The 60’s had the space race to the moon, the 70’s had peace, love and hippies and the 90’s had the internet.  BUT, the 80’s had the best thing of all…..wait for it…..wait for it…..NINTENDO, and more specifically the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).  We probably don’t need to explain to you how fantastic NES was, but take our word for it…..it was epic. In fact, in 2009, the NES was named the single greatest video game console in history by IGN Entertainment, out of a field of 25.  As children of the 80’s, the NES holds a dear place in our hearts here at SPP.  Having grown up on games such as Super Mario, Zelda, Bubble Bobble, Baseball Stars, Ninja Turtles, Contra (I could keep going), we couldn’t WAIT to host this weeks episode.  Actually, we were so excited, we actually just kept recording well after the interview which can be heard in an upcoming post.

This week we interview author, video game expert, blogger and admitted nerd, Jeff Ryan in hopes of getting an inside look into his new book, Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America. Jeff’s career began in the 1990’s when he joined the then popular news and entertainment website, Katrillion.com.  As the video game reporter (and copy editor for the entire site), he reviewed over 500 games. He toured Nintendo, interviewed its top designers, and became just an all out expert. Jeff puts on his Nintendo knowledge cap for us this week and schools us on Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America.