Features: We Want Your NES Stories!

The very first game I got for my NES was Probotector. It was Christmas Day and I found it under the tree from my parents. I hadn't got a NES though and wasn't expecting one so I protested that they made a mistake. However, my Uncle came down at midday with my NES. And for the rest of that Christmas, all you could hear was the classic Super Mario Bros. music and also the dog laughing in Duck Hunt. I found Probotector hard at first and kept dying a lot but I still loved it too.

All my 8-bit gaming stories involve the Sega Master System. Alex Kidd, Chase HQ and the horribly bad My Hero. Oh, and the Gameboy obviously. I am totally excluded from this particular nostalgia trip.

I wasn't born around the time of NES.
I'm more of a Super NES Guy

I remember first witnessing Super Mario Bros at a friends 6th brithday party. WOW. Bugged my mum constantly until she caved and bought me a nintendo. Notable gaming moments were: Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt out of the box... But the real gems for me were Ninja Gaiden (1 and 2), WIzards and Warriors (1 and 2), Super Mario Bros 3, but my real favourite was Zelda II: Adventures of Link.

There were heaps of good games on the NES, I could list 20 or so, but the GREAT games were all on the SNES.

I never had an nes of my own, but my friend did. he would constantly invite me over to his house so we could play super mario bros 3, and eventually super mario world. we never made it past giant world in mario 3, but we, and by we i mean my friend, beat bowser to the ground in mario world.

I wasn't alive when the NES was at its prime.

Unlike the lucky guys above, I am much, much too old. By the time the NES came out I was a stinking, spotty, petulant teenager into girls and guitars, and videogames were off the radar completely. I remain stinking, spotty and petulant, but I'm glad to say I'm back into games too.

Do superb experiences of NES games on VC count?

I wasn't born until the N64 was out.

Im 15 wat is this

If only I was alive back then.......

Here in Colombia (South America) there was a lot of clon NES consoles, but my parents gave me in a Christmas an original one, and I play from very early in the morning. My games... SMB, SMB 3, Chip n´ Dale, Duck Tales, the Flinstones, Felix The Cat, Robocop, Ballon fight... many many games!

NES gave us SMB, LoZ, Metroid, and Punch out! Tanks NES!!

You young people missed out.

Aah, the NES, so many memories...I mean, other people's memories. I feel so left out.

I remember when I was at school I wanted to get a NES and my friends would say don't get one wait for the snes to come out, it was my birthday coming up so I went to a games shop and asked if I could put a deposit down on a snes but the guy in the shop said he didn't know when it was coming out. So I bought a mega drive and then about 6 months later the snes came out. I had played on a NES at a friends house we had played duck hurt and Mario bros the two use to be on the same cartridge. Then in 1993 I traded my mega drive in for the snes it came with the Super Mario all Stars pack I was hooked from the word go! a while later a SNES magazine released a guide book and even to this day I still have it. Well thanks to e bay I have about 4 copies of it now and I also bought a 'Players guide' from America. Good memories, I remember my local woolworths shop were selling off NES's for £50.00 I still wanted one but I only had enough money to buy another SNES game and that was Mario World. Now the VC for me still has that excitment I had when I was 13, I'm 30 now!!

Remember Paperboy? So epic...

What's this 'NES' you speak of? I think you left off one 'S'.

Well, I never played on an NES until '98 (I was 5, then). My uncle and cousins loved the old console. I already sent in my bit to N-Life.

Don't really have much in the way of good NES stories. I hit my prime kid-age during the 16 bit era, though I was alive for the NES. My friend got one at a yard sale for super cheap around the time I got a Genesis (which was also around the time the PS1 was releasing...yeah parents who make us save our own money for stuff).

Probably the best NES times were actually freshman year in college (2003). One of the guys in our dorm brought an NES, and we would play Duckhunt when we couldn't get our underage mitts on booze, sitting as far away from the screen as possible (not very far and at a weird angle, given the size of our dorm rooms). I won a lot of respect with a perfect on level 14. Good times.

I got my NES back on Christmas of 1989, came with Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt. I remember playing through SMB and had a rough time with Bowser at 1-4, back then I was only 9 years old. Then I plugged in the zapper and tried out Duck Hunt, had a blast with both games, and laughed my butt off every time I ended up missing a duck and seeing the dog pop up and laughing at me. Of course, over time that dog became annoying to me and I tried shooting it, hehe.

I wasn't alive back then, my first console was a nintendo64.

The year was 1988. My sister and I had pooled our allowances so we could spend the 50 or so dollars on the sequel to our favorite game. Yes, it was Super Mario Bros. 2 and words could not express our excitement as we tore off the shrinkwrap and inserted the cartridge. Wow, everything looked so much better than SMB1... even though it was also completely different. We started on some kind of hill and after falling a few screens down we found ourselves at a dead end with a door. "I don't remember doors from SMB1... try hitting A on it". Multiple attempts (and possibly hours?) later, we were in tears. We were convinced that our game was broken. Why couldn't we go in??? That's when my mom picks up the manual and reads that you have to press "Up" on the d-pad to enter doors. It sounds so simple now (and in fact that's now my first reaction when I get to a door in a 2d platformer), but at the time that was revolutionary man! That may have been when my habit of reading manuals before playing the game started... true story.

its cool to see that people who weren't even alive back in the 8bit era have usernames like "mariofanatic" and "nintendogeek." just shows how timeless the franchises Nintendo created 20+ years ago really are.

anywho,
I got my NES at the age of 5. Insanity ensued.

My earliest memory of playing a videogame was in '92 when I was three years old. I walked into the living room at my grandparents and saw on the screen Donkey Kong for the nes. I asked my grandpa what it was and he said he was playing a video game. Ever since then I would always look forward to driving down to my grandparents so we would play the NES nonstop. We played classics like super mario bros and super mario bros 2 (rarely played actually because if felt bland in comparison to 3) and duckhunt was a fun zapper game. Tetris and Dr. Mario were our only but awesome puzzle games that I would make fun of my brother for sucking at. Arcade games like Donkey Kong Classics cartridge and Popeye were fun too. We of course had some stinkers like Home Alone which we could never figure out where to go.

But the penultimate title we had was Super Mario Bros 3. We played that thing nonstop soooo many times, we even had a book with a pink cover that taught you how to be good at mario games. After playing this perfect game a few years after it came out, I can only feel sorrow for the people who had to wait for its release. That game had no save feature, and all the same that's part of what made it perfect. Every time you turned off the game you had to restart and it was a whole new adventure because there were so many different ways to beat the game. "What world should we go to with the flute? Let's try to beat the game without the flutes! Don't forget the secret 1-up in bowsers castle, it's a family tradition to get it! Where are the clouds, whats the anchor do?... " So many hours spent with that game, it was such the right difficulty too that in the ice world and dark world I would always cringe and go into the other room so my grandpa could concentrate on boom boom. It was hard but it felt so rewarding. We'd finally beat the game and then start again with our surprise to see all those p-wings at our disposal!

Anyway he died in 2000 but the memories remain. I have the NES in my basement now but it doesn't work well (have to replace the pin connectors). But I DO have a top loader now with almost 200 nes games and play that thing today even. Now I can go back to games I had no knowledge of like Zelda, Metroid, Punch-Out and others like Little Nemo (another great classic with beautiful music).

My NES stories fail in comparison to the SNES I got for my birthday and gameboy pocket I got for christmas around the same time. Those were the systems that I actually lived through their entire lifespans, unlike the NES which I missed the early years of.

Happy early Birthday NES!!! My brother and I got a load of gifts the christmas we got our NES. Professional Bikes, NES, Scooters, Electronic cars, etc. But it was the NES that stole the show!! What an awesome console. Got us into gaming. Super Mario Bros. to Contra to Super Mario Bros. 3 and sooooooo much in between!!! NES is the blueprint for a classic system.

I wanted a Nintendo but my parents wouldn't buy me one so I had to go down to the local community centre to play. I remember 2 games only Mario Bros which I tried playing and I was absolutely rubbish at it and also Castlevania. For some reason it was a big deal changing the games. I later found out this was because on occasion if you changed the game it could mean that when you try the next game it wouldn't work. Everyone knows what I'm talkin about =P

I was born in '95, but I just bought an NES, and my favorite games are Mega Man 4 and Super Mario Bros. 3.

I'm a little young to have any NES hayday stories (and I feel sorry for all those even younger who feel completely left out here), but we did (and still do) have our NES when I got into gaming. I grew up playing the thing right next to the SNES. Honestly, most of my childhood gaming memories are connected more to SNES and Gameboy, but NES is still a classic in its own right.

An NES? That's one of those awful consoles that existed before 3D gaming, right?

i have 2 little stories:
1.i got my nes when i had like 5-6 years old, so i had to ask for permission to play it from my parents. sometime i knew they wouldnt give the chance for a mischief or because i had played too long, so what i did was to take the control and appear as i was playing infront of the turned off tv. that made my parents go : aww and give permision. that was a hell of a trick... for my age haha
2. there was a tv show in mexico alot of years ago, i dont even remember the name, but t was a contest show about the NES. the boys played duck hunt, olympics game with the mat etc. in the end the winner goes to the final test that was an awesome real size mario underground level, you went throug pipes, and you were attacked by pirahna plants, kopas, goombas etc. the goal was to take coins in certain time. i was so into that show that i turned mi house lots of times in a esque mario level. i turner tables chairs, furniture you name it and i imagine i was in the tv show. hahah the good ol times.

NES why are we honoring it?? Its not like you guys wouldnt be playing games without it. It never save video games, you guys are acting like video games wouldve died without it.

On the contrary Otaku, games would NOT be the same without it. Without Super Mario Bros or Megaman or Metroid or Final Fantasy or many many other games, where would gaming be? Definitely not where it is today.

My first Nintendo console was the gameboy advance. Then I acquired a N64. I wasn't even born when the N64 came out. o_o

@skywake What? No Wonder Boy?!

I once played mario/Duck hunt So Long I had blisters on my thumbs

I learned to play video games before I learned how to use a potty

When I was younger, I was given a boring babysitter that wouldn't do anything with us. With nothing to do, I would have to bring my NES and Super Mario Bros. 3 over to my babysitter's house. I played SMB3 once a day for the entire summer. Since I couldn't pass World 4, I had Worlds 1-3 memorized, and I can still remember them to this day.

All I remember about the NES is having to blow the dust out of the game cartridges over and over before they would play. Good times.

I truly think my earliest memory available is playing Super Mario Bros. and The Legend Of Zelda on the NES when I was about three. I never got very far but it was always just pure fun for me. No matter what people say, I will remember the NES fondly for the rest of my life. By the way, I was three in 1997 but our family is frugal so only had an NES, in the next three years we would get a snes and an n64, and currently we own many NES consoles found at garage sales and thrift stores.

The Nes was my first Console but it could have been so different. I wanted a Mega Drive the adds were on TV it looked incredible. So saved up £150 and headed for my local Quinsworth only to realise for the £150 you only get the console no game! The Shop assistant pointed towards the NES which was £120 and you got 2 games with it, Super Mario Bros ans Duck Hunt. Really glad I got a Nintendo that day. I have had every Nintendo Console since and all because Sega didn't package a Game with the Megadrive. I feel really lucky I got a Nintendo that day because Nintendo are a pretty special Company

Since I was born in 87 fistpump Yeah I have some NES stories. Like when i got my NES when I was 3 or 4 at a yard sale, came with 15-20 games, so exciting. I was so excited to play Batman. Then when I was 4 or 5 I lost my Batman game and I was so sad ;-; Oh the memories, maybe I'll submit something xD

@Gamesake On Dark Void Zero for DSiWare, you start the game by blowing into the mic to blow dust off of an imaginary NES cartridge.
I'm tempted to buy an NES to experience the classics that I so respect. I wasn't even born until 1997, so I missed out on a lot.

I used to go round my friends place to play NES. We played duck hunt a lot. It was a well known fact back then that if you look down the barrel of the gun and pull the trigger it would make you go blind!

I got my NES for my 3rd birthday when the sysem released. I still remember it to this day, even when it was a birthday present for me to but really for my dad who is a big gamer himself. I remember being at my Aunt/Uncles house with my two cousins and everybody was crazy about the Mario Bros game that came with it. I had been playing Kaboom on Atari 2600 up until then and my excitement for NES was not great as I couldnt make it over the open pyramid staircase on World 1-1. I was only 3 so I guess it was great I made it that far, but I was ticked off bad, screaming and crying.

Next thing I remember is cheating the Power Pad. How many things we did to keep the dang thing in place, duct tape, weights, the thing always slid around so we always resorted to our hands and man can you run fast, Cheetah was a slow poke to hand running

...and then there was Duck Hunt and Operation Wolf we our family played constantly and finding out it was really easy if you got really close to the screen when the parents werent looking.

CHEAT CODES.... Konami Code.... Cheat code books.... Nintendo Power Strategy Guides

My uncle gave me Ninja Gaiden when I was 7 and it took me until I was 9 to beat it and its still my favorite game to this day.

Me and a cousin bought Battltoads when we were like 15-16 yrs old and about 2 months of constant playing we finally rolled the end credits not even knowing what a hardcore gamer was.

Contra, Life Force, Zelda, Super C, Skate or Die, 720, Skate or Die 2, American Gladiators, Castlevania, and so many more great games.

In the recent past I found a few NES games Ive missed with VC and some Retro shopping luck being Cobra Triangle, Crystalis, Vice: Project Doom and Metal Storm wich are all still a blast still today.

I got the NES for Christmas during the year of its launch. It came with a copy of Super Mario Bros., and I got a separate copy of Top Gun. I didn't like Top Gun though, so we returned it to the store and exchanged it for a copy of Duck Hunt and the NES Zapper (the good old days when return policies didn't care if you opened and played a game). Those were the good old days.

My favorite story would be how i obtained my first copy of the gold cartridge of Zelda. Had a chance to sell a bunch of toys in a garage sale. So when a toy collector came along and bought all my toys for 100$ I thought I was rich. So I had to buy a couple of games. Elevator action rush n attack and Zelda. Needless to say the other two games never got played much as I became a Zelda fan for life. To bad I sold all my transformers to do it but it was worth it. Those transformer would be with over 5000$ now though. So yes that's how much I love the Zelda series!

I wasn't around during NES times. I'm more of a Gamecube era person.

I was born in '93, so I never played with the NES. My first console was a Gamecube... :¦

My first console was a Gameboy Advance SP. I remember the day I bought it, and all of the details of what happened that day...

I was born and raised in a SEGA house. My childhood 8-bit memories are mostly about C64, Sega Master System and Game Gear games. My brother had the Master System and Game Gear, and I had my C64.

But friends and neighbors had the NES, so of course i also played allot of NES games back then. Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros. 3, Zelda, Battletoads and all the Mega Man games are the ones i remember the most.

I mostly watched, when my neighbor finished Zelda, while his father drew a map of the gameworld .
My brother and I also rented a NES once, just to play MEGA MAN 3. Great times

Never owned an NES, but I've played plenty of NES games. Most of them were dated crap, but some of them were pretty good. The action games have especially held up well, though I may have just been lucky on that part.

All I know is that Ninja Gaiden was a hard game.

My first video game system! I had it for 21 years. My first games other than the 3 that came with it were Megaman 2 and Mario 3. Those 2 games are still my in my top 10 games of all time. Too bad mario 3's 20th anniversary is about over. Now waiting for NES's and Mario's 25th anniversary.

the fact that some of you are younger than 20 and still on this website is very cool to me. in my mind, most younger gamers are drinking Hawaiian Punch and playing Halo.

not ripping halo or hawaiian punch btw, i love the punch and halo is ok, just have not given it a proper chance.