The following is part of our 25-day Holiday Countdown Calendar! Every day from December 1st through the 25th, we’re posting a cool game history treat, daily updates from the VGHF, giveaways, and more! To make sure you don’t miss a day, sign up for our email list:
This is all part of our annual Winter Fundraiser donation drive, where we ask those who are able to generously give what they can so that we can continue thriving. If you’re able to make an additional one-time charitable contribution, this really is the best time to do so, as your donations will be DOUBLED thanks to a generous group of sponsors! Head on over to gamehistory.org/donate to learn more and give today.
Only a couple shopping days left this year! If you (reading this right now) are a child in 1988, then you’re gonna want the hottest toy on the market: the Nintendo Entertainment System.
This photo of two parents shopping for video games at Toys ‘R’ Us was taken for the Houston Chronicle during the 1988 Black Friday weekend. We love seeing the original store displays, and it’s interesting to see how the NES and the Atari consoles were sold alongside toy electronics like the Fisher-Price Camera. Remember, video games used to be treated more like toys by retailers!
It’s not common to find photos of what it looked like to shop for games in the 1980s, because not many people were bringing their camera to the toy stores back in the day. Thank goodness for news photographers!
We also spot a $19.99 price tag for the new NES Max controller… we’ll save our twenty bucks on that one. Maybe instead of using that weird cycloid, you could donate $19.99 to our annual winter fundraiser!
You can see tomorrow’s post right now!
Members of our Patreon who support us at $5 or more per month get to travel through time and see our daily calendar entries one day early! Christmas comes early for our beloved team of time bandits! Memberships at higher tiers also include access to our Discord community, monthly hangout calls with VGHF staff, and more!
Coming tomorrow: In 1991, Konami commissioned a theme song to inspire its employees. Three decades later, it inspired us instead.