The Console Slayer for 11/26/13

First Console Memories

   I've been in a nostalgic mood lately when it comes to games so I thought we'd talk about our first console memories.

   Are you old enough to remember your first console memories? I would have been about 4 years old when I got my first console. Like a lot of people, my first home console was a Nintendo Entertainment System. It was the Action Set with the orange/red Zapper. Some of my earliest memories are playing, surprise surprise, Super Mario Bros. I still remember the big screen TV I played it on. I could list the memories with SMB but those are a dime a dozen since practically everyone that's played games has those same memories too. I remember having fun with the Zapper and Duck Hunt too. I always hated that asshole dog. I knew I hit those ducks...

   I also remember getting other games too, unfortunately some of them absolutely terrible. Back to the Future was horrible. I remember never being able to get past the malt shop level. Tapper did it right, not BttF. I also remember having the terrible NES port of the GREAT arcade game Strider. That game was hard and confusing to me as a small kid, although I did make it pretty far. I didn't like it then and I still don't like it. Haha.

   The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. Where do I start with this one? Cool cover art, not so great of a game. It's not a terrible game, but it's not that great either. Pretty damn hard. How about the infamous dam stage? The game is perhaps most well-known for this perceived “atrocity” of a stage. I'll admit it was pretty frustrating at times and made me angry but as time went on, I could speedrun that bitch and take little damage. I never did beat that game as a kid but I could make it close to the last stage. I still haven't beat it as an adult. Then there's the Game Genie. I just recently re-added the Game Genie for the NES to my game collection. I remember trading codes with friends before the time of the internet. When games were ass hard, like “NES hard” as the term has come to be, if you weren't cheating, you weren't trying.

   What are some of your first console memories?

   
   For the tune of the day, I share my favorite arrangement of my favorite track from F-Zero, called “Big Blue”. This arrangement is from Super Smash Bros. Melee however: