I started gaming at a fairly early age. Having an older brother probably had something do with this because there were consoles around the house. I guess I must have been about 5 or 6 when I started playing. I'm just gonna name some games here that I was pretty obsessed with at some time or another in my life.
The first game I properly got into, along with the rest of my family, was Alex Kidd in Miracle World. I was pretty good at it until the stupid motorbike level where there are spikes on the ground and monkeys which throw killer leaves at you. I used to get my dad to do it for me. The video below shows someone doing it in ~30 seconds which upsets me because I still repeatedly fail at this level now I'm grown up!
Whilst Googling for things relating to this game I found this in the Wiki article:
"The game did have an undocumented "continue" feature, where the
player could continue the game with three lives from the beginning of
the level where Alex had died, by holding the up button and pressing the
2 button eight times during the GAME OVER screen."
WHAT?! I did not know this! In the dark days without saves this would have been good to know! A lack of save ability also meant if you got tired and wanted to play another day you had to leave the console on pause overnight. I wonder if any house fires were started this way.
Other games of note for the Master System include: Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap and Taz-mania.
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| Scene from Discworld II. Image Here. |
When we got our first home PC (a Gateway 2000) I couldn't find anything more exciting to play with than MS Paint (which has come a long way on Windows 7), Encarta 96 (which is amazing) and MS Bob (which I had lots of fun with but didn't comprehend the actual purpose of) until someone in the house bought Dragon Lore: The Legend Begins, Simon the Sorceror and Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!? I hadn't read any Discworld books by this point so I was mostly amused by the characters of the Luggage, the wizards and the beggars (favourite being the Duck Man, least favourite being Coffin Henry), but I've since realised the game is based on three really good books from the series, namely Lords and Ladies (the elvish stuff), Moving Pictures (the movie set stuff) and Reaper Man (Fourecks and missing DEATH stuff). I no longer own this game but would really love to play it through again. I think it should be re-released for download on Xbox or PS3. I'd also like to have a go at Dragon Lore again. It was much too hard for an 8 year old me, but I think I could figure it out now. Same goes for Myst.
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| Weird dog thing from Dragon Lore |
One Christmas I got an N64. This was probably the best Christmas ever. I think I got a bike too. Spoiled much? For weeks and weeks on Friday film night I would go to Global Video and rent out Banjo-Kazooie and hope my save game from last weekend was still there. Recently I downloaded it for Xbox 360 and got as far as the final battle with Gruntilda but she kept on kicking my ass and I got grumpy and gave up. Even the Jinjos couldn't save me. I think it goes without saying that Zelda: Ocarina of Time was also an obsession and so, too, was Diddy Kong Racing. I still believe that Nintendo make the best games for pure fun purposes.
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| Image Here |
Next, the advent of the PlayStation. I had a PS1 and PS2 and was introduced to the Final Fantasy series by my cousin Rob. I wasn't too into FFVII. Sacrilege to some I know, but I couldn't get past the stupid snake at the start and I got sad when Aeris died. I was instead firmly addicted to FFIX. I liked collecting the cards for Tetra Master and I love the towns and scenery and the airships. After that I played a lot of FFX, and once when I had some teeth extracted and had a general anaesthetic, I had an incredibly vivid dream that I was a character in it. It was the best dentist trip I ever had.
Most recently I got my hands on an Xbox 360 and entered into the absorbing Bethesda world of Oblivion. And then Skyrim. Both of these games have eaten a huge chunk of my waking hours. I think they're so addictive because they feel impossible to complete and fully explore and this keeps me turning on my console and trying to get my Archery skill to 100. [Insert arrow in knee meme here]. Although I will say that I wish some of the quest lines like the Thieves Guild and Companions could have been a little longer. I still enjoyed playing them through though!
Feel free to educate me if I missed out on some awesome games so far!
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| Image Here |
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