I remember my dad renting an NES for me and my brother on two occasions, both times with SMB2 and some other game, before finally buying one for Xmas '90.
Playing Zelda 2 at the final palace, in the dark, alone, and having that giant blob fall on you from nowhere while crossing a bridge, and literally jumping behind the couch in terror. Also, getting a hand-drawn map of the palace from a friend as a going-away party gift.
Similarly, the giant dragon mini-boss in Mega Man 2 freaking me out enough to run up and turn off the NES. Same with getting killed by a ghost in Adventure of the Magic Kingdom, and having said ghost appear on the "try again" screen instead of the usual character. Man, I got scared easily as a kid.
Having my brother's friend stay the night while we played Legendary Wings and TMNT (1) for hours, and busting out a huge bowl of crinkle chips that we flavoured with our own salt and vinegar (didn't work so well...)
My brother borrowing Mega Man 3 from a friend, along with a big piece of gift-wrapping paper that had a few passwords on it - the filling the entire paper with passwords by the time he returned it.
Being invited over by my kinda-next-door neighbour (we lived on a street corner) to "beat Zelda 1" (she owned it, I owned Zelda 2), then getting through 1 or 2 dungeons before quitting, making some grilled sandwiches, and watching the moving Adventures In Babysitting.
Renting the goddamn Power Glove.
Asking an older kid on the schoolyard who I didn't know, about a secret code for TMNT 3 because of a big rumour going around that he knew one. Turned out he did.
Becoming a known customer at my local movie / game rental store, where NES games were only $1 ($3 if you wanted the manual, but they gave you $2 back when you returned it) and they had a gumball machine at the counter where you'd win a free rental if you correctly guessed which colour you would get. They later changed it to a free rental for getting a blue gumball. I only won it once. A game rental, along with a mother's day gift, were my first purchases after opening my own bank account.
Helping spread "A Boy and his Blob" fever among my friends.
The excitement and anticipation of watching my brother on the phone, taking notes and being told by one of his friends how to reach the Minus World in SMB.
Wearing out a button on an NES controller, then taking it apart to find a unrepairable tear in the rubber piece. Buying a crappy, red and yellow, 3rd-party controller in its stead.
Memorising the entire Nintendo Power SMB3 strategy guide, thus memorising the entire game.
... And that's all before I turned 8.
I guess I never realised how much video games were a part of my life back then.
The noise has to be really quiet or you get that warbly sound like a low-bitrate MP3.
