My Experience with Nintendo Video Game Consoles Over the Years
- fotaquest
- Jul 1, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 4
My Experience with Nintendo Video Game Consoles Over the Years:
By Lars Guo
Published: July 1, 2024
Opening message: Hi folks! I hope you are doing well! Today’s blogs are about Nintendo consoles regarding my history and thoughts about the consoles, the audience, pros and cons, and would I get it if I had the opportunity to buy it all over again. Disclaimer: These are my opinions and I am not sponsored by Nintendo. Please enjoy.
Audience: Gaming consoles are for kids, adults, and teens. I would recommend for kids to be at least 5 years old for a gaming console. Kids must have enough discipline to be able to stop when their guardians tell them to stop relatively speaking. Maybe 4 years old would be the youngest I go depending on the kid. There are all kinds of kids out there so different strokes for different people. I had access to a Gameboy when I was five years old and thought that was an appropriate age to get one. Something to note, you might want it to be slightly higher age when getting a console because game consoles have apps such as Youtube that can potentially bring unwanted content. The Nintendo Switch has that or parental controls on when giving your kid a console or electronic in general. It is important to like gaming and/or have the potential to like gaming for the expensive product to be worth it.
Wix's photo
Game boy: I never officially owned it but I borrowed the console from my brothers. As mentioned in the audience section, I got it at age 5. My very first game was Pokemon Yellow. My brothers would help me get through the game since I was a young kid and struggled with the puzzles. They taught me how to play Pokemon with strategies in mind. I did not officially own the game but it was borrowed. This makes Pikachu my very first officially owned Pokemon in the game. Was it worth it? Yes because it led to my love for video games and being able to play games with my brother. While it isn’t everything, it led to being my brother’s video game partner which is true to this day. Video game sessions would be shared with our ski trip and summer break family friends in terms of playing together.
Game boy Advance: On my 8th birthday, I got a Gameboy Advance. It was my first official console. It was purple. The first official game that I got was Pokemon Emerald. I did not know it at the time but it was one of the hardest out of the Pokemon game trio between Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. It was a great game and I learned a lot. My first Pokemon was Torchic. The easier route to go which I did not know at the time was to go with the water type Pokemon, Mudkip. My brother still helped me out. I brought it everywhere and played for over 1000 hours. I remember bringing the game with me when my brother and I walked to his interview for a summer job since I was too young to stay home alone. Was it worth it? Yes. The trend continued with our family friends that we mentioned earlier.
Nintendo DS: My brother and I split the console. I do not remember whether we split the cost or whether we got it as a gift and our parents told us that we are sharing it. My sneaking suspicion is that we bought it half and half. It was the first game console that you could charge and have wireless trading without the need of a cable to trade Pokemon. We played Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. At some point my brother upgraded to a Nintendo DS lite and this one was mine. We traded Pokemon so we both got all of the starters for the sake of the Pokedex information. I owned Pokemon Diamond and Platinum. My brother had other games that he was interested in so there were games that we did not play together. Pokemon was a game we had in common. Was it worth it? Yes. It was worth having a game console where my brother and I can spend quality time bonding through video games.
Nintendo DS Lite: This was the first console that I bought for $169.99. This was also backwards compatible with DS games and Gameboy advance games. I got the red one since my brother already had the black one and the only other color that was available in store was the red one. It did not matter to me. I think I got it on black Friday and my brother went with me. I played Pokemon Black and White I and II. My brother took the game's opposite version exclusives in order to have access to the full Pokedex. Was it worth it? Yes.
Nintendo 3DS: I bought it $249.99. The game console was backwards compatible so I was able to play Nintendo DS games, Gameboy Advance games, and 3DS games. My brother and I went together on Black Friday to get the console since it would be cheaper. He wanted a Mario game and there was only a red game console left. I honestly don't care about the color enough to be disappointed in getting red. We both got what we wanted. It was another game console set that we could play together, especially Pokemon. I played Pokemon Sun, Ultra Sun, and X/Y for Pokemon games. On the plane, we played Mario Kart and Smash Bros together. Was it worth it? Yes.
Nintendo Switch: I bought it for $299.99. I was not sure whether I wanted it or not since I did not play as much with video games as I used to. When I started working, I made a fantastic friend who had the Nintendo Switch and we agreed to play video games together every Friday so that was the straw that inspired me to go get the switch. We played pretty soon after I got the switch. My friend was and is still way better than me but it was a lot of fun! I also played on my brother’s switch when he visited our house and it was fun. This was before we established a video games night together online. It was established in January 2020 when we decided to play video games remotely. I got all kinds of games such as Pokemon Shield, which I faced a couple of friends with a couple of wins and losses, Pokemon Scarlet which I played in Japanese, Pokemon Violet which I played a challenge run with all starters, Smash Bros which is the main game I played with my brother, Mario Kart which we played with our siblings, Yugioh Duel Links, Naruto Ultimate Ninja storm which was a little bit before the challenges were too hard, Harry Potter Lego games which was recommended to me by my brother’s friend, Pokemon Arceus which was a gift from a friend of mine, Dragon Quest 11 which was a gift and recommended to me by my brother, Dragon Quest Dark Prince which I was still in the middle of playing and recommended by my brother, Monster Hunters which I am playing and recommended by my brother, Animal Crossing which were recommended by friends, and so forth. The Nintendo Switch was absolutely worth it as I got furloughed by my workplace and played video games everyday with friends and my brother. I am quite sure I got my money’s worth quickly. The most played game is Smash Bros and was able to play with family and friends. There is an online membership which was worth it seeing how much I played with family and friends. I still have it and continue to play games with family and friends.
Pros: It is great to have a connection with family and friends and be able to get together via online for modern consoles. It is great to try a variety of games for different types of people, age groups, etc. Better graphics definitely helped throughout the years especially to make the games look great. All of the game consoles I owned were portable. It can be a lot of fun especially when doing it with friends and family.
Cons: It is addictive and getting kids off it is hard. It is hard to keep track of time. It is an electronic that has blue light making it bad for the eyes and brain for the night time. It is great that it has light so you can play it in dark places but there is a limited amount one should be playing these games. Working the console and games can be frustrating. It is another device that needs to be charged.
Should you get it?: For me, yes. For other people, it depends on whether the one who is going to play on the console fits into the audience that game consoles would be best suited for.
Closing message: I hope you enjoy the blog! I hope this helps you make a decision on whether game consoles are right for you! I look forward to you all reading the next blog. Have a great day!
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