Until my older sister got a Nintendo DS, the only gaming devices we had were those cheap handheld ones that had a single game on it—Sudoku, a baseball simulator—and the similarly-cheap Plug and Play TV game consoles that typically comprised a joystick, a button or two, and composite video cables. They required batteries. They were slow. I loved them.
While I’m sure we made more, four of these consoles stick in my memory the way various Nintendo consoles or the PS2 were foundations of many other people’s gaming history.
- SpongeBob SquarePants by Jakks Pacific
- Atari 10-in-1 by Jakks Pacific
- Carl Edwards Racing by Excalibur
- Digi Makeover by Mattel
I asked my sisters which they remembered most, and I was happy to see we were all on the same page, even when we were bickering over who got access to the TV.
That SpongeBob console in particular had an impressive maze game that contained several mini-games within. It was properly difficult given our age, and gave us a chance to work together. One of the mini-games was a memory challenge where four clams opened up in sequence sing notes, and you had to direct Patrick to open each one in that order. The game ran slowly enough that you couldn’t just react to your memory—you really had to think through it. It also offered the one chance for my sisters and I to play together, since three memories are sometimes better than one.1Let’s not worry about eye-witness testimonials in a criminal case.
Nostalgia is always a funny thing. Whether we would truly enjoy revisiting any of the activities we had during our childhood, we appreciate the memories and what they represent about ourselves. As history gets fuzzier, small details get trapped and emphasized, hopefully for the better.
You can get most of these consoles for around $30 on Amazon or eBay, and I’ve been sorely tempted to buy one. I should probably check whether my TV even has composite input.
- 1Let’s not worry about eye-witness testimonials in a criminal case.