The NES: Forever My Favorite Gaming System

There have been many great home-console video game systems released over the years, and as a child of the late 70’s/early 80’s, I have had the opportunity to play with almost all of them. Choosing a favorite was not an easy task and actually took me several days to come to my pick for number one. Hands-down it is the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Now if I had to choose a favorite game, this would be an entirely different article, but for a system, definitely the NES!

My NES was given to me as a birthday present in 1986, the year it was released in the United States, and included Super Mario Bros. and one classic controller. Prior to this, I did own an Atari 2600 which had been played viciously since about 1981, and also played on classic systems like the Colleco Vision. The NES was something different than the earlier systems, of course it had much more advanced 8 bit graphics processing, but it had something else which was much better, user friendly play control. The joysticks on earlier systems were awkward and slow to respond to the action on the screen. The NES was very accurate allowing for more precise moves and ultimately more challenging games. They also began releasing accessories like the NES Zapper a light-gun, and customized controllers with features such as “turbo” with products like the NES Max and NES Advantage.

Another reason the NES is my favorite, was the ability to easily enter cheat codes with the play controller. But what pushed things one step further was the introduction of the Game Genie, the first commercially available device made to cheat on video games. This device not only allowed a player to cheat their way through a game, but offered a new way to play your old games with special “powers” and “glitches”. It ultimately revolutionized a new way of game play where the user was more directly in control of the action and outcome. Unlimited continues, lives, ammunition, and just about anything else one could imagine, were now all becoming possible.

The NES is my favorite home gaming system because it bridges the gap from the first primitive systems to what gamers use today. It also pioneered many concepts and accessories which have become standard on modern systems, such as the light-gun and other custom controllers. Finally, in terms of durability, the NES cartridge based system is superior to today’s cheap and easily damageable DVD discs. The NES game cartridges were much more child friendly and could handle the wear and tear. The modern discs in today’s systems can become damaged and unusable with a few scratches or smudges from dirty fingers. The NES was reliable and if something wasn’t working proper, you could simply blow it out and most of the time it would fix the problem. It was built right for fun and built right for children and will always be my favorite system.

Sources used for this article:

Racketboy.com http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19172


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