It's been a lot of fun following the thread of our site's NES Challenge, as members rediscover old classics or finally dive into games they were always curious about but never got around to playing. I've dipped into a handful of games myself, may of which I haven't played in decades. There's also been a fair amount of discovering how much better I was at games back then, when I had nothing but time on my hands and my reflexes and pattern recognition were better.

It's also given me reason to tell a story that I've been meaning to for some time now; how I got my first NES. I've mentioned bits and pieces of context around the edges here, but figured the story itself was worth a full article. So how did 8-year-old me get a Nintendo?





I'd played games before, in arcades, on our Vectrex, and on an old Radio Shack computer. But most of those games were fairly simple; a lot of fun sure, but not very eye-catching. When my friend Desiree got her Nintendo, that was when I first saw Super Mario Bros, and it was unlike anything I'd played before. The graphics, sound, gameplay, the huge world, it blew everything else away, and I couldn't get enough. Literally every moment I was over at her house I would ask to play it, and would get grumpy when she said no. I wouldn't stop until I defeated Bowser, and using the Zapper to shoot ducks was complete magic to me. I had no idea how it could work, and, like most of us, tried to shoot the dog after he mocked me when I missed all the ducks.

Basically, from that moment on I wouldn't stop bugging my parents for a Nintendo. For a good several months leading up to my birthday, I effectively made it clear that if I didn't get one, my disappointment would know no bounds. My brother and I lived with our mother at the time, and she always went out of her way to make Christmases and birthdays special for us. We got to invite our friends from school and she would plan activities like scavenger hunts, hiding clues in balloons we needed to pop, and all kinds of things.

Regular readers may recall me saying that my mom was always the worst at hiding her intentions about getting me presents I really wanted. I must've described the NES to her so many times that I wouldn't be surprised if she could even now describe the thing in great detail. But she always feigned ignorance. "Ok, now what is it again? What's it called, a Nin-what?" I was always patient with her, playing along because I saw right through her. I was so confident that I was getting one that when I went to school and invited my friends to my party, I flat out told them I was getting a Nintendo.

On the big day, it was especially exhilerating. I was still patient, partly because I had no doubt in my mind how things were going to end up, and partly because with all the games, cake, ice cream, etc, we had plenty to occupy ourselves with until it was time to open up presents. At long last that time came, and like most 8-year-olds, I got a lot of stuff, but there was no NES. I don't remember being disappointed, though. I think it was because I figured my mom had a trick up her sleeve, as with all the pleading I'd been doing I didn't believe my mother had it in her to lead me along (as I felt she had done at the time) and then disappoint me in front of all my friends. Heck, one of them had even brought their copy of Super Mario Bros 2 for everyone to play after I unwrapped my penultimate gift.


My mom tried to hold out, she really did. She had a smile on her face even as she let me linger for a bit, pretending like she didn't know what we were talking about. At some point, someone started chanting "Where's Travis' Nintendo? Where's Travis' Nintendo?", until all of us were chanting along with him. My mother, instead of getting upset or stressed at 10 children chanting at her, continued to smile as she went into her closet and pulled out a wrapped box that was just the right size.

I could hardly contain myself. But even then, my mom had an ace up her sleeve. Tearing into the wrapping paper, I discovered....more wrapping paper! She'd wrapped it in 6 layers of wrapping paper. I can still remember the excitement mounting with each layer I went down, my mom's smile getting bigger and laughing with joy at how I wouldn't let anyone else help me. Eventually, I burrowed through all the paper and found the Action Set, and oh was there cheering. That may have been the biggest hug I'd ever given my mother to that point.

It probably goes without saying that we did nothing else that day except play Super Mario Bros 2. It was the hot new title at the time, and we all took turns with the controller. I don't remember being confused, or even caring, why this game was so vastly different than the first game, it was simply a whole new adventure to explore, with new worlds, new enemies, and 4 different characters to try out. After that party, my life changed. I played every game I could get my hands on; it was all I wanted to do. As they say, the rest is history.

It makes me a little sad that I have no pictures of that day, but I'll never forget the memories. Even after 30+ years, it remains one of the best birthday parties I've ever had, and in talking with my mom about it, I know it still makes her extremely happy to know how special that birthday was for me.


In lieu of pics, I'll just say that the kid in this video was basically me from the ages of 8 til about 13. And the song is pretty incredible as well.

As always, I'd love to hear some stories from the community. If there's a particularly special party that you haven't shared yet, please feel free to do so in the comments below. And as we continue to tackle the massive library of NES games, these stories will be there with us.

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