30 years of the famicom

[Lee]

The Japanese name for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The machine revolutionised gaming and brought us Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear among many more. It brought gaming out of the arcades and into the home. It saved the industry from the crash of 82.

Share your memories of the NES/Famicom here.

 

[The Butcher]

Memories!? Mine's sitting right over there with Bases Loaded II loaded up and ready to play.

My main childhood memories of it are just long hours spent with my brother mastering games like the first 3 Super Mario Bros. games, Contra, Tecmo Super Bowl, DuckTales, WWF WrestleMania, Mega Man 2, River City Ransom, and a whole long list of others. I still play it from time-to-time, and a most of the games hold up just fine- a testament to the hardware and the software.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

I just saw this thread and I was playing Double Dragon II on the NES last night.

I haven't had too many bad memories playing NES and all bad memories have the brand LJN attached to them (so many franchises butchered).

My favorite games were Mike Tyson's Punch out and Mario 3, those are the 2 games that I definitely played the most and it was a mission for a LONG time to finally take down Iron Mike. Another one of my favorites was Zelda 2. Although the 1st one was better I really loved the gameplay of Zelda 2. It was such a difficult game to finish but I had nothing but good times playing that game. It also gave us this unforgettable image:

I've been able to gather up a decent NES collection over the last few years with all my favorites (except I need a Legend of Zelda with a working battery). After all these years NES is still the system I have the most fun playing. Maybe I will go back to playing PS3 when DuckTales: Remastered comes out but in my mind NES is hands down the best system ever, so many classic games that after all these years are a joy to play.

All you kids out there can have your fancy gaming computers playing your MMO's but give me a NES with a few good games and I'm as happy as a pig in shit.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

By far my favourite game for the system is Contra. I've played it for years, and I still can't beat the game without the Konami code (I've come close though). It just defines a platform shooter, basic powerups, infinite ammo, and absolute carnage. I also love the third person view, that was extremely ambitious at the time and it really paid off.

Other games I like are Double Dragon for its beat-em-up style, Metroid for its expansive gameplay and great music, Megaman also for the effective, yet simple gameplay, Mike Tyson's Punchout for its difficulty and novelty and the first 2 Zelda games for just being Zelda. I even liked Silver Surfer for its good gameplay and great soundtrack, even if everyone else hates it for its unfair difficulty.

While the system had many horrific failures (LJN games in particular), it was revolutionary across the world and it had a huge effect on gaming.

While I personally think that the SNES and Wii had even more of an impact due to its library of games and innovation respectively, you still cannot deny that the NES is truly one of the greatest video game consoles of all time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

"Here, I'll be Mario. YOU be Luigi!"

The words spoken to me as I was handed an NES controller in 1987 to play as Luigi in Super Mario Bros 1, before I could even talk yet. This was my first ever video game experience and I have never looked back.

Super Mario Bros 1 through 3
Final Fantasy 1
The Legend of Zelda
Dragon Warrior/Quest 1 through 4
Metroid
DuckTales

I could go on forever about any of these games. The NES deserves every last ounce of positive feedback that it still receives to this day. They do not make games like those anymore these days. The graphics and music may be severely outdated, but it's about fun addicting gameplay to me. If I had the choice between "Bob goes to Walmart" (or something along those lines, I know that's not an actual game) on the new Xbox One with 100% "real" graphics but no actual storyline or the original Final Fantasy, then give me the epic masterpiece FF1 any day of the week. The same goes for any of the games I listed.

I played these games as a young child and still play them now despite being almost 30 years old. Today's games just cannot compare in quality to NES legends.

 

[M]

I need to find a good hobby shop or somebody good with old connectors because the ends of them in a lot of my games and the console itself are unfortunately really worn out :'(

I have so many memories growing up with the wonderful grey brick we had in the play-room, I still remember all the first times I managed to complete those damn hard games. Being born in 1994 I didn't really have anyone else I knew of who had an NES, so it was a bit of a disconnect between my friends bragging about finally beating crash bandicoot while all I had to say was that I'd beaten the double dragon trilogy when I was 4.. Although the satisfaction of watching them get creamed in level 1 of DD3 (apparently one of the harder games on the system) was unmatchable

It was the system that gave me the reputation among my friends of being the guy who was damn good at games (until this console gen's shooters destroyed that rep). It was pretty awesome to be the only person in the world I knew who'd beaten super mario brothers 1, double dragon 1,2,3, battletoads... Ahh memories

Note: I managed to get double dragon 3 to work the other day, couldn't beat the first level. Jesus Christ that game is unforgiving. It was my favourite game as a kid and I'd managed to beat the single player... HOW??
(Can still go through super mario without losing a life though )