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Videogame memories
elkatas
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I’m not active part of video gaming community anymore, but I have come to realization how important part it has been of my personal life. As you remember from last year, I started project to create comprehensive guide about history of video gaming for Child’s Play. While this project has been progressing better than I honestly believed, I don’t really think it really expresses my personal worldviews anymore. This is why I’m going to dump project, and try something else.
Instead of trying to create comprehensive, end-of-it-all guide about videogames, I’m trying to create something far more personal. I have created large list of popular videogames, which is based primarily on the earlier project. The Idea is that each one of you picks a game, and writes single simple story about it (max 4-5 sentences or so). Nothing else. Write about whatever pops in your mind. Perhaps you want to tell how cool it was when you got SNES as a Christmas present and you first blasted your way through Super Mario World. Perhaps you want to tell how Tetris made you look physics in different way.
Funny, bizarre, strange, crazy. It doesn’t matter. Tell me how you felt, and be honest. I know that it is almost capital offence for men to to truly talk about their feelings, but this is what this is all about. Feelings. Experiences. Memories. I want you to share these things with rest of the community. The book won't have anything else than these quotes and screenshots from the games.
I haven’t put list on public place yet, because I’m still thinking about how big the book should be. But I’m probably planning to stay at 501 games.
So what you guys think?
EDIT: I think it is better that we ditch list altogether, and allow you to choose games that you want. It is better to have interesting memories about strange game than shitty memories about excellent one.
Instead of trying to create comprehensive, end-of-it-all guide about videogames, I’m trying to create something far more personal. I have created large list of popular videogames, which is based primarily on the earlier project. The Idea is that each one of you picks a game, and writes single simple story about it (max 4-5 sentences or so). Nothing else. Write about whatever pops in your mind. Perhaps you want to tell how cool it was when you got SNES as a Christmas present and you first blasted your way through Super Mario World. Perhaps you want to tell how Tetris made you look physics in different way.
Funny, bizarre, strange, crazy. It doesn’t matter. Tell me how you felt, and be honest. I know that it is almost capital offence for men to to truly talk about their feelings, but this is what this is all about. Feelings. Experiences. Memories. I want you to share these things with rest of the community. The book won't have anything else than these quotes and screenshots from the games.
I haven’t put list on public place yet, because I’m still thinking about how big the book should be. But I’m probably planning to stay at 501 games.
So what you guys think?
EDIT: I think it is better that we ditch list altogether, and allow you to choose games that you want. It is better to have interesting memories about strange game than shitty memories about excellent one.
Hypnotically inclined.
elkatas on
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XBL: LiquidSnake2061
Because the book is all about memories and experiences, I guess that it is best to expand it cover whole gaming, including computers.
When I was about 10 or 11 my friend and I rented Guerrilla Warfare for the NES and played the crap out of it. We came sooooo close to beating it. So close that we decided to skip church the next day and play it in the rectory. We didn't beat it, but we did end up in a lot of trouble. It's safe to say that we'd both have done it again in a heartbeat.
second!
When I was in highschool shortly after PS1 came out my mother (bless her heart) decided to grace me with my second video game system (the first being my Atari 2600 received shortly after the SNES debut, but that's another story)! I was praying for PS1 but instead got a used SNES. That's ok though. I didn't have any games though which was a small problem. My mom had said she'd get one for me but money was kind of tight and my sister had just broken her glasses (again) so my Mom said there was no money to get a game. I was pretty upset, but I guess I acted understanding enough, because she asked my to grab her purse under the seat, but instead of a purse, there was a brand spanking new copy of Super Star Wars.
I played that game until I could beat it without losing a single life. I probably still can.
Anyway, those are the two that spring to mind quickest.
Some things never change.
I say instead of trying to pick out the shining moments you remember, take a minute to reflect on how you remember in total. Can you mentally play through Metal Gear Solid? You might not remember all the dialog but you do remember all the highlights and villains, etc. Have you developed driving habits through playing Forza and Gran Turismo?
So there we go, Wing Commander had a symphonic title, followed by fireworks and an animated intro. After all that, I was dropped at an arcade machine inside game, one that asked me for my name. Then, you had all those game characters, your comrades in arms, talking to you about the enemy pilots and their tactics. That was it. I was completely blown away. I didn't know I could expect anything more than blobs of pixels and basic bleeps and bloops. The Tiger's Claw, the space carrier from which you flown, was a real place, populated by real people to me.
As I had no manual, I didn't know about 85% of the keys and commands. You were supposed to use "A" to activate autopilot between the "nav points" where the action occurred. I didn't. I It so happens that, in the very second mission, me and my wingwoman Spirit had to escort a big lumbering transport ship to a jump point. As I didn't use the autopilot, I tried to fly along the transport, and poor Spirit, trying to keep formation (each pilot had a different personality, and Spirit would follow orders to the very end), she kept bumping into the much larger ship, until her Hornet light fighter blew up.
I was devastated. Another pilot died because of my leadership. I was terrified that the other crewmen at the Claw would be furious with me after Spirit's poignant funeral service. I was too ashamed to face them.
I didn't really grasp the concept of "reloading a save" back then, and I was completely immersed in that game. It felt like I had killed a friend.
That's how much gaming means to me.
PM me or something, I could help you deal with that, I have a lot of old games running in Win7.
This!
I wonder how many people had a similar experience with Final Fantasy 6? It really took the whole genre to another level, one that at once felt believable, sympathetic, and real within its own bounds (i.e. was real enough within its own rules to let you suspend your disbelief).
Final Fantasy 4 had dabbled a bit with believable and sympathetic characters, but I felt like it was hard to suspend disbelief in the game due to some of the cheesy directions that the plot went.
Final Fantasy 6, however, was probably the first video game RPG that, in my opinion, had all three of those important qualities at once: and the end result was a game that was emotionally powerful.
So what part got you, Aumni? I think Leo's death hit me pretty hard, and the Locke/Rachel scene was particularly powerful as well.
They also had 4 PCs on a LAN for C&C matches and Diablo games and a few proper arcade cabinets in the back room.
It created an awesome community of gamers before internet gaming really took off. I still remember being there the day Resident Evil and Alien Trilogy (the PSX FPS one) came out and everyone took it in turns to play a bit on the cabinet. Everyone else huddled round cheering, yelling etc.
It was also there that I found the joys of LAN gaming which the internet still can't parallel today even with VoiP etc.
Great times.
Wrong way... that's quite interesting way to put. Not because I'm judging you, but because your suggestion is class example about how men typically experience / perceive memories. Less about feeling and emotion, and more about concrete data. What I'm suggesting is far more *gasp* femine way to look at these things.
Celes on the island.
Ahh, you must not have saved him! My first time through, I happened (more by luck than anything) to save him, so I didn't see the super tearjerker scene the first time through. That definitely was a powerful scene.
I had recieved an N64 for christmas that year (I must have been around 8 years old), and I went with my grandparents to Wal-Mart to find a copy. We told the elderly man working the electronics department which game we needed out of the glass case, and uttered "Hmm.. last o' tha' Mohicans" as he took the final copy out and handed it to us.
I always think of that old man when I play SM64, either because of how funny he sounded at the time, or the game in question being one of my favorites.
First RPG. First game I ever beat by myself. I'm 8, sitting about 2 feet from the TV. Just beat Bizarro Sephiroth. My heart's pounding. One Winged Angel kicks in. My hands are shaking. Every time he hits Super Nova or Pale Horse, I'm about three seconds from having a heart attack. I'm going through every elixir and megalixir I've ever collected, and if I knew how to swear, the only thing going on in my mind would be 'ohshitohshitohshit'.
I've never felt a greater sense of accomplishment from beating any game than I did from beating FF7.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
I arrived the next day to find that someone had offered him $1,500. I couldn't blame him for selling, but I was pretty bummed. He told me to pick any comics I wanted and he'd give me a deal. I ended up walking out with about $1,000 worth of comics for $300.
I still had $700
TO THE DIGITAL ARENA!
I went there and shouted "free play and chinese for all, my treat!"
we played C&C Red Alert all night and ate good chinese food. From then on, my money was no good there.
I miss that place a lot.
Grandia:
I was playing a lot of Grandia one fall in High School. Then, when I was driving home one day, thinking about how Justin wanted his adventuring because he wanted to learn about the unwritten past got me to thinking about what I wanted to do. I realized that I loved learning about history and pre-history myself, and that there are people who actually explore the world researching humanity's past. While they don't explore crumbling ruins and look for fantastic treasure, the motivation is quite similar. I then realized that, instead of engineering, I wanted to do archaeology.
I now have a degree in Anthropology/Archaeology.
Before the short version above, I kind of accidentally wrote a longer version than I should have for the thread:
It's not until I'm in highschool (shortly after getting my license) that it clicks with me. I'm driving home, and just thinking about the future and what I want to do. For the longest while, I had wanted to be an engineer, but I had been coming to the realization that I'm not all that great with math (I'm a little better than I give myself credit, but, to this day, I've never actually worked up the courage to try out Calculus) and would probably not make the best of engineers. So, I was having a little doubt about what I wanted to do with my life, and it was starting to get to me. In order to get my mind off of it, I start thinking about the game I was playing through again at the time: Grandia.
At some point, Justin's ambitions pop into my head. This time, it kind of comes up a little differently than before: He wants to travel the world, learning about a group of people of which there is little historically known. I think to myself, that I'd kind of love to be able to do that myself. I then realize: there ARE people that do this in real life. Of course, they don't go into crumbling ruins, fight monsters, and take treasure, but they travel the world in order to research an discover things about human history that was previously lost to written history.
Everything clicks with me at that moment. I realized that, while I always loved history, I never quite cared as much for the history where everything was common knowledge and there wasn't much new to discover (mostly, recent history). Rather, I loved it when there was plenty of blank spaces, leaving for room to question and study into. That way, I could learn and discover new stuff about human history. Plus, I think I got the most enjoyment out of my science class in sixth grade when our teacher had us do a mock excavation more than anybody else in my class.
I wanted to be an archaeologist.
Fast forward six or seven years, and I now have a degree in Archaeology and am currently working towards getting into grad school.
Grandia isn't THE reason I went into archaeology, but it definitely helped bring everything together and make the realization that its what I really wanted to do.
I remember spending a ton of time just running at that first Goomba and dying and couldn't figure out how my older brother made Mario jump.
Then I finally figured out which button jumped.
Weird memory but the memory of finally figuring out how to jump in Mario has stuck with me forever.
Up and throughout I was old enough to start Kindergarten, my mother had staunchly said that my sister and I were not allowed to have any videogames, with the only exceptions being those little LCD portable games. I really wanted an NES like my cousins had, but she refused.
Then, one spring, my grandparents visit. The first night they are there, we all go to Wal-mart to pick up some stuff. My grandmother turns to my mother and says "I'm going to buy <me> a toy and <my sister> a Barbie. She then takes my hand and walks me towards the toy section. However, instead of stopping there, we walk into the electronics section. I'm a little confused at this point. She talks to the man at the register and points at a couple of things that I don't quite catch. He grabs his key, opens up the window, and pulls out an NES and a couple of games.
Grandma turns to me, smiles, and says "This is a toy, and all your cousins have one."
And the Barbie for my sister? Well, my grandmother picked up a couple of games....and she was definitely no liar.
Of course, the system came with Mario 3 as a pack in, so that's a fantastic first game right there.
I'd go on weekends sometimes, and we'd play for 3-4 hours at a time. When the older brother got his license, he'd drive us home from school so for a couple years, almost every day I'd be at their house playing. We had some amazing times with that game.
When I went to college one of the things I missed most was playing Smash Bros with them. There was almost nobody there who played. My sophomore year, my girlfriend at the time broke up with me, and I was having a really hard time and super depressed. At the supper table one day, a guy who I vaguely knew and occasionally talked about anime with, who was a freshman that year sat down across from me, and I forget how it came up, but he found out I loved Smash Bros. He said he had it on N64 and there was no one at our school as good at him and nobody to play with, so he invited me to his room for some gaming action.
We went back and I had a blast. I went back the next night to play, and some guys in his hall invented a stupid, dangerous, and fun sport called Sumo Ball. Long story short on my first attempt to join in, I broke my wrist. In space of a few hours, I went from barely knowing most of them, to immediately being part of their hall. I really needed a new batch of friends at the time, so breaking my wrist (which wouldn't have happened without the Smash Bros game) ended up being one of the best things to happen to me that semester.
Turns out I can still play classic Smash Bros with only one good hand, using my right palm on the joystick. Could still beat level 9 bots and anybody but that guy. He ended up being my best friend for the rest of my college days and was one of best men at my wedding.
Now I play through the game every time there's a lull between releases. It ties for my favorite game of all time with Guardian Heroes, another one he introduced me to.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
edit: Christ, I forget at times how massive some of my posts can get. Abridged for relevance.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
When I was 10 I went back to the town I left a few years back to visit a friend and got a chance to go into the old house I grew up in from ages 0 - 7. The kids there were playing Super Mario 3 but didn't have the skillz to beat it. My friend said I was awesome so they all sat around and watched me beat the entire game by myself.
When I was 17 we had a fun tradition called "Grad Kidnapping" where the graduation class girls kidnap the boys one night and we all go get hammered outdoors somewhere. That night the keg was foamy so it was really hard to enjoy getting drunk sucking cups of foam. At around 6am my buddy and I bought some mushrooms and went to my house where we played the shit out of emulated NES games on my computer. Not only was it fun to play the games and be high as fuck but the emulator kept glitching making for hilarious and difficult game play. I mean the graphics would glitch out randomly and we'd try to maneuver through old games with memory alone through a thick fog of shroom laughter and hallucinations. We're pretty sure that the games were legitimately glitching as we weren't stupid high, but the shrooms exacerbated the effect.
Another time when some friends and I just ate some shrooms (really I didn't do shrooms a lot, its just another good game memory) I was playing 1080 snowboarding on 64 and as the psylocibin was kicking in my ability to control the complex tricks and stunts gradually slipped away until i was completely feeble at it.
Quite interesting to feel the building high alongside the diminishing control.
Strangely I could control the games playing NES very well, but 1080 was impossible.
Gremio in Suikoden did that for me.
I think you and I would find we have much in common. Depression isn't something you can even convey, you can't really understand it unless it's a part of your life. I feel for you man, just wanted to say.:?
Now for something on topic...
SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS...the whole thing. I spoilered it because I cannot just say a couple sentences, sorry.
The opening sequence grabbed me, I didn't know why. The music, the calmness, a young man on his horse...where was he going?
From there it slowly opened up for me, as he placed this form onto that stone altar, and pulled back the blanket (or whatever) to reveal a young woman, clearly dead.
I knew this game was going places.
The thunderous voice tells me to head out and seek something...ok.
I got on the horse and headed out, following the light from my sword. (I read a bit of the instructions)
Climbed that first cliff, rounded the corner, and wow.
Seeing that giant for the first time sent a chill up me, it was one of the best moments in gaming I have ever experienced. (This is done on my PS2!?) I couldn't believe it, when I figured out how to climb the sucker, I was gonna take it down! I did, and felt like an asshole...not how I expected to feel.
The game got better and better as it went, the flying bird colossus, sweeping me into the air as I held on. The music becoming more awesome as it did a barrel roll trying to shake me off. I was so astonished and happy...what an exhilarating experience.:)
Those are the 2 I remember most from the game. (Oh and the ending boss, wow. Along with how it all concludes, so tragic, but just beautiful, an instant favorite I will always cherish)
My parents bought an Intellivision for my brother and I one Christmas. After the initial "ooh, aah" factor wore off, it collected a little dust until....Utopia.
We played that game to death. We quite literally wore out the key pad inserts, but by that time, it didn't matter, the location of the rebel button was already programmed into muscle memory. We were absolute bastards to each other in that game, and consequently, we were a lot nicer to each other outside of it. If we had score to settle, we just waited for the hurricane to pass through....
And then we got a C-64 and M.U.L.E. and found a new way to resolve our conflicts. We also learned more about supply and demand economics and 'irrational exuberance' than you could in any econ class.
Please, Please, Please someone make re-make M.U.L.E. You don't need to upgrade anything but the graphics engine and put it on PSN/XBLA/VC. I would die a happy man!
Such a heavy burden now to be the one
Born to bare and read to all the details of our ending
To write it down for all the world to see
But I forgot my pen...
Mother 3 also, somewhat surprisingly, had an emotional effect on me during the ending. Still, not on the same level as the Chunsoft sound novel series of games though.
I'd wake up at the foot of my bed every morning to her playing Zelda.
She also loved Ice Hockey.
I beat Super Mario World one day about 2 weeks after I got an SNES. Beat it before I went to school.
My grandmother bought me the puzzle game Yoshi one year for Christmas. I still have it cause she was awesome.
My dad would always play Mario Bros. with me but only if he got to be first player.
Next time I go to my grand dad's I'm gonna try to drag out my dad's old PONG machine that's been in the attic for 30 years.
Darius Twin
When my brother and I first got a super nintendo when I was 6 and he was 11, we got 3 games with it. He immediately picked up on the subtelties of Street Fighter 2, and though I could attempt to keep up on Super Mario World, he would inevitably beat 70% of the levels. For whatever reason, Darius Twin, a side-scrolling SHMUP was were I could shine as a video gamer.
The level designs blew my mind, and each sea-life themed boss was grander than the last. By the time we would co-op to the end of the game, the last boss made our jaws drop. It was larger than the entire screen, and you had to rotate around it. Gathering each precious power up, you would dodge shots and pray you didn't get hit. It was largely that I was able to prove that I was just as good at that game as my brother that allowed me to really sink into video games, rather than shrug it off as something he does, and not me. I'm not a huge SHMUP fan, but Christmas day with legs crossed and 16 bit space jets battling fish-bots on a multitude of planets will alwasy remain an important memory to me as a gamer and as a brother.
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFlcqWQVVuU
I had an Atari 5200 as a child and one of my favorite games on it was Pitfall! 2. One day, while I was being watched by a babysitter, I got to the second world in the game (the 5200 version has a second harder world that other versions of the game don't have). I was so pleased and told all my friends, but for the longest time I couldn't replicate the feat, because I thought you got there by getting the monkey. Years passed and I started to wonder if the second world was just a dream or a glitch. Then one day, I figured it out - you needed to get all of the main treasures to unlock the second world. I was ecstatic when I finally did it again and eventually beat the game completely.
Experience 2-
Just got a SNES. Just got Zelda. The opening sequence - "Holy cow! It's raining!"
Yes, the fact that the game had rain that actually looked like rain blew my 8-bit drenched mind.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
I dreamt about owning one, as I'd the first in my school to own one.
When the day came to go to Zellers to buy it, my moms neighbor in all his wisdom, somehow convinced my mother that I'd go blind staring at the green screen. I ended up not getting it. I pretty much cried for three weeks straight. That dissapointment pretty much toughended me up for anything life has thrown my way since.