Video Games and Me My teen years

 

It was 1990 I was flipping through a video game magazine, odds are it was EGM or Gamepro,saw the above and and knew I had to have one. 

Having already had a chance to play the Mega Drive. Short story. Once I hit 12 and was in Jr High one of my new friends had an uncle that had lived in Japan for years. Now lived back in the states but him and his wife would go back to Japan at least once a year to visit her family. So he,named Dean,had a Famicom. We would go over to my buddy's place and play Famicom stuff months before it got released for the NES. One day over there buddy tells me SEGA had a new console and Dean had it. I was tempted after playing the Mega Drive that day to ask Dean to buy me one next trip to Japan..

By 1990 I was working weekends and  school holidays/summer break on my dad's shrimp. Getting paid as a deckhand. So between my weekly allowance, which at the time was enough for me to get 2 CDs each week from Record Bar, and shrimping money I was doing good. But I didn't just want the stock Genesis I want it and a few games. So was looking at having to save up 300 or 400 bucks.

Then I got a good idea I had a huge comic collection. Knew the comic shop owner was a huge Carl Barks fan. I had piles of Bark's Uncle Scrooge comics. Got taken to the comic shop and walked out with 200 bucks. With the 150 I already had it was enough.

Once I got the Genesis that NES was moved and regulated to the tiny B/W tv in my bedroom. For years I had a 2 tv set up in my room. One was a 13 inch B/w tv that was my first tv back there. Once I got a color tv and got the NES I would keep my 2600 hooked up to the B/w tv. Then when I got my Genesis the NES got moved to that b/w tv.  Was times there was 2 of use playing the Genesis then 2 more playing the NES at the same time. All while a CD was playing on my bedroom stereo.

A year later and I had Sonic and my Genesis was played from when I got home until I crashed out. My father was now working in Southeast Texas. Mom would go out at least 1 weekend a month to visit him. I would stay home. Was up late one Friday,Mom is gone,phone rings and it is a buddy. Asking if I could run him into town to visit his pregnant GF. 

Go get him we go visit and on the ride home he asks if I knew the local party house owner. Told him I knew the guy's name but never been there. "Pull into the Exxxon's parking lot." In buddy goes he calls the party house and they are all up. Go over meet everyone and get asked what I was doing that weekend.

This group of people would go thrifting on the weekends. I got invited to go and the next day we found a Atari 2600 with 20 games and controllers. Was 10 bucks.

Buddy that owned the party house mentions he thinks his old Atari is back at his grannies home. So trip home we stop by there grab his system and games. That night we sit there drinking cheap beer and playing Atari 2600. Which made me realize how much I missed those old games. 

The next day I called up the guy I had given all those games too. Offered him 50 bucks for the games. Get told for that much I can have them and his NES with 30 games.

And so started journey into retro video games. Back in this era 2600 systems were 5 to 10 bucks. Carts were quarter to at most 5 bucks. We had no clue what was rare. But had games we thought were. Stuff like Chase the Chuckwagon,which I had 2 copies of. Or the infamous Custer's Revenge. Hell cause out of the now 400+ Atari games in the group collection we only had 1 copy of Pitfall II. Which made us assume it was rare.

Many weekends were spent at yard sales and thrifts. We all had a notebook we kept with a list of the games we had. Plus learned that no matter how much beer you drink you can still play 2600 games.

Yea the Genesis still got played. The NES sat untouched. But the 2600s got so much play.

Wasn't until 98 and a major move that I got back into modern games.