30 years of the Nintendo Entertainment System

Hard to believe but the Nintendo Entertainment System turns 30 years old today (Octoboer 18th, 2015). I don't remember that much about when the family got our NES but I do remember it was the Gyromite/Duck Hunt combo unit with the grey light zapper and ROB. We never got ROB to work but the light zapper was certainly something else (even though I was terrible at it). Every week a trip to the video store was an adventure to see what new interesting adventure you could rent and play over the weekend. While some were better than others, the sense of wonder and excitement as you based a game solely on its box art and a few screenshots on the back cover is something we'll probably never see again.

It'd only be a few more years until I'd see some of my favorite Nintendo games including: Super Mario Bros 3, TMNT 2 Arcade, Mega Man 2 and 3. Even a few obscure ones like Little Ninja Brothers, The Magic of Scheherazade and North and South.

To read a bit more about the history of the NES in North America check out Kotaku's article.