I got a real kick out of this series of posts from a long-time Nintendo fan where he’s actually been able to interview a handful of Nintendo Game Counselors on what their work experiences were like back in the day.
I definitely agree that at least at the time, being a game counselor would’ve pretty much been the awesomest job in the world for a pre-teen me who played Nintendo 23 hours a day and wanted to live inside of that Nintendo Power ad that showed a bedroom decked out from floor to ceiling with World of Nintendo gear! Of course, in hindsight having worked in a call center several years later, it may not have made for the best long-term career goal, but if I had been straight out of high school with the options help kids beat video games vs. sweep the warehouse until you’re lucky enough to get to drive a truck at 3am instead … I guess that still would’ve been pretty sweet!
I never was allowed to call the 900-number, but I’m still amazed how they took the time to actually write return letters to kids like me who would write in about their greatest achievements and the games that currently had them stumped. I kind of wish that I somehow had access to the original letters that I had sent out to Nintendo because I can just picture an 11 year-old me studiously typing away at the typewriter about how he just can’t figure out how to defeat Odin the basement of Baron Castle in Final Fantasy 2! 😀
That said, what I do have is the actual responses that I received from the various times that I wrote to Nintendo, and after a bit of Morning Toast inspiration, I went ahead and scanned mine, too. It doesn’t look like he’s managed to interview any of the three folks who answered my questions, but hey, there’s still time!