Video Games and Me

Hi guys! Just a quick note, I'm going to be away this week for a few days although I'm going to see if I can bring my laptop along with me so I can keep up with content I have in store for you.

That being said, I probably wouldn't be the kind of person I am today if video games had not been a huge part of my life. Some may say that's a good thing, others may say that's bad and that I could have made better life choices. Whatever the case I'm glad for gaming to be important in my life.

My first experience with video games goes back to me going over my neighbor's house and we would play on his NES. The two of us being young and arguably horrible at them, we would normally break out the Game Genie (anyone remember that?) and put in cheat codes to help! Invincible in the water levels on Ninja Turtles? Power-ups in Super Mario Bros 3? Yup we did those. I didn't come to own a real system until 1998 when my grandpa for Christmas got me a Game Boy Color along with Pokemon Blue and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

I was 6 at the time, Zelda was too hard so for the longest time I didn't enjoy the franchise based on that reason hehe. Then I got an N64 bundled with Super Mario 64. I remember watching my Dad play some levels and see him defeat Bowser in his final form. The cool thing about this was I had a specialty level that being the lava world in the basement of Peach's Castle. All my friends knew this :). The GBA was my next system and that was fun for a time. The Gamecube however was where I found many favorites. Super Mario Sunshine I played until I was unable to progress any further due to difficulty (which I finally beat a few years ago), Luigi's Mansion cult favorite of mine. The GCN also kicked off my love for Sonic, although nowadays he's been ok. Super Smash Bros Melee was big...and I mean BIG. (Saving that for another post) Oh and the Ninja Turtles game based on the 2003 series was AWESOME. That was also when I truly fell in love with Zelda after I played through Wind Waker which is my favorite of the series don't care what people say.

I didn't start to venture into what the "hardcore" and "cool" kids were playing until I bought a Slim Playstation 2. Why? Two words...Kingdom. Hearts. That franchise alone then turned me into a Final Fantasy nut with 10 being the very first I played and beat. Amongst those I had Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2 (GIVE ME 3 NOW),  Naruto Ultimate Ninja, Metal Gear Solids 1-3, and many others which escape me at the moment.

The Nintendo Wii was the first console I had for this current generation. All the big Nintendo titles were in my grasp. Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart, New Super Mario Bros Wii, see a pattern here? Nevertheless I had loads of fun with it and still do to this day.

I didn't jump on the Xbox 360 train until I turned 18 and that was my birthday present. Got the Elite Model with a game of my choice, it being Arkham Asylum and my brother unfortunately jumped into the horror that is Call of Duty. Games for that system included, Final Fantasy 13 and 13-2, Lollipop Chainsaw, Skyrim, Arkham City, Injustice Gods Among Us, Borderlands 2 and Sonic Generations. The 360 was when I really played games that were all the rage and yea I had tons of fun.

As far as handhelds go I now play on my brother's DS but that's only for Pokemon SoulSilver. I had sold my DS Lite for the Collector's Edition of Arkham City (worth it) and I have a PSP with only 4 games those being Dissidia 012, Final Fantasy 4 Complete Collection, Kingdom Hears Birth By Sleep and Crisis Core FF7. I also have the original FF7 and 8 on there beaten.

So now let's go to current times a little more in-depth. The Wii still gets some action with Animal Crossing City Folk and Brawl sessions with my brother. I finally ventured into the Bioshock universe with Infinite first then having just cleared the first one. Now I know why people love those games so much. Upcoming I have Killer is Dead and Arkham Origins which will close out this generation for me. Next gen currently I have in my sights the Wii U (Wind Waker HD, Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros) and eventually a PS4 (Final Fantasy 15, KINGDOM HEARTS 3, The Order, Watch Dogs, Metal Gear Solid 5).

I think I'll leave it at that, apologies if this was so long but honestly I could go on and on. Several franchises will have posts all about them due to them being a favorite of mine (ex: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid, Nintendo franchises) You should now have a pretty good idea as to where my gaming tastes lie haha.