In Memory of Nintendo's Family Computer

~~~Playing is one of the usual things that we always do during the early stages of our lives. Be it a game of tag, hide-and-seek, chinese garter, jack stone, shatong, chikicha, snakes and ladders, or any other crazy games that would give our poor mothers some heart attack. But nothing can beat the addictive power of the legendary Nintendo Family Computer back then. I remembered my uncles threatening me and my brother to confiscate that astounding device if we cannot finish our homework and memorize all things that we have learned. It was amazing how all twelve presidents (from Aguinaldo to Ramos) including their birth dates were remembered within an hour just to give a go on Mario and Luigi or Rambo again. When our hands had grasped the turbo controllers, everything that was memorized an hour ago vanished. All we could remember are the up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a-select-start and the combo hit commands. There were times when our uncles would take over the computer and we couldn't do anything but sulk in the corner as we watched them finish all the stages in Battle City and Ice Climber.

~~~Just thinking of this leaves a trace of nostalgia. Famicom cartridges cost a hefty amount of money at those days but hey, there is always the 20-in-1's and the 40-in-1's available so we could get loads of games and have fun in one price. Sweet. Now that I thought of it, I realized wasn't able to finish the Twin-Bee game. Hmmm... If only I could find where did our old Famicom and its cartridges had gone. Were they sent to my grandparent's old house? Probably. Did my uncles give those things away? Maybe, yeah. Were they already thrown to the garbage years ago? Guess so.

~~~I browse the Web and I stumbled into some cool stuff people had done to their Nintendo Famicoms. I don't think they are still using those to play the games considering the rapid development of 3D games which would make Famicom games look like a 19th century worn-out dial-phone. Here are some of the things I found:



Japan's Rockin' Famicom Guitar
Just look at that craftsmanship. An ingenious guitar loving individual hand made this Famicon electric six-string from Japanese timber. The measurements of the modeled Nintendo Family Computer even match up with the retro console. Everything, including the controller, the d-pad and the buttons were made from wood. The name of this creation? The Family Comguitar. Beautiful. Brian Ashcraft

Got this from kotaku.com and though you could "play" some struggling riffs out of it, it could not be a substitute for the real guitar.



Universal TV Remote Controller
Just in time to add another bibelot to your already growing collection of Nintendo themed household accoutrement, comes this Famicom themed universal TV remote. Unfortunately, it doesn't control cable boxes or DVD players, only televisions. The list of compatible brands are: Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Sylvania, Sanyo, Aiwa, Hitachi, Philips, NEC, JVC, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and Fujitsu. Not recommended for TV's older than 5 years or so. And in case you were wondering, yes, this is an official Nintendo branded product. These are limited editions from Japan, so order now while supplies last! Flynn De Marco

I wonder what will happen if the up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a button combination is pressed?





A Family of Famicoms
Uhmm... I didn't know that there are different sizes of Famicoms. The tiniest one is so cute. lol




Remote-controlled Mario and Toad Toys
They could walk but I wonder if pressing "B" would make them throw those fire balls and "A" would make them jump. Oh, boy. I'm digging this.

yikes

As one's heart has unknowingly stepped into the world of despair, it slipped uncontrollably with nothing but a thin piece of string to hold on to. Eventually, that string would break, leaving the heart to fall on what seemed to be an infinite black hole of loneliness. The heart desperately screamed, begging for something to catch it and pull it back to that same warm spot where it was pampered by love, clothed with happiness, and wrapped with comfort. But it plunged in the hole so deep that its cry for help faded into the vast sea of pride, leaving itself screaming in vain. After falling for a trillion light-years away, it crashed upon a carpet of hurt, pierced by the blades of ineluctable hopelessness. The poor heart could only stare at the sneering faces of the victorious conspirators of misery, thinking of capitulation as the only way out of this cruel world of hate.

The wonders of Boredom

I'm sitting on my desk and found myself staring absentmindedly at the blinking cursor of the user name field of a certain website. Unmistakably bored but not drowsy, it seems that there aren't much tasks to be done at work lately. That is one of the best things that is currently happening for it means that we can spend more glorious time in surfing the web, downloading illegal stuff, playing online games, and of course, more time to reflect on the deeper side of what we call life. Nice.

Reflection. My mind is full of things to ponder on but it could not come up to a conclusion as to what to mull over first. That resulted to drifting from a jumble of befuddled thoughts to a blank state of mind. Now, I couldn't think of anything except writing this article about me who cannot think of anything. Hence, boredom appeared with a dramatic "poof!" sound in my head.

Boredom. It is like sleeping but with eyes opened and feeling that your brain is sitting at the back of your skull, drooling and staring at a blank wall of confusion. Thoughts are swirling, quite unfocused, not sure what to do to make my monochromatic life restore its technicolor state. The present seemed to be dimmed, with only one light struggling to blink, not reaching the other wavelengths (kung sa ato pa, kaponderon na ang suga). I grew tired of this feeling and started to pace back and forth on the floor. Great. Now I'm the floorwalker. I kept on walking, trying to find someone to bug. Most of the people I have seen have that do-not-disturb-or-you're-screwed energy field radiating within a 2-feet radius around them. Finally, I found derrick whose energy field was switched off for a moment but he appeared to be located five miles away from my desk. Naturally, I bugged him but then I found a laser-beam of a look on one of my superiors which reminded me of the uncanny ability of my boss to suddenly appear anywhere to catch some misbehaving staff. Hmmm, I always wondered if my boss has the power to apparate like the witches and wizards in Harry Potter's world... Maybe he's a wizard. Haha. So much for the weird things I'm thinking when I'm bored. Oh well, back to my desk.

Amazing. I still find myself surprised that I spent five whole minutes staring into the computer screen absentmindedly when this has already been a regular hobby of mine.
I covered my face with my jacket. Gee, I look like an ostrich with its head buried in an upside-down ground. Dyan, who sits beside me, seemed to be busy figuring out the Fourier series - the side-effect to her of having nothing much to do. I remembered back in college on how I was able to manage to get it but forgot how it worked a day after then managed to scribble some long unknown solution on my exam in my indecipherable hand-writing, hoping that the teacher would give up reading my solutions and could place a check there as a sign of capitulation. Guess it worked.

The weird things I'm thinking when I'm bored. Hey, I am bored yet I am thinking! Wow.......

......Wow...

...

...

?


Now what?


(As I realized that, my mind went back to thinking nothing. It won't let me think more. Cranky mind I got here. Have to end this article.)

Yadda, Yadda...

After what seemed like eternity, I finally got the "time" to migrate to a different site for me to give my stupid little mind a place to dispose its crazy nonsensical ideas incessantly. While listening to Pearl Jam's Daughter and Better Man, I have come up with some weird stuff to do in my free time than wasting my time releasing a piece of my mind to a blog where anybody could read, yet it quickly disappeared faster than Marilyn Manson being confronted with a make-up remover. Now give me a minute to figure what was that... Nah, can't remember it. Guess I'm stuck to blabbering with myself here. Word up!