Journal Entry 5

I was brought into this world in 1989, and with all the earliest memories I have, the one that seems to stick out the most in my mind was the Christmas of 1994. This was when I was blessed with my first video game console, the Super Nintendo (SNES).  At that time, the fourth generation council was one year old and was the second home console released from Nintendo (just after the 3^rd generation Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES).  It was equipped with the power of a 16 bit processor that brought colorful graphics and beautiful sound effects to the game environments.  It also had an adapter that made it possible to play Nintendo Game Boy games through the console on home televisions. 

 I just so happened to own a Game Boy at this time.  The Game Boy was created by Gunpei Yokoi, who began his game making career by creating game watches for Nintendo.  Soon after, he created the first Nintendo handheld in 1989 called the Game Boy.  I still have, and play, many original Game Boy games to this day.  The most played being the Pokemon series (which is one of the greatest RPG’s and Nintendo exclusives ever created).  I know what you’re thinking “Pokemon is actually one of your favorite games?  What are you a 5 year old?” Look, if you say that you didn’t like Pokemon I’m calling you out.  It’s awesome, and you know you loved it.

After having a SNES for about eight years, I saved my money up to buy the 5^th generation Nintendo console, the Nintendo 64.  The Nintendo 64 was the first console to have a 64 bit arch and was the first time I personally played in a fully immersed 3D environment.  

To this day the Nintendo 64 is my favorite console of all time.  The games that were made for it were just incredible.   Games like The Legend of Zelda: Orcarina of Tim, Super Smash Brothers, and who doesn’t love Golden Eye 007? 

This is one of my favorite commercials of all time.  So funny. 

That is the main reason why I am a Nintendo fan boy at heart.  The games for these consoles were childhood memories.  The characters that were introduced and playable in these games are still staples in the gaming industry and were created by an absolute genius, Shigeru Miyamoto.  Miyamoto was responsible for the creation of all the Nintendo’s main characters.  These include Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, Kirby, and many more.  He is considered the Walt Disney of video games and is still involved with everything Nintendo today.   I have him to thank for me being a proud gamer today.

On Christmas Eve of 2002, my gaming life was changed forever.  The cartoon mascots and childhood memories were taken over by the pure strength and fun of the Play Station 2.  This 6^th gen console ran on a much higher processing level than the Nintendo 64 and had more adult titles that had deeper stories and more in depth game play than the 64 bit classics.  Once I receive that PS2 I knew that I would probably never buy another Nintendo console again in my life, and I haven’t since.  I am currently gaming on a Play Station 3, which I believe to be the best system on the market today, but I still find time to turn on my two old friends…the SNES and the Nintendo 64 to play a little Super Mario World, or to terrorize my roommates in some Mario Kart 64.