Gaming is a past time that over half the planets population has taken part in. But here is my Story.
How it all started.
Before I became a 'Gamer', from what I can remember, it was more playing with star wars toys, riding my bike, hide and seek and other things that young kids used to enjoy. My earliest memory of gaming was when my parents got married and I was left with my uncle Chris, who was a huge self confessed geek, and still is to this day. He had an Sinclair ZX Spectrum. You know, the one that took tape cassettes which took 90 minutes to load a simple game. One of the games that I would always love to play, and bare in mind I was only 7 at the time, was 'Advanced Pinball Simulator'.
Looking back at the pinball game today, it has aged terribly, but back when I was a kid, this game was like magic and I loved it, and this was the turning point that got me into gaming.Since spending 2 months with my uncle while my parents were on there honeymoon, I have been what could be considered an obsessed gamer. I begged and pleaded with my parents to get me a game console, and in 1986, they surprised me with a NES for my birthday, complete with the light gun, Mario and Duck Hunt dual game cartridge, and one of my all time favourite games, Snakes Revenge, which is a spin off of the Metal Gear franchise.
It was almost overnight that I turned from a kid who enjoyed playing outside, to one that essentially turned into a hermit. From the moment I woke up I was playing, even if it was just an hour before I had to go school. The moment I got home from school, I was sat in my bedroom, in front of a 20” CRT TV trying my damnedest to complete game after game.
Instead of spending my allowance on sweets and toys, I was now saving the £5 a week so I could buy a new game from the game shop, that was right next door to the arcade on the other side of the road where I used to live. On the odd occasion I would sometimes spend time in the arcade too, so I could try out some of the games I knew was available on the NES before I spent my allowance on it.
And so it continued.
By the time the Super NES was released in 1990, I had accumulated a lot of games for my NES. But because my parents refused to buy me a SNES, saying I need to get out more and If I want one I should trade in my old console and games. With the game shop right over the road, it was as simple as going over with my old man, put my NES with about 40+ games on the counter and got £100 taken off the value of a new SNES with a few games.
The SNES had more ''multiplayer'' games available, such as Mario Kart, Street Fighter, Super Bomberman and so many more, and thusly, I became more sociable which ultimately made my parents happier. I would always invite my best friend round to play these games with me almost everyday.
I think in a way, I was responsible for my friend for getting into gaming too as he asked his parents that same year when I got my SNES, for one too. Though he ended up with the MegaDrive/Genesis. He also got a few multiplayer games like Micro Machines, Golden Axe, Mortal Kombat, and because he was a football fanatic (Soccer) he had a collection of football games too. Now because we both had some awesome games, we would often go to each others houses to play some of the best games we would ever see.Eventually as our game collections grew, so did the number of friends we would invite to come and play these games with us. One of the more prominent games we would play was either Street Fighter II Turbo or Mortal Kombat. Obviously, because these games are only 2 player, and we have about 4-5 friends all sat on the edge of my friends bed or the couch in our respective rooms, it would often be a case of 'Winner Stays On'. With one particular friend being better than everyone else, and he never lost, it became a game in itself to try and dethrone him so to speak, with each of us eager to get the pad to try and beat him.
It was a similar story with the other games we played too. Mario Kart was the other game we played a lot. Though this may sound cool, but looking back at it now, you have to think that the resolution for the SNES was tiny, and the small 20” CRT TV that I had made it all the more difficult to see. And it didn't stop there, that same screen had been split into 2.... how we managed to play that game is a mystery, but regardless, it was some of the best memories I have as a kid.
It only got better from here.
When in high school, in 1995, the PlayStation had been released, and unaware to me, when I came home from school on my birthday, my parents had treated me to a brand new PS1, complete with a good amount of games. Teken, Rayman, Destruction Derby, Wipeout, Mortal Kombat 3, Star Wars Dark Forces, C 'n' C, and a slew of other titles.
That very same day, I was straight around my friends houses, asking there parents if they could come round to my house, and eventually, about 10 of us were crammed into my bedroom, sat on the couch, the floor and the bed in aw of the PS1. We all played Teken for hours, with the usual winner stays on, with that one friend that could never be beat.... it was the same situation as it was with the SNES, but now I had an all new console and new, much larger, rear projection 40” TV. It was several months of my friends coming to my house after school and on weekends until they each got there own next gen consoles. Some got the N64, others the Jaguar and the PS1. Now with a mountain of games between each of us, it was a case of trying to organise who's house we would spend the evenings playing games.This friendship and gatherings continued up until we left high school when we all started different things, some of us went to college and Uni, others like me, started working soon after leaving high school. We would sometimes gather to play games, but we were all growing up and eventually due to other commitments, we all lost touch.
Myself though, I started to get involved with PC gaming and building my own PC's. Now I am a strictly PC gamer, but the kids all have there games consoles which I do pinch every now and then so I can play some of the exclusives.
Memories.
I have said it a thousand times, and I will say it a thousand times more.... the 80's and 90's were the golden age of gaming. Yes there was no online gaming, and in a way that was a good thing. We would often get together and spend hours playing in the same room together. Smiling, getting frustrated, teasing, laughing... this is what gaming was like, and why it was the best time to be a gamer.
Now I'm much older and got kids of my own, I want them to have the same experience that I did. Though they don't have friends physically in the same room as them, they are however organising and playing games together online. I can often hear some of the same noises I made as a kid there age, laughing, frustration, smiling... generally just happy. It is an experience that I would never deny them and that is the main reason why all of us in my house, my other half included, are all gamers and whenever we get the chance, we are gaming. Sometimes together, and other times, playing separate games.I see gaming as a form of escapism and art. I not only enjoy immersing myself in a game for several hours, but I also enjoy the visual side of games, from those that have realistic looking graphics, to those that are very stylised.
Some people read books, others watch trash TV to escape from the monotony of life, but myself and countless people across the planet game as it is not only more enjoyable, but can be very sociable too and you can create some of your fondest memories gaming.
From those people who play on there phone on the way home from work, to those that have full on gaming battle stations, to those that have a console plugged into there TV, we are all equal and we all game for similar reasons. This is why I love gaming and why I do what I do.
What more can be said?
Thanks for reading.
Stu @TechMojo
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