Hand helds

Random – This year for my birthday my wife and kids got me a Nintendo 3D DS with the new Pokemon Ruby game. It's funny because they have the toys at McDonald's right now and my kids really like them, the quality is very good for freebies. During our lunch my wife used to opportunity to ask me about the games. She was a Link fan and never played Pokemon. 

Back in 1999 I played the original Yellow game between classes at college and was hooked. It's a simple game on the surface that hooks you in. Around 2006 my daughter wanted a DS and got the Pearl Pokemon game, my wife and I also picked up a system for ourselves as the various multiplayer games were really fun. I took that game with me everywhere because I could play while waiting for appointments at lunch or whenever.

When smart phones became common and the family all got iphones the DS systems and most of the other game consoles were relegated to novelties. With the two younger boys the little free time we get is spent doing other tasks so video games have been replaced with dumb mobile games and aimless scrolling through twitter and facebook.

Upon opening the box and turning on the game something magical happened. After downloading the newest Mario game and adjusting the settings. (The 3D thing is weird and cool at the same time.) I turned it on and my son insisted on climbing in my lap and watching me play. After a playing a few levels I went to turn it off an he begged me to turn the Mario Show back on. It reminded me of that Christmas break in 1980 something when I got my first NES.