We love Nintendo

9:20 p.m. – I had homework to do. I could have sat down and concentrated on my studies, but there was something else calling for my attention  . . . my 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System.
    I decided to begin my adventure with the game that started it all, Super Mario Brothers.
    Despite the existence of more advanced gaming consoles, such as the Playstation 2 and the X-Box 360, and the upcoming  and even better systems, like the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii, the popularity of old school video games still tends to be high.
    “They’re more pure,” said Mike Parks, a junior political science major. “The new games have gotten too technical, you can’t enjoy stuff like that.”
    Parks’ favorite game is Duck Hunt.
    “It’s a big classic, baby,” he said.
10:01 p.m. – I beat Super Mario Brothers. It took me longer than I had hoped, but I haven’t played in 10 years. I needed to play something that I might still be good at. I pulled out Mega Man 2 and inserted it into the console.
    But what keeps these games alive? Why don’t they fade away like a bad romance novel?
    Dr. Lee Gillis, chair of the psychology department, has the answer.
    “I think a lot of it has to do with what’s familiar. It has to do with taking people to fun times, good times,” Gillis said.
    He said it is all nostalgia.
    “Nostalgia,” Gillis said, reading from a psychology dictionary, “the longing to return to an earlier period of life particularly pleasant compared to the present.”
    Some students have fond childhood memories of playing their first video games.
    “I used to play with my cousin Keith all the time,” said Matt Scott, senior accounting major. “We used to play Pac-Man and he would hand me a controller and say I was the ghosts. The funny thing is, I believed him.”
    Scott’s favorite game is Tecmo Super Bowl.
    Some students just remember the games.
    “My fondest memory (of NES) is Contra because I still remember the code for the 30-up men,” said Elijah Davis, senior Marketing major.
    Davis’ favorite game, obviously, is Contra.
11:09 p.m. – I couldn’t beat Mega Man 2, but I was determined to regain my old Nintendo glory, so I didn’t give up. I put in Mike Tyson’s Punch Out.
    Another reason old games retain their popularity is because of their simplicity.
    “Anybody can play the old games,” said Jeff Long, senior philosophy major. “With the new games you have to memorize button combinations and that’s a waste of time.”
11:40 p.m. – Mike Tyson knocked out. I started to feel a little better about myself and I thought it a good time to try one of the hardest games in history, Castlevania.
1:20 a.m. – I couldn’t beat it. I don’t even know why I tried. My thumbs had started hurting and I was very angry. Now I know why I stopped playing video games.
    They say that playing video games encourages people to act violently, but that’s another thing old school gamers don’t have to worry about.
    Gillis agrees.
    “The models (of old games), which are stick figures at best, are so far from who you are that you don’t want to replicate those models,” Gillis said. “Now it’s so realistic and there is research showing that people can be very involved in those violent games and they can go out and commit violent acts.”
1:30 a.m. – After a hard nights Nintendo, I put my games away and went to bed.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 10 2006. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry