At this point in my life things were starting to change. Not only was I leaving England & moving to Ireland but also a new era of gaming was about to begin - for me & for everyone else. The beloved 'cartridge' was being quickly replaced by a new format the 'disc'.
Before I move fully into that I want to make a few honorable mentions. Just so you know I did not own any of the following consoles but did get to experience them all.
The first time I played a Nintendo games console (apart from the Game Boy of course!) was at a friends house. The game I played was about an over weight & short plumber wanting to rescue a girl obsessed with wearing pink. Of course I am talking about Mario or more specifically Mario Bros on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Like many platforms the objective was simple; move through levels & save the Princess - simple but not easy. You take on a multitude of enemies & get to visit many colorful worlds. While Mario was an enjoyable experience it never captured me the same way Sonic did. Maybe I just prefer animals to people.......hmm.....wait, that's not entirely inaccurate.
The next console I played was the Super Nintendo! We had a bring something you love to school day & one of the kids brought in a Super Nintendo. We all got a turn on it & the game I played was Street Fighter 2. Her legs were oh so powerful, cute hairdo & a short blue dress - Chung-Li was my lady. The first time I achieved her signature move 'spinning bird kick' was awesome - not only because it looked cool but was also the winning move in the match. After this I continued to play a lot more Street Fighter 2 but I played it on the Mega Drive.
I had a friend in England very religious parents his Dad was even a Vicar. His parents were against violence & did not like there kids watching a lot of TV. Naturally they had cable TV with over 200 channels (which at the point & even now is a lot of channels!). On top of that they had so many toy guns that if they were real you would have an arsenal big enough to take over a small country. The best thing they had though was N64 more specifically Golden Eye. While me & my friends enjoyed watching our friend play Golden Eye we did on occasion actually get to play it too. Without a doubt by today's graphics its look very out dated but the game play itself was superb. They tried using faces that looked like real people - well sort of. As a whole it was a great game & well worth the play.
I am sad to say this is the end of my time in the UK & with cartridge rich consoles. I own a multitude of consoles & even now I like to play my old cartridge games. There is just something about those consoles I can't leave behind. Maybe it is the characters or the games but one thing is for sure I will always go back & play them.
