Personal Game History

Since first picking up the NES controller I have, and will always, be a fan of video games. They have altered my life and helped me get to where I am today. Although I play just about every type of game under the sun, there are a few that will always stand out in my mind such as my very first game, the first game I beat from start to finish, the first game that helped me win money, and the ones that I will always love and remember. Though I may have had a late start due to the fact that I'm a 90's baby, I have just as much, if not more, gaming experience as the next gamer.

The first game I ever played was the Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros fusion game, but I would still consider myself to be a Super Nintendo era gamer. In my memories it seems like more times than not my days would begin with my mom yelling at me to stop playing Donkey Kong so I could get ready for school or church or whatever else I was doing at that age. It is easily the system that influenced my gaming lifestyle the most, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. In my opinion the Super Nintendo was the best platform to grow up on. It was easy enough to where a 5 year old could beat some of his or her favorite games but still challenging enough to keep people happy with even just a couple games. To me, Donkey Kong was a religion, and King K. Rool was Satan himself. He needed to be brought to justice for stealing poor Donkey and Diddy's secret banana stash beneath their elegant tree house. I thought the first game was the epitome of heaven, but when I found out that there was a second one coming out I knew video games were my calling in life and that was where it all started.

Fast forward to 1996 and all of the sudden I find myself with a Nintendo 64 in my hands and a desire to conquer yet another system of platforming to the best of my ability. My first N64 game, like pretty much everyone else, was Super Mario 64. I was baffled by the fact that I was running, jumping, flying, and swimming more than just from left to right. I was going forward, backward, around, under, over, and every other direction as the famous Italian plumber. This system opened up my eyes to what video games could be. In awe by this accomplishment, I also really started exploring more than just the big Nintendo adventure games. I dabbled in racing, sports, RPG, strategy, simulation, and everything else the Nintendo 64 had to offer until I came to Super Smash Bros. which is easily the series I have put the most time and effort into. From the minute I received it on my seventh birthday I could not put the game down. I wanted to be the best. I wanted to cut through any competition as if it were like cutting through melted butter with a broadsword. Super Smash Bros, in my opinion, is what took me into the hardcore level of video gaming. It is the first game that I did more than just play. I would look up guides on different moves, strategies, combos, and everything else it consisted of. I remember holding neighborhood tournaments for all the kids my age so I could play other people and establish my dominance at the game. Because of this game, I consider the golden years to be the three years after I turned seven.

My third generation of game consoles was the PlayStation2, Xbox, and Gamecube era. Fortunately, I lucked out when my cousin's got a hold of two PlayStation 2's the night it was released so I had one before everyone else in my fifth grade class, and I was the cool kid in town and I loved it. The only game I had was Madden for the longest time which I didn't really care for so I really learned to research games I was interested in and follow them throughout development in this time frame. If I had to limit my experience on the PS2 to any one genre it would be Role-Playing Games. My brother introduced the Final Fantasy series to me with Final Fantasy 7 and I was hooked. At first the music of the series is what drew me in most because music has always been a part of my life, but I instantly loved everything else about the game the moment I got a hold of it. I am addicted to the idea of your character growing and becoming stronger as you progress through the story. This aspect is what still draws me to Role-Playing Games today. After Final Fantasy 7 I bought numbers 8, 10, and 10-2 in the series. I also branched out from the Final Fantasies and became addicted to the Kingdom Hearts series. Basically, the PS2 is the system where I established my love for Squaresoft, known now as Square-Enix. My brother also owned an Xbox during this time but I never really played it much due to the fact that it wasn't mine. I played Halo religiously for a while just like everyone else but my commitment died after the second game. Sadly, I never owned a Gamecube. My cousin did however, and with him living a couple minutes away, I was at his house from the minute school got out on Friday till the minute my mom picked me up Sunday night playing nothing but Super Smash Bros Melee. Since I was older during the lifetime of the sequel I had to opportunity to go to venues and compete in tournaments which is exactly what I did. I didn't get too far into the competitive scene at this time since I was still only twelve or thirteen, but I did go to four competitions by the time the game was winding down, winning three of them and earning over 200 dollars for playing video games. These results are probably what kept me in the competitive community and helped me realize that I could make money doing what I loved most.

With the current generation of consoles came tons more opportunities. Knowing what I learned from the last three sets of systems I had owned, I knew exactly what I was doing. The Wii was the first system I got due to the fact that Nintendo had played such a big role in my life and because the chances of Super Smash Bros being multi-platform were slim to none. I got my Wii opening day, camping outside for thirteen hours, in freezing temperatures, a week before Thanksgiving. At the time I wanted to die but the moment I got home, plugged that thing in, and used to motion controls to play video games, I knew it was all worth it. From the day I got it I started counting down the grueling 16 month wait till the new Super Smash Bros. Once it finally came out my calling was revealed to me. Being the game I spent the most time playing, Super Smash Bros Brawl is also the most rewarding game. Diving even more into the competitive scene of gaming, I established a name for myself in the Super Smash Bros Brawl community as one of the best Diddy Kong players in the state of Michigan. Obviously my choice of Diddy Kong was based on my love for Donkey Kong over a decade earlier. To this day I would say the Super Smash Bros series would have to be my favorite of all time. It is not the only game I devote my time and effort into though. Not even a year ago from now I finally broke down and got an Xbox 360 because I'm addicted to online gaming as much as anyone else and that is something Nintendo has always lacked in. The game that came out not even two weeks after I got my 360 and still takes up the majority of my time is Left 4 Dead. Me, my two cousins, and a friend all play the game together, and for a while it was just about every night. Mowing down masses of zombies while trying to escape a deserted city, river town, airport, or farmland is just about the most fun anyone will ever have playing games in my opinion. Taking what I have learned from Super Smash Bros, I decided to try to get involved in the Left 4 Dead competitive scene, but unfortunately it is still a very underground community that has yet to take off. Until that time I am doing everything I can to speed the process up.

This brief history isn't to say that these were the only games I touched in my lifetime however. I have been a longtime fan of the Zelda series, Street Fighter, Pokemon, MegaMan and many other diverse games. These games are just the ones that influenced my life the most. They helped me grow from the little nerdy kid sitting up late playing "just one more level" to the video game super fan that I am today. Also, the beauty of the whole situation is that there are thousands of games I have never played or maybe even heard of despite my fan-boy status. There are thousands of stories people could take from this one genre. Though I have always struggled to get others to see what I do in video games, as I'm sure every fan has, the fact of the matter is that games are here to stay just as my love for them is, and there is nothing any frustrated mom, ignored girlfriend, or put off school work can do about that.