Nintendo Rhapsody (World 1: Far From Home Redux)

Nintendo Rhapsody is an ongoing story about how Nintendo, and video games in general, helped me through some of the harder times in my life. Each chapter, known as a 'world' in Nintendo Rhapsody, is rather self contained with introductions and conclusions.



World 11-1: Alone in the Dark

When I was eight years of age, I lived away from home five out of seven days a week for a period of six months in East Los Angeles at a facility known simply as The Diagnostic School. On Friday afternoons, I would be released to spend the weekends at home with family. Every Sunday at 5:00 PM, I would have to return to The Diagnostic School for the forthcoming week. Once there, I had to eat cafeteria food. I grew to loathe cafeteria food.

On those particular nights, however, I would often choose a bag of Skittles. I hated Skittles. I greatly preferred M&Ms, but Skittles was all that they seemed to have. I would sit on the far corner of the cafeteria, my back to the window, eating my bag of Skittles. All the while, dreading the days and week ahead. I peered out into the darkness of the night every so often.

Nintendo Rhapsody Notes

A place for my unrestrained thoughts and ideas on the subject of current and future Nintendo Rhapsody chapters. This page also contains some unused content for earlier chapters. Different chapter introductions and extended content.



World 0: The Schoolyard Menace (Prequel Chapter)

World 0-1: Our House

More powerful video game systems may have already been on store shelves for a few years, but the Atari 2600 was still the king in our household. The console's joystick was always a joy to hold in the hand. It offered diagonal control in addition to the standard up, down, left and right movements. It worked well for most games on the Atari 2600, but required a fair amount of patience to master some games on the system. As a result, the joystick definitely saw some wear and tear through the years. I am not sure if I even want to know what that sticky substance is on the handle.

My parents owned the original wood grain Atari 2600 game console, but when I was two or three years old, I disassembled it piece by piece. I was more than likely curious how the thing worked. Electronics were like magic to me back then. It was replaced by a second generation Atari 2600 in the years that followed. I still have that second generation console in storage to this day.

A greeting card message sent by Mrs. Evans in the summer of 1988: "Thank you for the pretty gold beads - And please thank mommy, too, for her nice note. I really appreciate it. And for these three funny birds on this card. We are seeing a lot of them on our trip. Do come to visit me next year. Thank you again for my special necklace. Hugs, Mrs. Evans."

World 0-2: Sit and Listen

A few thoughts on my home life while attending Orchard Dale Elementary in 1989. I used to sit in my room listening to The Beach Boys and I would often compose my own music via a toy piano. One of the songs was entitled simply "Doors." It was just a rudimentary series of increasing and decreasing notes, but it was music to my ears at the time. The Atari 2600 Space Invaders portion of the chapter would be themed around Orson Welles' mischievous War of the Worlds radio play from 1938. I also used to play Dragster with my dad on the big oak television set in the living room. All I seem to remember of that game is burning out the race car over and over again.

When thinking back upon Orchard Dale Elementary's computer lab, two words come to mind. Cold and sterile. It was devoid of the usual classroom writing utensils. Occupied instead by thinking machines. Machines that appeared to have one function only. The output of math equations to a monitor.

While attending the first grade at Orchard Dale, my mother would occasionally drive me over to Mrs. Evans house. She happened to live directly across the street from the school. It was certainly a joy to catch up with her. I had missed her so much since beginning the first grade. I never formed the same kind of bond with Mrs. Hashimoto.

A note attached to a first grade art project: "I like to mow the lawn with my daddy. I have my own mower."

My time at Orchard Dale Elementary had come to an abrupt end. I was placed in a non-public school known as Rossier. It would be the first time in which I rode the little yellow school bus to school.

World 0-3: From Rossier with Love

Rossier was the very first non-public school that I attended. Not to be confused with a private school. A non-public school often had far less funding than public schools, and focused solely on special needs students with severe behavior problems and emotional disturbances. These were not the kind of schools one wanted to attend freely. It could often be an unstable environment, but the teachers there seemed to be better prepared to deal with certain situations than the ones in public school. And overall, the smaller classrooms made for less distractions while learning.

It is safe to say that I suffered from sensory overload in my first grade class at Orchard Dale Elementary. There were a grand total of thirty-one other students in the classroom. Karen Davenport's class at Rossier School was a rather stark contrast to that. Her class had just six other students. It offered an entirely different kind of vibe. A quieter space with far fewer distractions. I could actually focus on my assignments more often than not. For once, my shoes might even stay on my feet.

Rossier School is perhaps the only school I attended in which the class had a nap time. I have memories of laying down underneath the table for a period of time. This may have actually been called "quiet time." I don't seem to recall this activity taking place very often, however. It does eerily remind me of the lockdowns in later schools due to a disturbance on campus.

A System80 resided in the Rossier classroom. It was a fairly simplistic computer system that operated off a record and slide. Math and reading questions from the slide were illuminated onto a small display with five physical buttons beneath it to choose from. After the student chose an answer, the record would then play the appropriate response and the slide would move to the next question.

I remember stretching my arms backward while sitting at my desk one day, pencil in hand, when I managed to stab the teaching assistant. Until this very day, I feel as though it was an accident, but they took it very seriously.

During my return to class from a gathering in the gymnasium, I dropped the center piece of a class project I was asked to carry, and it scattered outward into the field. I quickly raced to retrieve the shattered pieces of the project before the wind carried them away. But it appeared to be a losing battle. I could not hold onto everything. As I entered the field, I was taken by surprise as a group of students jumped down from atop the playground equipment and proceeded to punch and kick me until I fell to the ground. I was unable to fight back. I instead curled desperately into a ball. Eventually, the students grew tired of their attack and dispersed. I mustered the strength to stand and then walked back to class, empty handed. I was very much confused by the incident.

My local shopping mall used to be fully enclosed with a wide array of shops. Every few months, my mother would take me to the hair salon inside the mall. It was known as The Madd Hatter. A possible reference to Alice in Wonderland. After my haircut, we often walked around the shopping mall. The food court had a place that sold ICEE drinks. It was always my first stop after a haircut. ICEE was my favorite beverage at the time. In the very back of the food court, a video arcade could be found. It offered many then current hits, as well as a few classics like Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.

Pizza Hut used to have a relatively dark aesthetic. Dimly lit interiors with stained wood panels and retro arcade cabinets from the late 1970s to early 1980s. It was a Nolan Bushnell fever dream. One of those arcade cabinets was none other than Pac-Man.

Fridays were always the day in which dad and I went to the video rental store down the street from our house. Dad would rent a VHS movie that we would watch over the weekend. I would naturally spend most of my time in the kids section. I looked around for some Atari 2600 games on occasion, but they were more than likely all phased out. In their place were games for a console that I could not even begin to spell at the time. It began with the letter N.