Gaming Memories # 1: My Introduction to Gaming.

 

Being born in early 1990, I came into this world on the cusp of the 16-bit era’s explosion on to the scene. Following Nintendo’s dominance of the 80’s, other companies sought to compete by simply overpowering the aging, but ubiquitous NES. Rather than futilely compete in the 8-bit marketplace monopolized by Nintendo, other companies moved on. NEC and Hudson released their Turbografx-16, and SEGA their Genesis; both 16-bit machines that outclassed the NES’ technical specs in all categories. This critical point in gaming occurred mere months before my birth, perhaps making me one of the luckiest bastards on the planet.

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Bushido Blade (PSX) Resource

Introduction

During the 32-bit era, I fervently consumed anything that SquareSoft had to offer. I spent much of this console generation exploring some of the deepest, most visually stunning game worlds of the time; nearly all RPGs, painstakingly crafted by this legendary company.

Considering I was only allowed to play video games on the weekend during the school year, I also spent much of my time gazing longingly at my instruction manuals and Game Pro magazines. Aback one of these manuals, Bushido Blade was prominently advertised, with nothing more than the title and some minor art. I knew nothing about the game, but my imagination ran wild as I wondered what epic adventure Square had in store for me next.

To my surprise, I later saw the game featured in one of my magazines. I discovered it was actually a fighting game that stressed realism and required brutally precise execution to avoid the inevitable one-hit KOs. Gone were wild, button mashing, multi-round fights and life bars that found ubiquity in the genre. Instead, these generic mainstays were replaced with tension-filled, yet brief, fights to the death.

I was excited to get my hands on the game, but never successfully acquired it due to competing demands from other titles on my fragile 7 year old mind. Lost in the ocean that is my backlog, Light Weight’s and SquareSoft’s epic Samurai simulation faded into the void. I would wander through life for years, not knowing the way of the sword.

When I finally acquired Bushido Blade, I was able to experience the way, and my life was forever altered.

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Combating Gamer’s Choice Paralysis: A Novel Strategy to Cope with New Release + Backlog Overwhelm

What is Gamer’s Choice Paralysis? Well, it is simply a term I have invented to put into words the feeling all gamer’s experience on a near consistent basis: how in the hell am I supposed to play, and afford, all these games?!

So many games!!!!

As a married adult with a full-time job and responsibilities (kill me), it is hard to keep up with the frantic release schedule of the current-gen and the ever-expanding, all-consuming hell-spawn that is my backlog.

In the past 6 months I also started this site, which resulted in additional pressure to play and complete games. Born from this necessity, I conceived a novel strategy to slowly advance through my backlog and complete games, while still actually having fun.

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Go to Hell and Back with NAXAT: Devil’s Crush NAXAT Pinball (Turbografx-16) Resource

Introduction

A genre I often ignore, but am almost never disappointed by is video pinball. Growing up, I loved playing pinball in the arcades. Since these games were almost always cheaper than the newest arcade titles, I would end my gaming session with pinball almost every time; prolonging the inevitable dwindling of my coin stash just a bit longer.

All this time spent playing pinball resulted in my growing very fond of the genre and playing fairly often. This translated into a few home purchases, such as Kirby’s Pinball Land, Sonic Spinball and Pokemon Pinball, all of which I enjoyed to varying degrees. As time passed, I stopped dabbling with the genre mostly due to an ever-growing and all-consuming backlog of games.

As part of my mission for this site, I wanted to spend time delving into a variety of genres, so inevitably, video pinball resurfaced. I was excited to find a treasure trove of games I had missed out on, but which was the best? After extensive research I settled on a gem of a game entitled Devil’s Fury for the Turbografx-16.

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