Sure, the video games of today have "better" graphics and lifelike cinemas, but are overly complex and lack the overall sense of pure fun you get with an NES game. These new controllers have several hundred buttons and are space age and wireless. All I need is a small,square controller and TWO buttons: A and B!
Plus, the concept of cinema sequences between levels was developed during the NES days. One only need look at Ninja Gaiden and its sequels to appreciate this idea in its infancy. That whole idea was cutting edge and there are many games today that are being remade (of course) such as Ninja Gaiden for PS3. I have no interest in this however, and it shows a complete lack of creativity, and even a certain dishonesty. What I mean is, much like the movie industry as it stands today, with its endless barrage of sequels and remakes, is incredibly lazy and takes for granted the ingenuity and brilliance of the past.
For example, what if the filmmakers of the past decided to just thoughtlessly remake what came before, rather that create new ideas? Then what would the lazy filmmakers of today have to remake? They are utterly dependent on the fact that the idea men of the past were original. Similarly, cover bands are dependent on the fact that the bands of the past were original. If THOSE bands of the past chose to be lazy and uncreative, there would be nothing for these modern day bands to cover. See what I mean? It's just irresponsible to take and take from the past - what if the people back then had done that?
OK, enough about that. I think you get my point. Nintendo came in at a low point for video games in the 80's. They marketed it more like a VCR for the whole family (hence the Japanese name, Famicom, or , Family Computer), and, compared to its ancestors, was a quantum leap forward: Bright colors, fun gameplay, 8 bits (all you really need!), and games with plots and recognizable characters. Some, like Mario and Donkey Kong became legends in their own right, whose worldwide popularity still continues to this day. (somehow, lesser characters and knockoffs like Kid Kool languish in obscurity.)
Of course, pure absurdity and even surrealism played a huge part in the appeal of the NES: It must have been a huge gamble for a fledgling (in the U.S.) company to bet the farm on a video game about two Italian plumbers that fight goombas and ride down flagpoles at the end of levels, and games like Stinger (see previous review), Gun Nac, Monster Party, and Little Nemo the Dream Master amply provide evidence for this. Almost every NES game had some kind of absurd element, from the strange enemy here to the endearing "Engrish" mistranslation there (see pretty much any game with text, but the most famous examples are Zelda 2 and Metal Gear).
At its peak, NES was so popular, many things became games that probably shouldn't. What would Robert Lous Stevenson have made of the game "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"? and what about "Yo! Noid", a game featuring that li'l sprite that ruins pizzas? (any game that features the credit "Domino's Pizza Presents" on the title screen should be some cause for concern.) And many movie adaptations have been made as well: everything from Nightmare on Elm Street to Wayne's World to Hudson Hawk have received the 8 bit treatment - all this simply in attempt to ride the coattails of the NES' popularity.
The bottom line is, for kids of my generation, children of the 80's, especially boys, are inextricably linked to this machine. If you could condense my childhood into one single material object, the NES would certainly be it. It truly changed the world - and to be there at the outset of this revolution was quite a thing. Kids in my elementary school constantly talked about it: I remember a kid on my bus had just gotten it and had the poster that came with it advertising all the games with little screenshots, and many other kids crowded around to look at this poster and marvel at all the colorful secrets and potential hours of fun it promised.
One of the fondest moments of my young life, perhaps the most fond, is when my Mom pulled me out of school on a normal day - not a holiday or birthday, nothing - to go buy the NES. I still regard that as a special moment in time. And that's just it: NES simply represents nostalgia as well as fun games. Could there be a better invention?
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