Drinking and Video Games... The Ultimate Guide

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) - Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A..... Sound familiar? This sweet little code started it all and gives you 30 lives in Contra.

Contra stands out among a lot of the older NES games thats still amazingly fun to play to this day. With dual player action you and your best bud can partner up against the evil "Red Falcon's" and stop them before they take over the earth. Because of the out dated graphics this game requires a 4 drink minimum but by the time you hit level 2 for the first person shooter mode, you'll swear your NES is a PS3.

Super Mario Bro's 3 - It's a Me! Mario! Sexually questionable partners Mario & Luigi team up again for this 3rd installment of the classic Super Mario Bro's game. This is probably the most entertaining game to play on the NES, the game seems easy enough but we'll see how good your skills are when you play a shot a life. When you die, take a shot, and pass it on. I can't imagine anyone will be able to make it past the second world with these rules (flute cheat excluded).

Super Nintendo - There's only one more lap to go, your in second place when all of a sudden you stumble upon a Red Shell; theres no better feeling then watching your buddy think he's already won until you let her rip. Mario Kart is a must and even the females will love to play. A pretty extreme but fun way to play with up to 4 people is to take as many shots as the place you came in. So if you get 1st - you get off easy and take down one shot. 2nd - Two shots and so forth. If your not very good at Mario Kart you probably won't last more then 2 or 3 races but this can always be adjusted with half shots, or even gulps of beer.

Mortal Kombat 3 - Get over here! Mortal Kombat rose to popularity quickly back in the day due to the graphic violence (Spaghetti sauce blood) and the Fatality scenes. A long time favorite of my own; I don't quite think Mortal Kombat reached its peak until the third game in the series. Let's face it, your either a Street Fighter kid or a Mortal Kombat fan, you can't have both. While I respect Blanca and all his partners I gotta give it up to the MK3 Clan as they are still just as fun to play today. Half a beer per two round winner and you'll be seeing double fatalities soon enough.

Well we've finally made it to the level of current video game systems we're all familiar with today. True 3D graphics, dolby digital surround sound, and even games that involve your whole body.

With the ability to play games over the internet you no longer need to live in the same city or state as your drinking buddy and can do it all wirelessly. A good friend of mine and I would play Fifa World Cup Soccer on Xbox 360 against each other when we lived together for about a year. I got so addicted to playing Fifa (we call it Beerfa) that once I was relocated for school we bought another copy of the game so we can play over Xbox Live. You make a goal, your opponent chugs half a beer. If its a header, its a full beer. If its outside the box, its a full beer. Red cards are a half beer. Penalty shot goals are 2 beers and so on and so on . This is my favorite drinking video game and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes drinking or video games. To be honest, I think Soccer is a very boring and lame sport to watch but for some reason Fifa is just an incredible game to play. Of course I don't want to leave out Skate or Skate 2 because these are also awesome drinking games to play. A lot more difficult than your old Tony Hawk game these Skating games are the future of control and style for the skate genre.

PS3 is one incredible machine. It has a Blu Ray player and life like graphics to boot. With internet ready games this console too has the ability to play with your best friend from elementary school half way across the country. Grand Theft Auto 4 multiplayer is a key game for drinking online. Steal a car, get a hooker, and beat someone to death with a bat... This game has it all.

Video games have come a long way in the past 2 decades and no matter what kind of games you like to play, there's a drinking game that can go right along with it. From old school NES games to PS3 there are a variety of consoles to choose from and games to play. You can pick up one of these old consoles with a game or two for around $20 in some cases. So grab a few friends, tell them to bring the booze, and untangle those old controllers because drinking and video games are here to stay for a while.

-Tommy Wheeler
www.CollegeHaze.com