Going 8-Bit 2.22.08: Nintendo's Gaming Legacy Part 1

Posted by Jacob Lopez on 02.22.2008

Remember when a controller had only two buttons? Or when Mario was on your lunch box? How about the rush you got when you first saved the princess? This article is for all of you who have ever been laughed at by that damn Duck Hunt dog or lost to Mike Tyson. This is a trip down memory lane for all you gamers of the 80's and early 90's. Sit back and enjoy the read. We are going 8-bit.



Welcome to the first part of a series of entries that cover a brief history of Nintendo's gaming legacy. This is originally something I had written for my blog, but I felt the need to share it with more readers. This is a brief story of what it was like to grow up in the "Nintendo Generation". I hope that my readers enjoy my columns as much as I have enjoyed writing them.




The Very Beginning

Let's head back to a time just before Nintendo truly ruled the world. Video games were just becoming mainstream, and arcades were still fun. It was the 80's; it was about Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles and Transformers. Back then; it was still cool to listen to Paula Abdul and you could still admit to your friends that you liked Michael Jackson. If you were a chick, you probably loved New Kids On The Block and contributed to the insane amounts of fan mail that I am sure still haunts them to this day. This was the "Nintendo Generation".

We will begin the first part of our journey to those times with a story about the Nintendo Entertainment System's rise to fame. Disclaimer: this is not about the Famicom (Japan); this is about the Nintendo (US), and what it was like to be growing up in those times. This is how my generation remembers it.

The technology was unheard of before the Nintendo. This was partly because the Atari had been pretty much ignored by my generation, not to mention, it almost killed the game industry in the North American Video Game Crash of ‘83. In fact, most thought that the game industry was already dead when the original NES first debuted in October of 1985. Most stores didn't even want to carry another home gaming machine, because they feared a fate similar to the Atari's. They couldn't have been more wrong.

Of course, they had never seen anything like the NES. It blew all previous consoles out of the water in every way imaginable. A small directional pad had replaced the joystick, and four buttons (A, B, Select and Start) where unheard of on a home gaming machine. This new standard allowed for a whole new way to control games. Much more than was possible with the Atari's joystick and one button. The system as a whole was small, sleek and sexy compared to the Atari, which was now showing its age. The graphics were more than just an upgrade; it was a whole new way of seeing games. Detailed sprites had now replaced unidentifiable masses of pixels. I am sorry, but HD graphics don't mean a damn thing when you have seen some of the other leaps and bounds in graphics in gaming history.





The NES turned out to be a huge success; it was the console that single-handedly saved the industry. Platformers now had side scrolling stages that kept the action smooth and faster paced than the older screen-to-screen platformers of the Atari days. Nintendo did what they do best. They started a revolution, and it was just the beginning of what was soon to become one of the most beloved and recognized gaming machines in history, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the system the led the 8-bit console generation.


Living in an 8-Bit World

The 8-bit era was one marked with many timeless classics such as the original Super Mario Brothers, Ninja Gaiden, and The Legend of Zelda, a game that I still consider to be one of the toughest games out there. These games set the standard for gaming as we know it, and they are the main reason we have the games we play today. Most of us have been through these games, and can still hum the level music to every one of these titles. If you were an original Nintendo kid, you probably still know where every 1up and warp zone is to this day. You can probably still tap in the Konami code, and chances are you still remember the "pass key" to fight Mike Tyson in Punch Out…and he still kicks your ass 18 years later.




Some say that games were more memorable back then. Maybe they were, but it was what we grew up with, we have to remember the "good ol' days". If you ask me, it was about quality before quantity. Not only were less games being released, but when you were 6 years old chances are you didn't have a job and pay for your own games. You would get one game for a special occasion, and play it day in and day out for months. You didn't have the option of trading it in or buying a new one with your next paycheck. What did you do? You played the game until you became insanely good at it. Every stage, enemy, and sound was burned into your brain…it still is. Since games were less sophisticated at the time, you had memorized exactly when to jump, duck, and attack, this was because most of the games happened almost the exact same way every time there was no AI that I am aware of.

The only way not to be limited to one or two games was to rent. I think we all rented a game from time to time, some more than others. Almost every weekend my grandfather (one of the most kick ass people in the world) or my uncle would take me to the local video store and rent me a game. My best friend at the time would also rent a game. We would then spend the entire weekend playing the hell out of our rented games, because it was like getting two for the price of one. Even if the game sucked, we would play non-stop until the system was at risk of being a molten pile of plastic on my bedroom floor. We even played Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a game now known for being one of the most horrible works in video game history. Needless to say, we didn't rent that game again. Just playing it for ten minutes was an accomplishment.


Nintendo Fever





Nintendo fever had swept the world. We all had Nintendo bed sheets with matching curtains. Breakfast was about Nintendo cereal and a game of Contra, then stowing your Game Boy in your backpack for your fix at school. You could go to Wal-Mart and buy a Mario pattern or Link costume for Halloween. I actually remember being raccoon Mario one year, and Luigi another. Even McDonald's happy meals had cool little Mario toys that kept you coming back every week for the new one. Nintendo was everywhere you went. It had become more than a household name, it was a way of life. It became such a well-known name that anything that was a gaming device was commonly referred to as a "Nintendo" by those who were out of the loop.

Then there were the cartoons, and who could forget those. We had the Super Mario Bros Super Show with the unforgettable live segments featuring Captain Lou Albano, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3, The Legend of Zelda and Captain N: The Game Master. Every single one of these shows was a must watch for the true Nintendo fan. Today, they are just as memorable as the games they were based on. These cartoons were just so damn bad that they were good.

Along with the cartoons came the movies, and they were horrible. The Wizard is the first that comes to mind. This was even before the ill fated Super Mario Brothers movie. It was a cheesy flick starring Fred Savage, a few other people I have never heard of and the guy from Pump Up the Volume. Most importantly, it was about Nintendo, and it gave us the very first look at Super Mario Bros 3 in action. Movies were now becoming games, and games were becoming movies. A trend that still continues to this day, and very few that make either jump have managed to do very well.

Nintendo Power was the official Nintendo magazine, and it still is today. Back then, Nintendo Power was the magazine. It put you in the know and ahead of the crowd. This was before we had the Internet for game reviews and tips. Magazines were the only way to get this info, and were the most up to date on what was happening in the gaming world. Nintendo Power provided level maps and breaking news that you couldn't get anywhere else. This was also at a time before we really had official release dates, and magazines would post release times by season or by month. Hard to imagine now isn't it? Of course, that has all changed since then, and magazines don't provide the most up to date info, and we now know exactly what day a game will be released.



Nintendo had its share of winners, like the Game Boy. It has had its failures like the Power Glove and the Virtual Boy. But we still had to have these things, because it was Nintendo. Looking back though, even the crap stuff seems great today. It's not because stuff being released now is any worse or better, it's really just because we miss that cool little part of our childhood. It was a kick-ass time to be alive.


And yes, arcades were still cool.