Twenty-five years ago, a company from Japan introduced a new video gaming console to the North American market that would forever change the industry. Coming at a crucial time as the fall of the American arcades began, the Nintendo Entertainment System brought the experience of playing arcade games home in a way Atari, Intellivision, and several other earlier gaming companies could not. Without a doubt, the most influential gaming console of all time (I dare you to name a console that has made more of an impact before or since), the NES ushered in the home console market as home after home would soon come to own an NES their children, teens, and even some adults wanted for themselves. 

Although many of us gamers who grew up with memories of the NES and the subsequent follow-up systems (Super NES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, etc.) have moved on to other consoles that share the home console market with Nintendo, most notably the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, there is no doubt every single one of us here at Nfamous have a deep and fond memory associated with Nintendo and its consoles in the 25 years since the NES. 

Below, a few of us here at Nfamous wanted to share with you just some of those treasured memories we have. Whether it be with the original NES, the SNES, or the recent Wii system, the fact Nintendo has and still manages to make a dent in our collective memories speaks volumes as to the importance of Nintendo and everything it has done for us in the gaming community. Would home video game consoles be as big as they are now without Nintendo entering the market in 1985? That is hard to say, but it is harder to deny just how important the steps they did take back then have come to be for any video gamer.

Monolysis:

"One of my fondest video game memories comes from when I was about 8 or 9 years old. My brother and I had gotten a Nintendo, and it was Christmastime. We really wanted the game Marble Madness, and our grandparents got it for us. It was Christmas morning, and my brother and I had gotten up especially early and played Marble Madness until our parents woke up. It's the first memory that pops into mind when I think of the Nintendo. 

"Granted, there were times with the game we wanted to destroy each other, but I still remember it being fun to play and challenging. Getting to that final level was tough enough, but it took forever to beat it. However, when we did, it was always rewarding."

Dr Chris:

"The discovery of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project back in the day when Konami had awesome TMNT games. I invited a friend over to play this, and hours went by trying to get through every level. It was a step up from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game, and the recent Super Nintendo was a bit of a money cruncher for me and some of my friends. We would play this game after school for hours. This game is what made the NES one of the best systems ever." 

KYABen:

"When I was a kid, the NES was all the rage, and pretty much everyone I knew owned one. My friends and I would walk to the 7-11 and read issues of Nintendo Power for hours (much to the dismay of the clerk behind the counter), and we would try our best to memorize various codes and secrets until we could get home to try them out. Whenever someone got a new game, it would always require a sleepover on the weekend, where we would take turns playing different levels and trying to beat it as quick as possible. 

"In a lot of ways, it reminds me of the movie The Sandlot, where all the kids are obsessed with baseball. Imagine that, but instead of Babe Ruth and the Dodgers being a controversial subject, it was whether or not you could beat Contra without the code for 30 lives. Or if you found all the hidden secrets in The Legend of Zelda. The NES and its multitude of games provided a common ground among us kids that, regardless of whether we knew each other well or not, everyone could contribute to and had some knowledge of, one way or another. Even the bully that used to pick on me at the bus stop would, on occasion, chime in on a discussion about Ninja Gaiden or Metroid.

"A few of those past titles have since become franchises. When I see them in the store or read about them online, it's a nice feeling to look back and remember that I was there when it first began; when Mario dreamed of throwing turnips at foes, and there was only one 'Legend' of Zelda."

Nightminx:

"One of my memories of Nintendo is when I was really young and going over to my grandma's and playing Duck Hunt with my aunt on the original NES. She would always get mad at me and my siblings because we would cheat and stick the gun almost to the screen of the TV and kill the ducks that way. Whenever I think about the old days when my siblings and I were introduced to Nintendo, I can always hear that stupid dog snickering when we missed a shot ... stupid dog! Anyways, those were the good old days — how I miss them!"

Arcee:

"To be honest, I don't know which memory sticks out the most for me. I have several very special memories that are associated with quite a few Nintendo consoles. I could talk about the time my little sister and I went on a marathon run and played for hours until we finally beat Super Mario Bros. for the first time. I could also talk about the time my friends surprised me on my birthday in 1995 by buying me Killer Instincts for the SNES (complete with the Killer Cuts CD) and playing and beating the game in one day. Or I can also tell you about the time that my co-workers and I all went and purchased a Game Boy Advance on the same day during lunch so we could all come back and play Super Mario Advance against each other for the rest of the night (and subsequent number of days) while we were at work. I have a multitude of memorable moments associated with Nintendo over the years.

"But I know which one I want to share with you. And it is a pretty recent memory. It was Christmas 2008, and my wife, kids, and I were celebrating the holiday over at her grandparents home. I had taken my Wii over so that the younger members of the family could play a couple of games to pass the time. The biggest draw was Super Smash Bros. Brawl as the guys all competed to see who would be the best fighter. But after a while, we decided to play my copy of Mario & Sonic at the Olympics. While it wasn’t quite the must-play game that Brawl was, it did get a few of us playing. But after a while, the Wii remotes were left on the floor.

"All of a sudden, my 2-year-old daughter Lily picked up the remote and began mimicking us and was actually playing the game. I was so freaking happy; I had a complete nerd moment when I saw my little girl playing a video game and having fun. She may not have won the race she started in the game, but who cared? The fact that she was playing was enough for me to be a proud gaming papa for that moment. I know, it is kind of a bit touchy-feely moment for some of you reading this out there, but I would have to say that seeing her play that day really made a memorable moment for me. Now, all three of my kids show an interest in gaming, but it was this first moment seeing my oldest play for the first time that really sticks out. Yeah ..."

JeromeChance:

"I was in 5th grade and I remember I used to go over to my friends house to play Nintendo only because his mother was hot to death. I played The Goonies II like a sonofabitch that summer..."