NES

The past week has been filled with birthdays, it seems. Today may be the most important of all of them (Sorry friends), it is the 27th birthday of the American Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Everyone knows the importance of the NES to the gaming world; it may be the single most important console in the history of gaming. Every aspect was awesome: the cartridge, the grey/black/red controller, the zapper, and of course that little power light. 

Who didn't love the beam gun/zapper? I remember fighting my sibling for the gun every time we played. Ever wonder how it worked? I know I have. Well here's the Wiki:

"When the trigger on the Zapper is pressed, the game causes the entire screen to become black for one frame. Then, on the next frame, the target area is drawn in all white as the rest of the screen remains black. The Zapper detects this change from low light to bright light, as well as at which screen position the change was detected. This is how the game knows which target has been hit. Because of the way the Zapper works, it can only be used on CRT displays. It will not work on LCDs, plasma displays or other flat panel displays. A known glitch about the zapper is you can get a perfect hit score every time in some poorly programmed games by simply pointing the gun right next to and into a light bulb. After all target areas have been illuminated, the game returns to drawing graphics as usual. The whole process is almost imperceptible to the human eye, although one can notice a slight "flashing" of the image."

I always disliked that "flash" of the television; it's almost as bad as Gampel Pavilion when the photographer flashes the stadium lights (once you notice it, you can't avoid it anymore).

But I had one complaint: The console we owned wasn't completely in the best condition. Of course we had to do the infamous cartridge blow but we also had to hit it against the wood entertainment center until it functioned correctly.

Ever wonder where R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy), from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, came from? Well, he was one of the original accessories for the NES but it was only compatible with two games. Unfortunately, I never had R.O.B. But here's a great video about him:

But who needed R.O.B. when you had the legendary games?

Happy 27th Birthday NES!