Every now and then I like to dig into my time capsule buried deep within the confines of my room located in ghetto El Monte. I always encourage people to listen to the stories of older people who have lived in other decades of time. It will make them appreciate what they have now in the present time. Today I will focus in on the 1990's and specifically on video games of that era. The year 1991 was when Nintendo released the SNES in the United States, 5 years after American audiences were first introduced to its younger sibling, the NES. The internet in its familiar form that we know today did not exist quite yet. The world wide web would later become a household name in 1996 and it would take a year or two before people figured out what to do with it.
Video games in the NES/SNES era were quite difficult I thought. I think the major factor was the fact that NES games did not have a save option. Therefore, when you start playing the game, you had to continue playing until you beat the entire game. The fatigue factor starts to set in after a few hours. In addition, some games didn't offer a lot of chances for extra lives or continues. For example, the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was difficult because each level was extremely long and extra lives just wasn't offered. Of course, there was always the option of pausing it for an extended period of time and turning the TV off when we got fatigued. However, most of the time, when I came back a few hours later to un-pause it, the screen would be a digitized 8-bit mess of corrupted data since solid state devices during those years were quite glitchy.
The SNES games started to introduce the "Save Game" feature since at this time, solid state memory was becoming a bit cheaper. Now, some of the games would include either secret special levels, secret special moves, or perhaps a level was so difficult that there was only one way to beat it. Where does one go to advance further into the game? There was no internet, so GAMEFAQs was out of the question. What about strategy guides you ask? Well, I sure couldn't find any during those years. I think the first strategy guides started coming out in the late 90's.
One of the only ways to get past that portion of the game that had left you scratching your head was actually writing a hand written letter to Nintendo explaining your situation. This was actually really awesome because they would provide a personalized answer. Over a span of many years in the early 90's, I had written quite a few letters since I always found myself stuck somewhere in a game level. In a few of the letters that I had received for a reply, they actually provided some words of encouragement to keep practicing. The kids of this generation have no idea that these exchanges occurred. Apparently, Nintendo had these "Game Play Counselors" that would respond to every letter sent to the company asking for help. The turnaround time was about 2 weeks if I remembered correctly. If they didn't know the answer (which only happens with a third party game), then they would provide the contact information for that third party (i.e. Acclaim Entertainment). For a 12 year old, this concept was amazingly cool. I was communicating with someone from Nintendo about their video games and they were providing the information I needed to progress further into the game. From a kid's perspective, Nintendo was this dreamy place that produced these magical products that invaded our imaginations. At the time, I dreamed of visiting the place where all this magic occurred. Unknown to me at the time, I would eventually get a chance to visit Nintendo headquarters 14 years later.
So without being too long winded, appreciate what you have now. The internet has made our lives very easy (in more ways than one). However, it has taken away that personal touch that was apparent in the days before this technological boom.
My visit to Nintendo of America in Redmond, WA in 2009, where I finally saw the physical place that all my letters were going to... the letters that I had written more than 14 years ago...
Every now and then I like to dig into my time capsule buried deep within the confines of my room located in ghetto El Monte. I always encourage people to listen to the stories of older people who have lived in other decades of time. It will make them appreciate what they have now in the present time. Today I will focus in on the 1990's and specifically on video games of that era. The year 1991 was when Nintendo released the SNES in the United States, 5 years after American audiences were first introduced to its younger sibling, the NES. The internet in its familiar form that we know today did not exist quite yet. The world wide web would later become a household name in 1996 and it would take a year or two before people figured out what to do with it.
Video games in the NES/SNES era were quite difficult I thought. I think the major factor was the fact that NES games did not have a save option. Therefore, when you start playing the game, you had to continue playing until you beat the entire game. The fatigue factor starts to set in after a few hours. In addition, some games didn't offer a lot of chances for extra lives or continues. For example, the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was difficult because each level was extremely long and extra lives just wasn't offered. Of course, there was always the option of pausing it for an extended period of time and turning the TV off when we got fatigued. However, most of the time, when I came back a few hours later to un-pause it, the screen would be a digitized 8-bit mess of corrupted data since solid state devices during those years were quite glitchy.
The SNES games started to introduce the "Save Game" feature since at this time, solid state memory was becoming a bit cheaper. Now, some of the games would include either secret special levels, secret special moves, or perhaps a level was so difficult that there was only one way to beat it. Where does one go to advance further into the game? There was no internet, so GAMEFAQs was out of the question. What about strategy guides you ask? Well, I sure couldn't find any during those years. I think the first strategy guides started coming out in the late 90's.
One of the only ways to get past that portion of the game that had left you scratching your head was actually writing a hand written letter to Nintendo explaining your situation. This was actually really awesome because they would provide a personalized answer. Over a span of many years in the early 90's, I had written quite a few letters since I always found myself stuck somewhere in a game level. In a few of the letters that I had received for a reply, they actually provided some words of encouragement to keep practicing. The kids of this generation have no idea that these exchanges occurred. Apparently, Nintendo had these "Game Play Counselors" that would respond to every letter sent to the company asking for help. The turnaround time was about 2 weeks if I remembered correctly. If they didn't know the answer (which only happens with a third party game), then they would provide the contact information for that third party (i.e. Acclaim Entertainment). For a 12 year old, this concept was amazingly cool. I was communicating with someone from Nintendo about their video games and they were providing the information I needed to progress further into the game. From a kid's perspective, Nintendo was this dreamy place that produced these magical products that invaded our imaginations. At the time, I dreamed of visiting the place where all this magic occurred. Unknown to me at the time, I would eventually get a chance to visit Nintendo headquarters 14 years later.
So without being too long winded, appreciate what you have now. The internet has made our lives very easy (in more ways than one). However, it has taken away that personal touch that was apparent in the days before this technological boom.
My visit to Nintendo of America in Redmond, WA in 2009, where I finally saw the physical place that all my letters were going to... the letters that I had written more than 14 years ago...
