ROX-TV dips back in time for some old school Nintendo classics. Tonight we are messing with Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. and flicking an ounce of street green into the mix. Who knows?
Welcome back to the ROX-TV website. Tonight, we are hunkered down in a rain storm. The budget is shorter than a midget with a double leg amputation, and time is running slow. Everyone can relate to that I think, on some level. When the wallet is weak, staying entertained can be difficult. Whenever shit gets too bogged down, I tend to start a process for which I have no name. It starts with all the usual suspects…boredom, nowhere to go, and resources on the retreat. Thankfully, a broke spell can be weathered if there are enough systems that stay functional. A basic home cooked pizza can taste just as good as the local pizzeria. Zig Zags are great, but a janky pack of Top papers will do just fine. An ounce of street green is better than a quarter, it will work. I can’t hit the Hostess section, but I got some Little Debbies. This could go on and on, but I think I got the point across. Life doesn’t live up to the hype all the time, but a little perspective can go a long way. This weekend is tight times, but I’ve had plenty of practice long ago to keep the morale high and the weed dry.
So, once I settled into the reality of the situation. I knew how to get by. The first thing that needed to be done, before anything else of course, I needed to roll three or five joints. The night would be spent at home, which is fine because I didn’t like leaving that much anyway. I don’t throw anything away, so after a decent stone bone or two, I had multiple universes to fuck with. Music, movies, and books are just a few primary go to categories. When I hit that zone too much, it’s time for another pair of smokes, and then into that secondary, deep mode of fucking with shit. Everyone has a place that only gets screwed around with, once or twice in a blue moon. For me, that special place is the basement, and many wonderful treasures hide in the darkness. Is any of the shit valuable? Not really but almost everything has sentimental value. When you don’t throw shit away, you can go back in time as far as you want. How far back is that for me? Tonight, it will be to the 1980’s and the vehicle will be the Nintendo. I’m not talking about a retro 
piece of shit that doesn’t work (I know because I’ve brought several over the years). They always seem to mill about sometime just before Christmas. It’s like they know arcade related shit is like crack to the people of that era. You want me to stop in my tracks, all you have to do is throw some Arcade Flash my way. What is Arcade Flash? It’s that glorious artwork that accompanies all gaming systems. Shit, in some cases the artwork was ten times better than the actual game. But I digress.
The old school Nintendo, the one from the 1980’s… that is what I decided on fucking with. I have a functional Sega Genesis from that same era, but Nintendo was my first love (excluding my first exposure to the Atari 2600). The Atari life was cool but I 
was very young and the video games were probably nothing more than an active cartoon in my mind’s eye. I didn’t play to win when I was messing with Atari. They were outdated by the time I played one and I didn’t hit the “right age” for the video games until 1989 or 1990. Nintendo was so hot that I could have lit the joints on the tray with their logo back then. They were the kings, at least as far as my neighborhood was concerned in relation to that time period.
So, on that long and boring night, when there is nothing else to do and defeat is un-avoidable. Give up, fire up, and power up. I think what draws me back to that Nintendo time and time again is more than just that feeling of sharp nostalgia. There is more going on I’m afraid. Perhaps it’s the simple set up and design for these old relics. Sometimes the arcade graphics were all that were needed. I never really liked video games that were so real, I had to go to basic training just to be able to have a good time. No thanks. For me it has to be simple and pure. A video game is just that…a game. I don’t really want the reality of today’s generations as far as systems go. I think when you find something that works, the growth can cease. I followed the crowd into the future somewhat, with the Playstation system. I had Medal of Honor and a few others but as the graphics continued to mirror real life more and more…I kind of retreated in place to where things made sense. Now I’m not talking about anything else here, because there 
was a shit load of things in the 1980’s that I didn’t like or agree with. A lot of the fashions were wack…they were pushing bright colors and a totally jive path forward. People were pegging their pants (which just meant you rolled the pants tight around the ankle area. I tried to do it, but it was always stupid looking and un-cool). Hair was climbing to the sky for chicks. Music was alright but pushing the limits on the hair metal scene by 1990. There was movement coming…big time. Some of the rap was cool at the time, but there was that transition from the party people to the gangster rap just around the corner. Some artists I liked and some I did not. I listen to some of those old songs now, the stuff just prior to the Golden Era of Gangster Rap and I just can’t believe how slow it sounds now. We must be speeding up at a very high rate. Shit in another thirty years, we might all just evolve into pure energy. Wouldn’t that be rad? Pure and forever moving at a faster rate…I can’t wait for that. I guess I will play Nintendo until that day rolls into town.
So anyways, I broke out the old system and it fired right up. I didn’t have to stream it, I didn’t have to scan a fucking bar code, I didn’t have to give the internet my social security number or verify the start of the game with my God damned phone. I just hit power, wiggled the game a bit in place (blowing does not work, it was just putting the catridge in a different position that did the trick. The blowing just added moisture that probably did more harm than good, but we all did it. Today I just hit power, open the window so that I can see the game in the machine and then slightly move the cartridge right or left until I hit the sweet spot), and it was off to the races. The game is just as touchy now as it was then. Donkey Kong didn’t leave much room for close calls. I love the imagery of the game and although I never get very far on either version the cartridge offered. It wasn’t really the point. I don’t play these games to win. I play these games to remember.
As far the weed goes. The street green was just a generic name I gave to the ounce I had. The real name was a bit silly, and I felt stupid even writing the name. So, I did what I do…skimmed over the shit I didn’t like about it and celebrated the rest. Marijuana and Nintendo games are still a good pair to work with and I stand by that. Nothing but old school gaming going on. No internet chat rooms or multiple players from around the world. Just me and the blasted computer. It was enough.
Signing Off,
T.R.I.K.O.L.
Liminal Vagrants
Ghost Ship 3
