I want to get something across to those who just started gaming and haven't ever heard of a Super Nintendo or a Nintendo.  The graphics of old were kick ass back when they came out.  Seriously.  Sega, you'll notice, has spent a lot of time getting games to look good.  Moreso that making a game good.
	When it came down to it, I really didn't care.  The Nintendo had a more user friendly interface.  Two buttons you used a lot, two buttons to select and start, and a pad to direct your characters.  It didn't matter that there were bootlegs or crappy graphics, we had a lot more games and they were usually ten bucks cheaper out here.
	I think my biased opinion sprouted from the gift my father gave me and my brothers when I was about nine or so.  My dad was the cooky sort.  He dragged us out to some damn place, got the three of us to play football, then give us a Nintendo unit that was, back then, close to $200 worth.  It was a complete package.  A Super Mario Brothers, Duck Hunt, Track & Field game, a light gun, two controllers, and the Power Pad.
	God, I still remember running on that damn Power Pad, late at night when my mom was asleep, trying with all my might to get the damn character on the screen to move faster than the Panther.  I beat him at least fifteen times in a row running normally before my oldest brother showed me that you could just kneel down and vibrate the sensors to make your character go warp factor 6.  Using that technique and the slowest pads, I trashed Panther five times.
	Dad was as worried as we were that she'd freak, and we actually managed to keep it hidden for about two and a half months before she caught on.  Actually, I think she thought we were masturbating while my second oldest brother and I raced each other.  (I think he won on the triple jump, simply because I'd faulted out of surprise.)  On retrospect, I think it might've been better if we had been masturbating.  It didn't take us long to convince her that the warranty had passed, so we could only trade it in for a new one.  She wasn't happy, though.  Of course, we also convinced her that we hadn't been hiding it long, which toned down her anger a bit.
	Getting the rented games past her was the funniest part.  I think we told her it was a new kind of videotape.  Of course, when the secret was out, we had fun explaining to our dad that we had to 'rewind' the videogames.  I think it took him three months to figure that one out.
	Anyway, the point is that I got addicted to Nintendo and after about fifteen rentals of the Super Nintendo, we got one of them too.  I doubt many of you have ever had the experience of being thirteen years old, with a thirty lbs. suitcase in one hand and a plastic game of SNES games in the other, biking home about four miles, and managing to not wipe out more than seven times.  (Many of you would point out the deposit of a $150 to $200 dollar check for game systems.  We had a close friend who ran a video store who just held onto that check until he went out of business, then he just mailed it back to us, the word "Void" on it.  I think that check was three years old at that point.)
	The things we did in the name of entertainment.  That's what builds your bias-ness.  You lose your balance on a mountain bike, have a thirty lbs. suitcase hit you your left ribs while your bicycle handlebar hits you right below the sternum, you defend your idiocy to the death (or the next set of bruised ribs, whichever comes first).  At least until the next set of systems comes out.
	Yep, you youngsters got it good.