15th Anniversary of the Nintendo 64

You all remember this system, right? Well, today marks the 15th anniversary this video game system came out in the United States. The N64 is a CLASSIC, and I used to play it ALL of the time in elementary/early middle school (before the days of the Gamecube/PS2/Xbox and Wii/PS3/360 gaming consoles). Nowadays, college students like me reminisce about the times we used to play these games on this platform as often as we could. I remember the countless number of days playing Mario Kart 64 (like a bajillion times); Pokemon Stadium 2 (when there only used to be 250 Pokemon); and watching my friend play classic single-player games like Banjo Kazooie (the bird-bear creature game that tried to be like Mario), Donkey Kong 64 and, of course Super Mario 64. I cannot forget the original Super Smash Bros. game!

(I recommend clicking on the links - they link to Youtube videos of a commercial/gameplay of each game, which are each about a minute long)

What do you remember most about the N64?

--- Sidenote: How many of you guys recognized the new small tweaks to the Youtube videos? There is a speed-up/speed-down button to the left of the video quality button, and the full-screen mode just makes it full-screen to the browser size - NOT the size of the computer) ---

Underrated 90's Computer Games

After viewing today's Google Homepage, I decided on making a new post about the 90's animated computer games that I loved that few ever talk about - many reminisce about Doom, Backyard Sports, Oregon Trail, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego...etc. But I'll list more of the lesser-known games that I loved as a young elementary school student in the mid-90's:

Ahh, yes. Busytown - a computer game based on author Richard Scarry's books and videos on VHS. I remember "Building a House", feeding "Bananas the Gorilla", putting out the fire from the Fire Station, and filling up too much gas with different vehicles - from a two-seater motorcycle to a full-scale bus. (If you click on the above picture, you will see what the game looks like on one person's computer)

The Humongous Enertainment series PRE-2000's. With games such as Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo (top left picture), Freddi Fish (bottom right photo) and Pajama Sam (not pictured), who could forget these classics? I basically lived off of the two Putt-Putt games pictured above (the other are small 'minigames' involving either Putt-Putt or Fatty Bear as computers in one-on-one games, such as Tangrams, Go Fish and Checkers, called "Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear's Activity Pack").

Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading Journey

This was one of the first games where I learned how to read (obviously) based on simple animations. A classic game - but too bad there's no online video of the actual game. It's the first game that I actually completed from beginning to end, and installed on my Windows 95 computer by myself in Kindergarten.

This game - Gizmos and Gadgets - was my favorite from 2nd grade-onward. Once I knew how to read, I then played with LEGO's, K'NEX and this Learning Company game that's a classic for all elementary school students. Basically, the game involved elementary physics questions - with each question leading to the reward of a part to a transportation device - the more questions answered, the more and better parts earned. But, be careful of the roaming monkeys that steal your parts!

I never actually completed the entire game, for it was too long and got quite difficult for me. There were three different buildings involved, and I only got past the first two buildings - never the third and last building, so I never knew how the game officially ended.

In Part II of this theme, I'll cover the Jumpstart Series, SimCity 2000, The Incredible Machine 2, and The Cluefinders Series. Stay Tuned.