My Earliest Gaming Memories

I think I was about 3, maybe 4 tops, when this event took place. I distinctly remember riding in the car with my family and pulling into a small local gas station. I couldn’t tell you where we were headed that day, I couldn’t tell you the name of the gas station, and I couldn’t tell you really much about the gas station other than it was small and decrepit. But here is what I do remember. My cousin had recently started working there and so me and my whole family went inside to see him. While they were talking to him I noticed a big grey brick with a green screen and buttons laying by the cash register. I asked him what it was and he said it’s a Gameboy, here try it. So while my family finished talking to Brian, I played the Gameboy for the first time…and the game that I played? Super Mario Land. Now I distinctly remember playing the first level and I even remember thinking, man this game looks terrible compared to the one on the NES (yes, I had played video games before this, I just don’t remember any specific times or have any distinct memories). But while I wasn’t super impressed with the game, I was blown away by the level 1-1 music. I remember LOVING that song, and I still do to this day. I only got to play for probably 5 minutes tops before it was time to pack back into the van and head on our way, but that is my first distinct memory of playing a video game. I remember how deformed Mario looked on that tiny green screen, I remember the ugly Goomba with wings that killed me, I remember the funny looking trees and the pointy mountains, but most of all I remember the incredible music that eminated from the large grey brick.