The year was 1991, I was in 7th grade and the digital bomb had been dropped. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System had been released. For months prior I'd been drooling over the glossy spreads in Nintendo Power magazine featuring this baby. Little green dinosaurs and caped Marios frolicked in my imagination. I wanted this game console badly and I could have it, if I bought it myself. Otherwise I would have to wait a year for the holiday season to roll around again and hope I got lucky. Like many a game junkie, I just couldn't wait that long. I needed money.
How many of you lucky sods got an allowance growing up? I sure the heck never did, and there's just not much of a market for lawn mowing or lemonade stands in the Midwest's winter months. I did already have close to a hundred bucks I'd saved up but I needed to make another hundred plus to afford that shiny new SNES. Being an opportunist (and a light eater) I took advantage of my one source of regular income: my lunch money. My school had what they called an ala carte lunch program, where you could choose from a limited menu if you didn't want to get the regular hot meal. By subsisting on milk and the occasional pizza slice, I managed to save the bulk of my lunch money.
It took many weeks, but I finally had the cash and an exuberant shopping trip later, that SNES was mine. But now what did I do with it? Upon opening the box, I saw that there was no cable hook up. I had a TV in my bedroom but it was an ancient beast with a dial that only went up to 12 or 13 channels. It certainly didn't have any new fangled audio/visual ports.
My parent's TV, however, was brand new. I honestly don't remember how I managed to convince my mom to let me, but I hooked my SNES up in my parent's bedroom. It actually worked out okay since I had the house to myself for a couple hours after school every day. I spent that time in utter bliss, mauling my way through Super Mario World.
Mario, of course, was only the start. Even though I had an NES, I didn't play it that much. Most of the series I ultimately fell in love with were introduced to me on the SNES. It was there that I discovered Metroid and Zelda and Mega Man, and played my first RPG. Those were golden days. Alas, my beloved SNES saw a little too much use.
When I babysat the neighbor's kids, my SNES was an invaluable pacification tool. I didn't read them story books, I narrated Chrono Trigger. Unfortunately, all of that traveling and unhooking of cables had its toll on the system's connections. Eventually it simply stopped working and I bid farewell to my old friend. I did not go SNESless for long though, thanks to the SNES' new compact design. The very first console I ever bought with my own money, I bought twice.
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