TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24
The Little Fella in your CD-ROM Drive
The Little Fella in your CD-ROM Drive
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Happy Birthday NES!
So, recently, we passed the commonly accepted dates where the NES made its debut in North America! This would be the spark that set off a chain reaction of the famed 8-bit system getting released in a variety of different territories beyond just Japan, which it had been dominating since 83.
A lot has been said about this system over the years. From my point of view, it’s the most discussed game system and library of all time. The talk has died down over the last five or so years, as the generation who grew up with its original retail run have gotten older, but it’s still impressive how it garners so much attention and praise even this far on! NES nostalgia begun in the late 90’s, with emulation taking off among homebrew hobbyists and eventually the general PC population. In the 2000’s, Nintendo was already making their own nostalgia bait systems and ports on the GBA, and eventually the virtual console. Even by 2005, it was common to see “Classically Trained” t-shirts hogging up stores.
Inevitably, with so much buzz made about the system and its games, detractors would form. That, or detractors would already exist for various reasons. It’s been long known that the system itself suffers from… a choice of a redesign. The Famicom was already full of design flaws, but the mechanism for loading cartridges on the NES has garnered a LOT of due hate over the years, as most NES units nowadays have broken down due to wear and tear. Go to any used game store and ask: they’ll tell you how common it is to constantly troubleshoot these darn things, trying to get them to work. And beyond the hardware design, the game library would be exploited by Nintendo often enough for people to get annoyed by certain games. Not to mention, games going through the natural ebbs and flows of reappraisal.
Despite it all, the one thing that has remained strong is the game lineup. The NES has an absolutely incredible line of software, with a particular highlight being its action and platformer games, that has been ported and released and bootlegged who knows how many times. There’s MANY games that have wide appeal and still are gaining new fans after decades have passed. There’s still new people discovering the depths of Brinstar, navigating the traps of Wily’s Castle, fighting those darn Medusa Heads, and fighting for their dear life throughout all of Battletoads. I myself recently did a run of Super Mario Bros. where I deliberately ignored the warp pipes, going against my instincts that I had built for years, and in turn rediscovered why I love the original SMB so much.
With its popularity as one of the most easily accessible game libraries out there, people of all ages continue to explore the NES. And, for those who take the plunge on the original hardware, it’s still as charming as ever, even amongst all the maintenance. These games still matter, this console still matters, and none of us would be posting on RGT if it weren’t for the NES’ worldwide popularity. And that’s not all from Nintendo. Sure, they made many of the games, but WE made the emulators. Bootlegs are still prevalent and finding their way to younger, cash strapped families. The NES has one of the most active groups of homebrew hobbyists around, still building new hardware for it after all this time. It’s OUR game library, and it’s whatever we make of it. So, here’s to another decade of 8-bit decadence, NES!
As my birthday present, I give to the server this amazing video from the fantastically jank: James’ Channel! I’m sure plenty of you are familiar, as I’ve seen a number of fellow enjoyers amongst the people here, but still I would like to share for those who didn’t see it when it first came out.
So, recently, we passed the commonly accepted dates where the NES made its debut in North America! This would be the spark that set off a chain reaction of the famed 8-bit system getting released in a variety of different territories beyond just Japan, which it had been dominating since 83.
A lot has been said about this system over the years. From my point of view, it’s the most discussed game system and library of all time. The talk has died down over the last five or so years, as the generation who grew up with its original retail run have gotten older, but it’s still impressive how it garners so much attention and praise even this far on! NES nostalgia begun in the late 90’s, with emulation taking off among homebrew hobbyists and eventually the general PC population. In the 2000’s, Nintendo was already making their own nostalgia bait systems and ports on the GBA, and eventually the virtual console. Even by 2005, it was common to see “Classically Trained” t-shirts hogging up stores.
Inevitably, with so much buzz made about the system and its games, detractors would form. That, or detractors would already exist for various reasons. It’s been long known that the system itself suffers from… a choice of a redesign. The Famicom was already full of design flaws, but the mechanism for loading cartridges on the NES has garnered a LOT of due hate over the years, as most NES units nowadays have broken down due to wear and tear. Go to any used game store and ask: they’ll tell you how common it is to constantly troubleshoot these darn things, trying to get them to work. And beyond the hardware design, the game library would be exploited by Nintendo often enough for people to get annoyed by certain games. Not to mention, games going through the natural ebbs and flows of reappraisal.
Despite it all, the one thing that has remained strong is the game lineup. The NES has an absolutely incredible line of software, with a particular highlight being its action and platformer games, that has been ported and released and bootlegged who knows how many times. There’s MANY games that have wide appeal and still are gaining new fans after decades have passed. There’s still new people discovering the depths of Brinstar, navigating the traps of Wily’s Castle, fighting those darn Medusa Heads, and fighting for their dear life throughout all of Battletoads. I myself recently did a run of Super Mario Bros. where I deliberately ignored the warp pipes, going against my instincts that I had built for years, and in turn rediscovered why I love the original SMB so much.
With its popularity as one of the most easily accessible game libraries out there, people of all ages continue to explore the NES. And, for those who take the plunge on the original hardware, it’s still as charming as ever, even amongst all the maintenance. These games still matter, this console still matters, and none of us would be posting on RGT if it weren’t for the NES’ worldwide popularity. And that’s not all from Nintendo. Sure, they made many of the games, but WE made the emulators. Bootlegs are still prevalent and finding their way to younger, cash strapped families. The NES has one of the most active groups of homebrew hobbyists around, still building new hardware for it after all this time. It’s OUR game library, and it’s whatever we make of it. So, here’s to another decade of 8-bit decadence, NES!
As my birthday present, I give to the server this amazing video from the fantastically jank: James’ Channel! I’m sure plenty of you are familiar, as I’ve seen a number of fellow enjoyers amongst the people here, but still I would like to share for those who didn’t see it when it first came out.
I LOVE the NES.
