I remember back when I was a kid and my mother
would go out shopping and I would tag along and she'd
stop off at places like the supermarket, or maybe a quick outing the mall
for some clothes or housewares. It was always fun as a child to go out and go shopping with her, it's one of those cool childhood memories that will always live on inside my head. But sometimes, not always mind you,
but sometimes I'd get lucky and she would be stopping into one of my favorite stores and I'd get a chance to visit the video game section. And what a joy it was!
Now, back in the day when the NES was king of the
mountain the local department stores proudly displayed their NES
wares in giant glass cases that often donned the famous “World of
Nintendo” light up display sign at the top. To flesh things out
there would often be an NES hooked up to a monitor that would be
displaying whatever the latest hit game was and you could play it for
a few minutes before either someone else wanted a chance or the demo
would loop back to the start screen. It was really quite a glorious time and
something I remember quite fondly as a child. The games were
marvelously displayed in the glass cases and it reached out and drew
you in with colorful boxes that sported amazing artwork on the front
that made you just want to beg your parents for a new game. It was
the most colorful part of almost any department store aside from the
toy section and the sounds coming from the games being demonstrated
was enough to draw your attention from whatever your parents were looking at and put you into a state of pure bliss.
Today it seems as if department stores don't
even carry video games anymore, in fact not a lot do. I remember JC
Penny, Woolworths, Sears, Caldor, Ames, Bradley's, and other major
stores all used to carry video games but now many of those companies are out of business and the remaining ones sell mainly clothing and housewares
without a trace of video games to be found. Sad isn't it? Yeah, now
you can only find video games at Walmart or Target, unless you're
seeking out a destination store like Best Buy or Gamestop. Heck, even
Toys R' Us doesn't sell video games in the bulk they used to. Yup, their video game department has been somewhat renovated into a general electronics
department that houses video games among many other gadgets.
Back in the day Toys R' Us had rows and rows of
video games, almost as far as the eye can see, and they also had
systems set up so you can try out whatever the hottest new release
was. But I remember the TRU by me didn't have the games stored in glass
cases, instead they had the backs of the game boxes laminated on a
single sheet with tickets attached that you would take up front when
ready to purchase whatever title it was you desired. The great part about that was that you
could see screen shots of the games on the laminated sheets and read
the descriptions on the backs as you browsed, it was really quite
genius of Toys R' Us to do that. These days they have the games out in
protective cases for the consumer to grab, which is more convenient
but since they don't stock much it doesn't really matter anyway
because nobody buys games at TRU anymore.
Once in a while I was lucky enough to be treated to something special
and my mother or father would take me to the store specifically to
buy a new video game. Man, knowing that when I returned home I would
have a brand new game to play and a whole new experience to endure
was really quite a feeling and the ride home was always so painfully
long. Yeah, those long car rides home where you had the box in your
hands and you would read the back of it along with the manual a dozen
times over before finally arriving home and being able to play the game. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
This didn't happen too often though, most of my video
games came on birthday's and on Christmas, only on a few occasions
before my mid teens did I ever get to enjoy a trip to the store to
actually buy a game. But man, when it happened it was always the
best. Birthday's was always a big time for me to get a game or two and
knowing that I'd be receiving one always made the week leading into it
a slow and painful one. Same went for Christmas and it was probably ten times worse
knowing that I may even be getting a whole new console. The Christmas I got my
SNES I had found out about a month before and let me tell you, that
month dragged ass like you wouldn't believe.
No
matter what though, those classic feelings and the memories we have of our
childhood and going to the store to look at video games, or to buy one, will live within us all until the end of our days. It's comforting
enough for me to know that all I have to do is close my eyes and
envision these moments and I can be taken back to a time where retail treated their video games with respect. These moments may be lost to the sands of time but yet they're so
alive and vivid in my head, and yours too. Gotta' love it!
Twitter - @OfficialRVGA
© 2013 Bill Mulligan
