"What the Hell was I Thinking?" - A Reflection By Kenny Jones.

On October 18, 1985, the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in North America. But I went with the Sega Master System — NOT SEGA GENESIS — the master system! YES I was that kid! The one kid in the neighbourhood who went the Sega route. There was no Duck Hunt, no Mario Brothers, and no Mike Tyson Punch Out!

It has been thirty plus years and I still wonder, “What the hell was I thinking?”

I remember it vividly. My mom took my older sister Lisa and I to the Devonshire Mall in Windsor, Ontario. Into the Sears we went, hell bent on a new NES. We were a bit late to the party already as most of our friends already had one.

So as we headed towards the electronics department, surrounded by cabinet sized stereo systems and massive big back TVs that looked like they weighed 6 tons, there it was, like a becon shinning in the night. The NINTENDO DISPLAY. It was like the sky opened and the angels started to sing. I can even remember the price of $119.99 It came with a copy of Duck Hunt and Mario brothers, the phaser and 2 controllers.

I started to drool. My sister and I already began to bicker about who would get to play first!

Then my mom said, “Hey, what’s that?” To our left was the display for the new Sega Master system. It was mysterious and intriguing. The system was priced at $139.99 and came with a motorcycle racing game, a skeet shooting game, a phaser, 2 controllers and a copy of Alex the Kidd. I don’t know what came over me. All of the sudden the NES turned into Nickleback and I, like a hipster circa 2017, felt the NES was too main stream.

Now the conversion game had to begin. How was I going to sway both my sister and my mom into this underground gaming system? To my surprise, Lisa felt the same way and we both started to convince Mom!

Well, Mom was down with the Master System and off to the check out we went!

Now let me ask you this.

Have you ever purchased cheap perfume that was some generic company’s version of the hottest new fragrance?

That was the Master system!

OMG! It was awful! It barely had any games and the games it did have, you could never find because all the stores in my hometown were only stocking NES games!

It wasn’t until the Genesis vs Super NES battle that I made the right decision and got myself a copy of NHL 94.

But I was the kid on the block that had the Master System. What dorks we were that day in Sears!

Lesson lerned! Don’t be swayed by the new kid on the block! Unless it is actually a New Kid on the Block….you might wanna hang out with those guys! They are the best boy band ever but that’s another blog!

Love your face!

Did you have the Master system?

Oh and BTW “Alex the Kidd” was the Masters Systems version of Mario…SOOOOOOO BAD!!!

Hit me up on twitter! @KennyOnJACK