What they couldn’t deal with was the wholesome Fred Savage, or Kevin Arnold from “The Wonder Years” taking his mentally disturbed brother across the nation all for a woman.

After video games and arcades had changed the youth of America into mindless degenerates that opposed consumerism and all that is American, what else could they do to strike fear in to the hearts and minds of parents?

Planting one simple idea was there plan, and it was titled runaway.

It all began with a film that I hold near-and-dear to my heart, “The Wizard,” which was released in 1989 and is a true monument to the hold that video games have on children.

It convinced children that it was not only OK to runaway from home but they would be rewarded in the process, while at the same time your parent would find their love for each other and a love for gaming.

I’m sure you all have seen the film; therefore I’m not going to summarize it. (If you haven’t seen it, find a way to see it.) Think about how that movie alone could affect parents.

Parents didn’t mind the fact that in secret the film was a 90 minute commercial for Nintendo’s “Super Mario Bros. 3” and many other things. That was after all what games had destroyed in malls, the drive for consumerism. So parents were willing to deal with the endless whining for the game.

What they couldn’t deal with was the wholesome Fred Savage, or Kevin Arnold from “The Wonder Years” taking his mentally disturbed brother across the nation all for a woman.

They wind up at bus stops, casinos in Reno, and last but not least some how they are able to walk into Universal Studios to join some video game competition.

Plenty of children saw this then ran off to have their own great adventure, well not quite. Thank the powers that be that parents were able to keep children home with the promise of more games and quality cable television.

The other aspect that this 90 minute Nintendofest that horrified parents is that it showed adults playing video games for their own personal enjoyment. No adult would ever play video games for their enjoyment, maybe to shut a child up temporarily but that’s all.

How dare that Christian Slater trick poor Beau Bridges into enjoying “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

The NES was no family entertainment system. It was a way to occupy children that were too old for “Sesame Street,” but not ready to be in high school sports.

Nintendo and its companions’ joyful ways would bring about the destruction of children yet.

But what other devious plans did video games have?

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