Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Memory LaneSome of my best gaming memories are when I owned Nintendo systems. I loved my NES and SNES.
Probably have a whole bunch of people wondering what the hell I'm on about, but it was like Nintendo's best years, where graphics, hi def and surround sound didn't matter. I hardly ever got any magazines - buying new games was like a great day out - I'd look at all the boxes in Toys R Us (well, the plastic strips that showed a pic of the front and back of the boxes) and pick what one I thought was best.
I didn't get introduced to the likes of Castlevania, Zelda and Probotector (Contra) from magazines raving about how everyone has to buy them and reveal about 3/4 of the content of the games. Everything I got was a gamble from liking stuff like the characters on the boxes or what I read on the back. It all had that exciting moment about it where I knew nothing of how it played or what I'd encounter in the game. There was nobody saying "that games crap cause its graphics are poor", because back then any good graphics were like some special bonus. I'm not ashamed to say as a kid, I was really in awe when I saw the waterfall on the Zelda title screen and the still pic of Gizmo early on in the Gremlins 2 game. When writing up my Christmas list, I would goto shops like Toys R Us, look at the boxes and write down a bunch of titles I liked the look of. The only game I ever got which I didn't like on my NES (which I didn't really choose) was Marble Madness. Then the SNES came out and for the first year, I was still pretty much going on my own gut instincts when picking new games - which is how I was introduced to F-Zero. Then more magazines started to pop up and I started to get one or two with my pocket money. From there, mags started to dictate my game choices and although the SNES remained great for me, with later consoles, the whole excitement shopping for new games drifted off, cause I already knew how everything was going to play, what bosses to expect, etc.
The only time I really seem to get excited when actually going out to buy new games and stuff now is when its a console launch. The XBox has given me loads of games to enjoy, but no matter what system I buy, nothing will ever compare to the years I was playing my NES and SNES. Mags, big graphic enhancements and the internet have taken away the excitement of it all. I've had to force myself away from most XBox 360 pages on sites cause they seem hell bent on ruining every surprise in every game before anythings released. "OMG !!!111!!! A Halo character in DOA4 !!!111!!!" - I don't want to bloody know ! "Heres every level in Kameo, watch this movie as one of our staff completes the whole game and shows you every character". Just doesn't compare to the situation of seeing it on the shelves and thinking "Kameo... looks interesting, I'll give it a look" - and then seeing everything for the first time from your own experiences - from the controls to the credits at the end.
Oh to be a kid again.
posted @ 2:40 pm
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