As a lover of video games and movies, there's nothing I enjoy more than curling up in some warm blankets during the Christmas holidays, losing myself in wild and imaginative worlds.
Growing up as a gamer, Christmas morning was always an exciting time. The original Nintendo Entertainment System was gifted to me during Christmas of 1987 and a few years later I was lucky enough to find a Sega Genesis under the tree.
The second console I got for Christmas. A great memory but not my favorite!Courtesy of Sega
But there is one video game Christmas memory that stands out among all the rest. It was the winter of 1996, I was 13 years old and must confess, one heck of a snoop too. Never could I wait until Christmas morning and would instead search every nook and cranny of the house when my parents weren't looking, hoping to find the hidden stash of presents. Previous years excursions to each and every closet in the house had not been successful but this year was different.
I had found not the whole stash but one epic present. The Holy Grail of gifts. A brand new Nintendo 64. There were no games there. Just the system. But oh man was I giddy. I even pulled out the box and looked at the pictures on the back before hiding it again...possibly more than once.
I would just stare at the back of the box and imagine playing the games.Courtesy of Nintendo
But now the hard part. Waiting a whole week before Christmas to open my gift. Not only that, but for the first time in my life, I was going to have to act my socks off. Pretending to be surprised. Well, partially surprised anyway. You see, I still wasn't sure if I was going to have any games to play.
Still one of my all-time favorite Mario games.Courtesy of Nintendo
Luckily for me, my parents weren't totally clueless and grabbed me two epic games to enjoy on Christmas morning. Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64. Both games were skull popping awesome. I had just come from playing with 2D sprites on the SNES and Genesis and now here I am, running around a beautiful 3D Mushroom Kingdom and crashing over realistic waves at high speeds.
Wave Race needs to make a return!Courtesy of Nintendo
It wasn't just exciting for me either. One of the best moments of that day was my mom trying to play Super Mario 64 with the analog stick. She was screaming with laughter, her hands waving in the air as she tried move Mario in 3D environments with zero coordination. And then followed that up by spinning circles in Wave Race 64.
The water graphics and physics were amazing.Courtesy of Nintendo
Nintendo 64 Was The Greatest Gift...in 1996!
The next morning, like many other kids that day, I went down to Blockbuster Video with a gift card and rented a bunch of other Nintendo 64 games. Pilotwings, Killer Instinct Gold and Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire.
You had to pry me away from the controller the entire Christmas break. Not even Turkey dinner, with the allure of thick gravy could tempt me away. I had found my new love, the Nintendo 64.
And there you have it! My favorite video game related Christmas memory!
Have Your Say!
What's your favorite Christmas memory? Comment below and share with Rory and the other Kidzworld reader!
