here’s a taste of the best nintendo game you’ve never heard of

jenni:
i’m going to start by saying flat-out: i’m going into this topic at a severe disadvantage. as a child, my parents would not allow us to own any video game systems. my dad did talk my mom into getting a commodore 64 but that was because he was able to convince her that because you had to program the games for it, it was educational. he then proceeded to program all the games we had for it himself, thus teaching me and my sister nothing but how to deal with the boredom of watching your dad typing code for hours on end. but i do remember my (rich) uncle getting a nintendo the christmas right when they first came out and i played duck hunt on it until my parents had to pry the controller out of my hands because we had to go home.

daroff:
my nintendo experience wasn’t a hell of a lot better. upon opening the nintendo one hanukkah eve, we got a glimpse of what was to be nintendo policy in my house. we were told to always wash our hands before playing. this meant nintendo had to be a pre-planned thing, preparation and all. i got a nintendo so late, it had the lame orange gun, but it did have the power pad. within a month, the power pad was banned because it shook the house. the kicker was the game my parents decided to package in with our nintendo, wheel of fortune. this led to the endless line of jeopardys and win lose or draws. that’s why everyone got nintendo, right, to play game shows? the rest of our games managed to always end up on lists of worst nintendo games ever. it wasn’t all bad, though. we did have the glimmering hopes that were double dragon 2, mario 3, and star tropics. oh man did star tropics rule.

jenni:
i don’t even know what star tropics is! but i did manage to get in some time on super mario 3 because my best friend growing up had a nintendo, lived right around the corner, and always had the latest games right when they came out. the problem was that getting to play usually entailed a 3 hour plus wait until she got bored and then, when she finally did give up the controller, i would have to deal with her constant “side-coaching”, which really meant she’d scream at me if i did anything she considered a “wrong move”. “WRONG MOVE JENNIFER!” yes, she called me jennifer, everyone did as a kid.

daroff:
sounds exactly like when i’d play super mario 1 with my sister. i’d play as mario, play every level without warping, without dying until about level 8-3 or so. she would then play luigi, die in 1-1, and i’d beat the game on my second life. to make matters worse for her, i would push the buttons on my controller as she played. she’d run up to a jump, and i’d push A when she should have jumped. i didn’t realize i was doing it until she called me on it. mario 3 fixed this problem by alternating every level, but even then, i’d just kick her ass in the head to head challenge. i loved being a little brother.

jenni:
i always wanted a little brother. sigh. instead, i had a little sister who was thoroughly uninterested in anything but sequined dresses. seriously, we’d loose her in department stores and know we’d find her in the dress section. but i digress… except for the fact that she would never be contending for console time the few times she did tag along to my friends’ houses. that was nice actually.

daroff:
i do have to say my sisters did get a little gypped on the nintendo. not because i hogged it or anything, but girls really can’t appreciate a nintendo like guys can. it’s genetics, look it up. maybe if i’d had brothers, we could have ganged up on mom and demanded better games.

jenni:
how did that old song go? or yeah: anything boys can do…girls can do better. not that i think i should start this shit storm right now… we were doing so well at bonding together in our deprived childhoods!

daroff:
i’m glad we can agree that brothers rule and sisters suck. that is the one thing we can usually agree on, girls smell!

jenni:
i don’t want to know if my sister sucks. that is her private business. but anyway, yeah, nintendo! i still don’t own one…how about you?

daroff:
my nintendo is at my parents’ house, and due to severe lack of usage, it’s still in really good condition. whenever i go home, my friends come over and we play star tropic. since you asked, star tropics is like zelda, only you have a yo-yo that shoots magic instead of a sword that shoots magic. it’s really really fun. wanna’ come to boston some time and play? you’ll get first turn.