Addiction

I am, in every conceivable way, a child of the 80's. I can name for you all twelve members of the Legion of Doom. If one were to say to me, "It's a wagon wheel!", I would immediately respond with, "It's time for timer!" I will tell you about the horrors of new coke if you would like. I remember "Manamal".

What marks me most as a member of the leg-warmer and giant bangs generation though, are the video games. We were the people who went beyond pong to games that were sophisticated tests of 8-bit skill and stamina. Sometimes when I see kids running to the store to pick up the hottest game of the month (I believe it's "FightFight Revolution XV: The Bloodening" right now) I often find myself thinking just how badly I could kick their asses at Karate Champ.

So it was that huge portions of my childhood were spent in a dirty, but much beloved arcade. Poorly lit with stained brown carpets creating the only appropriate atmosphere to try and master Defender. Then, one day, a new game came onto the scene. It was a game that would change the world. A game that would launch a thousand ships. A game that would bind us all.

Super Mario Bros.

It was a game like no other. A game that everyone simply had to play to be cool. Every day after school I would go straight to the arcade in an attempt to feed my new found addiction. Every day after school I would arrive to find a trio or quartet of swarthy teenagers huddled around the game, each with all the money in the world in tokens lined up on the machine in reservation. It was a shiny barrier telling those of us with dreams of playing that our time would be better spent working out our strategy for Elevator Action. It only got worse as the teenagers got better at the game and could play for hours at a time on one token.

I was on the verge of giving up when I was hit with divine inspiration. The arcade, on Sunday, opened at 10am. To play my game I would be there right when they opened! I was, at that moment, clearly the smartest child on earth. The first Sunday in which I incepted my plan I was up and ready to well before the time of opening. Shortly before ten I was on my bike and speeding towards digital nirvana. Just as I suspected my plan worked perfectly. When I arrived there was nary a soul to be found other than the bleary eyed attendant.

For months that became my Sunday ritual. Up by ten and off the arcade where it was all mine. After a couple of weeks the attended started giving me a few tokens to run next door and get her coffee.

I still love the video games, but sometimes as I'm immersed in the latest graphical wonder I'll think to myself, Yie Ar Kung-Fu was so much better.