Up, up, down down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start

I like to think that when it comes to video games, I was born in the perfect year.  You see, when I turned 8, the Nintendo Entertainment System hit stores in North America.  I was definitely the target audience the marketers had in mind.  Two years prior I had gotten hooked on G.I. JOE and Transformers, this year, Nintendo owned my soul.  As kids my age grew, so did the video games.  8-bit became 16-bit, then 32, 64, and so on.

Today there is an entire generation of people who were raised on Mario and Link.  They in turn are now raising their children in a world where owning multiple top of the line gaming systems is almost the norm.

So it should come as no surprise that when we feel nostalgic, we think back to our favorite NES games.  Personally, River City Ransom will always hold a special place in my heart.  Which probably explains why I’m so fired up to see the Scott Pilgrim film.

For those not familiar with Mr. Pilgrim.  The premise is simple, boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy must defeat girl’s seven evil exes to win girl’s heart.  Ok, so maybe a little more complicated.  What really drew me in (aside from the fact that it’s based in Toronto) was the entire series is jam-packed with NES references.

Now because I’m looking forward to the film, I decided to see what our geek tattoo galleries had in terms of 8 and 16 bit tattoos.  I was not disappointed at all.

nes4

nes3

nes2

nes5

nes1

So fess up.  What was your favorite Nintendo game?  I know you all have played with a Nintendo at least once before.

34 thoughts on “Up, up, down down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start

  1. haha moldy peaches reference
    the tattoo artist i work with did a tattoo like that of the motorcycle guy,
    i can’t remember the name of the video game.
    anyway mine will always be lion king, though the sega version is better!

  2. my boyfriend and i have a ritual every friday night which involves splitting a handle of captain morgan and playing mario 3 on NES until we are too drunk to avoid even the smallest dying mistakes. best nights EVER.

  3. I’m jealous of the Megaman piece. I’ve wanted to do something like that but probably never will, won’t fit.

    I’m eagerly awaiting the day Modblog does a piece on early 90′s TV shows, then I’ll have something to contribute 😉

  4. I think my favorite game for the NES would have to be… Hmm… Bubble Bobble, I love those characters.

    And in terms of tattoos, I have an entire left of my body dedicated to video games. Mario/Sonic sleeve, Nintendo scar piece, random video game leg sleeve. I think my Nintendo Controller scar piece was featured here. PiercerDan (Dan Marshall) was the artist.

  5. Zelda forever!!
    stil play it on a simulator on the psp
    just love it
    really grew up with it

  6. I spent three hours on Zeldapedia today while playing oneof the games on my N64, just so i could know the backstory on every single person, animal or thing in the game. Nuff said.

  7. this is soo fucking cooool !!!!
    and definetly super mario !!! at least the ones i could lay my hands on in circa 1994 in a post-socialsit country…i also remember how my gameboy caused some serious envy attacks ! 😀 😀

  8. Bubble Bobble, Super Mario 3 (which rocked!) and Legend of Zelda.
    🙂
    They’re all equally entertaining in my old brain…

  9. Nice catch Brian, I was wondering if anyone would notice. Although the “select” was optional, it all depended on 1 player or 2.

  10. I guess it would be time to submit my 16-bit starmen in, they’re pretty cool. And my Castlevania big hearts.

    There are so many games that I enjoy, but I think Super Mario Brothers 3 brings out the most memories from the NES era. I can’t name a single favorite game though.

  11. Nice to see so many SMB3 fans! When I got that tattoo (the frog mario is me) I didn’t expect many people to get it, but I regularly get strangers complimenting on it, and pretty much all of them know exactly what game it’s from! Good times.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *