How Nintendo Helps Me Connect With My Son
As a child of the 80's I spent countless hours playing the NES. I got plenty of blisters. I pressed power/reset in various combinations in order to play my favorite game. And I almost passed out plenty of times from blowing in my cartridges to get them clean.
As time went on and the systems got better (like the SNES), so did my gaming experience. It became the topic of plenty of debates between my friends and peers. What's the best game ever? Or even what system is the best ever? I've had plenty of video game tournaments with friends. And in turn a few temporarily ended friendships.
When the Nintendo 64 came out, group play became a whole lot more rewarding to me and many other gamers. Especially when Golden Eye came out. But I'll save that for another blog post. Why? Because it deserves one.
By the time the Gamecube came out I was a very grown man, and my gaming time was dramatically diminished by the challenges of adult life. Not to mention other gaming systems that shall remain nameless had seriously gained ground in the turf Nintendo once owned. Because of this ever changing gaming landscape my interest waned.
Then two major things happened. Nintendo came back with a vengeance through introducing the Wii. And on my own home-front I became a father for the very first time. As my son became aware of the ability of the Wii to entertain him and I, he took to it and never looked back.
Even when my son's Grandmother gave him a DS, he would still enjoy having me beat difficult levels for him. How could I resist my little mini-me saying to me. "Papa help me".
Somehow Nintendo has remained a very relevant and present part of my life. Decades after I first played Super Mario Bros, Mario and his friends are still bringing a smile to my face. The difference between then and now, is my smile comes from knowing my son truly enjoys the same games and characters that I enjoyed growing up.
Now the latest edition of Nintendo's legacy is the Wii-U. (Side Bar: I love the Wii-U controller) My son and I are chugging away on this new system together, and I get to explain to him who the characters are and all of their back stories.
Somehow and someway Nintendo has successfully figured out that having the very best graphics engine isn't the key to success. Neither is having the very best game library at their disposal. Nintendo understands the key to their success is keeping people connected to one another through the gaming experience.
This Nintendo fan is thankful that even through very tough competition, that Nintendo has stuck to a model that keeps people connected through the gaming experience. Especially when those people are Father and Son.
God Bless
Rodney Kellum
The Fatherpreneur
P.S. If you are a Father that finds it hard to connect with your children because of an out of whack work/life balance. You should join the Fatherpreneurship movement here.