Source: Flickr
“Bowser Trophy. There is a complete series of these “trophies” for several early NES games, including Zelda and Punch-Out. You were supposed to buy these trophies and award them to yourself or friends, writing down your high score on the toy. I think it signifies an interesting time in the history of video games. Before Nintendo, in arcades and on early consoles like the Atari, you measured your skill at the game by high score. Nintendo introduced a new way of thinking about gaming where the goal was to beat the games. Games like Super Mario Bros still kept score, but the score didn’t mean anything. These trophies were an odd way of recognizing it.”
