Photo By roboppy

What was better than a pet dog? A dog that wasn’t real! it had all the benefits… you could feed it, play with it, and watch it grow. Whether is was a cheap imitation or a more popular brand, there was nothing that compared to that nurturing feeling you got from a digital pet. The goal was to keep it alive as long as possible and to help it grow into older stages. Unfortunately, death was difficult to avoid, and I never saw mine get very old. Other friends who were successful inspired me to keep trying, but eventually I lost mine (which was easy to do because of its size). Believe it or not, they are still around today!

Tamagotchis

First appearing in 1996, these Japanese key chains sold like hot cakes. This simple toy could keep a kid entertained for hours. With just three buttons on the simple egg shaped toy that fit in the palm of your hand, you could feed you pet, play games, clean up after it, check its stats, and connect with friends. They made little electronic noises to signify happy or sad. And they were so cute when they slept! Who could forget when McDonalds put toy Tamagotchis in their Happy Meals? The quality of these has definitely improved over the years after looking them up online.

Giga Pets

The first Giga Pets included the Bit Critter, Compu Kitty, Digital Doggie, and Micro Chimp. The name was much easier to say than “Tamagotchi” but didn’t sound nearly as cool. The concept was a the same, but with cooler things to have as pets. The graphics were better, but not by much. The toy in general was a much better quality, had more options, and better aesthetics. I remember having the Digital Doggie.

Time Consuming?

Teachers were smart and caught on to us having them at school and wouldn’t let you bring them. Little did they know they’d soon be having to deal with cell phones! Many of us put our trust in our parents to keep watch over them during the day only to come back home and find that our critter had died due to lack of attention. Our parent’s just didn’t understand the dedication that was necessary to keep these digital pets alive!

Which one did you prefer or which ones did you have?

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History

Believe it or not, Nintendo has been around since 1889. Before being a video game company they did things like making handmade playing cards, a cab company, and “love hotels.” All of these ventures failed, and by 1965 they were facing possible bankruptcy. The company turned to toy manufacturing leading them in the direction that was the gold mine of combining electronics with toys. In 1985  Nintendo introduced its first console to North America, which was an instant success. Nintendo is still going strong today making it the longest-surviving video game console manufacturer.

NES

Photo By dansays

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was the first console to be introduced to North America and sold over 60 million units. The NES came with the game Super Mario Bros. which is still considered the best selling video game of all time although some would argue that Wii Sports has surpassed it. My favorite game by far was “Duck Hunt” although the game I remember playing the most was “Paperboy.” I just couldn’t get over the fact that you could shoot at the TV with a plastic gun and make things happen. Kids who will grow up only knowing the Wii will never have that feeling… it will just be a normal part of life. One of the classic memories I have of the NES is blowing into the cartridge whenever the game wouldn’t work, which happened a lot. It kept things interesting and found the concept fun.

Game Boy

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The NES was followed by the Game Boy which was released in 1989 and came with the game Tetris. Talk about a brick. These things were ugly but had a huge novelty factor. You felt so cool playing one of these monsters. These also sold really well because they weren’t outrageously priced and were pretty durable. Eventually they came out with the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advanced, and Nintendo DS (which isn’t actually considered to be a part of the Game Boy family). My brother had a Game Boy color and all he played on it was Pokemon.

SNES

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In 1991 the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released and eventually sold 49 million systems around the world. It featured 16-bit technology which allowed for better quality games. It was during this time that Sega began a console war with Nintendo, which was the first competition Nintendo had since the days of Atari. I don’t think I ever played an SNES, which is strange considering I wasn’t even born when the original came out. My cousins might have owned one because it definitely looks familiar, and I know we used to go over and play Mortal Kombat. By play I mean push buttons and hope we won.

Nintendo 64

Photo By Uzbecka

This was the console that was really the highlight of my childhood simply because of the timing. When it came out in 1996, I was 8 and it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. The graphics were awesome and came with the super fun game “Super Mario 64.” I could never get enough playing time. Other favorite games were Mario Kart 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Mario Party. Of course we also played all of the Pokemon games like Pokemon Snap and Pokemon Stadium. The controllers were much more different and complex than the previous ones. Nintendo 64 was like a whole new being with the same lovable characters and name.

Photo By Daz n P

The console got its name due to the 64-bit graphics. It allowed the games to have a realistic 3D look despite using similar cartridges as previous systems. The Nintendo 64 sold over 500,000 units the day it was released and was a hot Christmas toy. This was one of the first things I remember people struggling to get their hands on. The Nintendo 64 eventually led to the GameCube and now the Wii. Nintendo has basically released a new console every 5 years so I can’t wait to see what is in store for 2011.

How about you? What are your memories? Which console was you favorite? What do you remember about Nintendo?

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Photo By StreetFly_JZ

This is a memory from more of the end of my childhood, but I remember it all the same. Before digital, Polaroids were a pretty big deal. You could practically view a picture you took instantly.

The I-Zone camera revolutionized a novelty item to be even more of a novelty item; the only thing better than a Polaroid was a mini Polaroid sticker. It was a way to reinvent something that had lost its excitement. They weren’t around for very long, but they became pretty popular during their short life span… well at least among girls.

One would think that a 1.5×1 picture wasn’t good for anything… wrong! Just a few suggestions on what to do with them: “Collect, trade, and wear these little photos! Use them as calling cards! Sign letters with them! Stick them on books, lockers, or even your friends!”

The camera was specifically designed with kids in mind, so for the first time ever a kid could own his or her very own personal camera! They came in all sorts of designs: Barbie, heat activated color changing, transparent, a variety of colored face plates you could switch out, and most crazy of all, with a built in radio! The film came both sticky and non sticky, but was pretty expensive. It had colorful and decorative patterns on the crazy tabs on either side of the photo. Polaroid also sold all sorts of accessories like picture frames for your itty bitty pictures.

Photo By polapix

Even though these were referred to as “Pocket Cameras” I have no idea how any kid ever stuck this into their pocket. Once digital cameras came out (and a camera really could fit in your pocket) there was no place for the I-Zone.

Either way, I’m so glad these existed because I really think they are cool. The sad part is that even if you still have one of these cameras they don’t make the film anymore. At least not that I’m aware of. You can probably find expired film somewhere and hope for the best.

So you tell me, I never had one, but was it worth having an I-Zone Camera?

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Photo By mercenario

Before the flash drive, the DVD, or the CD, there was of course, the floppy disk. At first appearance there was nothing floppy about it; the hard plastic outer case was what protected the thin, flexible, disk inside. A creation from IBM, it was essentially the first portable device for data storage. There were lots of fun things you could do with a floppy, but you always had to worry about accidentally erasing data or  breaking it and losing all of your projects.

Most of us only remember the 3.5 size that by the end of their time you could get in practically any color.

Photo By RaeA

Before that were the 5.25 that only held 360 KB and before that the “super sized” 8 inch floppy disks. I remember my first computer game, StickyBear, came on one of these bad boys. The graphics weren’t that great, but who cared? I finally had a real reason to use a computer!

It’s funny to think that in our grade school careers, these (3.5 floppies) were often on the school supply list. How else were you expected to work on projects and papers both at school and at home? Holding at most 1.44 MB, one project could easily use up more than one. Can you imagine backing up your computer onto a floppy disk? Although it was sad to see these become useless as technology improved, I’ll take my 2 GB flash drive over a floppy any day.

The problem is… what to do with all of them now that they are worthless antiques? Well a lot of creative people have come up with ideas on how to make notebooks, backpacks, pencil holders, and even clothing out of floppy disks.

Photo By rintakumpu

You can find a slew of tutorials on how how to make said floppy disk items online.  For more on the comeback of floppies, check this article.

I recently saw a poster that showed how many 3.5 floppy disks it would take to to store current software such as The Sims, Photoshop, Firefox, or  iTunes. I love the idea of this because you really forget how much space we have now compared to how much we used to have, and for so much less!

Matthew swears he got a floppy disk with Doomsday on it in a cereal box once…. what’s your floppy disk memory?

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