The Original Nintendo Is The Most Important Video Game System Ever

TENGKU BAHAR. Getty Images.

I'm not going to sit here and try to argue that the original Nintendo is the greatest video game system of all-time. The PlayStation 2 and 5 are substantially better. The NES isn't even the best Nintendo ever. The Super Nintendo may be the best video game system of all-time. But there is no question that the Nintendo is the most important video game system of all-time.

It wasn't the first. The Atari had come out first. I'm old enough to have had one. But the games were kind of shitty even back then and that's saying something considering we didn't know any better.

Pac-Man and Pitfall were great but look at that joystick? Atari's were very popular but they didn't create excitement like the Nintendo did when it came out in 1985. By 1987, every kid wanted an NES. It was never that way with Atari. From my perspective as a little kid, it seemed that Dad's were more excited about getting an Atari then the kids I knew.

Nintendo was different because it made video games more accessible. The games were easier to learn and play. They were also much more fun. Super Mario Bros. is still a great game. If someone is playing that even today, I instantly want to play as well. That's impressive for a game that's nearly 40 years old. Add in getting Duck Hunt with the system too and you have so many hours of entertainment and that's just the games that came with the system.

Add in The Legend Of Zelda, Tetris, Tecmo Bowl, RBI Baseball, the original Madden, Mike Tyson's Punch Out and others. These added so much more depth than anything we had seen before then. The sports games specifically were so much better than anything Atari could do. It was a giant leap for a gaming system.

I know it doesn't look like much now but it wasn't just the graphics were that much better (believe it or not, they really were) but the games were so much more fun to play. The Atari games weren't as entertaining and replayable. Maybe that's why we haven't seen the same level of nostalgia for the Atari like we have the Nintendo.

Let's not forgot that if the NES wasn't a massive success, we would never have had the Game Boy or the Wii years later. Would Sony and Microsoft have invested so much money on building the PlayStation and Xbox?  Nintendo was so big, there was even a rival. Sega was the Pepsi to Nintendo's Coke. But as good as some Sega games were (NHL in particular), NES had the edge Sega was a good gaming system. Nintendo was a passion. It even had a successful magazine called Nintendo Power that was a must read from 3rd-8th grade.

Not every NES feature was a massive success. The early editions had this weird robot guy called the R.O.B. who was supposed to help you play some games. The technology didn't really work and ended up only being a feature for two games but you'd see this guy collecting dust in living rooms during the 80's.

The other weird thing they had was the Power Pad. This really was a precursor to the Wii but just way ahead of its time. Even so, I loved the Power Pad. Doing the World Class Track Meet and sprinting against friends was always awesome. Could we have just gone outside and ran around? Sure. Trying to run as hard as you could so the buttons could pick up your steps was much more fun.

If you were a kid from the 1985-90 and you woke up Christmas morning to a Nintendo under the tree, it was the best Christmas. Some would say it was the Best Christmas Ever…so I made an ugly sweater honoring the most important video game system ever.

If you get it between now and 10 AM tomorrow, you'll save 20%! If you are super young reading this, get this for your older sibling (or parent). Even if you're old like me, it's a great thank you for your parent who bought you the Nintendo all those years ago and gave you that amazing Christmas memory. Basically, please buy as many of these as possible! All kidding aside, they really did come out great.