The Infancy of My Retro Gaming Obsession

Before Mario. Decades before the term "retro gaming" was ever used. When there was no "modern games" and "retro games". We just called them "video games".

My very first encounter with video games dates all the way back to Summer of 1987. I was visiting my grandparent's in Lindenhurst, NY. I was sitting on their couch in the living room, watching Bob Ross on PBS. I noticed something sticking out from under the couch so I got on the floor to take a look. What I found was this: my Grandma's Intellivision.

I didn't know exactly what it was, but I had a feeling it was like the Atari I saw in TV commercials. The sheer sight of it was exciting. I had no idea what it was capable of. I couldn't imagine what the games would look like. I didn't even know how to hold the controller. But somehow I was certain it was for video games.

Unfortunately, I didn't play this Intellivision until several years later. But, the excitement I felt seeing it under the couch was only the start of my long video game love story.

My exposure to video games continued soon after when I was playing at my next door neighbour’s house. They had received a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas and I was in awe. They also had almost every black label NES game. But, the only one I ever wanted to play was this game called Super Mario Brothers. Whenever I was at their house, all I wanted to do was play Super Mario Brothers.  And when I was at home, all I wanted to do was figure out how to go next door so I could play even more Super Mario Brothers. Looking back, I was a bit of a jerk to not care about playing with the kid who lived there. And that might be why they stopped inviting me over. But I didn't own one single video game of my own. Who could blame me?

Next Christmas, all that changed. My parents placed a large present in front of me. I tore off the wrapping paper and I finally revealed my first video game console: my very own Atari 2600. I was conflicted. On one hand I was ecstatic to now have a world of video games in my own house, on my own TV. The only problem? It couldn't play my favourite game of all time: Super Mario Brothers. But still, I had Pole Position, Ms. Pac-Man and my new favourite 2600 game: Jungle Hunt. I got over the lack of an NES pretty fast. But the yearning for my very own copy of my favourite video game continued to grow.

My childhood favourite game of all time!

Over the next year I found a couple of friends to help satiate my craving for Super Mario Brothers. They also introduced me to a few other NES games like Ice Hockey and Ghostbusters.

Fast forward to Christmas 1989. Once again, my parents placed a large present in front of me. The excitement was unbelievable. I ripped the wrapping paper to reveal my very own Nintendo Entertainment System. Inside was a shiny new Super Mario Brothers, Duck Hunt combo cart. Finally, I didn't have to go to anyone else's house to get my Mushroom Kingdom fix.

Why do I think it’s important to tell these embarrassing stories? Because I wanted to start at the very beginning. These early childhood memories are what all of my video game experiences are built upon. This is also the foundation that my immense nostalgia is built upon.

I hope to share my entire retro gaming and childhood nostalgia journey with others who are on similar journeys of their own. This is just the beginning of my journey. I hope to learn about yours as well.