Old gamers line up old school for retro Nintendo release

Edmonton gamers lined up at stores Fridayhoping desperately topickup the latest gaming system.

Nobody seemed to carethegamecomes with poor graphics, no online multi-player function and nothing even close tovirtual reality.

That is exactly the point.

It's nostalgia that the men, mostly in their30s,in line were buying.

TheNintendoNES Classic Editioncomes with 30 pre-installed games, many familiar to anyone who visited an arcade with a pocket of quarters during the 1980s.

"We used to play Donkey Kong,MarioBros,all the time, so it brings back some good memories," said Tim Phillips, 33.

Phillipswas up early to get a system for himself and another as a Christmas present for his life-long gaming rival, hisolder brother.

"It's all stuff from our childhood everyone wants to replay," said JustinSturek,general manager at EB Games in City Centre Mall. "It's a nice quick, easy package, everything is installed already."

And who knew nostalgia could drag so many 30-year-olds out of bed so early on a holiday Friday.

Sturek said before they even opened, every EB store in the city had more people in line than systems available. It was a similar story down the street at Best Buy.

"I think for Christmas this is going to do really well because there are so many people that were children of the 80s,"he said. "If it's not you, it's your parents. Everyone played a Nintendo so this is just part of everyone's childhood."

Many buyers say they intend to use the gaming system to pick up where they left off in childhood.

ColeMerrieintends to settle some gaming scores with his older brother.

"I'm going to go home and play it and then once he's done work he's going to come over," he said. "Little brother actually has to have the win this time."

But there was at least one gamer who was not buying the game to relive past memories.

"When the console first came out in the '80s I didn't really have a chance to play them," said 14-year-oldDarioPerez-Parada. "It's seeing where video games really got their start."