I am 31. I am an old school gamer. Atari. Intellivision. Nintendo. Sega. Sony. Microsoft. Apple. I’ve been here since Day 1 and I’m still gaming.
It’s pretty amazing and quite fortunate if you think about it. I got to witness the birth of all that we now love and take for granted. I’m not special in this: anyone my age who was playing games around 1985 or so is in the same boat as myself. But they aren’t writing this, so screw them.
I’m not on the cutting edge anymore. I’m a late adopter. I don’t understand some of the things headed our way. But I had an NES. I had Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda and I played them right when they first came out. Allow me to take you on a trip down memory lane of the some of the console games that I was there to see born.
Think about this for a moment: the astonishment when Mario walked to the left and the screen kept scrolling with him, showing new areas and not just a pasted version of the previous screen with only a few subtle changes. Think about the joy and sense of discovery that came with finding the warp zones and bragging to your friends about it. Or the awe when someone showed you the infinite lives glitch. This was a special time. And I was there for it. Continue reading I Was There (And Still Am)