There was a time long ago where I lived in a world without Nintendo. Instead of the gradual dawning of what will eventually become the most iconic brand name for our generation after MTV that many of my gaming peers experienced, I remained in the dark throughout the Nintendo Entertainment Console's trend-setting era opting instead to stick with my slightly more humble Atari ST home computer. A mistake, as I later discovered several years later when I was more fully introduced to Nintendo via the Game Boy and Super Nintendo.
In fact, it was during a somewhat grating flight cancellation that my parents decided to buy a Game Boy to keep me entertained, rather than put up with the many creative ways a 7 year-old can voice his disappointment for such a negative development. Of course, the irony of being rewarded with what would eventually be a life-changing relationship through bad behavior (or the inevitability thereof) is still not lost to me to this day. Needless to say, I saw little of the exciting foreign sights on that vacation, unless the pixellated palm trees in Super Mario Land count as exotic flora.
Later on, several weeks after I had tired of the Game Boy's subtle charms, I found a new use for it: I could lend it to my friend on an exchange program for his SNES whenever he went on holiday, thereby depriving another bright-eyed youth of the myriad pleasures of international travel as he elected instead to stay entirely within the green- and teal-tinted worlds available in the palm of his hand. His parents must've loved me. But he was happy, and so was I, as I finally had the chance to see what all the fuss was about with this new home console my slightly wealthier school-friends had been raving about.
To say the double whammy of both Super Mario World and All-Stars changed my life would be an understatement. For one thing, I saw what 4am looked like for the first time since infancy. Secret of Mana, Starfox, Pilotwings and Zelda continued the trend of robbing me of sleep and social skills (though Super Bomberman 2 valiantly fought to recover the latter). Ever since then I've been a Nintendo junkie; getting every new system as soon as I was able. I wasn't disappointed in the N64 at all. The GBA? Loved it to pieces (this idiom being closer to the truth than I would've preferred, since it broke two years ago). Virtual Boy? OK, I might've missed that one out (my retinas sent me a 'thank you' note). I now sit writing this article with a Nintendo DS on my lap, waiting for me to resume my game of Pokemon Trozei (only 16 Rares to find!) and salivating over the proposed new features of the Nintendo Wii as I wonder how I can possibly look cool while waving a remote control around to fight off Stalfos.
And then it occurs to me: I won't care how I look. I'll be too busy having fun with Nintendo, just like I have been doing for the past 15 years.
Which is why I became a Games Designer. Not just because it's a career full of creative expressions and interesting people. Not just because it's a career that is currently growing in popularity and validity in the public eye and has more opportunities for employment available every day. It's because gaming is the most fun you can have on your own (or with good friends; provided they're not really good friends), and I want to give more of it to the world. That's what Nintendo taught me.
