This year my boys, age 10 and 7 have been asking me for a Nintendo Entertainment System... but will they like it? Will the old games be too difficult? Will it be able to hold their attention like all the new things out today? I know I want some NES games that I loved and I want them to love it too. I can't just give them this 30 year old machine and say good luck. I have to be the best parent I can be here and show them, not just tell them why this was my favorite thing in the world. 

What to bring home: I decided on the games Contra, TMNT II, and RC Pro-Am along with an NES console and 2 original Nintendo controllers.

I brought it home and got an emotional reaction:

(My 7 year old gives me a hug when he's sees the Nintendo)

They begged me to hook it up and play with them. 

We tried all the games in rapid fire. Giving each game a few seconds of playtime before moving onto the next. I forgot how easy the NES is for taking a game out, putting a new game in and playing within seconds. It was so great! 

We played Contra and died immediatly, too hard.  We played TMNT II and they loved it, perfect. We then played RC Pro-Am (one of my favorite all time games) and they couldn't understand the controls. It was just too hard for them. 

Oh no! Was this a mistake? Are kids today ruined by instant videos and games on their phones? I have to think and channel all of my dad skills here... then it came to me.

Like an old school Moses I gave them the legendary Konami Code. I told them I can give us 30 free lives! I showed them the code at the begining of the title screen while saying it out loud like a chant to the video game gods: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, B, A, Select, Start.

Bam! 30 free lives for both.

We played Contra with reckless abandon. We moved through levels, worked together to beat bosses and we got past stage 3, then 4, then 5. Since then they have been playing all the games. They woke me up on Saturday morning at 7:30 and forced me to do the Contra code again for them.

Did they like it? Yes, but it was tough at first. I had to put my Dad pants on and help them through it. Show them how to get past the hard parts, how to work together and how to use a really cool cheat code.

Next month I'm going to pick up a couple more NES games for them to try. Let me know in the comments below what games I should get next and I'll tell you how it all goes. Thanks for reading!