After seeing MissMalini’s post on 5 fond memories from her childhood, it got me thinking of my favorite tv shows, toys, and video games as a kid. As your average action-junkie boy from the States, here are five things that remind me MOST of my childhood.
1) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
From the action figures, to the video games, to the Halloween costumes, the ninja turtles were the bomb. Ah my poor parents… between my brother and I there must be a good hundred or two of these guys gathering dust in their basement right now.
Michaelangelo was my favorite of the turtles, and he was the driving force behind begging my mother to let me take karate lessons so I could play with real nunchucks (which I did).
My brother apparently continued the trend into his college days.
2) He-Man
One of the first tv shows I remember getting into was He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. My He-Man action figure was definitely my favorite. I must have gone through a good half dozen Skeletors breaking them into pieces with merciless assaults by He-Man.
Remember the opening theme to the tv show… I HAVE THE POWERRRRR!!
3) Duck Tales
Probably my favorite cartoon show through the 80’s. It was part of the popular Disney afternoon lineup that occupied every kid after school for a good 2 hours. It spawned several popular spin-offs too including, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Talespin, and Darkwing Duck.
That theme song was so catchy!
4) Super Mario Brothers 3 on Nintendo NES
Of all the video games that came out in the 80’s, I remember being most excited when I got Super Mario Brothers 3 on Christmas.
Just before the U.S. release of Mario 3 a film called The Wizard came out starring Fred Savage. The movie was little more than a stylized 100 minute advertisement for Nintendo NES games, but boy did it work. After seeing the preview of Mario 3 in the film I couldn’t wait to get it!
And if you think you were good at Mario 3, just have a look at the guy who can beat the whole game in 11 minutes!
5) Nintendo Gameboy
The only thing better than video games back then, were video games you could play in the car (and anywhere else you could get away with playing). I recall my Sunday School teacher being not nearly excited as I was when I broke 100,000 points on Tetris during class one afternoon… jealous nuns.