I moved into my new apartment this week, and with the move came an exciting freedom — freedom from the fear of roommates damaging or abusing my original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and Paul’s Nintendo 64 (N64).

While I now live in the age of beautifully designed video games, I grew up in the blooming age of video games and have a soft spot in my heart for the 8-bit, low-res, only jump-or-hit games of my youth. Glitchy and sensitive, my original NES is still playable in all its glory, and Paul managed to score a good condition N64 from a local GamesNGo. Free from roommates, they now have a place in our family room, to play and bring joy as Nintendo intended.

My favorite game has been, and always will be, the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo game for NES. Orange gun and all, I’m still that little girl amazed at how it knows where I’m shooting, and loves seeing that snickering pooch. But Super Mario Bros. will forever hold the No. 1 spot in my little gamer heart. Nothing will ever compare to the original.

Next up, come Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3, followed by Excitebike, Battletoads, and the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade Game.

The designer in me today is still impressed at the 8-bit illustrations of tiny plumbers. If you told me I had to design an Italian plumber with a mustache, buttoned overalls, a long sleeve shirt and work boots, using only three colors and done within a 13 by 16 pixel space… I would have thought you were crazy!

On the N64, Paul has re-lived his childhood playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, and I’ve dived deep into Diddy Kong Racing and GoldenEye 007 (though I still refuse to play proximity mines!).

While Paul and I bring back the simpler days of the NES and N64 through our choice video games, where do your loyalties lie? What games speak to your childhood?