I’m relatively new to the Giant Bomb world. I’ve been listening to the Bombcast since maybe this July (2011). I’m currently enamoured enough to go back in time a few podcasts and check out older ones. During this process I’ve hit the E3 2011 podcasts where there has been talk about the revival of old franchises. I’m coming over from the Kotaku community but I’m sure much of the chatter and backlash against revivals is similar in both communities. The purpose of this essay series is going to be to address the arguments on both sides of the arguments on the revival of old franchises that I’ve seen going on from someone who has played the old games but still tries to keep an open mind. To understand where I’m coming from, you will probably need to understand a little bit about my past and know how similar or dissimilar it is from yours.

I was born in 1980, and didn’t have any interest in gaming until I got a Nintendo for Christmas one year. I don’t remember which year I got it, I think Zelda was out since we rented it a few times before I got it. I also remember the skeletons freaking me out as a kid, so I’m thinking I may have been six or seven when I got my first game system. That given I never beat Super Mario Bros. but I was really impressed when my dad did. I never beat Zelda, and I had to write into Nintendo Power to figure out how to get to the second area in Zelda II.

I spent many of those Nintendo years renting various games but I think I had about seven or eight games that I owned. Hogan’s Alley was pretty cool, but I tired of it quickly. I think that Duck Tales may have been the first game that I actually beat. I remember playing Final Fantasy and having no clue what to do, going to friends’ houses and having no clue what to do while we were playing. Getting the Nintendo Power guide and still having no clue what to do... I also remember my parents resubscribing to Nintendo Power and getting a copy of Dragon Warrior. I had been a subscriber since the Nintendo Fun Club days, I think I still have my copies of those magazines around if people want to make an offer...

I had about as much luck with Dragon Warrior as I did with Final Fantasy, not being able to get too far because of my age coupled with the difficult of the game. I also suppose there was some sort of desire of getting far in it versus the difficulty playing into it. The Wizard also came out around the end of this era. I remember my parents taking me to that movie and “Get the star Jimmy!” was a quote that was thrown around in our house a fair amount. I also remember that the gas station near our house that rented out games had a Japanese copy of SMB 3 with an adapter that allowed it to work on US NES units. I remember renting it so many times that my parents probably had paid for a copy by the time that it came out here. I also remember going to Wal-Mart the day it came out here and running to the electronics department and asking the clerk to hold a copy until my mom got there to make sure that no one could buy it before she got there (I also remember it being kind of hard to get a copy).

I think I was also playing a few Apple II games during this era. Number Munchers, Oregon Trail, etc. during this era. I loved being able to play those games in school during this era. I can’t remember if there was a Carmen Sandiego game out during this era, but I want to think that there was, but I didn’t really obsess over those until our family got our first computer.

In any case, this is my early childhood in gaming, I’m guessing it’s quite different than those of you who grew up when Halo was new, and those of you who are either my age or older we can look at these days in a certain lens of nostalgia and love those games. I didn’t mention other games I’ve played such as Contra, Elevator Action, TMNT (the first one on NES), going to other friends houses and playing Atari and Sega. These are the stand out memories for me since that is the focus of this essay series.