The Nintendo Entertainment System was the first classic system in my mind. It was the first system I ever got and it came out one year before I was born. Back in the day, it was the pinnacle of gaming and the Legend of Zelda was the way to be cool. In case you didn't know, the NES was most likely the main reason that Nintendo stands for what it is today. To start off, Nintendo entered the market at the perfect time. This shining moment allowed Nintendo to sneak into the video game business and build up its monopoly. At the time, there wasn't much competition. Even though Atari did have a major hold on the gaming industry, they didn't hold solid ground for sure. Because of this, Nintendo saw an opportunity to strike the heart of the infidel and they did so by releasing the NES.

To start off, it was ahead of the Atari system both in the visual and audio departments. The NES came with an 8-bit processor which was like the 3.0 ghz in modern times. It was able to process excellent sprites, at a good framerate while providing details. It was also able to show around 23 different colors at once on screen which was an improvement for the industry itself. The sound itself was fairly good. Even though the hardware of the sound wasn't that advanced at the time, many developers took advantage of it and ended up making excellent, memorable tunes. The controls were very simple. You would have your two action buttons which would be A & B. This made it simple for platformers to implement a jump button and an action button. There were two buttons in the middle of the paddle called select & start. Select could be used as a special function for switching items or changing weapons. Start was almost always used for an advance to next screen or pause function. Finally, you would have your simple 4-directional pad on the left side which made it easy to control your hero or vehicle. With simple controls, this allowed young children and even adults to play with ease. There were also extra accessories such as a powerpad, which was a pad that you would run on in order to play this one game. A light gun, which was used in a few shooting games. A powerglove, which was a completely different designed NES controller. And finally, there was R.O.B. which was suppose to be some sort of an AI device that played games along with the user. Regardless of the accessories, the Nintendo Entertainment System already had endless amounts of gamers buying their system. It was basically the 'thing' to get back then.

The games in the NES library were supreme. Many of the classics are now full series on many next-generation systems. To start off, Nintendo came up with some great games that are still enojoyable in modern time. One of their most successful game series ever, Super Mario Bros. bombarded the scene selling well over fifteen million copies. The Legend of Zelda was yet another adventure/RPG which created fanatics following the series every step it goes. Excitebike, Final Fantasy, Double Dragon, SMB 3, Journey to Silius, and so on all contributed to the NES's success. Some of the classics only had great gameplay while games such as DD and JtS had some of the best musical scores ever heard of. Plus with over 700 games in the library, gamers had a decent choice of what they wanted to play. In my mind, the NES just rocked the gaming world and started the platform of video games. I still find it funny that I can play my NES more than my N64 or a PSX. Only time will tell if the legend of a classic system can uphold its status...

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