contest: your fondest nintendo memories [win prizes]
March 17th, 2008 comments (109) stumble it! digg it! by: technabob
[Update 4/1/2008: The contest is now closed. Thanks for all the great entries. The winning entries have been posted here.]
Nintendo fanboys and fangirls, here’s a chance for you guys to win some awesome prizes. Just share your fondest Nintendo-related memories (by posting a comment below) and you could win an original custom Nintendo collage by fan favorite artist Chris Lange.
Chris has generously donated the following prizes for the best entries that we receive:
- 1 Grand Prize winner
Custom handmade ‘mini’ collage of any Nintendo character you want - 5 Runner Up winners
Signed 8×10 digital print of Mario, Yoshi, Waluigi, or Peach
Plus, if we get at least 100 contest entries, we’ll throw in a random drawing for $50 Amazon certificate which you can use to buy a new Nintendo game with. So even if your story doesn’t win, you’ve still got a chance to go home with a prize.
Contest Rules
To enter the contest, simply leave a comment at the end of this article, telling us your fondest Nintendo-related memory (in 150 words or less). Share any Nintendo story you’d like, but we’ll be awarding the prizes to the ones we think are the most creative, entertaining, outlandish, sentimental, humorous or just downright enjoyable.
To get your creative juices flowing, Chris has contributed this story which best describes his fondness for the “Big N”:
From the time I first picked up an NES controller, to now where I have to force myself to put the Wii controller down, there have been a lot of great Nintendo memories to choose from.
Most important to me is the game that took my fondness for video games and turned it into a passion; Ocarina of Time.
There isn’t really a singular moment I recall best, I just remember the feeling I got when playing through it the first time. I could sit on my family room floor and play for hours, happy to simply ride around the fields of Hyrule. For me, that was the game that made me realize I wanted video games to be a part of my life for years to come.
All entries must be received prior to 11:59pm Central Time on Monday, March 31, 2008 to be eligible. You must post using a valid e-mail address, and only one entry will be accepted per e-mail account. Winners will be selected by Technabob editorial staff and the artist to determine one Grand Prize winner and five Runners Up. We reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments and comment spam.
About the Artist
Chris Lange is an up and coming artist based in the Washington DC area. He is best known for his Nintendo themed collages, which are made entirely of old Nintendo Power magazines. Fittingly enough, these collages have been featured in Nintendo Power magazine, and one is even displayed in the Nintendo of America headquarters on the west coast.
Mr. Lange, an avid gamer and die-hard Nintendo fan, has attracted significant international attention for his work. In addition to his collages, his portfolio includes black and white and color photography, and computer illustrations.
If you’d like to find out more about Chris Lange or request a custom collage visit his personal website. If you are interested in purchasing one of Chris’ originals or even one of his prints you can do so at his Etsy or eBay pages.
filed under: geek art + craft video games
tags: artchris langecollagecontestcraftgamemarionintendoprincess peachprizesyoshi
March 17th, 2008 comments (109): stumble it! digg it! by: technabob
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When i was smaller, around the age of 3 or 4, i loved too get into things and snoop arond. While i was looking in my grandparents garage, i looked up at all their boxes and saw a box witha picture of a super nintendo. I asked my grandpa is i could play with it and he hooked it up and we played it. I would never forget that day because i remeber my mom and uncles and aunts and we all took turns playing it and it was alot of fun.
My first time playing knock out.. I beat all the boys in my neighborhood and they are still prol still in shock that a girl whipped their butts
I added you on prizeatron too!
http://www.prizeatron.com
My fondest memory would be playing Bubble Bobble (the best Nintendo game ever created next to Mario) for hours and hours with my twin sister and never being able to get past level like 95. But, we still played for countless hours!
I am a fanatic about mario. I have played every mario game known to man and I just can’t get enough of it. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is totally awesome. I remember one time I was playing Super Mario 64 and I was at the snow level and i had my cousin over at the time. So anyway I was versing the penguin and I flew off the edge and landed on the finish line and won. My cousin was like how the heck did u do that? I said I don’t know. Mario games are so much fun. I can’t get enough mario. Even the first mario is still cool to me. Hopfully there is more mario games to come. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games is real fun too. Mario was the best game invented!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO MARIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My brother and I used to play 2-player super mario brothers when we were growing up. I would get frustrated when he was playing for too long, so I convinced him the pits in one the water levels were warp zones. He fell for it and died. Then it was my turn again, but not before he threw his controller at me and made my nose bleed. Also, I would beat him in the head with my Gameboy if he beat me in 2-player linked Tetris.
Cool. I’m thinking Link (Skip to me)
Man I don’t even care if I win, I just want to share my experience. I’m 22 and was around 4 when I got my NES for Christmas. It was amazing to play super Mario it was the first video game I ever played. My grandpa passed away last year and didn’t know what video games were but he usually sat back and watched me play. I remember I convinced him to play one time and although he didn’t like me playing for so long he played just to make me happy. It felt great seeing him try to play and since then I remember I still push my parents to try these and show them why they made me had a great time. I’m still a huge fan of these old school games and reading all the posts here brought back great memories. Like taking the TV outside in summer and blowing the cartridges to make them work. Thanks to everyone and thanks grandpa.
I was introduced to the Nintendo system rather late in life (not until college in the late 90s). Super Mario Brothers, however, I used to play on the Commodore 64 with my older brother.
My favorite Nintendo memory spans a decade. When I first started playing the SMB games, I always had trouble getting by the flying turtles. My roommate (whose systems we were playing on) always played Mario and I got to play Luigi. One day when we were first playing, I ran right into a flying turtle and died. Without thinking about it, I burst out with “That d*mn duck!” (yes, I know they are actually turtles, but in my defense the graphics weren’t what they are now…) My roommate was so surprised that he started laughing so hard that he didn’t realize that he had walked into a spike pit until the game over sign showed up.
Last year, my husband bought SMB3 for the gameboy since I kept insisting that it was the only game that I knew how to fly. Unfortunately, my game playing had not improved over the last decade and within my first hour of gameplay, the flying turtles and I were duking it out. My husband (who was playing the Wii while I was sitting there playing the gameboy) fell off the couch laughing when once again I shouted “That d*mn duck!”
Alas, neither my former roommate nor my husband will let me forget those comments…
Oh man Nintendo, even when we first got it, it was already going out of style but my sister and I LOVED it. My favorite memory was probably Donkey Kong, I was obsessed my sister and i used to create stories about each individual Kong and draw pictures and diagrams. i still have those papers to this day and Donkey Kong is still one of my favorites
When I was in 3rd grade I played my first video game it was Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time. My jaw dropped while i played, I was blown away by this tiny world and all of the people in it. I wanted to be in Hyrule and play with the zora’s. I was new to my school and didn’t have many friends but when I would come home I would pop in Zelda and I was fine (later it helped me make friends). Then when i got older i learned how games were made and I wanted to make games like Zelda so other kids could get lost in them and enjoy their own world. I am now a college student majoring in graphic design and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time is still my all time favorite game.
My favorite memories would be playing Super Mario Brothers and Duck hunt with my mom and Dad and when they gave it to me they gave me the Nintendo for my birthday and Christmas they put it under the tree a few days before Christmas wrapped in a garbage bag.
It’s December 25, 1987 and I am 5 years old eagerly waiting to unwrap my presents. I haven’t slept all night because I know I’m going to unwrap the coolest present ever: a NES gaming system (or as this native, Texan boy says, “a Nin-‘tin-da!”). To my dismay, I had no presents left and I hadn’t unwrapped my NES yet. I was disheartened when my mom gave me an envelope. I thought to myself, “Great, it’s going to be money or something.” The note inside the envelope said, “Santa left another gift in the bed of the truck in the garage.” I slowly walked into the garage and immediately my attitude went from sad to running around my house like a madman when I saw the NES box! To this day, my mom always tells me this story and wishes she would’ve had a video camera to record it.
When I got my first full time “real” job after I finished undergrad, I was super excited to be able to buy a really cool gift for my brother for Christmas. Unfortunately, he wanted a system that was not the N64. I bought him the system he wanted and surprised him.
My parents bought me a N64. I was so happy to get that (and a cousin bought me Mario 64) and be able to play MARIO! I still love Mario. I bought a Game Cube and a Nintendo DS just to play the Mario games. He reminds me of great times with my favorite cousins (who had an original NES). I also remember playing SNES with my mother.
She and I would play Tetris Attack all the time. I was staying up late at night building my skills. I would dream about flipping blocks and creating combos. She eventually refused to play the game with me anymore. I would beat her even if I was set at level 7 and she was on level 2 (difficulty levels). She would yell at me every time a brick would fall on her side. To this day, we never played that game again. Maybe I’ll be able to talk her into it…
My fondest memory was playing with ROB the robot and the spinning gyroscopes back in 1985 with my MOM.
My fondest memory is Wii Camping the night before the launch. My boyfriend really wanted to go and I thought he was nuts, but I knew how badly he wanted the system so we sent our daughter to grandma’s and went to Target around 9 PM. There were already quite a few people there sitting around playing DS games and watching TV on a little television set someone brought. For some reason, at 11 PM Target turns off all the lights in their parking lot and it got hella dark! In the middle of the night around 1 or 2, we formed a big group and walked 5 minutes to Denny’s down the street to use their bathroom.
People were running around playing football in the parking lot and it was an all around good time… till some asshat came a few minutes before the store opened and got right in front of the launch sign and said that he was “first” because we wern’t in line. Luckly the Target peeps told him we were there all night even if we wern’t lined up right in front of the sign… He got real crazy angry- and I was kind of afraid he was going to try and kill us all or something. Overall, that was a super fun night and next time Nintendo launches another console, I’d love to do it again!
I used to paly the original Mario with my nephew, I was about 22 and he was 7, it was crazy, He never let me own, but now, we play alot of games from nintendo together, I look back now and see even though he was a pain,I will always remember that and how much fun we really had even though we would fight over how long each of us got to play….he always won!!
nintendo time has always been a big thing for me and my two best friends. in fact, we’ve made it a point to dedicated a whole night to playing nintendo every week. when everything in the world seems to be going wrong, we call each other up and play our blues away. the fun and laughter playing mario party on my friends wii has gotten all 3 of us through some of the worst life has brought us.
but ill never forget the day we were all sitting around playing super paper mario on the wii when my friend announced that nintendo was in fact saving his life. he recently got out of court ordered rehab after fighting a 4 year battle with drugs and he had made it a point to call us all together for a nintendo party everytime he got the urge to use. the fact that we could all just be together and laugh and do something fun, something that took him another(non-drug induced) world has truly saved him. so now, whenever he calls and wants to play, we drop everything to sit around and play nintendo.
It was the Christmas our kids were 3 and 5. We surprised them with a Super Nintendo! I think it was more for hubby than them! They woke up to the sounds of “Mario” that Christmas morning. Our 3 year old son sat back and watched us play for 2 weeks before he tried. He’s 17 now and still playing it!!!
My favorite Nintendo memory consists of a terrible prank I pulled on my friend when he was playing Super Mario Bros 3. My friend Chris had finally made it all the way through Bowser’s castle and was facing off against the King Koopa himself. Now, if you remember, Bowser would try to jump up and smash Mario from above but if you could dodge him, Bowser would smash a layer of the brick floor away, effectively digging his own grave.
Anyways, so Chris managed to evade Bowser and the big baddie fell through his own hole. The shimmering door appeared that would take Mario to the princess but I proceeded to tell Chris that if he jumped down that hole, he could battle Bowser again! Gullible, Chris jumps down the hole and dies. It took him another hour to get through the castle and finally beat the game. He beat me up pretty good but it was worth it.
My fondest Nintendo moment is when me and my twin sister were younger, and played on the original Nintendo, we would play Super Mario Bros. until 4am (even though we had to wake up for school.) We would make bets, also. One time we bet on a doll, that if the other made it farther, they would get the doll.
It’s enjoyable to go down memory lane when you do have a sibling that you have shared so much with!!
my best nintendo memory is recently teaching my husband to play super mario brothers, cause he never played it when he was young
My most memorable Nintendo experience happened when I was 4 years old, back in 1994.
At the time I was living in Mexico with my mom and siblings. It was my sisters birthday so my dad who was living in the United States came for a visit and brought with him a Super Nintendo with the game Super Mario All-Stars. I really wanted to play the Super Nintendo, but I had to wait until the next day to play it because all of my relatives were crowded around the Nintendo, each waiting for their turn to play. I still remember how they were super excited about it, it was as if the Nintendo was performing magic, and in its own way, it was.
I have four sons they have always enjoyed Nintendo. I can still see the oldest whom is 30 now playing duck hunt, and Mario. My 2 youngest sons 14 and 15 love it too. If I win would love to have a Mario. thank you
My fondest memory is playing the original Gold NES Zelda and getting passed level 7 with the Wizrobes constantly zapping me into oblivion. It was so exciting. Then found out if I use LINK as my character name I can play it all over again, with all new dungeons and harder…OMG HARDER WIZROBES!!!! I beat it …thats my fondest memory ZELDA! OH ZELDA!!!! Do you remember that?
My fondest Nintendo memory is the :
“Super Smash Bros. Brawl : 12: 38
Total play time : 12: 38″ message i got on my wii the first day the game came out…
I have grown up with Nintendo and its endless adventures, but my favorite memory has it be when my older brother first beat Super Mario 64. He gathered my whole family into the living room to watch him defeat Bowser. I watched in awe, seeing Mario just jump around doing flips everywhere. When he finally beat Bowser, Mario flew away with his little winged hat; which was my favorite part.
After that, I constantly wished that I could be like Mario when I grew up and live a life full of adventures. I’ve been playing anything that’s Nintendo ever since.
My fondest Nintendo-related memories are the joy of completing SuperMario 1 & 2 and the sorrow of getting stopped by 3. Maybe someday I’ll tackle 3 again and complete my Bucket List.
Finally beating Super mario 1 after many weeks of trying!
My favorite memory is finding a ripped open and ragged looking Mario Cart game two days before Christmas in Kmart. My daughter was convinced there was no Santa Claus and she would not tell anyone what she wanted for Christmas. Luckily she sent in a letter to the radio station through her class at school. And I just happened to hear it as I was stopping for gas. She was 8 at the time and I think she believed in Santa until she was 11.
My fondest Nintendo recollection is actually my first. It was christmas in 1988, at four years old my uncle gave us an NES. A full blown gaming system, I’d used an Atari before, but it wasn’t ours, it wasn’t at home.
Evan had given us the Nintendo Entertainment System with a blaster, two controllers and a copy of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt. It took us a full twenty minutes to figure out how to deal with it, but from then on, we were hooked, pretty much everyone in the household played nearly constantly for the first couple weeks.
It was my first and favourite Nintendo moment.
My fondest Nintendo memories happened when I moved to a new apartment in a new state. The only person I knew in town was my boyfriend, and he lent me his N64 to keep myself company in the evenings in my first few weeks of living here.
I filled my nights with Mario 64, Mario Kart, and a whole host of other Nintendo games. They definitely kept me from getting lonely and helped me transition into living in a new place, all alone!
When I was a kid we used to play Mario all the time
hahaha this brings to mind of me and my best friend Carol playing Super Mario when it all first came out. We would call each other at all times of the day to see how far one another got on the game. Now we are older but we had been hooked by the game and after awhile when I went for a drive in my car all i could see was the pathway on the game in my head. now that was way to much palying for a old gal like me.
I remember sitting up late at night my boyfirend at the time now my husband trying to beat super mario. I think that it took us at least 3 to 4 months to figuare this game out
winning
It was a great occasion when we got the original Nintendo system back in the day! I have five brothers and sisters, so to curb arguments, our parents made the six of us work out a schedule for blocking off turns for playing Nintendo. We mapped out the entire day (including school hours) AND night (although we had to forfeit those turns due to bedtimes). The funniest part is that the rest of us would just sit and watch the player, so basically we were all sitting in front of the Nintendo practically our entire waking moments. Good times!
AHaha,. 1 word.
WOOOOOOOPIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Playing Mario Kart as a family and laughing at the banana peels.
when i beat Super Mario brothers
I suppose my fondest Nintendo memory is when I called in sick to work for a week to play and finish the Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask game. It was so worth it!
Thanks for the giveaway!
playing the legend of zelda
My fondest memory is playing Super Mario Brothers with my granddaughter. I know she loves me dearly but considers me just grandma, a nice old lady who bakes cookies. I love the look on her face when not only could I play but gave her a serious run for her money. From that day on she looks at me with love, respect and one of those “who is this white haired lady anyway??”
I can remember being 20, and in love, and “living in sin” with Jim. LOL I found out how to CHEAT on a Nintendo game and NEVER told him – How I won EVERYTIME shhhhhhhhh LOL
Dude, I remember playing the original Donkey Kong arcade game at the roller rink on Friday nights. I would be standing there wearing rented roller skates with red wheels and sliding around while giving it my all. I would save my money all week and trade it in for quarters (keeping just enough for candy and pop.) My parents thought I went there to socialize
I was late for work one night playing pacman with my son !Time got away!
My fondest Nintendo memory is from 2004 ,when I cosplayed as a Hispanic Princess Peach,
It was at a convention and I had many laughs and drinks with African American Princess Peach and her boyfriend African-American Mario.
I met a really tall Link cosplayer and we dated for a while and played many video games together.
Sometimes, during lovemaking, I made him keep the pointy ears on.
It was brief but it was fun.
I wonder if he ended up marrying a Zelda cosplayer?
My son wanting us to watch him play video games when he was little and thinking we’d be impressed. He went onto college to compete in a Guitar Hero championship and won. This came in handy when he applied for an internship and the employer asked which song was his favorite on Guitar Hero. He replied “Guitar Hero I or II” The employer replied “touche” and he got the internship and 2 college credits. Amazing. He’s now in advertising.
My favorite Nintendo memories are from when I was about 8 years old. My buddy Eric–who was a year younger than I was–had an 8-bit NES with that old track&field game “World Class Track Meet” (Bandai 1988) with the Power Pad, our favorite event was the long jump.
Boy did we get yelled at with all the noise we created with that thing. Then, of course, there was Double-Dragon. Gosh, Eric and I would just sit there for hours playing the games.
Now I get to share Wii with my son… once he’s old enough to play in about a year or two.
My fondest nintendo memories was when i was 14 years old and i got my first Mario game-its was just incredible.I have played it 24 hours and more- i had a sleep problems and when i wasnt able to play my sister played it.We had a deal-i play 2 hours and she played 2 hours.The game was Mario 2-it was rock hard,but so great to play-i couldnt wait to save the princess.But with 2 of us-we managed it.I remeber it clearly this game-even now-it was just so intense-Mario is the best:)
What’s that, son? Did we have video games when I was a boy? Sure we did, but I was a little older than you when they came along. Back then everybody had a Nintendo system at home, same as today. Your Uncle Tim and I played all the time. In those days there wasn’t much for kids to do, especially growing up in a small town. But playing games like Super Mario Brothers and Dragon Warrior made us feel like we were going on great adventures. Just like when you and I played Twilight Princess together last year, remember? So Nintendo is pretty important to me. It’s one of the reasons Uncle Tim and I grew up to be good friends, just like you and me. As you get older, there’ll be lots of great adventures we can take together. Time to sleep now. Good night son, I love you.