NES

Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Select Start.Recognize that? The chances are good that if you're in your mid-twenties  -  and particularly but not exclusively if you're male  -  seeing that series of words and letters causes some sparks in your brain to start firing up and suddenly BAM! Nintendo Entertainment System's Contra: 30 lives!It's science. That is, if you readily recognize that code, the good researchers at the Onion have uncovered the reason for such an earth shattering news: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/half_of_26_year_olds_memoriesI'm not surprised by this fun fact, though. In a last minute grab session at home in New Hampshire before moving to Asheville, I hesitantly brought my original Nintendo. I was most certainly excited to have it, but hesitant because this piece of 1989 high-tech machinery has remained untouched for about a decade, sitting dormant in a bag in my bedroom closet. While other newer, more colorful and realistic video game systems came and went - Sega, Nintendo 64, the Gamecube, and Sony's Dreamcast to name a few - the NES faithfully remained in my closet knowing full well that there would soon be a time when it would once again rise like cream in milk to the top of the electric gaming heap.The best news of this story is that it took a mere ONE attempt to make the Nintendo work! I didn't even need to whip out my strategic and secret moves of jiggling and blowing on the game that "always" worked back in the day. Nope, first try baby!My collection of games is pretty solid: Mario's 1,2, and 3, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Blades of Steel, Rampage, Contra (obviously), Excitebike is somewhere lost at home in NH, and Double Dragon. Good times.