I will never forget my childhood Christmas of 1998.

A large box, cleanly wrapped in holiday paper sat addressed to my dad. This was unusual. My family typically just gave him gift cards to such places as Office Max. But in this box was a Super Nintendo with the games Mario All-Stars and Zelda (along with a few other violent games my mom confiscated after a few plays).

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo’s second home console. It boasted the most advanced graphics and sound capabilities of its time. After the video-game system hit markets, it became the most popular 16-bit video-game console of the moment.

In my childhood household, such luxuries of technology were a rarity. I enjoyed the romanticism and adventure in the plots of the games. I was inside a fairy tale — playing a gallant, yet underprivileged peasant or plumber who sought to rescue a princess and restore order to a mystical land. As I reached my years in middle school, I played less and less, turning to the other fads of the early ’00s, such as Backstreet Boys and the introduction of cable TV to my home.

After collecting dust in the entertainment center, I snuck it along with me to college to play in my spare time and study breaks. These days, the video-game industry sings praises of its Xbox 360s and PlayStations, but nothing quite makes a conversation piece like the Super Nintendo.

— by Hanna Rosman