The Top 5 Reasons Retro Video Game Collecting is Expensive

 

I recently uploaded a video on my YouTube channel giving my top five reasons retro video games have gotten expensive, especially sealed or at least complete-in-box. You can watch it HERE. My list goes all the back to the ‘90s up until the present day. Below are some of the comments on the video. Feel free to weigh in as well over on YouTube, or here. Thanks for watching! And commenting!

@smog-097 says:

It only seems ridiculous because people were giving away 80s and 90s video games for pennies on the dollar.  When a console was considered obsolete, people literally threw them away. Even though it seems expensive today, and I agree there are ridiculous examples out there, the vast majority of classic games still barely sell for the original MSRP, and most are far less. I mean if you paid $50 in 1989 for a new Nintendo game, and it may have gone for $2 used at flea markets in the ‘90s…most of them have rebounded to what?  Like $20?  That's not a real return on investment after 4 decades unless you happened to be the one hoarding them out of clearance bins.

@MrShady365:

One of the major factors imo is that a lot of the games still hold up. There’s still a demand from people like me who didn’t even grow up with them.

 @80s_Gamr:

 When I first got into collecting, I used to tell people that the lowest barrier to entry was the VCS/2600. You could get a working console for $10-$20, and games typically were $1-$3. My, how times have changed.

@segaherman6458:

I want to collect my childhood, but it can be tough to collect video games now a days

@enfieldjohn101:

It's getting harder to find, but still once in a while I find Atari games cheap. Got a box of 2600 games for $1 a piece last week when a local game store was having a sidewalk sale. None were rare, but a lot of them were in very good condition.

Found two NES games for $11 each that are good ones and a CIB Sega Genesis game of the Williams Arcade Collection for $11 too. Glad to see sales l😅ke that still.

Sealed, graded collectibles are silly indeed. I figure that if I wanted to just look at a game box, comic book cover, toy box, etc, I'll take or download a photo of it and hang that on the wall.

 I've done that already with covers of the super expensive first appearance comics.

 Another reason why demand has gone up for some of these games is because of emulator consoles like the HyperKin consoles and the Atari 2600+ which can play original cartridges.

 @benaiahburns4046:

I have been playing since the 70's, but I didn't have the available income to start collecting before 1997. The most amount of games I had at any one time was 60 games before 1997. However, at Christmas that year, I broke 100 games, and I haven't looked back since. Today, I own over 13,600+ games, 363 consoles and 44 complete libraries.

I will say however, that to me, collecting ended with the 360, PS3 and Wii U. Today, with the PS4/PS5, One,Series X and Switch, most games REQUIRE an update before you use them for the first time, WHICH MEANS, that in the future, when these games are no longer supported, those games will be worth about as much as a coaster. Thus, I only buy what I will play for those consoles.

Top 8 Celebrity Deaths in 2023 - Suzanne Somers, etc.

The year 2023 unfolded as yet another challenging chapter for celebrities. Despite their towering personas, these individuals are mortal like the rest of us, inevitably facing the embrace of the Grim Reaper.

The resonance of a celebrity's passing, particularly those whose work has left an indelible mark on our lives, invokes a sense of loss within me. Critics may dismiss this sentiment as trivial, arguing that mourning should be reserved for those we personally know. However, the reality is that celebrities hold pivotal roles in people's lives, mine included. Beyond mere entertainers, they possess the ability to infuse vitality and enlightenment into our sometimes-mundane existence.

After careful contemplation, I produced this (alphabetical) list of celebrities whose passing last year affected me the most on a personal level. Call it a tribute of sorts to eight people I didn’t know, but who impacted me significantly nevertheless.

David Crosby – I’m heavily into heavy metal. Bands like Dio, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden “get my motor running” (to paraphrase Steppenwolf). But I love a variety of other musical genres, including folk rock, which was perfected by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Both lyrically and harmonically, the band is one of my favorites of the psychedelic era and beyond. One of the earlier “supergroups,” CSNY created some of my all-time favorite tunes, including such timeless classics as “Helpless,” “Southern Cross,” and “Woodstock.” Crosby, of course, was the most outspoken of the band members (with Young a close second) and a great singer and songwriter.

William Friedkin – Back in the early ‘90s, when I was dating my now-wife, she came over and we watched The Exorcist with my roommate. It was terrifying, and the three of us were genuinely spooked afterward. My roommate even brought his Bible out from his bedroom and placed it on the coffee table. I had seen it before, but for some reason it seemed especially scary this time around. Admittedly, I haven’t watched many of Friedkin’s other films (The French Connection being a notable exception), but The Exorcist alone is enough to earn him a spot on my list. While I don’t believe in real-life exorcisms or any of that hoo-ha, The Exorcist made all previous horror films seem less realistic and less horrifying to me in comparison.

Marty Krofft – More than Star Trek. More than The Super Friends. The most influential television show in the history of my life is The Land of the Lost, produced by the brothers Sidney and Marty Krofft. Featuring Marshall, Will, and Holly on a “routine expedition” gone awry, the program debuted when I was seven years old, and I was absolutely mesmerized by it. Written by such sci-fi legends as David Gerrold and Larry Niven, it played a huge role in my becoming obsessed with fantasy and science fiction, which in turn played a big role in my various occupations of comic book store owner, bookseller, writer, etc. The Krofft brothers also created such wonderfully creative shows as H.R. Pufnstuf, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl

Norman Lear – Like so many kids who grew up before the internet and smart phones, I spent a TON of time playing outside. However, I also watched a lot of television, especially during windy winter days when severe bronchitis forced me to stay indoors. Norman Lear created and produced many of my favorites of that era, including All in the Family, Sanford & Son, and One Day at a Time. Remember the talk show parody Fernwood 2 Night starring Martin Mull and Fred Willard? Probably not, but my brother and I loved it. Unlike so much TV, which is sheer fluff, Lear’s shows used humor to deal with serious and often controversial topics—he was a trailblazer for the medium like no other. He lived to be 101, a testament to his timeless talent.

Mathew Perry – As with countless other celebrities, the funny and charming Mathew Perry, who played Chandler on Friends, showed that you can have it all—fame, fortune, good looks, great friends—and still be a miserable mess. In his memoir, he said that he never really felt good or even normal unless he was on some type of mood-enhancing substance. A true addict. Sad. Friends hit the air when I was dating my now-wife Charis, and it's been with us ever since, like an old friend. She even has a big part of her office devoted to Friends memorabilia. It’s a highly likeable show with numerous hilarious, memorable, and even iconic moments, and Chandler was a big part of that. Could he have been any funnier?

John Romita Sr. – Decades before comic book stories got so convoluted, and when continuity was still important to publishers, John Romita Jr. took over for Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko as the artist on The Amazing Spider-Man (in 1966 with issue #39), one of Marvel’s flagship titles. Romita aped Ditko’s style initially, but after a few issues, he embraced the book and began crafting the character and his adventures in his now-iconic style. In 1973, Romita took over as art director for Marvel and played a major role in defining the look of the company’s output and in designing new characters. From a long list of great craftsmen, he’s my favorite Spidey artist of all time.

Suzanne Somers – Freud spoke of a latency period, but I never had one. I was girl-crazy all throughout my childhood. One of my biggest crushes was Chrissy Snow, the gorgeous, but ditzy blonde roommate of Jack Tripper (John Ritter) and Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt) on Three’s Company. Although he had to pretend to be gay to live with Chrissy and Janet to get landlord approval, I thought Jack was the luckiest dude in the world. He was smitten with both girls, but ultimately the show was about the trio’s close friendship and their misunderstandings and misadventures. I loved it. And, in my own childish way, I loved Chrissy.

Cindy Williams – Numerous sitcoms had a girl that “got around,” and that was part of their appeal and a big part of the comedy. Alice had Florence Jean Castleberry. Golden Girls had Blanche Devereaux. Laverne & Shirley had Laverne DeFazio, who was played by Penny Marshall opposite “good girl” Shirley Feeny, played by the incredibly cute and affable Cindy Williams. Like her boyfriend Carmine “The Big Ragoo” Ragusa, I adored the virginal Shirley, who I far preferred to loose Laverne. She was the ultimate “girl next door type,” rivaled only by Mary Ann from Gilligan’s Island. And she just seemed so sweet.

While I limited my list to just eight, there were many more celebrities who died last year who played a key role in my life as a fan and content creator. These include Jeff Beck, Riccou Browning, Jimmy Buffet, Phillis Coates, Bert I. Gordon, Keith Giffen, Al Jaffee, Piper Laurie, Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Reubens, Adam Rich, Robbie Robertson, and Raquel Welch.

The 40th Anniversary of the Video Game Crash of 1983

 The 40^th Anniversary of the Video Game Crash of 1983

 Back in 1983, I was 16 years old and living the dream. I had a car, I had money, and I was unencumbered by a spouse, kids, or anything else resembling real responsibilities, or than my job as a Quality Supervisor at a barbeque restaurant. Yes, at the ripe young age of 16, I was telling 20-, 30- and 40-somethings what to do. (They loved it, let me tell you, he said sarcastically.)

Before I digress into my life story, let’s zero in on a certain newspaper ad I saw during this time. Yes, teenagers and even people younger than that read the newspaper in those pre-social media days. Not only for the funnies, and not only for baseball box scores, but also for celebrity gossip, headline news, local interest stuff, and more.

Each Sunday, the paper was massive, thanks in part to ads from retail stores. I would scour these ads for gaming bargains, and one day I found a whopper: a variety of Atari 2600 titles for $9.99 to $14.99 each, including popular first-party titles like Asteroids and Space Invaders. This was a huge discount from the regular selling price of $30 to $45 or so for most video games.

Over the next few weeks and months, I began seeing titles for the Atari 2600, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Odyssey 2, and other consoles selling for $4.99 each…then $2.99…then .99 cents. Yes, brand new video games for under a buck! I’ve spoken to certain people around my age who recall seeing new video games marked as low as .25 cents each. Amazing!

As a hardcore gamer and collector, I was driving from store to store, adding to my collection. I would buy pretty much any game that looked fun to play, and I would buy pretty much any ColecoVision game no matter what it was because that was my favorite console. Stores like Toys “R” Us, Kay Bee Toys, Circus World, and even Walmart and Target would have huge bins with tons of discount games, and I would practically leap into these pits and swim around, catching as many “fish” as I wanted and throwing back what looked unappealing.

It was exciting and fun, but I had no idea what it all meant beyond being able to purchase video games for pennies on the dollar, amassing a cool collection, and playing a bunch of games that I would never have had access to without the Video Game Crash of 1983. I had no idea it meant the video game console industry in North America was dying. It didn’t really sink in for me until 1984, when the writing was on the wall that my beloved ColecoVision was on the way out. It was officially discontinued in 1985, and I was incredibly bummed. The Atari 2600 and Intellivision hung on for a few more years, but just barely.

Video game sales dropped 97% from $3.2 billion in 1982 to $100 million by 1985. The reasons for the Crash are many. Too many random companies had jumped on the video game craze of the early ’80s and were cranking out lousy games for the Atari 2600, the most ubiquitous console of the era. There were also too many consoles on the market in general. This created consumer confusion and dissatisfaction, and retailers struggled to find adequate space for new games on store shelves.

Two of the most highly anticipated 2600 titles, Pac-Man and E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, were big disappointments as the former was a bad port and the latter was confusing for most kids who played it. These and other titles were over-produced, and Atari ended up burying thousands of games in a landfill in New Mexico, as told in the 2014 documentary, Atari: Game Over.

By 1983, many gamers who had grown up with the Atari 2600, which was released in 1977, were moving on to other interests like cars and dating. The 1982 follow-up to the 2600, the Atari 5200, was largely a bust, thanks in part to its fragile, imprecise, non-centering joysticks. Coleco had announced they were going to produce a Super Game Module for the ColecoVision that would have meant games with more levels, better graphics and sounds, etc., but they cancelled that eagerly anticipated peripheral and released the Adam Computer instead. While great in theory, the Adam was a huge failure because so many units were bug-ridden or downright inoperable right out of the box.

Speaking of computers, they were a big reason for the Crash. Many parents felt more comfortable purchasing a computer for their kids than a “mere” video game console. Most of the big consoles at the time promised computer add-ons, but those were all unsuccessful, such as Mattel’s Entertainment Computer System for the Intellivision. The Odyssey 2 had a computer-style keyboard, but it was a video game console, not a fully-functional computer.

The Commodore 64, which Guiness cites as the top-selling computer model of all time, played a big role in the Crash. Why buy a console when you can get a computer that also plays games that are at least as good as the ColecoVision and in some cases better and more sophisticated? And you can pirate those games for free? I saw evidence of this first-hand. After my best friend’s dad brought home a C64 with around 200 games copied illegally onto floppy discs, his family rarely touched their ColecoVision.

While the video game market in North America crashed in 1983, the industry didn’t stay dead for long, thanks in large part to a certain Japanese company’s cool console, savvy marketing, and mustachioed Italian plumber. Test-marketed in 1985 and released nationwide in 1986, the Nintendo Entertainment System, which was the North American version of the Japanese Famicom, introduced a new generation to video games, with Super Mario Bros. taking center stage. More than any video game before it, SMB dazzled gamers with expansive gameplay, cartoonlike graphics, hidden secrets and surprises, and pitch-perfect controls.

When I received my NES for Christmas in 1987, I barely believed what I was seeing. The closest experience I can think of to playing Super Mario Bros. for the first time was my initial reading of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland—simply mind-boggling!

Numerous great games followed on the console, including such legendary titles as Contra, Castlevania, Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario Bros. 3, the last of which was heavily marketed in 1989’s The Wizard. An entire culture was built around the NES. Players would exchange tips and tricks for beating games (as well as call Nintendo’s hotline number), bring issues of Nintendo Power magazine to school, rent games from movie rental stores, pause their system all night so they could continue that long adventure game the next morning, etc.

Even more than Atari, Nintendo brought video games into the mainstream, and the industry has been thriving ever since.

Nostalgic 1980s ColecoVision Story by ChatGPT

I asked ChatGPT to tell a nostalgic story about playing ColecoVision during the 1980s, written in the style of Dr. Seuss. I think it’s actually quite good (if a little disturbing). Let me know in the comments what you think.

ColecoVision

In the quirky, colorful era of the 80s, lo and behold, A box called ColecoVision, stories untold. With buttons of fire and a joystick to steer, It was more than a console, let's make that quite clear.

Post-school, children would gather, winding down the day, In a living room beaming with game's vibrant display. Donkey Kong flinging barrels, or a cosmic ride, In the realm of pixels, we would confide.

Harrowing moments and triumphant feats, Our hearts would race with every end beats. High scores were like treasure, locked in our hearts, A tale of our childhood, where memory starts.

Eyes wide and twinkling, in the TV's soft glare, Two-dimensional worlds, we'd bravely dare. There we'd be, joystick in hand, In our own universe, spectacular and grand.

The 80s may end, and the children do age, But in our hearts, ColecoVision, our kind-hearted sage. Its keys unlocked chapters, experiences, and more, A flashback to a time, truly we adore.

ABC To The VCS: A Directory of Software For the Atari 2600 by Leonard Herman - New Foreword By Brett Weiss

 

Introduction (a foreword to the foreword, if you will)

The Atari 2600, originally released as the Atari VCS, is one of the most important video game consoles of all time. Not only did it popularize home gaming, and not only did it make “Atari” synonymous with the word “videogame” for a decade (among countless other accolades), it was the first console to inspire a complete reference book for its library of games. Said book—ABC To The VCS: A Directory of Software for the Atari 2600—was written by my good friend and colleague Leonard Herman.

Herman’s titanic tome was a huge inspiration for me, and it was an historical first in an industry I love, so imagine my delight when he asked me to write the foreword for the new edition. It was a huge honor and one I’m extremely grateful for.

ABC to the VCS was out-of-print for years (too long, if you ask me), but now it’s available on Amazon for anyone who wants to grab a copy. If you want to read my foreword to the book, you can do so as I’ve reprinted it in its entirety below.

As always, thanks for reading! And thanks to Leonard Herman for the honor! 

Foreword

ABC To The VCS: A Directory of Software for the Atari 2600

The reference volume you are holding in your hands is nothing less than historic.

When the groundbreaking first edition of ABC to the VCS was originally published way back in 1996, it was the first book of its type: a complete guide to a videogame console—the Atari 2600, of course—with a write-up for every game for the system. To my knowledge, no one had attempted such a herculean task up until that point, and certainly no one had followed through.

The book is also historic in nature because it was written by Leonard Herman, rightly dubbed The Father of Videogame History. “Lenny” earned this moniker with the 1994 publication of Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Videogames, the first lengthy and serious history on the topic. (I was the fourth person to purchase a copy of the original Phoenix from Lenny, but that’s a story for another day.)

During this same time period—the mid-1990s—I was working on a book of reviews of Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo games, but I couldn’t find a publisher. That’s because retro videogame books—and videogame books in general—were barely a thing during this era (with the notable exception of tips/tricks books and strategy guides). Sure, there were a few titles here and there, but nothing like today, where several publishers, including McFarland and Schiffer, have entire lines devoted to retro gaming books. There are even publishers, such as Bitmap Books, who publish almost nothing but books in this category.

Lenny couldn’t find a publisher for his books either, but, to his credit, he forged ahead and self-published them, which was a much harder, much more complex task back in the ’90s before the days of such convenient services as Lulu and Amazon Createspace. Further, before the internet really took off during the late ’90s, it was much more difficult to do research. Remember the days of calling up the local library’s reference desk to get information about various topics? Remember studying old magazines and newspapers via clunky microfiche machines? I’m sure Lenny remembers!

 Regarding ABC to the VCS specifically, Lenny wrote it years before you could hop online and find instruction manuals (HTML and PDF) for every Atari 2600 game. It’s true that many games for the console are of the pick-up-and-play variety, but some are basically incoherent without the manual, and many are more fun, more playable, and easier to write about when you know all the intricacies detailed in the manuals, such as the storylines, gameplay variations, and the like. Lenny also wrote the book before you could play the games emulated on other devices. In short, it was much more difficult to research for and write such a book back then than it is now.

Without ABC to the VCS and Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Videogames (which is now in its fourth edition as Phoenix IV: The History of the Videogame Industry), my own Classic Home Video Games books series might not exist.

During the late ’90s and early 2000s, I wrote for the All Game Guide, a late, lamented website devoted to cataloging, describing, and reviewing every game for every console and computer. The company was working on a book series as well, which I was up to my elbows in cartridges helping write. When the books were cancelled, it gave me the idea to do the project on my own, and ABC to the VCS gave me the confidence to tackle entire console libraries by myself. “If Lenny could do it, then maybe I could do it,” I surmised. Thus, in 2007, my first book, Classic Home Video Games: 1972-1984, was published.

In ABC to the VCS, which I had been badgering Lenny to reprint for years (thank you for finally doing so, Lenny!), you’ll find objective, no-nonsense summaries of more than 700 games. Lenny writes clearly, concisely, and without pretension, which betrays his former vocation as a technical writer. This isn’t a book of reviews. Lenny has said something to the effect of, “Who am I to say if these games are any good or not—why should my opinion matter more than anyone else’s?” He wants people to explore the games and form their own opinions, and ABC to the VCS is an excellent reference guide pointing players to the Atari 2600 titles they may find interesting or entertaining. It’s also a useful book for tracking your collection and keeping the memories of these games alive.

I’ve known Leonard Herman for 20 years. I met him back in 2003 at the first Classic Gaming Expo I attended, and I made it a point to shake his hand. We’ve been friends ever since, sharing a booth and panel at Too Many Games, traveling together, hanging out at Corgs, PRGE, and other gaming expos, corresponding online, and in general having a good time. He even wrote the foreword to my third Classic Home Video Games book!

 There are several authors today writing complete guides to various videogame consoles, but Lenny beat us all to the punch and did something historic in the process.

 There’s that word again. “Historic.”

 There’s a reason Leonard Herman is called The Father of Videogame History.

 And I’m proud to call him a friend and colleague.

 ~ Brett Weiss

 

Brett Weiss has been a gamer since 1975 and a professional gaming writer since 1997. He’s the author of 13 books, including The NES Omnibus Vol. 1-2, The SNES Omnibus Vol. 1-2, The 100 Greatest Console Video Games: 1977-1987, and his latest, The 100 Greatest Console Video Games: 1988-1998. With his Classic Home Video Games series, he wrote the world’s first complete guides to numerous video game consoles, including the Atari 5200, Atari 7800, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Vectrex, Odyssey2, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Neo Geo, TurboGrafx-16, and Sega Genesis. He also wrote the world’s first and only encyclopedia about the rock band KISS. He’s had articles published in countless magazines and newspapers, including Game Informer, Old School Gamer, Filmfax, Fangoria, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, to name just a few. When not writing, he uploads videos to YouTube for his Tales from a Retro Gamer show.

The 100 Greatest Console Video Games: 1988-1998 by Brett Weiss - GET YOUR SIGNED COPY!

 

Thanks to everyone for your kind words, your orders, your reviews, your support, and much more!

Reminder that signed copies are available direct from me!

***PayPal $50 to brettw105@sbcglobal.net

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*272-page hardcover book

*Hundreds of full-color photos

*Box art, screenshots and vintage magazine ads

*Essays, nostalgia, history, and deep-dives on the greatest games for PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, Nintendo NES, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, and other awesome consoles

Adam F. Goldberg Wrote the Foreword to My NES Book!

For my book, The NES Omnibus: The Nintendo Entertainment System and Its Games, Volume 1 (A–L), I wanted someone famous to write the foreword. I considered reaching out to actor Sean Astin, who narrated a gaming documentary I was in, and The Angry Video Game Nerd, the most influential of all retro gaming YouTubers.

But then Adam F. Goldberg, the creator and producer of The Goldbergs television series, fell into my lap. (Thankfully, he did so metaphorically). My buddy Sean Tiedeman, who directed The King of Arcades (2014), suggested Mr. Goldberg and got me in touch with him. Much to my surprise, Adam was delighted to participate in the project and has been very supportive.

The Goldbergs, which captures the zeitgeist of the 1980s in fun, over-the-top fashion, is an homage to Goldberg’s decidedly nerdy childhood. The show has featured the Nintendo NES prominently, as well as classic ’80s-style arcades. There was even an episode with a Tron theme. Best of all, Goldberg, who co-wrote the screenplay for Fanboys (2009) and has produced several video game documentaries, is an avowed NES fan.

With his super geeky street cred, Goldberg, a gifted writer, had all the potential qualities as a forewordist for a retro gaming book. And, unsurprisingly, he turned in an absolutely killer account of his days growing up with the NES and the impact it had on is obviously fun childhood.

Without further ado, here’s Mr. Goldberg’s fantastic foreword. The dude really loved him some NES! And shouldn’t we all!

FOREWORD TO THE NES OMNIBUS VOL. 1

By Adam F. Goldberg

“Dude, look at those graphics! It’s like having an arcade in your house!!!”

Those were the EXACT words I screamed when I laid my eyes on the Nintendo Entertainment System for the very first time. The moment has been vividly burned into my brain. It was January, 1986. I was sleeping over at my friend John Gaines’ house. I assumed we’d spend the night making prank calls, eating Fritos, and playing his ColecoVision, as we did at most of our sixth-grader sleepovers. But my pal had a new game system, one that he boldly declared was infinitely better than ColecoVision, Intellivision, and Atari put together. It was called NINTENDO.

At that point, the system only had a handful of titles to its name—but that didn’t matter—because one of those games was Super Mario Bros. I vividly remember sitting on John’s bed, watching in sheer awe as that little plumber shot fireballs and dodged jellyfish and used drainpipes as warp zones. It really did put Atari to shame. The Mario brothers made Pitfall Harry look like a total ass clown. In that moment, I knew the future had arrived. And it was called Nintendo.

When my mom picked me up the next morning, I was fully converted to a Nintendo kid and never wanted anything more in my life. Just one problem. My frugal father had JUST upgraded me to an Atari 7800 for Hanukkah, which at that moment I thought was the future of gaming. Murray Goldberg could not understand how the new and improved Atari was deemed obsolete a mere two weeks after he purchased it. I desperately tried to explain that the Nintendo had superior graphics and cooler games. Hell, it came with a friggin’ gun that let you hunt ducks and a robot named R.O.B. that…did something. No one really knew, but still! Owning a Nintendo system was like having an arcade in your den! Think of all the quarters our family would save! It pays for itself! What’s not to understand!?

Naturally, my old man refused to make the leap to Nintendo because our family had already invested a pretty penny into the Atari. I had a ton of games, an official Tron joystick, and a sweet hard-shell carrying case to lug around the Atari console. Buying an NES game system was a battle that raged on in the Goldberg house for the next four agonizing years. Luckily, my best friend Chad Kremp lived across the street, and he owned a Commodore 64, which his parents had bought in 1982. The Nintendo upgrade was a much easier sell to his parents. The moment Chad got a Nintendo for his birthday, it meant that I owned a Nintendo by proxy. It didn’t matter that I mostly sat and watched him play. I was thrilled to be Nintendo adjacent, and it was glorious!

I’m proud to say that many of my fondest childhood memories center around playing video games in my best friend’s room. I’m convinced that Chad and I are so deeply bonded largely in part to beating games like Contra, Mega Man II, Kid Icarus, and Metal Gear. Even though, again, I watched most of the time. We had inside jokes for each game. To this day, we still randomly call each other and say, “I’m still in Okinawa,” a reference to how we could never beat the typhoon level of the Karate Kid game. We even came up with our own nonsensical lyrics to the chiptune game soundtracks, my favorite being “RAMMA LAMMA JAMMA!” from the castle level of Super Mario Bros.

Chad and I even spent an entire summer creating our own Legend of Zelda map, planting bombs on every screen to uncover every single secret cave. The idea was to sell photos of our map at school, netting us a pretty petty. Unfortunately, Nintendo Power released an awesome three-page foldout cheat map, instantly destroying our brilliant business scheme. Most people would say that we completely wasted three months of our lives charting a Zelda map, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The greatest part of creating The Goldbergs TV show is that I’ve met many people on Facebook and Twitter that cite the NES as a formative part of their childhoods as well. I always thought I was alone, but it turns out that being an NES kid is a universal experience. One we all still cherish to this day.

Being a NES Kid means you know the Contra Code by heart and you had a subscription to Nintendo Power magazine.

It means you smacked the power pad with your hands because it made the games easier, and you madly blew into the guts of your cartridge when your Nintendo would glitch out.

It means you desperately wanted a Power Glove after seeing The Wizard…even though you never actually ended up buying one.

It means you felt a rush of adrenaline every time your player got into a hockey fist fight in Blades of Steel.

It means you never felt as cool as when you taught a friend the Infinite 1-Ups trick in Super Mario Bros.

It means you bought an NES Advantage because it would help you cheat in Track & Field.

It means you played countless rounds of Ghosts ’n Goblins but never could get past stage one, because “F” that game.

It means you know that repeatedly punching in A-B-B-A gives you endless lives in Ikari Warriors…unless you accidentally reappear behind a wall, which meant game over.

It means you still debate to this day if Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest is better than Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. Not that I actually played either. I just had to sit and watch Chad play. But part two sure looked better!

It means that your friend had an uncle who had a brother who had a second cousin who could actually beat Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! Of course, you knew this was impossible because you typed in the 007-373-5963 code a million times and still never came close to beating the lightning-fast dude.

In late 1989, we Goldbergs finally became a Nintendo family. My mom was tired of hearing me say, “I’m going over to Chad’s to play Nintendo” every weekend. All Beverly Goldberg ever wanted was to have her kids under her roof, and it drove her bonkers that Nintendo stood in the way. Naturally, my Dad was beyond aggravated that my Atari 7800 had spent the last several years collecting dust in my closet. Thanks to pressure from my smother, Murray Goldberg finally broke down and bought me a Nintendo Entertainment System for my birthday in eighth grade. At long last, I would be playing with power!

For a few months, at least.

In 1991, the Super Nintendo was released, and dammit, I never wanted anything more. Needless to say, my Dad was not receptive to the idea of upgrading our now-obsolete NES to the newer, cooler, 16-bit Super NES. I tried to explain that the SNES actually did have the graphics of arcade games, if not better. Yes, I may have said that when the NES was released—but this time it was true!

Goes without saying, but I never got my Nintendo upgrade and still have my classic NES from 8th grade. To this day, I am still an NES kid and still love those old-school games…even though Chad was the one who actually played them as I sat and watched. Not sure if I mentioned that.

***Adam F. Goldberg created the TV series Breaking In, Imaginary Mary, and The Goldbergs, as well as the spinoff Schooled.  Adam wrote the screenplays for Fanboys, Aliens in the Attic, and How to Train Your Dragon. He also produced a number of retro video game documentaries, including The New 8 Bit Heroes, Button Bashers, Bits of Yesterday, and The Power of Glove.