It’s been a while since I took a trip down nostalgia lane. We tend to do that a lot over here at 3rd World Geeks. This time around, I’d like to take you back in time when I got my second gaming console, the Nintendo Family Computer. Yeah, the Family Computer, or Famicom for short, wasn’t the first video game system we had growing up. The very first one we owned would be the Atari 2600. However, I can’t really say I have a lot of major milestone memories with the Atari 2600. To show my age, I actually do have memories playing it way back when I was around 4-years old. Playing games like Combat with my brother and uncle was pretty memorable. Also playing a weird game called Demon Attack and watching my brother break through all the levels just for everything to cycle back to the first level was both thrilling and a little disappointing.

I tell you my history with the Atari 2600 because it does play a big part as to why I found the Nintendo Family Computer/Famicom such a marvel. You probably have noticed that a lot of games on the Atari 2600 were rather simplistic. The graphics were blocky and you had to use your imagination to sus out what’s happening. The sound effects were adequate but, like the graphics, you did have to use a lot of context clues to figure out what they’re supposed to be. They were also emulating old arcade quarter munchers for the most part as the goal was to essentially get the highest score before you run out of lives. There were a few games like Adventure, ET and Raiders of the Lost Ark that tried to be more “story driven” and had an ending of sorts. But, because of all of the system’s limitations, you had to use a lot of your imagination to figure things out.

Flash forward a few years later and my father took me and my brother to an electronics store one summer’s day. I can actually remember the store as, from my point-of-view back then, it was a really big store with really powerful computers (they were actually probably IBM XTs) and huge televisions (they were probably just 18-inch CRT color televisions). Of course, the reason why we were there was to get the new Nintendo Famicom. Now, I’m not sure where my mind was then because, in all honesty, I was totally unfamiliar with what a Family Computer even was. But when I first saw the first ever game played on it, I knew this was the future of gaming! Yes, my little kid brain said that.

It certainly helped that the game they did play was the original Super Mario Bros. Remember, my only experience with home console video games were the ones on the Atari 2600. So, seeing a guy who looked an actual guy with a mustache and red overalls and I didn’t have to use my imagination to do so was a big deal for me! I was floored by how there were actually background details like bricks looking like bricks! Everything seemed so crisp and beautiful! I was handed the controller and I promptly died from the first goomba because I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I didn’t know you could jump on it to squash it!

Once someone taught me, I then promptly died as I couldn’t jump over the first pit. I tried but my mustachioed man couldn’t make it across. It was then I was taught another trick; you could hold down the B button to make the little guy run faster to make the jump. I was floored by this revelation as well. You had to use momentum? That’s not something I really had to figure out back in the Atari 2600 days! So, that day, I got myself a Nintendo Family Computer, as well as Super Mario Bros. I mean, I had to have a game to play when I brought it back home, right?

It looks like I got it just in time because, when I went to school that year, everyone had their own Family Computer. It may seem a little odd to kids these days to just have everyone enjoying one video game console instead of arguing which system is better. It was a different time back then! What we did get to arguing about is who had the best games because some games were just better than others.

Now, this just may be misremembering things but, back then, Nintendo Family Computer games had some kind of a weird tier list and this determined their prices. So, for example, a game like Excitebike would be one of the “low tier” games and a cartridge would cost maybe P200 Philippine pesos. That was still a good chunk of change back then. But, then again, a game like Contra, one of the “top tier” games, could cost between P800 to P1,000 Philippine Pesos! The price would fluctuate for… reasons. This kind of also meant you couldn’t really trade some games based on the tier listing. I mean, who in their right mind would trade their Contra cartridge for Excitebike? But you do get the idea.

This means you kind of had a choice to make. Would you want to get a bunch of “low tier” games or get one major “top tier” ones for your birthday/Christmas/whatever? I would generally just get a couple of “mid tier” games and roll the dice if they were good or not. The “mid tier” Family Computer games would run the gamut as, on one day, they would be considered a “low tier” game and other times, they would be priced like a “top tier” game. While I can’t really remember most of the “mid tier” games that we owned, there was one that really sticks out in my mind: Brave Soldier. If you are unfamiliar with Brave Soldier, that’s because that’s was the name on the cartridge. You probably know it as Rygar. Don’t ask me why it said “Brave Soldier” on the title screen because I have no idea myself!

Anyway, initially, Rygar was a very frustrating game to me. It controlled beautifully and I really loved the weapon, that weird yo-yo shield with spikes. I also enjoyed that, at certain points, it would change from a side scroller to a top-down perspective and vice versa. What made it frustrating to me is, when I first got it, I couldn’t continue past a certain point. It was at a cliff edge with a tree stump and I had no idea what to do! You have to understand that my only real experience with home console video games were games like Super Mario Bros. and Contra. These were games where you just had to run to the right and barrel through the baddies. Not much brainpower needed. For months, I would get to this point and, since I was a kid, I would eventually just stop playing as I’ve gotten as far as I could go.

Then, by happenstance, I hit the attack button next to the tree stump, something I’ve done a dozen times before and nothing happened. This time, however, something did happen. A dramatic whooshing sound was made and a thin line shot out of the tree stump. I was surprised and I vividly remember bouncing up and down my bed because, finally, something different happened! But I didn’t know what it was and what should I do with it. Should I jump towards the line? Nope, because I tried that and I plummeted to my death. Should I shoot it with my yo-you spiked shield? Nothing happened. Should I run towards the cliff and hope something different will happen because of that line? Wait, that worked? I can now use this line to move further?

I then learned years later that I could shoot the line because I had the crossbow and I could use the pulley (which I thought was a snail back then) to cross the rope. It seems silly that I didn’t know how all of this worked but I had my excuses. For one, the Rygar I played was the Japanese version and maybe all those giant old men were telling me how to use all of the equipment. But since I don’t understand Japanese, I never learned all that. And second, this was way before the Internet was a thing so I couldn’t exactly look up a walkthrough or watch a YouTube video on how to finish it back then! Once I got over this hurdle, things did feel pretty straightforward and I finished Rygar. This sticks out to me a lot because, even back then, this felt like a great accomplishment as I solved it all on my own.

Probably what I would consider to be my best and worst memory with my old Famicom was with Star Wars. This is a much different game that a lot of Western audiences played because this was the Japanese version. This was considered to be a particularly difficult game as your character, Luke Skywalker, only took one hit before going down. Couple that with the fact you only had only three lives and two continues. Oh, and the two continues are actually a cheat code so, if you didn’t know the code (which was me back then), then you have to play the game from the start when you lose all three lives. Suffice to say, Star Wars for the Famicom was a very punishing game.

Now, this game was incredibly fun since, as you progress, Luke gains more Force abilities like shooting lasers from his lightsaber, becoming invincible and flying but at the cost of Force points you have to stock up on. You also gain allies and, while they don’t actually help you fight, you will need them in key points. For example, in the ice planet, when you get to a dead end, you have to talk to C-3P0 so he can talk to the whale and the whale will offer to carry you to the other side. That never happened in the movies, right? Still, it’s pretty cool that the guys behind the game added these little puzzle bits.

What I didn’t find cool was the Death Star maze. In order to get through this, you’ll have to navigate through empty shafts and use the flying power to get to other locations. The problem is the game doesn’t tell you where to go! You just had to solve it through trial and error! Thankfully, I did have a friend who taught me how to get through the maze and I beat the level. But, like I said, the game can be tough because of the limited lives and it didn’t have a password system to save your progress or anything like that. So, you had to beat the game in one go… and I almost did. The problem is, when I got to the last level, the X-Wing trench run on the Death Star, I was down to my last life and, since this was my first time playing through the stage, I took a wrong turn and smashed into a dead end. I’ve been playing all day and I was tired and demoralized. So, I stopped playing for a while to recharge my batteries. I just knew if I knew the layout of the trenches, I could’ve beaten it.

This is where my friend who told me about how to get past the Death Star map and also why this is my best and worst memory with the Famicom. He told me a trick that would activate a secret level select in Star Wars. Normally, you would have to input the code with an extra controller plugged into the Famicom’s gun port. But he told me that, if you jammed a coin in the top pins in just the right place, you can trigger the level select. Well, I was desperate to finish the game so I did just that when I got home. And it worked! I skipped all the way to the last level, got into my X-Wing, died a few times and did the coin trick a few more times but, in the end, I memorized the Death Star trench layout and finished the Japanese version of Star Wars! This was a proud moment for me because not many in my school have done so. This also made me wonder why they just didn’t do the coin trick.

Well, that was for good reason, apparently. Because doing the coin trick actually messed up my original Famicom!

After a while and even after not playing Star Wars to do the coin trick, weird things started to happen to my Nintendo system. Games would just reset by themselves while playing. My player-character would permanently get stuck moving to the left even if I wasn’t touching the controller. Things like that. Soon after, it just stopped working properly and I had to get a new one. It turns out I broke my system using the coin trick as it was actually shorting out the pins, leading to electrical jumps inside the system. Thankfully, getting a new Famicom was much cheaper than before so I did get it replaced. Still, I do regret doing this just to finish a game as I believe I had more than just a few more years with my original Famicom if I didn’t short out those pins.

I have so many more memories growing up and playing video games on my Nintendo Family Computer. I haven’t even mentioned things like finishing Contra without using the Konami code or beating Mike Tyson in Punch-Out!! But if I did, this post would get even longer and I feel this is already much longer than it should be. I do attribute my experience with the Family Computer as one of things that shaped me to who I am right now: a geek who loves geeky things like video games. And I don’t think I’m alone.

What is your fondest memory with the Nintendo Family Computer/Famicom/NES? Let me know in the comments section below!