Note* i wrote this almost a year ago. it is one part of 5 (3 completed) of the most important things in my life. what makes me me.
Videogames. This may sound stupid, silly…whatever. Fuck you if you don’t like it. Videogames have helped me in many, many ways. Sure, they have done their harm, too, mainly on my schooling and my wallet. But a more than even trade, I believe.
My first videogames were Mario Bros. 3, for the Nintendo Entertainment System. My brother got it for his birthday, when he turned 8, I believe. 16 years is a long time to remember, but I remember the way my eyes were…attacked almost by the glory of those first minutes. I also received a volleyball/soccer game for the NES, but this was far more mundane. It was not long after my NES birth before my parents began to bicker, and fight, and eventually grew to hate one another. I was 6 when they were divorced, and I remember it pretty clearly. We had gotten more videogames, but all I remember now is Mario Brothers 3. It was something special, amazing.
When we left the house with dad, we got an apartment, and times were good, and we got a Sega Genesis for Christmas, and with it, Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I remember when we bought a new TV, I thought it was massive. Knowing that Sonic was going to be as big as he was, I was ecstatic. In fact, the TV still is around, and is sitting next to me as I write this. By comparison, it is an old POS, and not large atal. But it was my gaming TV, and remains so even today.
When we went to visit dad, we would bring our NES with us, and we would rent games sometimes. The one game we rented most was Contra, a game that to this day is easily top 10 retro games. UUDDLRLR Start Select. It is engraved in my brain, something I cannot ever forget. It is impossible to say how many times Tyler and I have beaten that game, but it is easily in the hundreds, perhaps even low thousands. At the time, gaming was just fun, and a small escape for us. A way to forget some of the crap going on in life, to just play. That aspect of gaming has only grown for me with time. Indeed, this is why I now play so many games.
We soon moved in with Rick, my mothers fiance, and his son Todd had a Super Nintendo. We had never had one before, and barely played one, so it was incredibly exciting for us. We had Mortal Kombat 2, my first fighting game, and of course, Super Mario World. I also bought Donkey Kong Country, which is still, again, top 10 list of retro games. Mom and Rick broke up, and we decided we needed our own SNES, so Ty and I saved our money, and bought one, along with some games like Killer Instinct, Super Mario and a few others. In that apartment I had the kidney infection that kept me out of school for almost a month, and we rented DKC2. Not as good as the original, but longer, and I spent a lot of my time playing it. I beat it multiple times, and found most of the secrets.
We moved in, and back out again, of Rick’s house, and it was in this new apartment, the last I lived in Greeley, that the Playstation, N64 and Saturn came out. Tyler and I decided upon the Saturn, as it came with free games. We got Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop, Sonic 3d Blast, and a game I only remember as Solar Eclipse, though I am not positive that is the name. We lived near a Gamestop, and we frequented it, saving up money and trading in to get new and different games. I still have some of those games, and though I have not played a single one in years, I would never sell my Saturn. It is a legacy.
We moved to Aurora, in with Roy, and it was there that my gaming took itself to a new level. Before, it was just fun, a pastime. Now, it had become a part of my life. With one game.
Tyler and I regretted getting the Saturn, but we loved it anyway. We decided to save up and get a Playstation together, along with a few games, namely, Coolboarders 2. We played the hell out of it, unlocking everything in the game, and having highscores that were mind boggling for 2 kids. It was around then that I remember seeing a commercial on TV. I remember very little of it, except the announcers voice, and seeing a spiky-haired blonde man with a giant sword staring up at a building. The man said “Final Fantasy….Seven”. And the title flashed across the screen. While we had lived in our last apartment, Tyler and I had gotten from our grandfather a game called Mario RPG. Neither of us had ever played an RPG before, but we spent hours and hours on the game, perfecting our characters, and understanding the world. When it came time to rent next, we decided upon FF7 and FFT, thinking they were related. We tried Tactics first, but couldn’t understand it, so we put it aside, and popped in FF7.
To this day, I remember every second of that first night in vivid clarity. The music, the senses overloaded with beauty from all angles. This game changed my life. Tyler and I stayed up til 1 in the morning, playing our new character, whom I named NickH12, thinking it would be like a highscore name. I didn’t realize we were naming this person, this character, this…avatar of US. After our time with the rental was up, we saved up and bought FF7 first thing with our Christmas money. it was the Christmas of 97′, 10 years ago. Hard to believe a decade has passed.
This was the first game that I loved so much, I thought about it at school. I dreamt about it. I yearned to play it at all times. Tyler and I had an agreement, that we could play without the other there, but only so long as we did not progress in the story. We leveled, bought things, explored, but it was only with both of us that we learned Cloud’s fate, Tifa’s love, Barret’s heartbreak. Aeris’ demise. After Midgar, we assumed we were moving on to disc 2, we were close to halfway, we had been playing for 20 hours already. No, this was only the beginning. On the second disc, Tyler accidentally deleted our entire memory card, and we started over. I was angry, yes, but I was happy to play it all again, relearn it, get all that I missed. I have since played the entire game 4 times, and its prequels and sequels just as many, or more.
From that point on, we bought any videogame we could get our hands on that looked good. Pokemon, Metal Gear Solid, FF8, Xenogears, Chrono Trigger. My heart swells with joy as I remember each of these. The friends I have made because of them, namely Matt, my best friend to date. I remember renting a Dreamcast and playing true 3D for the first time. I remember seeing the PS2 take hold of the market. I remember all of the events of the past decade in comparison to videogames, and music.
In 7th grade, I started to really hang out with Traevor, and he was into a game called Diablo 2. Made by the creators of Starcraft, a game he and I both also loved. He got me to try it, downloading a free trial, and I fell in love. This was how my foray into Blizzard, my favorite company, and PC gaming (and building) began. It evolved quickly, to Warcraft, Doom, Quake, and many others. It turned into a love for MMOs with RO and FF11 years later. And it now remains such with my love of WoW.
Interestingly, I still love to take out the nintendo or play an old gameboy game. There is not a single system I will not play, or would not own if not for monetary constraints. I currently own: PS2, NES, SNES, Genesis, GBA, PC, Saturn, Dreamcast, N64, and I even have a Pong game somewhere!
Videogames have changed my life. Made friends, relieved stress, taught me history, psychology, philosophy, science, literature. I know how to read, write, type and spell pretty well, because of them. They have helped pique my interest in 3 of the other 4 pillars of me, history, philosophy, music. Videogames bring my life together, and thankfully, keep it together. People may think it is pathetic that I sit around and play so many games, or that I view them as more than just a game. But like I said, fuck them. This is what I love. And what I have no intention to stop loving.
