Well, the "find" seen in the photo below--the Nintendo 64 system that I received as a birthday present far too many years ago--falls squarely into the latter category.
One reason I have such fond memories of Nintendo's third console is that it was so uniquely--some would say strangely--designed and constructed. That bump on the top and those "wings" on the sides signaled to gamers of the day that this system was unlike any that came before it. (Its Batwing-shaped controller, which I also own but which isn't pictured below, suggested a similar changing of the gaming guard.)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitz4NgV25AiYZlnjqdU3YnGEpPdq6qoBR-b9jafCr-VpZbb14Mpo_7Kq16jTu4RT8tmmc3rOATGXbnFs0o2QTTqr7lFu4B6sgpSUGoCM82mU2ZBR1c6B7zBarTetVjX8E_DKKY/s400/Gamesfromthebackofmycloset_Nintendo64.jpg)
Another reason the warm feeling of nostalgia washes over me whenever I think about the Nintendo 64: Despite its technical shortcomings, the system was home to a bevy of awesome games.
Speaking of which, I pulled more than just a still-in-great-shape Nintendo 64 system from my childhood closet a few months ago; I also pulled a pair of my favorite Nintendo 64 games from that cluttered space. One of those games, Paper Mario, can be seen in the photo above, while the second is none other than The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Sadly, I couldn't find the boxes that originally housed these games. I was able to find a rather crumpled manual for Paper Mario, though, so all of my digging wasn't completely without merit.
See also: Previous 'from the back of my boyhood closet' posts