By the time the late 80’s rolled around, skateboarding, surfing and other “alternative” lifestyle activities had had a few years to thrive in Southern California cities and were beginning to permeate the suburbs and mainstream culture. By 1988, Nintendo (like in all other aspects of tweenlife) had a big hand in this – and the following three NES games are great examples…

The Holy Grail for all football video games, Tecmo Super Bowl forever changed the way the sport is played on sticks. Its predecessor, Tecmo Bowl was almost there – it laid the groundwork for a lot of the playcalling functionality and the NFL licensing, but TSB took everything to a different level. The Super version had something for everyone – from the stat geeks who wanted to master every nuance of each team’s offense, to button-mashing little brothers who just wanted to air it out with Warren Moon every play. Whether you were looking to commit to an entire 16 game season, or just trying to pummel your best friend in an exhibition game, the first major decision of any player was what team would best display your offensive and defensive prowess. Here is our dedication to the top 10 teams of Tecmo Super Bowl…

Let’s just face it – you were lame if you didn’t own a Starter Jacket. I can remember the exact day when I realized that my blue Air Force replica coat just wasn’t going to cut it. It was in the fourth grade and even a girl who never talked to me went out of her way to make fun of my lack of officially licensed sports apparel. What was a guy to do? I mean, Christmas didn’t roll around for another couple months and I wasn’t going to be caught dead in that nerdy knock-off military jacket. Literally overnight, the faux badges and stripes that adorned my outerwear stood for “dork” and “social outcast” instead of “valor” and “honor” as they once had. So, unbeknown to my parents, I coatlessly bared the Ohio December until that glorious morning where I opened the wrapping paper of my very own Cleveland Indians pullover…

If you were an avid card collector in the 90’s, there were baseball cards and then there was THE baseball card. The Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card was the most sought-after card of my childhood, and to this day I’ve never acquired one. This card mostly sold for over $100 (which at the time seemed enough to retire early on) and was always the first card we’d look up in the new Beckett magazine to see if the value went up or down…

I stood at halfcourt, my Spider-Man underoos bunched in my palm, my eyes on the basket. First, I spun past an imaginary Sir Charles Barkley. Not an easy task, he fought Godzilla. Then, I crossovered a fictional Larry Johnson, adorned in full Grandmama drag. The only thing standing between me and my glory was a diminutive make-believe Spud Webb. A quick pump fake and I was in the air…

Even at the age of 8, I was too sophisticated for the humor of Buzz Beamer. I knew sports. I knew almost every stat on the back of 1991’s Topps Basketball set. I could recite the Atlanta Braves starting lineup forwards and backwards. Very serious stuff. I was slightly disappointed when my grandparents opted for the children’s version of the popular sports magazine. Every month my Sports Illustrated for Kids would show up in the mail. When you’re 8, is there nothing more exhilarating than receiving something in the mail – even if it ended in the term “for Kids”? I would pretend that I didn’t care about Buzz’s latest adventures. His comic was always the last page; the corny final stamp of each month’s edition…