Tuesday, June 24, 2014

My Nintendo Scrapbook From My 10 Year Old Self Is A Blast From The Past

      So I was going through my comic books and realized that under them I had a few things I had forgotten existed until I actually saw them. Aside from boring Mutual Fund magazines that I thought were investments of the future, and the very first Digimon Magazine ever [hell yes], I found my Nintendo Scrapbook I did when I was 9 and 10 years old.

      I would frequently cut up my Nintendo and Game Boy boxes [gasp!] and put them in my 3 ring binder scrapbook along with other miscellaneous advertisements inside the games. I even remember cutting apart the Dr. Mario instructional manual to make a birthday card for my dad [you know, BECAUSE HE'S A DOCTOR; 10 year old me was a genius].

      So let's take one last look at this scrapbook before I toss it into the trash with PopBot and some random 2000 AD magazine.

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      Attack of the random assortment of games. Look at this masterful arrangement! Battle Tank brings back memories; I always enjoyed it in small doses, but it's the only game along with Battletoads that I could never beat.

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      I remember every game came with a minimum of 3 advertisements (with the 3rd always being a subscription to Nintendo Power telling you how awesome you'll be if you get their magazine). These large fold-out ads were how I first discovered all the games out there that weren't Super Mario, Duck Hunt, World Classic Track Meet, & Tetris.

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      One of these is not like the others. Metal Gear Solid 2 always looked cool, but I never got to play it. I do remember Little Mermaid being the easiest Nintendo Game we owned (yes, even Kirby's Adventure was more challenging), so I guess it's only natural it go right next to the hardest game we ever owned: Battletoads (yet somehow was also one of my favorite Nintendo games).

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      Everyone I know had both of these games, but Luigi was always the superior choice to me in Super Mario Brothers 2. Controlling his slowly descending (and frantically wiggling feet) from the sky was fun, and I remember liking the bosses since there were so many of them to fight instead of the same guy 9 different times.

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      This is clearly from a Nintendo Power ad. I remember really enjoying the comic books in Nintendo Power, because they had really good Legend Of Zelda & Super Mario World comics, and the next 2 years after that brought Star Fox and Super Metroid. I only wish they released that last two in a graphic novel. I bought the Super Mario World one long ago with stamps they gave you every issue to use in their store, and am kicking myself for never having gotten the Legend Of Zelda one, because it costs over $300.00 if I ever want to own it now.

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      Even more Battletoads. And if you look closely, you can see 2 of their games on the right.

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      Bart Vs The World. Because nothing says good controls like making A both the 'Jump' and the 'Run' button. However, lots of the mini-games in if were pretty cool. The Punisher picture on the right reminds me I rented the Punisher Nintendo game once at a video rental store (Before Blockbuster) and it's one of those rentals that, even though I only played one weekend, I still remember it because it left that much of an impression on me (i.e., it was fun).

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      Dear Santa. I know I can only get one game for Christmas, so I am going to ask for ... You know, I don't remember what games I ever wanted at that young of an age. I remember getting games, but most of the Nintendo & Game Boy games I got were all random presents from my parents. I was pretty much happy with just about every game we got, so I guess that means I only ever played good games? Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening was the first game I remember actively asking my parents to buy, and that was because of the commercial. It wasn't until I was older (and in the Super Nintendo Age) that I actively told them games I wanted for Christmas and Birthdays.

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      I played every TMNT game, because not only did I have some of them, but my neighbors had the rest, and the TMNT Arcade (both The Arcade Game & Turtles In Time) were on the ship that took us to Canada.

      Seeing these Game Boy cut-ups makes me realize that Link's Awakening and Battle Arena Toshinden are the only Game Boy games I DIDN'T destroy. The same can't be said of the Nintendo games, BECAUSE I DESTROYED THEM ALL. Though when cleaning out my parent's house this past holiday, I found every single Instructional Manual for every single one of our Nintendo Games. So, I guess I can consider them half-destroyed?

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      Oh god, now I've seen Paperboy, and I CAN'T GET THE TUNE OUT OF MY HEAD. There was a time when my house was under construction and I had to live in the dining room on a cot for 6 months. But hey, the TV, Nintendo, & Super Nintendo were right in front of me, and having just borrowed Paperboy 2 from my friends (for SNES), I remember playing that every Saturday morning while I waited for my room to be built.

      And Bad Dudes? I remember my sister and I making fun of how they said "I'm Bad." All I remember is that when I finally beat it some years later, I never played it ever again. That is, until I played the real arcade game from beginning to end with my girlfriend at MagFest and realized that the Arcade is actually pretty awesome.

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      Gremlins 2 is hands-down in my top 5 Nintendo games ever. In fact, it was the first video game where I loved the music so much that I could hum and sing all the tunes from every single level. Hell, I even remember where I bought it at the video rental store next to the Kings Grocery Store and the soccer field, and across the street was a Husson's Pizza (though the video rental store was later turned into the Teays Valley Christan School right next to a Save A Lot and housing complex, now across the street from the Interstate Ramp and the Sheetz). Though I do wonder why my mom bought it for me with that scary-looking monster on the cover.

      Super Mario Land 2. Definitely the Game Boy game I played the most. I remember playing this on virtually every trip along with Link's Awakening. Looking at this makes me want to play it again, because now I find that I can't remember much of the level layout or even any of the bosses except something about bunny ears and jumping through protoplasm.

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      Well, I hope you've enjoyed my trip down memory lane.

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