20 Years of NES 333
Twenty years ago, the NES changed the face of U.S. gaming. All this week, 1up.com has a series of features celebrating the anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System. From the site: "When the NES launched, America hated videogames. Well, sort of. The Atari 2600 had upset folks by flooding the market with bad software and, at first, retailers were reluctant to sell another system. But the NES was a hit, controlling a healthy 90 percent of the U.S. home videogame industry at the peak of its popularity."
NES (Score:5, Interesting)
Still Got Mine! (Score:2, Interesting)
It actually gets more play time than my Gamecube, PS2, or PSP...
Boo. (Score:4, Interesting)
All the fanboys seem to ignore that Nintendo broke the law repeatedly. When Microsoft does it, you guys pee your fake-lawyer trousers. When Nintendo does it, you pee your fanboy pants.
Frankly, Nintendo did more to destroy proper homebrew gaming than a thousand Ataris helped to establish it. I look forward to their doom thanks to the GamePark open handheld gaming platform.
NES #1? Ignorance. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm very weary of articles, especially on boingboing.net, that pitch Mario Bros. as the original videogame. You all should be making fan art of Yar's Revenge, Pitfall and River Raid.
Tecmo Super Bowl? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Trip down memory lane (Score:3, Interesting)
Nintendo has always amused me with their business tactics. They are as conniving and controlling as Microsoft or Sony, but since they only seem to want to rule their corner of the video game world with an iron fist (rather than using that control as a lever to get into every aspect of the electronics world, like the other two) it has seemed more amusing than disturbing. Plus they have always been dedicated to making good, fun games.
I still am a proud owner of Gauntlet for the NES that was one of the classic examples of a game made without the Seal of Approval. Ultimately a frustrating and boring game, still better than a lot that did carry the Seal (such as, say, Donkey Kong 3). I got my copy of Gauntlet from Toys 'R' Us, so I doubt it was "pirated".
NES inspired music (Score:3, Interesting)
Minibosses [minibosses.com]
Redefined - Nintendo A Cappella [slashdot.org]
All Your Bass A Cappella [www.iki.fi]
http://www.pressplayontape.com/ [pressplayontape.com]
Re:NES #1? Ignorance. (Score:1, Interesting)
In the book "High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games" [amazon.com], Nolan Bushnell recalls taking the prototype Pong unit to a local bar, the bar called him back the same night and told him it was broken, when the problem was investiaged it turned out that the coinbox was full and was jamming the game.
Pong went on to make millions (1 quarter a pop, in the early 70s yet) way before consoles became successful.
Dang kids n' their Pac-Man revoloution crap!
No Games? (Score:4, Interesting)
Unhappy with Atari? (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't remember anyone being upset by the quality of games on the Atari. Everyone I know, myself included, was amazed they they could have Pong, Pitfall, Frogger, Centipede, and Asteroids right on their own TV. It didn't matter that they sucked, because we had nothing to compare them to! They were new, innovative, and best of all you didn't need a pocket full of quarters and a ride to the mall. Maybe adults were unhappy, but I distinctly remember my friends and I having to wait (im)patiently while their dads would finish that last game of Pong (before the inevitable throwing of the paddle and the obligitory "God damnit, piece of $#@% fsking...!").
My Mother (Score:4, Interesting)
NES was a family tradition with us, after dinner we'd all sit around and play duck hunt or Mario Brothers.
Re:Boo. (Score:3, Interesting)
Sweet Mini-ITX mod (Score:2, Interesting)
BTW, my top 5 games:
Re:THAT'S IT... (Score:3, Interesting)
Tales from the 8-bit era (Score:5, Interesting)
Another funny story from the NES era is the tale of Wisdom Tree Games, the derivative company created by Color Dreams to sell unauthorized NES cartridges out in the open without fear of retribution from Nintendo. How? The company and the games were biblically themed, and the carts were sold in Christian bookstores. Nintendo didn't dare sue a company making bible games, for fear of massive PR backlash. So Wisdom Tree thrived in its technically-illegal niche. In fact, it's still around today [wisdomtreegames.com] and still printing carts for the gameboy color.
The 10NES chip certainly made for some interesting stories.
Why does everyone hate E.T. so MUCH? (Score:1, Interesting)
The ol' switcheroo (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, Microsoft and Sony are trying to push their next game systems as "Entertainment" (Media) systems, and Nintendo has been on the "we are a pure video game company" horse for a while now.
If the Revolution sells, then I think we'll see Microsoft and Sony follow the lead horse again and focus on being "enhanced gaming machines".
Re:Top 15 games as posted by 1up: (Score:2, Interesting)
The legend of Zelda and Metroid worked it on the maze idea. Modern games have wimpy mazes. Metroid required a notebook and mapping skills if you were to have any chance of beating the game before that expose' in Nintendo Power.
Punch-Out required an item that seems to be void in many modern games: timing. You could never master the game without great timing. Modern games follow the more ammo and quicker reflexes ideals instead.
I was trying to figure out why I enjoyed StarTropics so much. I remember it had great artwork and an intersting story. I think I enjoyed it because it was right on the border of frustrating and challenging.