Sega Genesis/NES in hospital rooms

[ender5498]

When I was about four years old I was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. This caused me to have to go to the hospital once or twice a month to get hemogoblin transfusions. I always had to stay overnight each time in the pediatric ward. This went on for a couple of years, but every time that I was there the nurses would roll in a cart that had a T.V. and either a Sega Genesis or NES inside of a hard plastic box and a bunch of games in there too. Recently I was assigned to write a paper for college to talk about something (person, item, place, etc.) that had a great influence on my childhood. I decided to choose this. I was just wondering if anyone else remembered this in a hospital they were in and possibly what the name of this set up was. I've tried to find a picture of it online or what it was called but I can't seem to. I did see that Nintendo still does something similar with donating Wii consoles to hospitals, which I think is awesome. It really helped me get through a lot of pain of the transfusions by being able to play video games with my older brother and dad. Thanks in advance for looking and any replies!

[sparf]

When I was about four years old I was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. This caused me to have to go to the hospital once or twice a month to get hemogoblin transfusions. I always had to stay overnight each time in the pediatric ward. This went on for a couple of years, but every time that I was there the nurses would roll in a cart that had a T.V. and either a Sega Genesis or NES inside of a hard plastic box and a bunch of games in there too. Recently I was assigned to write a paper for college to talk about something (person, item, place, etc.) that had a great influence on my childhood. I decided to choose this. I was just wondering if anyone else remembered this in a hospital they were in and possibly what the name of this set up was. I've tried to find a picture of it online or what it was called but I can't seem to. I did see that Nintendo still does something similar with donating Wii consoles to hospitals, which I think is awesome. It really helped me get through a lot of pain of the transfusions by being able to play video games with my older brother and dad. Thanks in advance for looking and any replies!

I remember hearing about this when I was a kid, too. But damned if I can remember the name now! Good luck with your search. I want to say I read about it in the letters section of Nintendo Power once.

[DragonMaster Sam]

I remember in 3rd grade, I was put in the hospital for pneumonia. The second day there, they brought an NES to my room for me to play for awhile. Don't remember all the games there, but I do remember playing Super Mario Bros., WWF WrestleMania, and I think a Bill Elliot racing game.

[MASTERWEEDO]

My brother has a seizure disorder that used to require frequent hospitalization. They had a few consoles to choose from and a few games for each. The hospitals usually just had the console and tv on a av cart like they used in schools. I also remember taking his own consoles and hooking them up to his in room tv.

[sloan]

When I was about four years old I was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. This caused me to have to go to the hospital once or twice a month to get hemogoblin transfusions. I always had to stay overnight each time in the pediatric ward. This went on for a couple of years, but every time that I was there the nurses would roll in a cart that had a T.V. and either a Sega Genesis or NES inside of a hard plastic box and a bunch of games in there too. Recently I was assigned to write a paper for college to talk about something (person, item, place, etc.) that had a great influence on my childhood. I decided to choose this. I was just wondering if anyone else remembered this in a hospital they were in and possibly what the name of this set up was. I've tried to find a picture of it online or what it was called but I can't seem to. I did see that Nintendo still does something similar with donating Wii consoles to hospitals, which I think is awesome. It really helped me get through a lot of pain of the transfusions by being able to play video games with my older brother and dad. Thanks in advance for looking and any replies!

So,are you saying this was a specially designed NES/Genesis console with the game ROM's inside, almost like the store kiosks? Do you remember if there was a menu system to select which game you wanted to play?

This does not amaze me because Nintendo also made a special mouth-activated NES controller for paralyzed kids. Some pretty neat stuff they did for special needs kids back then.

[hamburglar]

When I was about four years old I was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. This caused me to have to go to the hospital once or twice a month to get hemogoblin transfusions. I always had to stay overnight each time in the pediatric ward. This went on for a couple of years, but every time that I was there the nurses would roll in a cart that had a T.V. and either a Sega Genesis or NES inside of a hard plastic box and a bunch of games in there too. Recently I was assigned to write a paper for college to talk about something (person, item, place, etc.) that had a great influence on my childhood. I decided to choose this. I was just wondering if anyone else remembered this in a hospital they were in and possibly what the name of this set up was. I've tried to find a picture of it online or what it was called but I can't seem to. I did see that Nintendo still does something similar with donating Wii consoles to hospitals, which I think is awesome. It really helped me get through a lot of pain of the transfusions by being able to play video games with my older brother and dad. Thanks in advance for looking and any replies!

I was in and out of the hospital as a kid in the early 90s, they had a similar cart, it had a NES and it also had a VCR inside so you could watch a video as well, I remember they were blue, they looked like they were made by a third party, not Nintendo- I remember once I was talking to the nurse and for some reason I mentioned that Castlevania was my favorite game, she said she had her son's cart in the car and went to go get it, it was Simon's Quest I remember being so happy playing that game for hours.

After running a Google search I remember now the carts had a Starlight logo, it looks like they teamed up with Nintendo. I don't know if the cart in your hospital was the same.


http://starlight.nintendo.com/getting-started/

[ender5498]

This is in response to Sloan: They weren't built in roms but instead on the front of the plastic box the console were in were two semi-large holes where you could pull the controllers in and out. It was from here that you would be able to reach in and grab whatever cart they had in there that you wanted to play. I remember playing a lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II on the NES and True Lies on the genesis.

[wiggyx]

Sounds like a one-off type deal that was made for the hospital by someone other than Nintendo to me. More like a security box to keep it from being lifted versus the units used in hotels and toy stores.

[markusman64ds]

When I was 3 or 4 I was in the hospital to get my tonsils removed. One time in my room they brought in an N64 with some games. I only played Super Mario 64 and didn't care what the other games were. There was also a game room for any kids there, and it was the first time I played Spyro 3, which was my favourite game for a while.

[AceAerosmith]

Never ran into the Genesis/NES in a hospital but saw the N64 controller attached to the hotel TV with games you could order up by the hour in a Pittsburgh hotel a few years ago. I thought it was hilarious that they still had this option in the 2000s.

[sparf]

Never ran into the Genesis/NES in a hospital but saw the N64 controller attached to the hotel TV with games you could order up by the hour in a Pittsburgh hotel a few years ago. I thought it was hilarious that they still had this option in the 2000s.

Yeah, the N64 controller design was a popular one for the in-hotel entertainment systems. And they wouldn't necessarily replace them because that system is expennnnnnnnnnsssssiiiiiive. And if it was possibly still making money, they'd cling to it until the need to upgrade arose.

Newer ones have Gamecube controller setups. :)

[sloan]

This is in response to Sloan: They weren't built in roms but instead on the front of the plastic box the console were in were two semi-large holes where you could pull the controllers in and out. It was from here that you would be able to reach in and grab whatever cart they had in there that you wanted to play. I remember playing a lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II on the NES and True Lies on the genesis.

Sounds like perfectly sized holes where you could get the controllers in and out, but the game cartridges would not pass through. I don't know how that worked with Genesis, though, because the cartridges are relatively small as compared to the controllers. Definitely a theft-proof apparatus, from the sound of it.


Never ran into the Genesis/NES in a hospital but saw the N64 controller attached to the hotel TV with games you could order up by the hour in a Pittsburgh hotel a few years ago. I thought it was hilarious that they still had this option in the 2000s.

If it was certain foreigners running the hotel, they will probably keep N64 in there until the end of time. They tend to be cheap to a fault.