendo cereal, and I even watched the short lived Mario Brothers and Zelda cartoon series.

As an attempt to return to my childhood, I now collect these old games. I am the proud owner of over 100 of the best game cartridges.

I wanted to pose the question to all readers, what are your favorite nintendo games from your childhood?

Mine are as follows: (this was a very difficult task mind you)

1) The Legend of Zelda - the most important game in all of role-playing history.

2) Mike Tyson's Punch Out - where you racistly take on notorious opponents like the Japanese slugger "Piston Honda"; the Turkish drunk, "Soda-Pop-inski"; and the pretty-boy, Spanish-born, "Don Flamingo".

3) Contra - or "Contwa" as I first called it.

4) Ninja Gaiden - or "Ninja Dragon" as you Americans would say. Although it is nearly impossible to beat, its sequel "Ninja Gaiden II - the Dark Sword of Chaos" is even more difficult.

5) Tetris II - a lesser known competitive puzzle game whose rules are still a mystery to me.

Some of the runners up were: Dr Mario, Micro Machines, Maniac Mansion, Bubble Bobble, River City Ransom, and Mario 2.

Games not considered: Silent Service, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons "Heroes of the Lance", The Mafat Conspiracy (sequel to Golgo 13), Golgo 13, Iron Sword, and Micky Mousecapades. All of which are terrible games.

9 comments:

dave, catie, and baby b. said...

oh dave, the only reason micro machines didn't make the cut for your list is because you cannot and will never beat me at it.

that having been said...my list:

micro machines
mighty bomb jack
tetris
super mario II
super mario
and even though i both suck and blow at this game...dr. mario (it brings back warm memories of when me, you, and cory would stay up until all hours of the morning playing it and engaging in deep conversations...and conversations about naming a pet dog "nipples".

Anonymous said...

Oh Catie- you are right. Those were the times. "Nipples wins a key to the city!" "Nipples- Man's best friend"

My list of faves are:
Dr. Mario- let the expletives fly.
Mario Bros- I don't think this is the name. It's the one where you hold the princess down and she jumps really high.
Tetris- Tetris is great. I'm intrigued by this tetris 2 you speak of.

Bad Games-
I'm pretty sure that Home Alone should be on the list. Even though you get to ride in elevators and throw pizza, it still doesn't warrant it being classified a winning game. Sorry to the inventor of that one.

Rich said...

If I can drift from Nintendo to Sega (another popular game at the Pilkington household), I would like to vote for Sewer Rat.

Josh Teare said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Josh Teare said...

Pilk! I usually see any new posts of yours on my RSS feed. What the heck? I haven't seen 'em pop up lately. All these exciting things I am missing. Well... lo siento por el Peeping Juan. Que porquería.

As for me and my Nintendo picks... I can only think of a few...

1) Mario
2) Contra
3) Double Dragon
4) Battletoads
5) Power Pad
6) Duck Hunt
7) TMNT

What are we waiting for? Let's hang! Our turn to come up. How about we grub some home cooked food, play some Nintendo, eat postre, play some more games etc etc etc

dave, catie, and baby b. said...

Josh,
you should totally come up. We'll whip out the power pad and race the opponents known as "Bear, Rabbit, and Cheetah".

Anonymous said...

You and Katie are perfect for each other do you know that?
Oh and Katie I quit reading the Uglies. I just couldn't fall in love with the characters. No depth to it. So I am resorting to Anne of Avonlea. I just love Anne's character.

Heather said...

Tetris
Mario bros III
TNMT was also way fun for me.

Bukran said...

My beloved Silent Service just can't cut a break... I guess the nostalgia of childhood blinds me to its inept gameplay.

My top NES picks:

1) Super Mario Bros. I, II, & III. Classics in every sense!
2) Blades of Steel. Best hockey game. Ever.
3) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II. I loved squashing the Foot Soldiers whilst in the Turtle Van.
4) Solomon's Key. You think it's simple...but it's not.
5) Super Adventure Island. Not particularly original, but it provided many solid hours of entertainment for me.
6) Contra! Now this is why the NES had two controllers!!!
7) Duck Hunt. Who can resist aiming the gun 2 inches from the TV?
8) Zelda. Still wondering how they fit so much game onto the memory of an NES cartridge.
9) Paperboy. Simple fun.

The NES Hall of Shame, for me, includes: Metroid, Jaws, Iron Sword, and Double Dragon. Those games were either too hard or too boring.