Profound Sadness: Mistakes and Consequences

Just recently, I acquired a copy of Dr. Mario for the NES. Actually, that's incorrect...I RE-acquired a copy of Dr. Mario for the NES from a local vendor. My own copy was lost to me years ago due to an unfortunate occurrence that I am still trying to rectify to this day.

Back when I was a kid, I received my NES at the age of about 4 or 5. I can't remember the exact date, but I remember coming home from school randomly one day after being picked up by my grandparents. I lived at their place, as did my parents and my aunt...it was a crowded household, but it worked for everyone and was convenient while my parents worked and they needed extra people around to take care of me. On this fateful day, I got home and was immediately instructed by my grandmother to go to the basement. I'd like to point out that it wasn't Christmas or my birthday or any of that crap...just a regular old day in my life, so you can bet that I was confused as all hell! I thought I'd done something wrong and was being punished hardcore...and even if that were the case, I was usually sent to my room. Why the heck was I being told to go to the basement? I asked why, and was told "Just go, don't ask any questions." WOW!

I opened the door and made my way downstairs, still wondering exactly what the heck was going on and sort of beginning to get upset. Then, I started to hear these strange sounds...weird music that didn't sound like any music I'd ever heard before and odd noises. My curiosity peaked and I cautiously went the rest of the way down. There, set up in the main room of my grandparents' basement, was my first ever video game console: the Nintendo Entertainment System. The strange tunes coming from the TV were the now familiar notes of the Overworld theme from Super Mario Bros., and my aunt was playing level 1-1. I sat down and watched her play for a bit and asked what this weird machine was, to which she responded "It's a Nintendo!"

Awww yiss.

So I played Super Mario Bros. with my aunt, and it also came with Duck Hunt on the same cartridge which I tried but just didn't like as much. Obviously this was a pretty big turning point in my life, and being subjected to the NES at such a young age influenced how I am today...not just my severe interest in video games and the culture and history behind them, but also somewhat in personality. That's for another time, however. As I grew, so did my collection of NES games and the memories I had with them. For example:

- I remember watching my grandfather get to level 31 of Duck Hunt...a record that I still haven't conquered to this day.

- I remember eating enough popsicles one summer to earn a massive amount of Popsicle Pete points (500 maybe? 1000?) to send them off for a "free" copy of Super Mario Bros. 3, brand fuckin' new at the time. It came in a very classic-looking brown paper package tied up with string, and I was so irritated because my parents wouldn't let me play it until the day after I got it because we had stuff to do that night.

- I remember playing Wheel of Fortune all the time with my grandmother because we both loved the show...and she would even play Super Mario Bros. with me! She never really figured out the run button though, and you can really only get so far without running.

- I remember receiving the very first Final Fantasy game one Christmas by my other aunt, and not understanding the damn game until years afterwards. Then I was hooked on it, despite the Marsh Cave being a BITCH to get by!

- I remember my grandparents buying me StarTropics completely randomly...and then my mother starting a file in it and completing it before I even did!

- And I remember playing Tetris and being horrible at it. I was always getting frustrated with the game until one day, my dad was just hanging out in my room with me and helping me to get the hang of it.

It sounds stupid, but these are memories that I'll probably never forget, all because I had these games around me to play by myself and with others. My entire game lineup for the NES at the end was as follows:

Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (never had the original one back then, oddly enough, and I didn't have the money to buy games for myself)
Tetris
StarTropics
StarTropics 2: Zoda's Revenge
Final Fantasy
Metroid (rented repeatedly, but not owned until later)
Dr. Mario
Yoshi
Mega Man 3
Totally Rad (completely underrated game, as far as I'm concerned!)
Back to the Future Part II and III (never beat this game cause it was so horrible)
Quattro Adventure (consisting of Linus Spacehead, Super Robin Hood, Boomerang Kid, and Dizzy's Adventure)
Wheel of Fortune

With hair like that, you know it's named correctly!

I loved my games and I'd play them over and over, particularly StarTropics 1's last couple of chapters and Super Mario Bros. 3. In addition, a lot of my friends had the NES as well so I got to play a bunch of their games via trading, and I'd occasionally go out and rent games when I got enough allowance. That's how I was first subjected to Castlevania, actually.

Later on in life, obviously the Super Nintendo Entertainment System came along and with it came a whole new library of sweet games, so my NES collection sort of stagnated at that point and reached its threshold for a while. I still played the damn thing though, despite having Super Mario World, Final Fantasy 3/6, and Super Metroid. After the SNES came the Nintendo 64 in 1996, and at this point I was 11 years old. I played it like mad as well (there's a system-rental story about the N64 that I still find hilarious...I'll save that for another time), and eventually in high school I was playing a bunch of multiplayer stuff with my friends like GoldenEye and Super Smash Bros. They'd come over and we'd drink coke and play video games a bunch, generally just having a fun time. It was at this point that one of my friends asked about my NES.

This is where mistakes were made. Basically, my friend wanted to borrow the system and my games, and was willing to pay me 40 bucks to do so. How could I lose? I'd be gaining $40 and would eventually get my system back and everything...it was a done deal. He snagged my system, controllers, and all my games from me, and for the moment I was happy with my money...but didn't realize what I had just done.

Quite a while later...maybe three quarters of a year afterwards, giving my friend more than enough time to play through the games...I asked for my system back because I was really starting to miss it. Sure enough, the day after I mentioned it, I got my system back and the case of games that I put all the cartridges in. After getting home, I hooked the system up and was ready to go nuts on my classic collection again...only to realize that a whole whack of my fuckin' games weren't there! I was pissed, but I figured there had to be a reason...maybe he just forgot to put them all back in the case or something. I mentioned this to my friend, and he said that since he paid cash for them, the cartridges were technically his while he had them and he had lent them to a friend who moved away. I was beyond pissed, but tried to maintain a level head about the situation and hoped that I could get them back at some point.

That day never came though, and my collection was reduced to Mario 1/Duck Hunt, Mario 3, Final Fantasy, StarTropics, StarTropics 2, Zelda II and Tetris. A mere 7 cartridges left over from my initial 16...that's less than fucking half. I never managed to reclaim every game that I lent out...they were, for all intents and purposes, gone. I've regretted lending that NES out ever since, and I have also been doing my best to reacquire copies of all of the cartridges that I lost. It sucked not being able to play Wheel of Fortune with grandma anymore, and not being able to not only play Dr. Mario myself, but also watch my mom absolutely destroy that game.

So ever since that happened, I've almost managed to get everything back. Dr. Mario was replaced recently, and it was particularly important to me...but it still irritates me a little bit that it's not MY Dr. Mario. It's not the one that my parents bought for me with their own money when I was a kid, because they knew I would like it. It still bugs me that it's not the exact same cartridge that I used to enjoy playing with my family (which rarely happened, making those occurrences all the more special to me). It makes me wonder exactly where my real copy of the game is now...and I just hope that it's found its way to someone willing to take care of it. I'm just thankful that I got to keep some of those games and also that I didn't have to replace the entire system...I'm glad that the NES I have in my living room right now is the same one that I had so many memories with. That kind of thing is important to me...I'm a notorious pack rat, but it's because I hate getting rid of things that I have fond memories of. Nostalgia is a part of who I am, and I have a sharp memory for the times, possessions, and people in my life that I absolutely love.

Had I known that I was going to lose over half of my NES collection at the time, I never would've lent everything out to begin with. Be careful what you let others have of yours, particularly if it's something so familiar and important to you. Be sure to get those things back, because you can be assured that somewhere down the line, you're probably going to miss them.

Even though I used to be totally biased against you, I welcome you to my dysfunctional family.

That being said, one of my friends has recently been kind enough to flat-out give me his Sega Genesis and his game collection for it, as well as 3 Nintendo 64 games. I've never owned a Genesis before, so I'm excited to play the games and see what other classics I can find for it...but you can be sure that none of his collection will ever be misplaced because not only am I a (novice) classic video game collector, but I also respect that maybe one day, he'll want the system back for a while to relive a few memories.

And to whoever it is out there that has my original cartridges: Enjoy them and don't let them go to waste, you fuckin' asshole.