My Childhood Meets Today

Today's post is brought to you by my sister and our childhood! 

I was sitting at home, watching tv, keeping an eye on the children while they played because if my attention is diverted for even a second something bad usually happens: a crash that means the room has been devoured in a wave of toys, a thump that means somebody has fallen and have every bone broken until the ice cream comes out, or a scream that means some one is dying unless I get there in time to give the toy back to the first owner.

My phone rang and the caller i.d. shows it's my little sister.  Ok, I can answer it, I haven't talked to her in a few days and it would be nice to catch up.  Of course being on the phone means I have to pay extra attention to the kids so one of the above doesn't happen.  She was telling about her day and how she, my mom and my grandparents had gone to see the our cousin's new baby girl.  Then she asks me which Nintendo 64 games I have because she has some of mine. Uh.......I'll have to go look.  It's been a good while since I've played Nintendo 64.  It was our game system of choice when we were teenagers.

I get up and go look.  They were stuffed in the bottom of the entertainment center (such a good place for games) in our bedroom.  So I drag out the games and we start talking about which ones we have, which ones we want to trade and remembering when we would play them.  Then I get curious about the Sega that's also shoved in there too.  I pull it out and look through the games, still talking to my sister about all of this.

But I get the brilliant idea that Connor, almost 4 years old, would love to play these old games. Yes, old, the Sega Genesis was released in 1989 and we got it in 1992.  Which, funny story on how we got it: My sister was getting ready to start school and she failed the vision test because her peripheral muscles were weak.  The doctor said the best way to strengthen them was to play video games.  My dad was fist pumping the air at that point.  So what did we get for Christmas that year? A Sega!!  Then N64 came out in 1997, I believe that's the same year we got it.  That's 23 years of gaming for us.  Anyways, I think it would be so much fun to hook these games up and play them.  First I hook the N64 up in the living room. I scrounge around behind the tv, grunting, because if it's one thing I learned from my daddy, it won't work right if you don't grunt while you're doing it, and I get it all plugged in and switch it on.  Success! The grunting worked!

So I go back in the bedroom, get the Sega and all it's cords and get behind the tv in there.  This one didn't take as much grunting, but I grunt anyways for good measure.  I flip the switch and again, success! They work!

Connor immediately picks up the Sonic game because he recognizes Sonic.  I stick it in and I'm immediately transported back to my childhood with the theme music.  I think this will be easy for Connor, all you do is move Sonic around with the D-pad and jump with the buttons.  Easy.  What I didn't think about was -Connor is used to playing Wii.  Do you see the problem? He picks up the controller that's attached to the game system by a cord, which he's never been used to, and starts tilting it back and forth trying to get Sonic to move.  I didn't realize I would have to teach him how to use a controller all over again.

So then he wants to play the N64 in the living room.  He picks MarioKart cause he's played it on Wii before.  And again the game starts and he's trying to steer his go kart by tilting the controller.  So I'm laughing while trying to show him how to hold the controller.  You remember the N64 controller? What three finger alien freak designed these controllers? Do you know how hard it is to make a 4 year old understand to put his hand on the middle part? He still doesn't have the hang of it.  But he's smart, he'll figure it out.

It's funny, when we got the N64 we were in awe over how much better the graphics were over the Sega.  Even though everything was squared off, it still looked pretty good.  But after playing them again after years of seeing the newest graphics of games where sometimes you wonder if it's real or digital, they seem almost laughable.  But that won't stop me from playing them again.  I used to love playing these old games and can't wait to relive that.  Now all I need is my dad to play with me.  We would get him to play shooting games with us because he was so funny.  He never knew where he was in the level, he could never find a gun, and when he had a gun he didn't know how to load it.  Oh, all the good memories we have, all of us piled up in front of the tv, just playing.

If it hadn't been for my sister's call and her curiosity over the games, the Sega and N64 would still be shoved down in the bottom of the entertainment center.