the donkey kong title screen.

this classic video game title screen used to make me very nervous as a child because i knew that i was about to get my rear-end kicked by a video game. no other game posed such a large challenge to me as donkey kong and i know that i’m not alone. that tense feeling when i saw the title screen was still the same after all these years. quite frankly, i’m sure that i’ll have nightmares with this exact screen as the focal point soon.

regardless of my childhood fears, a big thank you to nintendo for offering this classic at 30 cents as a virtual console download. in contrast to my expectations i can’t believe how much fun i had playing this last night. i learned a lot, but most importantly that adult eric is simply a better and more patient gamer than child eric.

by the way – as the donkey kong title screen shows – this game is now 32 years old! i know that the steep difficulty level, 8-bit boxy graphics, and one button control of a game from the early 80s is not everyone’s cup of tea but that mixed with the nostalgia of donkey kong made for a fun evening of gaming. my three year old son in particular (who is a huge wreck-it ralph fan) enjoyed watching me play it and seeing donkey kong throw barrels at me as i ascended the screen. and let’s be honest, the 2012 wreck-it ralph movie is the disney personification of donkey kong.

your turn.

has anyone else picked up a game older than let’s say 20 years and noticed how difficult games used to be? but also how much fun they can be? let me know below.