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The following article is basically
a timeline of my life with video games. I've mostly
included the parts of my life that have to do with
video games so don't think I'm obsessed :)
I was introduced to "Pong" in
1980 when we found a used system at a garage sale
for $10. My brother and I must have spent hours playing
that silly little game everyday, until our television
died. A tragic accident that I won't get into, but
I did learn a valuable lesson: Don't set drinks on
top of your television. Without a TV for the next
4 years I was forced to stare longingly at the Atari
2600 section of games at Sears and play Space Invaders
on the in store demo. I didn't spend much time in
the arcades at that time because of a lack of funds.
A friend of mine acquired an Atari
2600 in the early 80s and I spent much time playing
games at his house. When we were lucky enough to get
a TV again and my friend upgraded to an Atari 5200,
he sold me his 2600 and about 20 games for $50. I
never bought any new games for my Atari because for
some reason I was content to play Raiders of the Lost
Ark and Adventure until I was blue in the face. I
remember one day I sat down to play Missile Command
and actually "Flipped" the game. I recently told that
story to a co-worker and they looked at me funny and
said "Flipped?" I had just dated myself to someone
10 years younger than me.
In 1986 the Nintendo Entertainment
System, NES, was released to the world and I couldn't
believe how awesome it was compared to the Atari.
We were in the process of moving to a new city and
as a reward for helping with the move my parents offered
to buy me a present. Guess what I chose? I look back
on the first game I played, Super Mario Brothers,
and think how long it took me to beat that game, probably
6 months. And getting used to the little game pad
instead of a joystick was quite an adventure as well.
And Geez, two buttons. My step dad took the liberty
of sending in my NES proof of purchase so that I could
get my free subscription to Nintendo Fun Club Magazine.
The first issue, which I still have, was 8 pages long
and looked more like a newsletter than anything. Unfortunately
I was in the process of moving to a different city,
again, and missed 2 of the issues. After 7 issues
the magazine grew too big and became the subscription
based Nintendo Power that still exists today.
In addition to playing NES for
all hours after school I did get a paper route and
happily spent all my money at the local arcade. Gauntlet
II is one of the biggest "Quarter Soak" games in existence.
I still have fond memories of biking 10 miles to the
mall just to play video games until the place closed.
For my 14th Birthday I got Zelda for the NES, probably
THE most revolutionary game of its time. Zelda quickly
became a family affair and the four of us would sit
and watch the adventure unfold on many occasions.
For the two summers, Ok and most of the school year,
I would rent many, many games. I must have played
hundreds of NES games during that time. Some of my
favorites were Metroid, Mega Man, The Guardian Legend,
Castlevania, and Contra. The reason I rented games
was because I got burned on too many bad games like
Donkey Kong 3 and Athena. In high school I found a
copy of Ultima Exodus, followed shortly by Final Fantasy,
the Role Playing Games had arrived and what a ride
they are.
In 1990 I saved up enough money
to purchase a Sega Genesis for the simple reason that
their marketing department made really good commercials
comparing the Genesis to the Super Nintendo. I played
Sonic the Hedgehog, John Madden football, ToeJam and
Earl, and only a select few other games. For some
reason I was unsatisfied with the whole Genesis experience
and soon sold it so that I could buy a Super Nintendo.
I'm very glad I made that change because the SNES
provided me with some of the best video games I've
ever played. In 1991 I was introduced to a different
gaming magazine called Electronic Gaming Monthly.
I was instantly attracted to this magazine because
it was about all video game systems, unlike Nintendo
Power, and for some reason it seemed that the reviews
weren't biased. I played some games that got high
reviews in Nintendo Power and thought they really
weren't that good. EGM reflected what I would call
the correct opinions about games and I decided to
give up my subscription to NP in favor of EGM. I've
been a loyal reader ever since issue #29 (they recently
published issue #160).
In 1992, Capcom released Street
Fighter II in the arcades and I was instantly hooked.
I probably could have bought my own SFII machine with
the money I spent playing that game. Boy was I excited
when they came out with a near perfect translation
of the game for SNES. I used some of my High school
graduation money to shell out $70 for that game when
it came out. My SNES lasted me through my one semester
of college and through the next few years where I
worked at a bowling alley and played video games.
Actraiser, Final Fantasy II, Jurassic Park, 7th Saga,
Lufia, Secret of Mana, Super Metroid, Street Fighter
II Turbo Champion Edition, Mario Kart, Mortal Kombat
2, Chrono Trigger, I could go on and on.
During this time I changed "careers"
and started working at a local KB Toy store where
I could see all the new video games come out and even
sample some of them. This job kept me in contact with
video games and on the edge of everything new that
was happening. I was there when the Sega CD and 32X
were introduced, 3DO came out for $700, and the Sega
Saturn hit the shelves. When the Playstation launched
in 1995, Resident Evil introduced the world to "Survival
Horror", and the long awaited next installment of
Final Fantasy hit the PSX instead of coming out on
Nintendo's new system the N64. I was even there when
we got a truckload of Atari Jaguars and sold them
for $30 each with games for $5.
The popularity of the Playstation
versus other consoles, that and Final Fantasy VII,
convinced me to buy one instead of the N64. The PSX
was in full force when I decided to go back to college,
and as a result of my time in school I was unable
to play as many games as I would have liked. I began
to get more finicky about the games I would choose
to play because my time with them was short, not to
mention my budget. Games like Tomb Raider, Resident
Evil 2, Parasite Eve, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy
games, Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo, among others
were my choices.
Even though I played quite a few
video games I managed to earn two degrees both in
Marketing and Advertising and Commercial Art. I started
a career as a Graphic Designer at a local company
but I kept my part time job at the toy store throughout
the years. I got my Playstation 2 shortly after it
launched, what a great wedding gift from my best man.
I'm very happy with my PS2 even now that the Xbox
and Game Cube are out and producing more games. For
my 28th Birthday I bought the domain name wileee.com
because that is my screen name on various internet
places, as well as mutated way to spell my last name.
I will continue with Wileee.com
because it gives me an outlet to publish my thoughts
about video games and keep track of where I've been.
I will continue to play video games and review them
for as long as I'm able. Continues…
September 2002
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