“Your Gaming Memories in a Bottle?”
2 min read
Salutations from the libraries of HomeTown town, dear NPCs!
The day has finally come. I know you’ve all been waiting. Soon you too will have the chance to contribute to the restorative work of the mages. We are prepping for our 100th post! Seems like only yesterday we were crawling from the ashes to bang out our first blog feat. But one-hundred is a drop in the bucket of eternity compared to the work that is still ahead of us.
To commemorate our hundredth article, I’ve decided to open up the opportunity for everyone, all of our readers, to contribute. How? By sharing your best gaming memories! Try not to salivate.
Our 100th post will take the form of a list of one-hundred snapshots of gaming life, a literary collage of still images, a verbally crafted portrait of the existence of gamers across the world. We have readers from the USA, from Britain, from Europe, from Japan, from Asia, from all over the place, from different backgrounds and cultures, with different tastes and histories to share. This is a chance to show the world just what video games offer.
If you’d like to contribute to this great undertaking, please leave a comment below with one or even a couple of your best gaming memories in a few brief sentences. Could be the time you beat that incredibly hard challenge, earned that trophy/achievement, found a rare game in the pawn shop, fired up the old pre-90’s console, played with friends on a snowy day, pwned your older sibling, or anything else you’d like to share! A list of 100 gaming memories, a time capsule of your life nestled neatly in the Internet!
Example:
Seeing the golden cartridge for the original The Legend of Zelda made me think it was real magic.
Please share with us a snapshot or three of your favorite gaming memories and help the world to shape a mental image of what the gamer looks like. I’ll certainly share your credits and links with each memory you offer up for the final list!
-The Well-Red Mage
Did you enjoy this post? Consider becoming a Warrior of Light and join us in restoring integrity and quality to entertainment journalism. We specialize in long-form, analytical reviews and we aim to expand into a podcast and webzine with paid contributors! See our Patreon page for more info!
Sorry I missed this (Truly!) But hell! Lord C’ll leave his for posterity, a glorious epitaph of gamey glory if ya will (ain’t long now *Grins*)
My 3 are:
1, my dad givin me my 1st ever console, a gameboy, & Tetris & super Mario land, & rubbing my head & huggin us & tellin us he loved us, I was so happy. (Only met him 2wice so important!)
2, is repeating the 1st mission of FF8 so many times till my Mum got us my 1st ever 8gb memory card & then we could really begin!!!
& finally my greatest gaming memory is:
A lil bit a backstory here (I’ll be brief!) I wanted to share my joy of not being me (fat, ugly, black, unwanted, etc, etc) with Mum but also wanted to share stories as we both loved to read, so only got RPGs & other games wi stories but not shit 1s IMO (no cod, no pes, no FIFA) so loads of Final Fantasy’s, & other stuff, PS1/PS2/Xbox/GC/Wii/PSP/DS & PC… & been byin cheap 2nd hand PS3/360 games & savin up for PS3 & 360 (I’ll never be able to afford ps4/xbone etc *Sighs*) but sadly for me, on Dec 12th 2013 my Mum slipped on a patch of ice & went to hospital, where, some time later, I was informed, she has Dementia (short term memory loss, will probably get worse, never better, no cure) & went to a home in a nearby town, & has been their ever since. I went a couple times, but cos mentally ill (I’ll say no more here) I cannot cope so ain’t seen her in 4 yrs, so obvs I stopped gaming so much cos: if she couldn’t watch then what was the point? & due to recent budget issues/government f***etry I am no longer able to game. 220+ games jus sit in house cryin out to be finished/started/played & I jus can’t… *Deep Breath*
So my favourite gaming memories are just all the times I spent being ‘Massive Sword’ (My Gaming Alter Ego) & playing & sharing time with Mum. (Also can’t really play Silent Hill or 2 on my own in dark anymore even if could afford & wanted to as freaks us out, which is odd, cos sociopaths don’t have fear cos it’s an emotion???)
1) Once, when I was ten years old, I was watching my uncle play the last boss battle in Metal Gear Solid 3 and wondering why it was so emotional. When I played seven years later, it impacted me, and I realized why it was so emotional even though I didn’t understand it back then.
2) My aunt used to watch me after school when I was in the 7th and 8th grade. It was great because it meant not doing homework and laying videogames with my cousin instead. I didn’t have a Playstation 2 at the time, but my cousin did. When he moved on to playing something on his PSP, he let me play Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. It was an awesome time playing through those games, and it became the first series I legitimately played through. Now if they could just come out with Kingdom Hearts 3.
3) Dedicating myself to getting the Platinum trophy for Bioshock Infinite. The moment when I finally reached it was awesome. It felt a sense of accomplishment as got my first platinum trophy.
1. Playing Duck Hunt with my family and my siblings and I putting the gun to the screen to win. My dad kept telling us we were cheating. Didn’t mean a lot to a 5 year old.
2. That terrifying moment when One-Winged Angel would start playing in any FFVII game.
3. Spending hours trying to 100% Legend of Zelda Wind Waker on the GameCube with my brother. He was Link and I would connect my Gameboy and play Tingle. I would drop bombs on him when he was being annoying. Or just to be funny.
4. Playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and my brother and I freaking out when Yoshi and Link were teamed up during story mode. They were our go to characters in Super Smash Bros. and Melee.
5. Getting the entire high school Youth Group together at my parent’s house to play 12 to 16 multiplayer on Halo. I’ve always found playing with a group of people, rather than online, is more fun. Especially when pizza and nachos were involved.
Here are a few of my in-game memories that have inspired me, shocked me, or just stuck with me all these years for no apparent reason.
1. Being in a static party in Final Fantasy XI with my wife (then girlfriend), brother, Zman, Valascaziel, and Bubrub is something I’ll always remember. We laughed together, fought together, and (most importantly) stayed together through it all. I also remember searching the world for a perfect spot by a lake where I would propose in-game to my wife (no, that wasn’t my actual proposal, that came later which coincidentally also took place by a lake). There are so many great memories that came out of that game like pulling off our first skill chain, watching my brother get murdered by a bunch of anthropomorphic birdmen (while he took screenshots of it all for kicks), and keeping aggro off of a Ranger and White Mage 2 houring as a tank but there’s no way I can list them all here.
2. Shadow of the Colossus just blew me away with its towering bosses, serene environments, and minimalist narrative. I can’t say enough about that game and how it influenced my appreciation for the level of artistic design that a game can accomplish but it’s an experience I’ll never forget.
3. The first Assassin’s Creed and Uncharted games introduced me to the potential for excellent narrative in the action-adventure genre from Western developers which, to me, was only associated for JRPG’s at the time (with a few exceptions). The twist at the end of Assassin’s Creed 1 and 2 really took me by surprise and caused me to ponder well after the credits rolled.
4. One of those exceptions I was referring to was the original Metal Gear Solid. The game was amazing on so many levels and still inspires me today whenever I think of the iconic boss fights, amazing voice-acting, and mature narrative, not to mention a hero I can finally get behind instead of the egotistical dudebros that you would typically find yourself playing in that genre.
5. The opening cinematic for Final Fantasy VIII was the most amazing thing to me. Often times I would find myself hitting New Game over and over again just to watch the wonderfully orchestrated collage of romance, action, and passion. Instantly all of the anticipation I had built up for the game was met with confident affirmation that my fantasy was about to become a reality (pun definitely intended).
Nice thanks for the extras, sir!
First post I’ve read here and I know I’ll be back! Great idea!
For me, getting together with three friends on a Friday afternoon after classes and playing Golden Eye on N64. The competition was so intense that, while we all entered the room as friends, eventually two would leave unwilling to even speak to the other two. Until next Friday, or 2 hours, when we were all back at it again. 20 years later, those feelings are still palpable.
Hi there, jimtimmons! Thanks for contributing to our collage. Please come back for more, and if you’re looking for a place to game-blog, we are always looking for more mages.
I remember many friendships being broken over Golden Eye, especially since I always wanted to play Smash Bros. instead of the former on the N64. Thanks again!
Hey red, Paul at DGS here.
My two ultimate favourite moments in gaming has to be;
Mass effect 2: When Commander Shepard gives his crew on the SR2 Normandy a final moral boosting speech before a the epic final confrontation named ‘suicide mission’ “The Collectors attacked our ship. They took our crew, our friends. They think we’re helpless. They’re wrong. They started a war, but we’re not here to finish it. We’re here to make them regret — to show them and everyone else what happens when you go too far. No more running, no more waiting. Let’s hit them where they live” – Commander Shepard
Shadow of the colossus: (Not really a favourite moment but it sure did hit the feels) You alone stand against several colossal beings. You must take them down using only your sword and bow. Your only companion is your faithful steed Argo and she never leaves your side. Before the final colossus, Wander must cross a collapsing bridge that he cannot cross fast enough on his own. He runs across with Agro, but even she falls short just before the end. Agro bucks Wander to safety and falls into the chasm below, while Wander watches helplessly. It brought tears to my eyes….
Oh no, the feels… Argo! I got misty eyed when he fell too. I knew there was no turning back. Almost as sad as Artax sinking in the swamps of sadness in the Never Ending Story. Now I’m sad… But hey thanks for contributing! We appreciate it.
No worries, I’ll be sure to tell the rest of the team to chip in 🙂
Awesome!
The sense of relief in the moment when the ‘Safe-Room’ music faded in after limping through a door that first weekend I spent in Raccoon City.
Ooh that reference goes over my head. But thanks for contributing! That’s the joy of everyone sharing their personal experiences.
Yeah, I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s memories; it’s super interesting to read which games & moments had an impact on people.
Just to bring you into the picture, the music in Resident Evil 2 would fade in a split second before the screen when you enter a new room. There is one specific musical theme which indicates that the room is a save room, so no Zombies, but a typewriter & box to save and switch items respectively… Effectively a breather in the gameplay : https://youtu.be/w-1v7Bueb7s
One of my favorite memories is definitely playing Super Smash Bros Brawl for the first time. The cinematic story was just so incredible and it was great seeing all of my favorite characters on the big screen at once. Super Mario World for the Game Boy is my first video game memory. It may not have literally been the first game that I played, but it’s the first one that I remember completing from start to finish which was awesome!
Awesome! Thank ya for contributing to the project! Super Mario World is a personal favorite of mine, albeit the SNES version. Do you mean Super Mario Land? I wasn’t aware of a World version for the Game Boy.
They remade it for the GBA.
https://s.emuparadise.org/GBA/boxart/0297.jpg
My parents did love playing it for the SNES back in the day, but sadly I was a bit too young to really get into it. I wish I had just been 1-2 years older, I definitely would have insisted that we keep the older consoles. As a result, the GC/GBA era is the oldest systems that I still own.
Ah I see! I never owned any hand held past the GB except for a short stint with the GBA. You can still get a hold of some cheap NES and SNES stuff if you dig around.
Ah, the famous “LET’S GET READY TO RUUMMMBLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEE!” on Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (Dreamcast) was a classic, and the triangle buns and mad celebrating about a ‘personal best’ of three centimetres on the Sega Saturn’s best game which is, of course, Athlete Kings. I’ll also always remember ‘Live and Learn’ playing over and over again on Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (Gamecube) and having some pretty rubbish chaos in my chao garden.
Dude thanks for all these great memories! I’ll make sure you get the credit you deserve.
Uh, I’ve given too much, haven’t I. Just remove the Smash Bros., Ready 2 Rumble and the Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 ones if you want less.
Nonsense. The more the merrier! Tell your fellows!
Milo’s really a very casual gamer, but Marcus might have one or two.
I also played a 5 hour stint of Beijing 2000 Olympics with my brothers a couple of times and the “Personal best!” line is the best. My palms were in a lot of pain by the end of it. Also playing Gotcha Force obsessively with my cousin and playing as various ridiculous teams like the “def force (which is the rubbish basic enemies all in one terrible, massive team)” or the “sonic team (which is a compilation of a few crap blue Gotcha Borgs)”. I would come back from a daytrip and run into the house and shout about Gotcha Force at my cousin, then we’d play it for 4 hours with not full, but very loud sound on. Then there was the amazing Horse Mode on Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 and the mission where you had to ride by an elephant’s tail; that was good. There was also the years of the Mega Drive (or Genesis), when my brothers told me I was playing as the ring on Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Why did it keep disappearing!? Oh well, I’d such at Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine afterwards, as a 5-year-old in the early-mid 2000’s — odd, I know. I’m probably the most 90’s millennial child.
Yeah, sounds like a good idea. I’ll join if I can think of the moments. I dunno, a recent amazing moment was where I lost a game 8-0 on Rocket League and beat the same team 8-1 in the next game, as it was a coincidental rematch. I remember my brother won a game on Smash Bros. Brawl only doing the side B attack as Peach. Um… But it sounds a good idea.
Yes! Kirby’s Epic Yarn with Good Ol’ Greenie is still a fav memory of mine.
And of course my favorite memories involve the Well-red mage himself. We’ve enjoyed many a digital adventure together, but I loved Chrono Trigger and all the Final Fantasy games we played together. Especially the one that made me cry… (I dont know what nymber it is… Some gamer I am! lol)
And we mustn’t forget Epic Mickey (1 & 2)… I just have one word to say about those “Careful!” -Oswald
Dawww~
1. Beating Twinrova in Ocarina of Time for the first time when I was 3 years old. I learned how to do it by watching my dad.
2. Using the Fierce Deity’s Mask for the first time in Majora’s Mask.
3. 100%ing my favorite Castlevania game, the infamous Castlevania 64.
Thank you, Mr. Gonthier, for your memories! They’ll be put to good use, with accompanying link to your blog, sir! Spread the word, eh?
1) Playing Halo 1-3 with my dad and brother in preparation for Halo 4, and then playing it for 8 hours the day it came out and bawling my eyes out for 20 minutes straight at the ending.
2) Playing the Whodunit? quest in Elder Scrolls Oblivion over and over again to see how many different ways I could kill all of the house guests without getting caught, and then getting caught just to slaughter them all.
3) Playing Undertale while watching the Game Grumps playthrough and feeling a connection with the characters and the game that I hadn’t felt in a good couple of years, with the end also leaving me a mess of tears. Getting to experience the game and then watch the exact moment others caught on or reacted to something I had was like showing a friend a movie and watching them as they watch it, though technically they showed it to me first.
4) The White-Out Mage may have used this one. Playing Kirby’s Epic Yarn while drinking cocoa on a snowy day with a sick friend and stopping to just listen to the music while watching the snow fall.
I would add beating FFVII Crisis Core and knowing how it ends for Zack and crying anyway, but I think I have enough crying moments on my list. 🙂
Thanks Greenie! I’ll count that as five!
1) Driving towards the giant Wizpig faced mountain on Diddy Kong Racing for the N64, the very first 3D game I ever played. I was stunned by the beautiful colourful island.
2) Watching Link deliver the final blow to Ganon’s head at the end of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, my all time favourite game.
3) Finally downing Braska’s Final Aeon in Final Fantasy X. This was my first Final Fantasy game and it took younger me forever to figure this fight out.
Thank you for your memories!
Here are a few of mine:
1. Camping out in front of Best Buy for my PS2. Well I didn’t get to actually sleep there overnight because my mom wouldn’t let me but I stayed with my dad in line as long as I could the evening before and morning after. I was so excited to finally have that box in my hands!
2. Anticipating Final Fantasy VIII. I was so enthralled by the thought of this game that I would clip out every screenshot I could find in magazines and write the title over and over again on the notebook I would keep them in while I was bored at school.
3. Playing games with my brother. Throughout all of the ups and downs in life as a child it was the one anchor that kept me grounded and sharing those experiences with my brother and others made our bonds stronger because of it.
Of course there’s a whole lot more I could share but those are a few that withstood the test of time.
Timely Mage! You’re still alive! Lol thanks for sharing, buddy.
I have some memories of my own:
1. Playing demos of Spyro 1 & 2 and Crash Team Racing on Playstation demo discs. I actually didn’t get around to playing the games in their entirety until I managed to get my hands on a PS1 emulator, but the demos left such of a lasting impression on me that they always had me coming back to them inbetween all those years, regardless of how short they were.
2. The Game Boy Advance is a handheld system that I hold near and dear to my heart even to this day with its’ vast and diverse libary of games, and like the afroementioned demos, still has me coming back to it to this day, my absolute favorite games of it being Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland, and Sonic Advance.
3. I remember back when Jakks-Pacific made a series of games called “Plug N’ Play”, where you plug a controller based off of whatever the game was based on, whether it be Disney, SpongeBob, etc. While I don’t think these games have exactly aged well by any means, they do still hold a good amount of nostalgic factor for me.
Haha I just left on comment on your blog, simultaneous with yours here. Thanks for your memories! I enjoyed Superstar Saga as well. I owned a GBA for a brief period of time and never got to enjoy too many titles from its phenomenal line up.
What a fantastic, community-driven idea! Seems folks are into sharing multiple memories, so here’s three from me:
1. Playing Robotron 2084 with my family. One of the first “pass the joystick” games I remember. We were all so young and so terrible at the game, but it was always fun to watch my parents and siblings try.
2. Discovering this random called Rogue: The Adventure Game — an old dungeon-crawler that used ASCII to form the dungeons. Both fun and completely maddening. Was one of the first games that introduced me to gaming on a PC.
3. Playing Street Fighter II Turbo and Super Street Fighter II with my brother. Something about the games just clicked between us. If it hadn’t been for him and those two games, I doubt I’d have ever gotten into playing fighting games regularly.
Thanks for your multiple contributions! This is going to be fun thanks to you guys! SFII Turbo FTW
Great idea Mage! I would like to contribute with a couple of great memories:
1. Definitely the first time I played my NES 26 years ago and i put on the cartridge of Super Mario Bros. Better than waiting for Santa on Christmas eve.
2. When my uncle borrowed his ZX Spectrum and after 296 attempt I finally played Daley Thompson’s Decathlon (and then to PSST! a great memory!!!)
3. When I fell in love with Simcity 2000. Still love between us after more than 20 years…
Thank you for your memories! I absolutely adore Sim City 2000, but it’s hard to explain why to my loved ones who don’t understand it.
Nah, it’s very simple, a good screenshot should be enough!
Good idea!
This sounds interesting. I’ll contribute one. When I bought my first gaming platform using my own money – the PSP! Had to save money for a long, long time as a kid. Control my urges as friends bought RC cars and in game money for a MMORPG, but I did it. The hours I used to spend on that thing. Pretty sad day when it died. Used to download a lot of pirated games to play on it.
Piracy is pretty common where I’m from, but I’m proud to say that I no longer pirate. Fewer games to play, but it makes my soul feel better. Haha. I guess that’s another memory, the first game I legit game I bought. Arkham City for ps3. (Not counting the GT5 bundled with the ps3). Spent a huge amount of my savings on it but it was worth every penny.
Down with piracy! Thanks so much for your contributions. We’ll go ahead and count those as two memories.
Awesome idea! Here are a few of my gaming memories!
1. I’ll never forget going to a Nintendo-hosted Pokemon convention at my local mall. It was my first time every doing something like that, and I even won badges at a Game Boy tournament!
2. Playing Super Mario 64 for the first time opened my eyes to what games could truly do in the world of 3D. I felt truly immersed in the colorful world and could not put it down. SM64 and the N64 are still some of my favorite birthday gifts!
3. The first game I remember beating as a child was Super Mario World. Once I hit Bowser for the final time, I felt like a real achiever! This experience and my love for the game has cemented it as one of my favorite games of all time!
Awesome! Thanks for contributing and gratz on being the first responder. Those games are great but I’m jelly you got to attend a Nintendo convention.
No problem and thanks! I want to attend a pure gaming convention one day. But I’m glad I’ve had opportunities to attend Pokemon and Nintendo events at malls.
I’ve never been to a gaming thing, either. Minus a few table-top gaming events we had back in my hometown. Maybe I’ll watch E3 for the first time, or something.