Sep 25 2008
My Fondest Video Game Memories
My first video game memories were of the Atari 2600. I first saw one when I was five, and the controls were easy enough for me to play “Combat” against anyone. I still think that “Adventure” is the best game ever (”You were a DOT, man, and you LIKED IT THAT WAY!”). I eventually got one of my own around 1981, and played it non-stop on a tiny 12-inch black and white TV in my room. “River Raid”, “Pitfall”, and “Yars Revenge” were some of my favorite games.
I heard a rumor of the first Nintendo gaming system at an arcade. Some kids playing “Super Mario Brothers” were talking about a new Atari that could play games just like the arcade games. I didn’t believe it, not after the debacle that was Atari’s “Pac-Man”. But the NES did come out, from Nintendo (not Atari, which was synonymous with gaming until then), and I got one for Christmas in 1985. I even got a small color TV by then. I remember the hype before the first Zelda game came out, and was amazed that you could play it TWICE.
“Castlevania” and “Metroid” were a couple of my favorite games for the NES. My friends and I rented video games from Blockbuster Video every weekend. We would play “Punch-Out” all night, yet never beat Mike Tyson, and then switched to “Metal Gear” (back before Snake went all 3D). I didn’t play sports in high school, so video games took up a lot of my time then. Although I had upgraded to the Super Nintendo by ‘91, I didn’t play games much while in college, except for “Warcraft” and “Diablo” on the PC.
It wasn’t until I got my first place, and my first roommate, Carl, that I started playing video games again. My roomie introduced me to “Resident Evil 2″ on the Playstation, and we would play “Final Fantasy VII” into the wee hours of the night. “Symphony of the Night” was the best Castlevania game ever, and we explored every room of both castles and maxed out the levels on every familiar before we were happy. We played more Playstation than we watched TV (mostly Star Trek and Farscape).
Carl got hooked on racing games, and he switched to “Gran Tourismo”. I never like racing games, so I moved back to PC games instead. “Baldur’s Gate” started my great love of RPG games. I’ve followed the D&D game franchise ever since. “Starcraft” was another big one, but I didn’t play it online. I would play “Diablo 2″ across the internet all night, however, to an almost unhealthy amount. But I stuck with PC gaming, since computer games looked better and were more fun than console games (depending on your hardware, of course).
I’ve focused more on RPG games in the last few years, which are usually much better on the PC than on the console systems. I played “Elder Scrolls: Morrowind” for nine months straight, along with the two expansion packs. Based on my Morrowind addiction, I was first in line when “Elder Scrolls: Oblivion” came out in 2006. All told, I probably played Oblivion for about six months, and that was before the “Shivering Isles” expansion pack came out. I’ve had a lot of fun with computer games this year as well, most recently with “Gears of War”, “Crysis” and “Titan Quest”.
It’s looking like consoles are finally starting to overpower computers today though. Some games, like “Star Wars: Force Unleashed”, won’t even be available for the PC, since the developers know that you would need a Power Rig to run it. I’m not quite ready to trade in my PC games for XBOX games though. But that didn’t stop me from getting a Wii last June! I do like the casual gaming style and the fitness aspects of the Wii. I barely even consider the Wii as gaming, but I enjoy the shooting games and the Wii Fit balance games.
I think that my next batch of fond memories will revolve around family gaming. I can’t wait for Aiden to be old enough to play video games with me. Not the NC-17 games that I’m used to playing, surely, but he’ll want age-appropriate games. I’ll make certain that he spends time doing real-life activities (sports, music, karate, etc.) as well, but I think that we’ll bond most over video games. Who knows what gaming will be like by the time Gavin is ready to pick up his first controller? It should be interesting to find out!
Meta-Tags:
3D, Carl, Crysis, Diablo, Diablo 2, Gears of War, Oblivion, Shivering Isles, Titan Quest, Video Games, Wii, Wii Fit
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You should’ve had a Intellivision! I had my aunt’s hand me down until 88 when my dad tried to buy my love with the NES bundle (Mario, Duck Hunt, and Track and Field). Oh those were the days. I’m just now starting to get into computer games though. I’ve been on consoles since 85.
I can’t imagine gaming on a tiny black and white TV. Oh how my generation has been spoiled >_<
Joy — I didn’t like the Intellivision, actually. I think it had a decent rendition of Zaxxon, but other than that seemed to be mostly sports games. I never liked sports games. I think I also had the Atari Lynx in high school, but there were like three games for it, so I settled for a Gameboy. Those weren’t life-changing though, so I didn’t mention them.
Ashley — My family had a color TV in the living room, but we could only afford a tiny used black and white TV for my room. We were poor back then! I remember having a color TV by the time the Nintendo came out though. I’m sure that Aiden will be the spoiled one when he starts gaming.