February 22, 2026
From Mario to matrimony
How I launched 3 consoles and found true love at Babbage's store no. 9 (2013)
From mall mayhem to marriage: nostalgia sparks a fresh console war
TLDR: A former Babbage’s clerk recalls launching three 90s consoles and meeting his future spouse, triggering a nostalgia tsunami. Commenters loved the memories but reignited the classic debate: Sony’s PlayStation—especially PS2—dominated, Nintendo didn’t “win,” and launch-day scarcity and cartridge limits fueled the drama all over again.
Ars Technica dropped a sweet-and-chaotic mall memoir about a teen clerk who helped launch the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64 at 90s game shop Babbage’s (think “the mall store that became GameStop”)—and also met his future spouse behind the counter. Cute, right? But the comments turned it into a full-on Console War Reunion Tour.
Nostalgia hit hard, with one old-school gamer sighing that “every year felt brand-new” back then, while today’s releases feel like “prettier reruns.” Cue a pile-on of remember-when stories: toddlers toppling displays, arguments over the “jet ski game” (hello, Wave Race 64), and the sacred art of launch-day line-wrangling. Then the knives came out: readers torched the idea that Nintendo “won” the late-90s fight, snapping that Sony’s PlayStation—and especially the PS2—steamrolled the era. One traveler recalled landing in the U.S. for PS2 launch and finding stores stocked with only a dozen consoles, already spoken for. It got spicier with a cartridge-vs-disc skirmish: less storage on Nintendo’s carts meant muddier textures, said one commenter; others cried nostalgia goggles.
In a wholesome twist, the author popped in to say, “Good times—and yes, we’re still married,” and the thread briefly transformed from flame war to group hug. Briefly. Then it was right back to arguing about who actually won 1996
Key Points
- •The article is a first-person account by Lee Hutchinson of working at Babbage’s store no. 9 in Houston during mid-1990s console launches.
- •It opens with the North American launch day of the Nintendo 64 in September 1996, depicting preorder fulfillment and in-store chaos.
- •The author began at Babbage’s in August 1994 at $4.25/hour and experienced three major console launches: Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, and Nintendo 64.
- •Gaming magazines like EGM and GamePro hyped Nintendo’s upcoming system under the code name “Project Reality” before the N64’s release.
- •The narrative emphasizes how 1990s video game retail differed from today, with launches being less mainstream but equally hectic for staff.