When it came to useless peripherals, the original NES and Game Boy were never in short supply. There were all kinds of third party products attempting to hop aboard Nintendo’s money train at the time, selling themselves as clever new methods of enhancing the gameplay experience with very few of them actually even y’know working properly. Still, a lot of the concepts were cool enough to spark the imagination of even the most cynical grade schooler. Typically they would revolve around some “awesome” new method of control that promised nothing short of stepping into a future world once plugged in. The U-Force had kids waving their hands sans controller into a refurbished battleship folder. Konami’s Laser Scope was an early attempt at manipulating your game’s actions via voice command. And of course there was the immortal Power Glove which if you’re not familiar with, I’ll probably yap at length about somewhere down the line. These are all still cool in theory yet ended up being nowhere near practical which brings me to today’s topic: The Light Boy for Nintendo’s original pea green portable system.

New power ups, challenge modes, playable characters, online features and a fresh coat of red paint on the OLED Switch model! Join the Dorkside as we welcome Super Nintendad to help break down today’s Nintendo Direct showcase for Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The first 2D sidescrolling installment in the iconic franchise since the last one!

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The Super Star Wars series of children’s video games for the SNES are just 3 of many countless reasons why I was never destined to become a world class athlete. In this 16-bit sidescrolling arcade action platforming series, players are given the chance to pick their favorite characters from George Lucas’ imagination and run through that galaxy far, far away recreating scenes that for the most part never even happened in any of the movies. Featuring detailed animation, incredibly authentic sound effects/music, fancy mode-7 graphics and a challenge level that could turn a 12 year old kid bald, these games were very popular in their time.

The inaugural Tales From the Dorkside episode kicks off the site with just a couple of nerds talking about the good old N.E.S! Please enjoy this Nintendork stroll down gaming memory lane.

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