I remember being extremely young, maybe three or four, and playing Dangermouse In The Black Forest Chateau with my dad on his ZX Spectrum 48K. It was a text adventure and he’d read it out to me like a story and I’d tell him what I wanted to do.
I have very few memories of being so young but for some reason this one sticks out. Being unable to read at the time, it’s the only vivid memory I have of seeing weird symbols (the words on the screen) and somehow knowing they meant something, but not knowing what.
I remember A, B, C, Lift-Off! on the ZX Spectrum. It was an educational game. One of its modes had a conveyor belt with crates going along it. A crate would open and a word would appear at the top of the screen: if the object in the crate matched the word, you would press S (for ‘snap’) and the object would be loaded onto the rocket.
I used to adore it: it’s funny how something that wouldn’t even pass as a mini-game these days was enough to keep me enthralled back then.
I remember being at my aunt’s house in America in 1987 and seeing a grey box underneath her television. This was to be my first introduction to the Nintendo Entertainment System, and at the mature age of four years old it was the first time I fell in love.
I only vividly remember two things about that holiday to America. I remember a McDonald’s advert featuring a moon, and I remember Super Mario Bros. That summer the NES was released in the UK and I got one for Christmas, with Super Mario Bros and Mach Rider.
I remember playing Bear Bovver on the Spectrum for hours one day. Bear Bovver was a Burger Time rip-off by Jon Ritman, who had developed the brilliant football game Match Day. You controlled a bear called Ted and had to run around a construction site, dropping batteries onto his van parked below, while avoiding the evil ‘bovver bears’.
The Spectrum’s heat management wasn’t the most advanced, and I played it for so long that smoke started coming out of the power brick. Our Spectrum had to be sent off to be repaired. To this day Bear Bovver is the only game I played for so long that I melted my power supply.
I remember my uncle going to America (again, to visit my aunt) and coming back with some American NES games: A Nightmare On Elm Street and Fester’s Quest. The UK NES wouldn’t play them (they would run for two or three seconds then reset), so we found a shop in Glasgow that would mod my console to play imports.
Although in hindsight the guy probably just soldered some sort of chip to the console, back then I thought it was some sort of magical trick and that my NES was suddenly more special than ever. It made me feel more special too.
I remember reading in an old issue of Mean Machines (a brilliant multi-format console magazine) that the Master System had a secret maze game built in and you could play it by holding the 1 and 2 buttons and up on the D-pad. I remember skeptically trying it out and feeling my heart leap as the screen slowly slid to the left and the maze revealed itself.
To this day I can still hear that music in my head. Later Master System models had Alex Kidd In Miracle World built-in and so didn’t have the maze game.
I remember there was a game shop in Cumbernauld Shopping Centre (it’s now an estate agent) that let you rent games for a couple of days. I rented RC Pro-Am and Bubble Bobble on the NES from them once.
My strongest memory though is getting the Master System version of Ghouls N Ghosts from them and finishing it that day, taking it back the next day and telling them I’d already beaten this notoriously hard game. Looking back it seems the Master System version may have been a great deal easier but hey, they were impressed and I felt like a hero.
I remember Click, the VHS ‘video magazine’ which only lasted for two ‘issues’, probably because it cost a fiver a pop. It was an attempt to present a games magazine in the style of a fly-on-the-wall documentary, with the magazine staff generally dicking around and getting in all manner of (scripted) incidents.
I adored Click: it made me wonder if that was what working for a games magazine was really like. Turns out it actually wasn’t far off it, except we didn’t have Jake Wood (who later became Max Branning in Eastenders) reviewing Amiga games. If you’re curious, watch it online: issue 1 and issue 2.
I remember going on a school trip to the Museum of Transport in Glasgow and spotting, next to the gift shop, an Out Run arcade cabinet. It was the first time I’d played it and it completely blew me away.
I remember signposts and big stone columns swooping past me with remarkable smoothness and speed, and walking away adamant it was the most beautiful game I had ever seen.
I remember Pleasureland in Arbroath. It was a massive grey building next to a pitch-and-putt golf course and was the biggest arcade I’d ever seen. I must have gone there four or five times during my childhood and every time I was in heaven.
I can still remember some of the arcade machines it had and in my mind I can even picture where some of them were located: The Simpsons, WWF Wrestlefest, Mortal Kombat 2, Sega’s weird hologram game Time Traveler, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. Pleasureland is still there, but it’s mostly filled with kid’s play areas these days.
I remember so many arcades from my childhood. Every time we went somewhere I’d pray we’d stumble upon an arcade and we almost always did.
The Golden Mile in Blackpool (where I found the Street Fighter pinball machine for the first time). Haven’s Primrose Valley caravan park in Scarborough (where I first saw the notoriously gory Time Killers). Across the chip shop at the Cumbernauld Shopping Centre (Final Fight). Across the chip shop at the Barras in Glasgow (WWF Superstars). The Time Capsule swimming pool in Coatbridge (Mortal Kombat 2). The one at M&Ds in Strathclyde Park when it first opened (SoulCalibur and Virtua Striker).
Every one holds so many memories, and every one either no longer exists or is filled with slot machines and ticket games now. It saddens me to think there’s a generation of gamers who never experienced the thrill of being in a room filled with games graphically far superior to what you had at home, armed with a couple of quid’s worth of 10p coins (because that’s all they cost to play). But I was there, and I remember it.
I remember getting my Mega Drive on Christmas 1991. It came with Sonic The Hedgehog and Altered Beast (which I liked, screw the haters).
I also got issue one of a new Nintendo magazine called Total!, which would quickly become one of my favourite mags because of its brilliant sense of humour.
Little did I know that 15 years later I’d be working for its publisher alongside its editor, the lovely Steve Jarrett.
I remember 7 January 1992 at 6pm, watching the first ever episode of GamesMaster (watch it here). I remember being overjoyed at the quadruple-excitement of a TV show about games, a Scotsman hosting it, Super Mario Bros 3 being the first challenge and my magazine hero Julian Rignall (of CVG and Mean Machines) providing commentary.
I never missed an episode of GamesMaster during the six years it was on, even the shit ones with Dexter Fletcher. I could do a memories article on GamesMaster alone (and I will one day).
I remember more 16-bit era cheat codes than I probably should. Despite learning them two decades ago I can still provide these useless codes off the top of my head.
ABACABB for the Mortal Kombat blood code, ABBAABBA to skip levels in Aladdin, ABRACADABRA to do it in Chuck Rock, ADE-NAI-WRA-LKA as a password to reach level 6 in Splatterhouse 2, Down-R-Up-L-Y-B-X-A to do numerous things in Street Fighter games, AAAAAABC to put a Groucho Marx moustache on Earthworm Jim, ARK in the name entry to play as Bill Clinton in NBA Jam, and so on.
This seems to be something of a dying art, which is a shame: these codes were daft but you felt like a super hacker when you entered one.
I remember when my dad bought my SNES from AdTrader, a yellow Scottish newspaper which was basically a big classified ads section.
I remember us driving to the guy’s house to buy it and driving home with my SNES sitting next to me along with Super Mario World, Super Castlevania and Super Tennis.
Never has a car journey home felt so long, and never has a console immediately satisfied me like the SNES did with Super Mario World.
I remember spending hours every weekend playing battle mode in Super Mario Kart with my wee brother.
Our battles could sometimes last up to half an hour, especially on Battle Course 2 because you could use a feather to jump into the walled-off water sections and essentially become impervious to all attacks.
I’d always play as Toad and my wee brother would always play as Yoshi, and any time he beat me he’d shout “I’m Yoshi” and try to lick my cheek because he knew it really pissed me off.
I remember our Mario Kart sessions eventually being replaced with the glorious International Superstar Soccer, the finest football game on the SNES by an enormous margin.
I have no idea how many hundreds of hours we put into ISS, me playing as Italy (complete with star Roberto Baggio imitation Galfano) and my brother as Brazil, but I do know every single one was time well spent.
I remember the 16-bit console war in my playground. As the kid who owned both I was the mediator but I saw my first instance of blind fanboyism there: a posh lad called Damien who was adamant that Sega would ultimately become the dominant company because of “the majesty of Ecco The Dolphin“. He was ten.
I pitied him though: his mum was a teacher so during the big Amiga / Atari ST debate he ended up getting an Acorn Archimedes because his mum considered it more educational.
I remember going to a school disco and hating every minute of it because I didn’t have too many friends at the time. I remember leaving, dejected, and being picked up by my dad who told me he’d bought me a Mega CD from AdTrader.
Instantly that night went from being one I was desperate to forget to one I would always remember, as I rushed home and enjoyed my first CD-ROM games, Sol-Feace and Cobra Command.
I remember getting Night Trap on my Mega CD, loving it the first day, then having nightmares that night and not going near it again for a good fortnight (look, I was ten).
Slowly I got over my fear and started playing it again, eventually falling in love with it. I’m certain my love for horror films stemmed from my ability to overcome Night Trap and appreciate the thrill that conquering it gave me.
I remember heading to my local game shop on 1 March 1997 and trading in my Mega Drive with 120-odd games for a launch day Nintendo 64 and one single game: Super Mario 64.
I remember sniffling away tears of happy memories as I placed my Mega Drive games into big bin bags and wondering if I was making a massive mistake.
Then, later, as I made Mario run around the castle grounds for the very first time, I knew I hadn’t.
I remember the satisfaction that came with putting new batteries into the Nintendo 64 Rumble Pak.
As the Rumble Pak’s batteries died the rumble effect got progressively weaker, but it all happened over such a long period of time that you never really noticed your recoil in GoldenEye packing less punch.
Then you’d put new batteries in and that faint murmur you had grown used to was instantly replaced by a hefty tremor.
I remember using my pocket money to order WWF Attitude on the PlayStation from Jungle.com (which used to be the second-biggest online retailer in the UK before it merged with Argos) and coming home every day from school for what felt like months (but was probably only a week or two) disappointed that it hadn’t turned up yet.
My delight in finally seeing that parcel has rarely been topped. As it happens, the game was shit but in terms of graphics and roster size nothing could beat it at the time.
I remember ordering Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast from Simply Games (before they became a bunch of wanks) and getting it on a Saturday morning, nearly a full week before it was supposed to be released.
I spent the entire day playing it, to the extent that I knew its four music tracks inside-out by the time my first day with it was over. I will always love that game: its handling was all over the place and its collision physics were about as predictable as a game of bingo, but it was an unadulterated celebration of fun.
I remember buying an Xbox a year after it came out (I was a student, so was pretty poor at that point). Believe it or not, I bought it solely for ToeJam & Earl III because I was a massive fan of the first game, but it ended up being more than a bit pish.
Instead I spent all my time playing Project Gotham Racing, just slowly driving around in a time trial and stopping to look at the amazing recreations of London, Tokyo, New York and San Francisco.
I remember buying its sequel later that year and being even more enamoured, because it featured Edinburgh (where I was living at the time).
I remember getting a phone call right after my 23rd birthday offering me the Staff Writer job on Official Nintendo Magazine.
I remember the strange mixture of excitement and sheer terror at the thought of being lucky enough to do my dream job, but having to move to London and leave all my family and friends behind in order to fulfil that dream.
I got the overnight bus to London over the May Day weekend of 2006, and didn’t sleep a wink all night. I have never been so scared in my life. But there wasn’t a hope in hell I was going to turn it down and it ended up being the second best decision I ever made (after proposing to my missus).
I remember being asked if I wanted to be the Games Editor on CVG, and feeling massively honoured to join a long list of games journalists – including my hero Julian Rignall – spanning the publication’s 34-year history.
As most people know, CVG’s story didn’t have a happy ending and I was one of two guys (the other being News Editor Tom Ivan) who ultimately turned off the lights at the world’s longest-running video game publication.
But I will always be enormously proud to have been a part of the entity that made me want to do this job in the first place.
I remember how I felt every single time I received an email, forum message, letter or tweet from an ONM, Nintendo Gamer or CVG reader.
I remember the pride I felt in informing gamers the same way I had been informed for so many years, and I remember feeling enormously grateful and thankful for anyone who ever took the time to get in touch with me.
I tried my best to respond to everyone (time willing) and continue to try to do so over Twitter, because the most important part of writing about games is the people who read it.
There are many things that happen in our lives that we don’t want to remember. Deaths in the family. Break-ups. General Election results. But video games give us a catalogue of happy memories that we can build up over the years and call upon any time our hearts need warming up.
The memories I’ve shared above are only a fraction of the things I remember from the 29 years since a three-year-old me first played Dangermouse In The Black Forest Chateau. These will be memories I will always cherish for as long as – God willing – my mind remains healthy.
Over time you will forget some of the bad things that happened to you. I don’t really remember the times I was bullied at school or times I missed the bus to uni. But I do remember the good things that happened to me, and video games provided many of these.
I remember.
And I always will.
Do you have a gaming memory you remember with great fondness? I want to write a follow-up article called ‘You remember’ in which I post your memories to accompany mine. We’re celebrating gaming on this site, not being negative about it. Either email me at chrisscullion1888@gmail.com or comment below with your own gaming memory to have it added to the article when it goes live in the near future. Please start it with “I remember…” so it’s all thematically tidy and that innit.
I remember… wanting an NES for Christmas but instead getting a C64. We couldn’t get it to work, and my late Dad sent me to my friends house to try one of his Spectrum cassettes… which I did, knowing it wouldn’t work! I also remember my friend’s Dad look that told me he knew it wasn’t gonna work lol. I’m a Nintendo man now by the way, but we grew to love the C64!
I remembered wrong, my friend had an Amstrad! No, Amstrad cassettes did NOT work in my Commodore 64 lol
I’m pretty sure M&D’s still have a lot of the old arcade cabinet relics lying about. Last time I was there they still had House of the Dead with “Please Insert Coin” burned onto the display screen offering a pound a go (fuck off) I wish they’d re-release it as they have done with the other HOTD series.
Really good article, it made me smile a lot. Here are a couple from me:
I remember my old man coming home with a rubber keyboard Speccy in an old Tesco bag that he hadn’t told us he was buying. The whole family crowded round our huge CRT TV in total amazement at what we were seeing.
I can still remember being in total awe of the graphics in Pajamarama and playing that and School Daze endlessly even though I was rubbish at both of them.
I remember visiting the Golden Goose arcade and the very start of the peir in Llandudno. Rightly or wrongly it was always the highlight of visiting my Grandparents and I was introduced to so many games that turned out to be genre defining classics, although I didn’t realise at the time.
One time a guy asked if he could join my game of Golden Axe and when I said “sure thing” he proceeded to kick the the life right out of me, before my 10 year old eyes. I was too busy laughing at his audacity to be angry and mourn the loss of my precious 10p. We ended up gaming together for an hour or so until Thunderblade had swallowed the last of the weeks spends.
You’re right, gaming gives us all memories that we can look back on fondly as well as providing a fantastic distraction from the heaps of actual manure that comes along with adult life.
Your article got me thinking and I’m so grateful for my old man introducing me to computers at such a young age (Vic-20 era) even though he had little interest in them himself. It was to spark that started a lifelong passion for gaming that doesn’t seem to be dimming at all. Having the opportunity to see games develop from Radar Rat Race to Grand Theft Auto V is journey that not everyone had the chance to experience. Watching these games evolve over my 37 years on this planet has been such a special experience and not every generation gets to witness something like that.
Brilliant stuff man, thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for writing this Chris, it was a great read, and very touching. I’m afraid I’m only a mere whippersnapper so I don’t have any particularly nostalgic stories to share, although now that I think about it, I suppose receiving my first console, a Game Boy Advance SP with a copy of NES Classics Super Mario Bros. was quite a big turning point in my life! Still, you’ve made me realise how grateful I am for gaming, and that there are still memories for us all to create!
I remember the run up to Christmas 2006. I was an awkward thirteen year old still struggling through secondary school but the Nintendo Wii was on its way. I don’t think I had ever been as excited for a new console as that. It was at the top of my Christmas list but the thing was selling fast. My dad came home from work and told me that the odds of getting it were pretty much zilch.
I felt dejected but tried not to be too upset. I tried to understand that it was difficult and my dad had tried his best. I didn’t want to appear ungrateful to the man who had rarely let me down when it came to birthdays and Christmas.
That Christmas day, I was still buzzing with excitement. So what if I didn’t get the Wii; I was determined to still have a great time. When the time came to open presents, I rushed to the tree and pondered what to grab first. I noticed that one present was bizarrely big; most of the stuff I asked for was really small. Out of curiosity, I went to grab it but my dad said “No, save that till last.”
I was struck with confusion. “Why that one last unless….” The possibility quickly dawned on me. “No. He said he wouldn’t be able to get one.” I tried desperately to not get excited in case I wound up being horribly wrong. Turns out, my suspicions were dead on.
I had a brand spanking new Wii to enjoy; a console that managed to even get my parents to give gaming a brief go (even if it was just Wii Sports). Looking back, it didn’t really have that many great games for it, but that feeling of elation when I ripped off the paper to see that beautiful white box is one I hope to never forget.
I remember visiting my Grandad in my early childhood, every Sunday afternoon without fail. I remember moving away so that visits came on the first Saturday of every school holiday & phone calls every Sunday & Wednesday evening without fail.
I remember staying with him one summer and him buying all the accessories for our Game Boy that we found & our library of games doubling in the week we were there.
I remember one particular visit, he showed us a computer he’d been given that he’d planned to catalogue his coin collection on but, despite understanding how to do it all he preferred his old method and didn’t really need the computer. He wondered if perhaps we could use it for our homework or perhaps get some games for it if indeed they did them for it. We didn’t know exactly what it was but if it was anything like the Amstrad CPC 464 he’d given us years before we’d be okay. More than okay.
He never made a big deal of these things, always seemed as though he was mentioning them in passing. Not out of disinterest but because he was so pleased that we were visiting there that something so trivial shouldn’t be dwelt upon. As I say, we didn’t know what it was at the time but my Dad did and of the memories I have of it afterwards, my Dad features in most. He, me & my brother spent hours together shooting, flying, fighting, exploring, casting spells etc. My Grandad was glad we’d liked it & was pleased that we’d gotten some use out of it.
And we certainly did that.
It was an Amiga 600.
I remember sitting in the garden with my Gameboy Color on a beautiful summer day, trying to think of a cooler name to put into Pokémon Red that wasn’t just my real name. My 7-year-old brain came up with Mickiz, which i still use in games today.
I spent hours in Pokémon Red going through Rock Tunnel without Flash because I was hardcore (I was an idiot) and feeling the greatest sense of achievement when I finally came out the other side.
I remember coming back from Tesco in my mum’s Vauxhall Cavalier in the pouring rain and beating the Elite Four with my poorly trained Charizard, and refusing to get out the car until I’d finished listening to the credits music – to this day indelibly marked in my brain. When my mum suggested taking up an instrument I chose the Pokéflute, but it didn’t exist so I played a normal flute instead. 15 years later I still play and make my own music.
These are just a few memories from just one game. I haven’t even mentioned playing Pokémon Sapphire 5 times, my sense of wonder and excitement watching the opening of Final Fantasy III on DS, buying a GameCube and discovering Wind Waker, getting given a PS2 and spending days grinding in Final Fantasy XII just for fun, summer evenings spent playing Persona 4 on Vita maxing out social links, the 300-odd hours and crippling RSI playing Animal Crossing New Leaf for hours every day and immediately following it with a few hours of Bravely Default…
Games have shaped my life in so many ways, and though I think that I should probably feel bad about spending so much of my life not doing something more worthwhile or productive, when it comes down to it I don’t regret a second.
And all that is without remembering the day in 2004 I first bought Nintendo Official Magazine, Issue 134. Hundreds hours of reading and rereading every single issue, watching every YouTube video, listening to every podcast and here I am.
I remember buying the first console I ever saved up for with entirely my own money from delivering leaflets, the Nintendo Gamecube.
I remember preordering it in my local Electronics Boutique and going back an unhealthy amount of times when they got one in a good few weeks ahead of release for customers to try out (probably a US import since they had it since November 2001).
I remember being blown away by the sight of Super Monkey Ball and Luigi’s Mansion when my eyes were still used to N64 & PS1 graphics (I didn’t get a PS2 for another year or so). Then seeing Rogue Leader! There will never be a leap like that again in my opinion, everything just looks a little shinier with the current generation rather than the eye melting goodness of that kind of difference.
I remember the day finally arriving when I got to bring it home, 3rd May 2002. I chose the black (ew purple) and got Super Monkey Ball and Luigi’s Mansion and a Memory Card 59, my best friend got Star Wars (and no memory card for 2 weeks haha!). Despite already gaming for 12 years at this stage, this was the first time to me that felt like the future, yes even more than the N64!
I also remember the excruciating wait of having to visit my sister’s house for 2 hours before I got home with it! Good times 😀
Great article, brought back a lot of good memories for me but this one was a sort of coming of age :p
I remember visiting my grandfather’s house when my mother had to work late hours. He had a keen interest in collecting things and buying things from car boot sales, including video games and consoles for me and my brother to play when we visited. Some of my fondest memories are playing the original Playstation with my grandfather watching and my brother and I passing the controller around and seeing who could get the furthest in Metal Gear Solid and Abe’s Odyssey, along with multi-player sessions of Syphon Filter 2. One day, my grandfather brought out a console that was a favourite of his, the Atari 2600. His assertion was that ‘older games are better’ reasoning that they required more imagination because of their technical limitations. My brother and I had a lot of fun playing the game Combat and Centipede amongst other titles and my grandfather’s love of the Atari definitely sparked an interest in retro gaming for me. When he moved out of one of his houses he let me keep the Atari 2600. Last week, my grandfather passed away. I owe a lot to him beyond the gaming memories he gave to me, but I’ll always remember those evenings spent at his house with a great nostalgia.
My first gaming memory is between two games as both were played about the same time. The first is Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Master System. I loved playing it and even downloaded the Game Gear version from the eshop. It still makes me smile now. The second game is Super Mario Bros 3. I have fond memories of me and my sister watching my brother play it and being amazed at how many secrets there were. I did play it myself a few times but mostly watched my brother and maybe do a two player made shared between us. I remember one night we got so close to the end then became distressed as the NES decided to freeze. Oh the pain! (I also enjoyed Solstice but always got stuck. Look i was only 5/6 at the time!). Years later at college, someone brought a NES in. For some reason a guy smashed the too of it in and guess what was stuck in there?! Others would be amazed i knew so many secrets and asked how. My reply was always the same- “what do you think i grew up on?”
The next part is when I remember the year i got my DS Lite which was quite a few years after i stopped playing the NES and being the next games console i played. I can’t remember where i first saw it but I’d seen it on the internet and was intrigued by the two screens idea. Later on, i went to a family meal and my cousin had Brain Training running. She turned to me and said “can you do the maths part as it’s too hard?” It then clicked and despite the ugly pink colour, her DS Lite had captured my heart. Affording one was going to be a problem, but a newspaper advert showing a special offer with a DS Lite (i choose white) and two games for £95.99 was a bargain. I begged for it and after extra reassurance from my sister, it was mine. I did have to wait until 1PM Christmas day (bar a few sneaky goes thanks to my sister) to actually own it but the wait was worth it. I had Sonic Rush Adventures and Drawn to life. This game to me looked childish but anyone who’s played it will understand just how wonderful it is. My DS Lite went everywhere with me and kept me company. It’s survived drops and spills and still works now. I could never get rid of it- the hinge may be knackered but i love it with all my heart.
The next home console was the Wii. My sister decided to get it for Wii Fit but she told my dad she’d won it in a comp as it cost a lot of money. There was a lot of excitement when it was set up New Years Eve 2009. I was in awe how the motion controls worked and the amount we played Wii Sports resort is nobody’s business. Even my dad, who has very little understanding of video games in general, enjoyed playing the bowling and could even beat me by miles in certain games! To date it’s the only video game we’ve all played together and loved. My sister loved the Lego Harry Potter games but to me it was overwhelming as i’d only played the DS versions. As for me? Super Mario Galaxy games were just phenominal, Skyward Sword allowed me to be completely absorbed and Okami, while the controls were a little wonky, just sounded and looked wonderful. While it has been replaced by the Wii U and love Mario Kart 8, the Wonderful 101, Bayonetta plus many others, the Wii will always be loved for reintroducing me to Nintendo home consoles.
So now i have my 3DS XL and am creating memories with this too. From discovering new games like Fire Emblem Awakening and Puzzle and Dragons to old favourites like Mario, Luigi and Zelda, and from attending my first streetpass meeting in the now disappeared Yoshi’s gaming cafe to becoming the twitter mamangeress and running the feed, these will all be more precious to me when i move on to Nintendo’s next console. I’m by no means a blind fan and can see some of the stupid mistakes they’ve made but i still love what they do and create. With the Splatoon Global demo showing new IP’s can still make a genre feel fresh, i look forward to being a Nintendo fan for many years to come. I’m very lucky to have the honour of playing some of the greatest games by some of the most imaginative, creative people who aren’t afraid to expand well known characters and introduce us to those who’ll we’ll grow to love. I know when the greats finally hand over the torch, it’ll be a sad day but one which will hopefully bring a future of new and exciting ideas, games and characters that’ll reach out to fans old and new regardless of age and gaming ability. Something Nintendo should always be proud of.
I’m gonna see if I can chuck some of my memories into words. I apologise in advance for if they get rambly or hard to read… xD
I remember…
Christmas Day, it would’ve been 1999, me and my brother (I’d’ve been six and he would’ve been four years old) did what we normally did (and continued doing for a fair while) – wake up ~really~ early and keep hassling parents, until they finally relented and let us open our presents… So, we open our presents, and it all goes pretty uneventful (I can’t remember what else we got… xD) until it’s revealed that we have one more present each. We open our last presents to find… A Game Boy Colour each, and a copy of the Pokemon games each (I got Blue and he got Red). I’m not sure if we got a Link Cable at the same time, I know we had one eventually… We spent most of Christmas Day playing (upon starting them up, we found that our parents had played through most of the games, sorting us out some decent teams, I’m not completely sure why, but that part has always stuck with me), and that was when we got hooked to the series. Since then, we’ve pretty much made a thing of picking up the main series games at the same time, playing through them, trading with each other. The biggest difference is now we have a couple of younger sisters who also join in.
Another memory, this time around the PS1. I remember we had FF7, at least, and I’d play it a bit, even if I wasn’t very good at it at the time (I am pretty into JRPGs now, though, even if the FF series has kinda fallen off my radar…).
Another game we had, and one I really liked playing, was Bust-a-Move (we had 2 and 3DX on PS, and later 4 on Dreamcast. Still have the PS1 copies, and picked up 4 on the PS1, not sure what happened to the DC one…). My mum wasn’t really into video games (she still isn’t… xD), but she also liked the Bust-a-Move games, and we’d sometimes play the multiplayer modes with each other. I just remember that it was nice that we were able to spend time together. When I was last playing one of the Bust-a-Moves on the PS3 (yay for the backwards compatibility) and she heard the music, and remembered when we played together and offered to play together again. I might have to see if the offer still stands…
Ah, sorry for the drifting into incoherency at the end, I’d try to put more down, but, ahhh, I’m getting all emotional about some of these memories I have. It was nice, though, to think about these.
I remember Christmas of 2001, and being lucky enough to open a PS1 as my main Christmas present. At the time, despite being terrible at games, it was the greatest thing my brain had ever processed; just hearing the start-up jingle was awe-inspiring.
I remember the games I unwrapped alongside it, the Spyro trilogy and Crash Bandicoot trilogies. The sheer size and scale of each game absolutely blew me away, along with the colours and characters of each. My whole free time for nearly an entire 6 months was consumed by these games, I couldn’t force myself to come off them.
I remember the fun and enjoyment those original games brought me, and eventually following that the amazing Final Fantasy VII; all games I still play to this day.
I remember playing Ocarina of Time on my dad’s N64, even though it gave me nightmares, even though I couldn’t get past Death Mountain, even though I had to play it in 15-minute increments before I got too scared by the Re-Deads.
I remember talking to the “new kid” at school who no one seemed to like, purely because he knew how to beat Majora’s Mask. I remember being made fun of. I remember being bullied for talking to him, too.
I remember playing Game Boy Colour in the car with my brother until I threw up. I remember having to go through the hassle of using that iridescent purple link cable. I remember tricking him into trading me his starter Pokemon. I remember not always being a good sister…
I remember after-school club having a PS1, and I remember playing Croc, and Crash Bandicoot. I remember the boys wanting to play Sim City instead, and monopolising the PC.
I remember bonding with my little brother over the strangest 360 games: Viva Piñata, Dante’s Inferno.
And now, I’m scared all I will remember of this period is being treated like I don’t belong, like I don’t deserve to. But I have people like you who have been lovely. People who are willing to say “fuck off” to the kind of morons who want to keep games frozen the way they were in the 90s and early 00s. I hope I remember that.
Also beating everyone at Mario Kart 8 x