J&L GAME ADVENTURES

In Manhattan, there's a favorite game store of mine. I go there to remember things from my childhood when I had all the time in the world to play as many video games as I wanted to. There's lots of cool stuff there and my eyes continuously absorb the vintage games/items I cannot afford.


Map

Tracking my typical ventures into the store...

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Consoles & Games

There are many consoles that are sold in the store, but there's only a handful I've experienced that are truly special to me. Looking at these consoles in the store made me miss a lot of the games that I've spent a lot of hours on, or tried for a little bit just for the experience. Click one to experience a different memory!

GameandWatch NintendoGameboy NintendoGameboyColor
NintendoGameboyAdvance NintendoGameboyAdvanceSP NintendoDS
Nintendo3DS NintendoSwitch

Game & Watch: Ball (1980)

This console is small and the first time I've used one, I thought it was very ugly and small. There were many versions of this console: as in, there is a separate small console for each different game. I remember playing only two, one with firefighters and the one pictured where the character is just balancing bouncy balls....Or something like that. I don't remember much about this console and it's not my most favorite. There are only some of these consoles in the store.

gameandwatch

Gameboy: Pokemon Yellow-Pikachu (1998)

Green. Everything about this console is green and there's no backlight to it. The first time I've touched this console was once in June in 2021. My partner hadn't used it in a long while and it showed: the Tetris cartridge in the Gameboy was barely working. I don't like the green but I've seen Pokemon Yellow: Pikachu version played on it. Pikachu looks cute in green. I miss the old version of Pikachu where he was fat and chunky. Don't you? I saw a few Gameboys in the store: they were refurbished, clean, smooth...Green.

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Gameboy Color: Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 - Cobi's Journey (2001)

This handheld takes up some of the happiest moments of my childhood. It was the first legitimate console I've ever owned, a hand-me down from my aunt's colleague at her work. I got a lot of games with it too! I miss playing on my yellow Gameboy Color. Yellow isn't even my favorite color but I still adored the thing. Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Cobi's Journey was one of the games I mostly played on it. It was like a more fantastical version of Pokemon, but you had to use a key to save a tree or something. i don't really remember. What I DO remember is:making my team entirely made up of one of the types of creatures called Blue Slimes. What can I say? They're very cute! The refurbished Game Boy Colors in the store remind me of well-dressed old people.

gameboycolor

Gameboy Advance: Metroid Fusion (2002)

I've never used this console myself. I've just watched someone online play Metroid Fusion on it a couple of times. I don't know much about the console, but I do know something about Metroid. I just enjoy how very pink and blue Samus is in the game.

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Gameboy Advance SP: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Red Rescue Team (2005)

The first console that ever was truly my own was a pearl blue Gameboy Advance SP that my grandma bought me for my 10th birthday. My mother would get me Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team much later and it was basically all I played. I miss having Mike, my Pikachu friend, follow me around and telling me a new Pokemon needs to be rescued. The music was very nice in the game too. Not many realize that the sound capabilities of the GBA SP were quite impressive: the DS version of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon could not compare. When I look at the GBA SP's in the store, the music plays in my head again.

gameboyadvancesp

Nintendo DS: Kirby Super Star Ultra (2008)

I just remember playing Kirby: Super Star Ultra on my DS while my grandma was in the hospital recovering from a knee surgery. That, and Mario & Sonic At the Olympic Games. But with Kirby, there were many more possibilities. I didn't know what I loved more: the fact that Kirby had so many characters to eat and absorb powers from, or the fact that you could play as Meta-Knight. It felt nice to be able to be able to drag my monster friends into the air. There are many DS consoles in the store, with Pokemon prints and all, the special editions, the silvers, the pinks...But they can never be cool as Kirby.

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Nintendo 3ds: METAL GEAR SOLID 3D: SNAKE EATER (2013)

The Metal Gear series is such a massive can of worms that it requires a completely separate project and approximately a month of your life to discuss thoroughly, but it remains to be one of my most favorite stealth-game series that manages to combine ridiculous moments, character designs and powers, and other stuff with serious subjects such as nuclear conflict. Though nothing close to the full experience of the original version on the Playstation, Metal Gear Solid 3D gave me the eyes (or rather, just one eye) of Naked Snake. If I tried really hard maybe I could eat snakes, too. But I couldn't do much cool stuff because I really sucked. The whole point of it was to save the world from nuclear conflict and if I were Snake, I think I would've accidentally made the world disintegrate. I still play my 3DS. I don't need the refurbished ones from the store. But they're nice to look at.

nintendo3ds

Nintendo Switch: Hades (2018)

Hades is my most favorite game on the Switch so far because it involves Greek mythology, and I am VERY into Greek myths! All of the character designs have color scehemes that are very captivating and even though I'm not very good at the game, I enjoy making the protagonist (Zagreus) use different weapons. Each weapon has a different power and they can be upgraded by the Olympian gods that you encounter through each stage. However, depending on which gods you choose, other ones will get angry at you for not choosing them.

nintendoswitch
nintendoswitch

To find out more, go to the J+L Game website!

Project by Porad GZ