I’ve had a Wii since January and one feature that I’ve come to really appreciate about it is it’s virtual console library that lets me purchase and play old games from long-ago systems. The two games I seem to be playing the most lately are Super Mario Bros. and Galaga, which is nuts because if you were to take a peek at what I was playing twenty-two years ago, nothing seems to have changed. Sure, I have a couple consoles and a bunch of whiz-bang games, which I certainly do play, but it seems that lately I am regressing to the simpler days of two buttons and a D-pad.

I remember the xmas where I finally got a NES. Every kid had to have a Nintendo, there was no room for compromise. I had made it clear all year long that the console was the only gift that would not result in tantrums, doom and destruction, so when November started rolling around, I started searching the house for presents, hidden until the appropriate day.

I noticed that one particular closet in the house was locked, for the first time I could remember. Fairly certain that I’d located the cache and what I fervently hoped was a Nintendo, I then scoured the house for the key, looking in every drawer, pocket, nook and cranny. I couldn’t find it anywhere.

I was now faced with a dilemma. On the other side of this door was likely my xmas present. I had to know if it was a Nintendo. I was ten year old latch-key kid, blitzed out of his mind on daily doses of sugar, Hulk Hogan and He-Man…there was no denying me.

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