This is mostly gaming related… but it’s also the reason I’m an uber geek… therefore Geek AND Gaming History!!

 

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

I grew up playing my next door neighbour’s older brother’s Sega Mega Drive or Sega Genesis as a very young kid under the age of 10, which is where my passion for games in particular started. The games I remember playing the most were the Sonic the Hedgehog, Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse, Streets of Rage and the first California Games.

Side scrollers/platform games were challenging back in the day. In fact a lot of retro console games required a lot of skill and sometimes hours of attempting a single level or activity to progress. Castle of Illusion was pretty hard when I was little. The fact that you were playing as Mickey Mouse almost made it harder to accept failure.

The type of skill required for modern day First Person Shooters is completely different. Some people also argue games in general are easier these days or have been ‘dumbed down’, but I think there’s a lot more to be appreciated in the graphics and unique, in depth game play that more recent games provide. Haters always gonna hate.

I still play a lot of these retro and 8-bit platform and RPG games on emulators, but am dying to get my hands on an original Genesis and SNES console… and a little old retro TV to match.

 

 

Point and Click DOS Games

Mum and Dad were also playing DOS games like The Secret of Monkey Island, Dune and The 7th Guest in the 90s which I took a liking to. I really liked the old point and click style games on PC. Something about the beautiful colours and endearing low res graphics still appeal to me today. The stories also had to be told well to make up for the fact that the entire gameplay was clicking inanimate words and objects most of the time.

I was super pumped when The Secret of Monkey Island came out as a game on the iPhone a few years back. I’d been trying to get the old disc to work on my PC at the time and it just wouldn’t run properly.

 

 

Another game worthy of mention: Loom was a really cool Lucasfilm Games point and click from 1990 that I played because of my dad. I’m almost a bit sad that’s as far as his gaming career went. I am grateful, however, that it spurred my thirst for gaming knowledge. Dad influenced the geek within from a young age. In fact my favourite movies on VCR growing up in the 90s were my dad’s Star Wars and Indiana Jones box sets. When the temple guy sticks his hand into that other guy’s chest and pulls his heart out in Temple of Doom… man that was the coolest shiz when I was a kid!

 

 

First Person Shooters

My first experience with First Person Shooters was Wolfenstein 3D and Doom on PC. There was a screensaver on Windows 95 that was a mouse running shuffling awkwardly through a 3D maze with paper thin walls and crappy graphics. It reminded me a lot of Wolfenstein 3D but without the Nazi flags. 

These shooters were pretty groundbreaking at the time, although for me FPS is definitely a game genre which has improved considerably, to a point where I don’t go back to my very old retro FPS anymore. I don’t get the same enjoyment out of them as the 8-bit platformers and RPGs.

 

 

Counter Strike Study Group

Some friends got me on to Counter Strike back in 2000 and I played a lot of this through school. During my final two years of high school, I completed my Certificate II in IT at Tafe (kinda like Community College in the US) and my entire class was made up of 8 people. 6 guys and 2 girls. The course was designed for people who had no prior experience with computers AT ALL. So naturally I took the course so I didn’t have to do anything… or study. Typical high school student.  Apparently 4 of the other guys had the same idea and our class quickly became divided. The ‘nerds’ and the ‘wannabes’.

Whilst the ‘wannabes’ actually wanted to learn stuff, us ‘nerds’ spent most of our practical classes doing one Microsoft Word editing exercise each and printing off a copy for the other 4 in the group. Why our teacher didn’t stop us, I don’t know…. actually he was a super hippy and regularly discussed his past drug use, so I’m going to say he just didn’t give many fucks about anything. Plus I think he realised the 5 of us were entirely capable of creating bullet lists in Microsoft Word and using basic Excel formulas already. That stuff’s child’s play!!

One day, one of the boys had a brilliant idea to turn one of the PCs in our prac room into a Counter Strike server.  And so began the Counter Strike Study Group. I spent almost an entire year going to that class every Tuesday and playing Counter Strike for 4 hours, sucking the living bandwith out of the North Sydney Institute of Tafe network.

This set up lasted longer than it should have, we even got the ‘wannabes’ in on the action towards the end of our stint… Until the 80 year old man in the IT room in the basement FINALLY realised what was going on and the operation was shut down.

I learnt way more playing that game than actually listening in class. Like… FPS are sick. So is playing Counter Strike with zero gravity.

 

 

 

RPGs

Final Fantasy VII was my first RPG. I’d never played any of the earlier Final Fantasy 8-Bit games, but after FFVII I went back and played them all. This game is still one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played (Kingdom Hearts on PS2 is my personal fav). It was so in depth compared to anything that had come before it. I really liked the turn-based battle system that was used a lot by RPG titles I enjoyed later on PS2 and Xbox 360. I have a copy of this for PC and after the disappointing Final Fantasy XIII releases on Xbox 360, I had to go back and play it to remind myself of how good it used to be. PLEASE Squaresoft… go back to the Final Fantasy games of the PS2 days.

 

 

 

 

Strategy + Other PC Games

I played a lot of strategy stuff like all the Age of Empires games and Red Alert and really enjoy them. Not that they didn’t deserve their own section… I guess they just didn’t shape my gaming history as much as the other genres, but are still worth a mention.

I also had a LOT of random demo discs from the 90s that I hope are still stored somewhere. These were almost better than some of the full games I had. I definitely still have the Windows 95 Games Sampler 2 Disc which was awesome. On the disc was a super cool point and click, 3D clay animation looking game called Neverhood by Dreamworks, as well as my first introduction to Road Rash and Diablo.

 

 

Others worth mentioning were games called Word Rescue, Scooter’s Magic Castle and Ultimate Haunted House. More childish than the games I’ve already mentioned, but extremely nostalgic for me as a kid. Post 90s I continued to play PC games but was steered more towards console for my serious gaming.

 

 

 

Game & Watch

Mum and Dad also had these cool Nintendo Game & Watch handheld games – I remember the boring golf one as exactly that… boring and golf related, and then there was super cool Turtle Bridge one. That game was so intense. Your goal was literally to cross a bridge made of turtles whilst they took turns diving for fish in the water, grab a package, then bring it back across the bridge. Over and over again. Land on or be standing on a diving turtle and that was a ‘miss’. Trust me it was totally stressful.

 

 

 

Game Boy and Pokémon

I played a lot of Kirby and Mario titles on friends’ original Game Boys and NES/SNES systems until my parents bought me my first Gameboy Colour in 1998. The Pokémon Yellow Edition with Pokémon Yellow included. I also got The Little Mermaid and Pokémon Blue (my sister got Pokémon Red), none of which were actually Game Boy Color games but Pokémon was the best so it didn’t even matter. I still reckon they’re the most awesome Nintendo handheld games ever created.

I collected Pokémon cards like a boss when I was in primary school. I’m ashamed to say I stole one or two cards from the brother of a friend when I was about 10. They were like my childhood crack. I never ever played a single card game with them, though. Only collecting them was cool in my circle (still got the entire original set). I still have the Gameboy and Pokemon Blue. I wish I’d kept The Little Mermaid. That game was super dope. I finished it like 10 times and was so frigging proud of myself. Looking back it had 6 bosses total. Lolzzzz.

 

 

My Scarring Childhood Experience with a Gameshark

I got hold of a Gameshark cheat cartridge not long after acquiring the Game Boy Colour and began hacking away at my Pokémon Blue game like crazy, acquiring an arsenal of my favourite level 100 Pokémon to my delight. On a car trip up the coast with my family one summer, I was surfing around the water on Pokémon Blue searching for the ever elusive Pokémon, “Missingno.” (a glitch Pokémon encounter which duplicated items in a particular inventory slot, for those who are unaware). Suddenly my gameboy froze. I turned it off and back on (standard procedure), loaded Pokémon Blue and attempted to load my save game. The game file was corrupt. My world had ended. How my dad remained calm during the rest of the car trip I couldn’t tell you. I don’t think he had a clue why I was even upset (wtf is a Charizard?)… it’s obviously a generational thing. Once we arrived up the coast he proceeded to call a Nintendo/Pokémon assist line we found in my Pokémon game booklet. Best dad ever. A very lovely gentleman then had to tell a 10 year old girl over the phone that her game was lost forever in the dark depths of gaming oblivion. Because she cheated. I learnt my lesson after that horrific experience. Parents take note: Pokémon for the Game Boy taught your daughter that cheating and stealing is wrong.

 

 

Nintendo 64

My parents also got me a Nintendo 64 during this time period of the mid-late 90s. I think they realised their daughter was maybe a little bit into gaming… and probably weren’t aware of the consequences of encouraging it at the time. This was a brilliant console and the first I ever owned myself so it got a thrashing. Games on constant rotation (even now) included Goldeneye 007, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Super Smash Bros. Also for some reason, Vigilante 8.

I still have my original console and the original controller, surprisingly with joystick still in working condition. Wobbly joysticks were the enemy of a N64 player and every one of my friends had at least one in their arsenal. If I could pick any game in history for a winner takes all showdown, I pick Mario Kart 64. Toad was king. Still hands down the best Mario Kart title of all time… although I was thoroughly impressed with the Wii version. A girlfriend from my primary school probably still has my original copy after ‘borrowing’ it all those years ago. Don’t worry, I still remember who you are.

 

 

I can’t leave out Banjo Kazooie – a super well designed platformer with interesting characters and gameplay. The game and story definitely had more substance than some of the rivalling Nintendo platformers on offer at the time.

Also Conker’s Bad Fur Day – a game about a squirrel with an epic hangover. The  humour in this was great. I mean, you meet a giant talking poo during the single player mode. So good. Then there was the battle/multiplayer mode which was almost more brilliant than the campaign. Also lol @ the ‘Feck Off Crows’ sign in the image below.

 

 

Diddy Kong Racing was also cool! Man, I just keep thinking of more games I loved. It’s so hard picking favourites for the N64. I really enjoyed this console.

 

 

Playstation 2

My next console was a Playstation 2. I preferred the ‘exclusive to Playstation’ games and thought Playstation consoles were better than Xbox initially. I was super impressed with the standards for a console and had only been playing PC games with graphics and gameplay of a similar calibre. Nintendo kicked butt, but groundbreaking graphics weren’t really their thing.

I loved Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series – Vice City was the best by far. I know that city map like the back of my hand. Also if games were real life, I’d be an ice-cream truck tycoon. I made some serious cash in that thing. I also ran over a lot of bleeding patients but the ambulance service still let me keep my job. Weapon, cash and ‘lower wanted level’ cheats were a must. R1, R1, CIRCLE, R2, UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN. I still remember the wanted level cheat off by heart. Vice City was my town.

The debate over the level of violence and sexism in these games never really bothered me. It was a game about drug dealers in a Miami-like city in the 70s. There was therefore lots of drugs and swearing, too. It was just as bad as any movies I’d watched about the same stuff. Just another controversy for uptight prudes to complain about as far as I’m concerned. If parents are educating their children right, a video game isn’t going to be the reason they do bad stuff. There’s something else causing that. Also don’t buy your 10 year old an R rated game. Common sense!!!

 

 

I also picked up and fell in love with the Final Fantasy X, X-2 and XII titles after playing Final Fantasy VII on the PC. I skipped FFXI Online. I had no money for subscriptions back then. The CG cut scenes were incredible, particularly the opening scenes for each game. There was always more work put into those. Playing as a bunch of chicks kicking butt in FFX-2 was brilliant and somewhat empowering as it wasn’t very common back then. I love playable female characters in games. Even Pokémon for the Game Boy added the feature of picking a girl or boy playable character a bit later in the series. Shame on you Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed Unity.

 

 

My other standout was the beginning of the Kingdom Hearts Series. Kingdom Hearts I and II were super epic. I picked up the handheld game versions for Game Boy Advance/DS but nothing compares to the PS2 console RPG version. This would hands down be my favourite RPG style game ever. Also my favourite opening scene to a game ever. The graphics, the music. Eeeee I’m such an anime fangirl. I can’t wait for the next gen console revival that has been announced for 2015… I think the girl in me loves the Disney blended with Final Fantasy, but even the open world designs, the fighting and gameplay style, the Keyblade! It was a really well designed game. Donald Duck was a crazy badass!

 

 

Other PS2 games to mention were the Crash Bandicoot series which to be fair I played more on my cousin’s original Playstation and also Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3. The only sport based game I will ever be a fan of.

 

Xbox 360, Xbox One, 3DS and PC

Now we’re getting to modern games so I won’t go into as much depth. The Xbox 360 came next as a friend had one and I wouldn’t look back. The exclusivity of games that the PS2 had back in the day was the only reason I had one. I think Microsoft does everything else better and I prefer the controllers on the Xbox to the Playstation. The Xbox One was a no brainer when it came time to upgrade, although I waited until there were a few good titles before I bought one. I ended up with a bundle including Watchdogs, Titanfall and Forza 4. And here we are! I play a LOT of modern games on my Xbox consoles, 3DS and occasionally PC/Mac, many of which I’ll probably discuss on this blog, so to list some favourites quickly:

– Destiny (current favourite)

– Elder Scrolls Series (Fav: Skyrim)

– Assassin’s Creed Series (Fav: Black Flag)

– Halo Series (Fav: All. I took days off school when Halo 2 came out)

– Grand Theft Auto Series + Red Dead Redemption

– Borderlands 1 & 2

– Fable Series

– Bioshock Series

– Battlefield Series (Fav: Battlefield 4)

– Resident Evil 5

– The Sims Series (Particularly 1 and 2 with all expansions)

 

I think it was all the gaming I did as a kid and the tomboy sci-fi influence from dad that made me just appreciate technology in general and allowed me to fully embrace all that is nerd. I’m also curious by nature, and was fascinated by how computers worked, both from a hardware and software perspective. I like new and modern gadgets, I like seeing improvements and updates to technology. It still amazes me the rate at which technology is progressing. I’m like a kid in a candy store already, imagine what will be in just 10 years time. This is the reason I created this blog. I love this stuff.

 

– Geek and Gamer Girl xx

 

[images via Wikipedia, Gamespot.com, GameInformer.com]