The first-ever video game I played comes from the PS2, but I don't know if it's either Frogger: The Great Quest of Gran Turismo 3. For those that don't know about either game, Frogger: The Great Quest was one of the few games that I got for the PS2 at a very young age. There is a pretty good bit of explanation behind what these two games mean to me, but while Gran Turismo 3 is a game that takes longer to beat but is still worth playing, Frogger: The Great Quest feels more like a game that's easy to complete yet doesn't feel great with revisiting. I'll go over what makes each game monumental to me, but I'll sum up by saying that each game has memories that are permanently burned into my memory for reasons good and bad.
I also got some PS1 games that were part of my old collection. Some uninteresting Early Childhood crap that ain't pictured because no one cares about that shit, but I had these three PS1 games, which have to make up for the lack of the more recognizable games. They include collections of old Namco arcade games as well as some Atari Classics. These two games gave me some exposure to what games made before the PS2 were sort of like. I kind of like the Namco ones more solely for the more interesting variety of games, though Atari's Centipede is pretty cool.
There are some other games that I had at the time, based on licensed properties. Finding Nemo and Spongebob Supersponge may not seem like much but the latter at least had a kickass soundfont in my opinion. The former's got some good music, but it did get annoying that I couldn't beat the game until years later because...IDK why.
Over the years, I'd get myself into some other PS2 games that weren't exactly of the big-name options I'd later discover, but they include games like Lego Star Wars: The Videogame and Midnight Club 3, which was one that I usually played with my cousin until I got a version of my own. It felt great to get into the Star Wars hype with Revenge of the Sith's release at the time, so Lego Star Wars was the perfect way to get into the series. As for Midnight Club 3, it's a great game that makes it stand out compared to Gran Turismo when it comes to how aggressive it felt in terms of gameplay, what with the music as well as the language that the game had. Not that I'm complaining, though that game, like the first Transformers game, expanded my vocabulary to the point of including mild language. And these games were ones that my cousin had so I thought I should get them at the time.
Speaking of the games that I played with my relatives, they mainly had some old N64 games that I played at least once before I would revisit at least a few of them years later. AFAIK, three of them had Dr. Mario 64, Mickey Speedway USA, and Paper Mario while another cousin of mine had Super Smash Bros, Beetle Adventure Racing, and Mario Kart 64. I only revisited Dr. Mario, Smash 64, Paper Mario, and MK64. I would love to revisit BAR, but MSUSA is going to take a little longer because God knows how easy it'll be to find a copy of it. Surprisingly, no Super Mario 64...yet.
In terms of PS2 games, the ones I first tried out from my cousins include the Thrillville series as well as Revenge of the Sith's game and Star Wars: Battlefront 2. These games mean so much to me with the nostalgia they presented, whether they include making roller coasters or getting involved in the world of Star Wars. Funny enough, they were all Lucasarts-developed games. All in all, I have revisited the Star Wars games, but the Thrillville series will be one I'll check out later.
In terms of Gamecube titles that one of my cousins owned, we played Super Smash Bros Melee, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Kirby Air Ride, and Sonic Mega Collection. Each game is great to play, and I would later own copies of Melee and Air Ride. As for TTYD and Sonic Mega Collection, I'm still interested in getting those, though I feel Sonic's mobile phone ports are better done IMO.
Back to the games I had for myself, I was later able to get a Gameboy Advance on my birthday and I got Power Rangers SPD and my first official Nintendo game, Donkey Kong Country 3. These two games mean a lot to me for obvious reasons. I mean, SPD was already an awesome season of Power Rangers, so to own a game of it is a no brainer. As for DKC3, a remake of the SNES game, it's way better than I expected. I thought it was a babies version of Donkey Kong (who I first heard of at a demo for Super Mario Strikers), but the game's pretty amazing! It's visually appealing on the GBA, the music rocks, the gameplay's pretty good, and my mom and I got to beat it a lot. Funny how DKC3 was my first ever Nintendo game and not something like Mario Sunshine or Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.
The Gameboy was my main source of on-the-go gameplay, so naturally, I had plenty of games devoted to the GBA. When I went camping with my family, I got Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon and Fairly Oddparents: Clash With the Anti World. The former looks neat on GBA but sucks so much for how tiring the game gets in certain levels and how weak the health bars can get. I had to use a password system to bypass those levels. At least CWTAW was fairly fun to beat, especially in a single sitting. Then on Christmas, I got Lego Star Wars 2 because we couldn't find the PS2 version of the game at the time. In retrospect, it wasn't too hot, but at the time, it was a neat game to play while I got my Star Wars Transformers Millennium Falcon. A year later, I would get Kirby and the Amazing Mirror because I loved Kirby and even beat that game despite struggling with the final boss.
When I moved to a new home (and before I got Amazing Mirror), I got two great games that still mean a lot to me to this day. They were Sonic Heroes and the proper Lego Star Wars 2. Sonic Heroes got me hooked onto the Sonic series and while the PS2 version had 30fps and did get frustrating with Egg Emperor, it was at least worth playing as 4 different teams with Sonic characters that each stand out from one another. Lego Star Wars 2 was already neat on GBA, but it felt so nice to get the proper experience on the PS2. Also helps that I was learning more about Star Wars when the prequel trilogy wasn't enough to fill my platter.
When I went to Mexico, I would later obtain 4 games as well as try out some N64 games that would expose me to Nintendo's past. Let's start with the games I took home with me. The first one was Super Mario 64 DS, a remake of the popular N64 game. This was before I tried out the original version, but I knew that this one was better aside due to the better visuals, the way the characters play, and the fact that it's a then-big game put in a single DS cartridge, a feat that hasn't been done since probably Ocarina of Time 3D. I still have it with me to this day, and my God is it an amazing Mario title. As for the two PS2 games I got, they're arcade fighting games in the form of Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes and Tekken 3. MvC was one that made me grow aware of characters like Ryu, Chun-Li, Mega Man, Captain Commando, but I gotta admit, I feel more at home playing as Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, and especially War Machine. Tekken 3 looked kind of funny from the cover for how 90s the CGI looked, but I was so happy to play the game and later get obsessed with Yoshimitsu. I wish he was on the cover because he was glorious. Oh and there was a Pokemon GBA Video cartridge in English. I did see small bits of the Pokemon anime and also did when I could, but at this current age, it feels odd to see the anime despite me being more comfortable watching stuff like Spongebob or Looney Tunes. IDK.
In terms of video games that I would try out with who would later be a good friend of mine in Mexico, I got to see what N64 games were like. I already tried out Mario Kart, but with his console, I tried out Donkey Kong 64, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, and Super Mario 64. For the Gamecube, I played Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. DK64 was neat, and the DK rap's a classic, but I feel beating it will take forever. Pro Skater's got some neat music and McDonalds references, but I don't remember everything else about it. Mario 64's great to see on its old platforming, and while both that and the DS version are equally good, I won't lie when I say that the DS version wins. Wind Waker memories are vague, but I know Tingle was playable with a GBA.
I wouldn't get any other video games until 2008 when I got Lego Batman: The Video Game as well as Spongebob's Atlantis Squarepantis. The former was great to see as it felt like a worthwhile entry for the Dark Knight while filtered in the Lego lens (without the obnoxious, bloatedly witty Lego Movie humor), while Atlantis Squarepantis is better as a game than as an episode (though it certainly ain't no Battle for Bikini Bottom. We also got Spider-Man beforehand because we wanted to have that game and never had it until 2008. Great video game all around, though I always hated getting stuck at the Goblin boss fight in the middle portion of the game and later suffer from that Oscorp level.
On Christmas and later my birthday, I got a new DS that came with New Super Mario Bros and Lego Indiana Jones, respectively. New Super Mario Bros is probably my favorite of the New series because of how refreshing it felt to revisit this game. I swear, the New series got boring real fast, and people only acknowledge them for the new power-ups and nicer graphics on top of the lacking mods people make. More on that when I cover the Wii sequel. As for NSMB, a favorite memory of mine was beating the final level at night, saving the last bit until I went to school, returned home with the game still in sleep mode, and finally beating the game. Also, Lego Indiana Jones is a nice introduction to the Indiana Jones series, despite it having certain unfamiliar elements that would be easier to understand with Batman and Star Wars.
Here's a random thing to talk about: demo discs! I was given one of these back in 2010 and always wondered how someone got a hold of it (now I am an owner of this disc, too). It included 7 playable demos and two trailers. You can see which games were included. My favorite games were Spider-Man: Enter Electro, Monsters Inc, Mutant Academy, and Atiantis. Sheep Raider felt a little unrefined, NFL Gameday was confusing, and Barbie was basic.
My brother and I were both given a Wii from some relatives in Michigan, and they gave us Lego Batman on the Wii as well as games we never had yet in the form of Wii Sports and Sonic & the Black Knight. Wii Sports is the typical family fun sort of game that the Wii was all about, while Sonic & the Black Knight was cool back then but then I remember why I hated the final boss.
I think my brother got a Club Penguin game, but I was able to get Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Super Mario All-Stars for the Wii. All-Stars was neat to have when it comes to playing the old Mario games in SNES form, but it did suck that it was identical to the SNES game. I feel adding Super Mario World with the updated Luigi sprites would be better, or if it functioned like the GBA remakes. As for SMG2, I love it and still do despite the obvious issues with certain levels. I don't think I would get the first game since they're somewhat similar.
In terms of stuff for 2011, aside from the aforementioned Melee, I got Super Mario Strikers and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. On Christmas, I got a 3DS, which lets me play Super Mario 64 DS as well as do other things like taking photos and whatnot. I also downloaded Four Sword Adventure from my Brother's DSI since he wanted to focus on Pokemon Black.
Not much happened in 2012 aside from the acquisition of copies of Donkey Kong Land and Super Mario Bros 3 on the GBA. In 2013, my brother got New Super Mario Bros Wii and later got Pokemon X. I haven't played the latter, but my experience with the former feels...off. It was already weird to play that game on a big TV screen, but to have more than one player on screen was kinda hectic. I didn't like the multiplayer for NSMBW, and I feel the New series only contributes with a newish power up and different environments. Oh and I was obsessed with the FOC trailers for how good they looked. I feel that the trailers may somewhat make the game look worse than it actually is, but the trailers for Fall of Cybertron looked better than the CGI used for Bumblebee, and I'll always love the silent but emotional close-up shots of Bee looking at Prime.
My brother and I also got some Spider-Man games after the interest from the TASM series made us realize we had no appropriate console for its game. Instead, we got Spider-Man 2, 3, and Ultimate. 2 was my favorite on top of being based off my favorite CBM of all time (next to DOFP and BvS). 3 had some issues but at least didn't have ugly actor likenesses. Ultimate's a good game yet felt confusing on where to go sometimes.
In 2014, my brother and I got some old games for Gamecube and PS2. We got Sonic Adventure Director's Cut and SA2 Battle afterward, yet Crash Bandicoot Warped and Crash Twinsanity were purchased in-between. Each game has some issues, especially with the lack of new content for SA2B and Twinsanity's glitches, but I was happy to dig into Sonic's lore as well as learn about Crash, a character that always piqued my interest.
We later got Smash Bros Brawl before we got Smash 3DS (because fuck buying a Wii U). Both games were relatively good, even if Sm4sh 3DS suffered from being on inferior hardware, but I kinda have to admit that I prefer the smaller rosters of the older 3 Smash games. And yes, we would later get Ultimate.
Not much happened in 2015 aside from the glimpses made with stuff like Devastation, Battlefront 2015, and seeing my brother get into online games. I once tried to get into Team Fortress 2, but sadly, high school took up my time and I couldn't get distracted from my final years at high school. I did buy Lego Batman 2 and Lego Star Wars 3 for my own presents, but I got to beat them before my Wii remote started to have Nunchuck problems from my brother getting mad at Call of Duty on the Wii. Yes.
And to wrap this article up, Super Mario Odyssey on the Nintendo Switch was pretty much not only a great game, but it also encouraged me to see video games again in the perspective of someone wanting a great experience. It was so nice to have a Mario game that didn't feel like it was flavor of the week, as it was refined all around with the visuals, gameplay, and even the exploration of the worlds you visit. Mario and Cappy make a great duo that help distinguish them from the gameplay we had from Mario Sunshine, Galaxy, and 3D by taking the base core of Mario 64's gameplay but evolving it to the next level. I don't think any other main Mario title will trump this, but it's basically telling me "you can still play video games and not feel bad for thinking everything's all about cutscenes doing everything for you".
And that covers everything leading up to 2018 to the present, which I didn't intend to include, but it did make me see games that made me go "I think I need that." Also helps that I got an Xbox with games pre-loaded, which makes me the owner of a Nintendo console, a Sony console, and a Microsoft console. Anyways, join me next time when we take a look at the games that mean a lot to me.
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