I grew up in a recession that echoes these days of cheer and plenty to a certain degree. One key difference is that parents in the '80s were less likely to risk riding the credit bronco. If there was no money to get you the latest tech toy, you damn well weren't getting the latest tech toy.
That's why some lucky kids had Nintendo and other kids had to settle for Tiger's Electronic Handhelds.
Topless Robot has a gallery of the 10 Most Worthless Tiger Electronic Handheld Games. You risked receiving these little beeping plastic bricks if you asked for a Nintendo game that had a Tiger counterpart. For a fraction of the cartridge price, you could play a fraction of the game.
Topless Robot correctly emphasises that it wasn't so bad to unwrap some generic Tiger football game, or some kind of nameless Ninja adventure. It was the “adaptations” that caused you to wipe your eyes and nose on your sleeve when mom wasn't looking. It shouldn't have been legal to let Tiger adapt Sonic the Hedgehog if the company knew from the start that the stupid animal was only going to be capable of running in place.
There should be a Wall of Names erected for the brave children who remained hopeful through their disappointment and convinced themselves—for however few seconds—that the Mega Man III Tiger game was just as fulfilling as the NES cartridge. That's what their grandmothers told them when they opened their present, and everyone knows grandma never lies.
The Topless Robot article also includes commercial footage. Most of them have faded from my memory, but I remember thinking that the ad for Tiger's Aladdin was stupid. “If you defeat Jafar and free Jasmine, you win!” You mean I don't win if Jafar turns into a giant cobra and bites me in the eye?
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