Esotropiart

My friend Dave got me thinking about video games today. Ah, nostalgia! A large part of my life can be traced in connection with video games. My friend Jubba Disk, perhaps one of the ultimate video game players and collectors of all time and space is more literal in his ability to connect life with video games. His memory of video games is astounding. He can literally remember what was happening in his life and what was being said based on which video games he was playing at the time. Very interesting.

I can say that I was privileged to live through the golden age of video games. My first video game system was my dad's Commodore 64. He had about 300 games, so there was endless fun... well, that is until the RF Switch stopped working. I can't remember how many of those we went through!

In the eighties, I had a Nintendo (NES) and a few games. Some of my favorite Nintendo games were:

Favorite Nintendo Games

• Castlevania series (especially 2)
• Contra 1 & 2
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
• Little Nemo: The Dream Master
• Megaman series
• Super Mario series - I still remember many of the secrets so many years later!
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Later I got a Genesis and can still remember looking up at Sonic for the first time. I was astounded. I became a master of Sonic 1 and 2. I still have a Genesis and a Super Nintendo and play them from time to time. Perhaps the most famous games from this era are The Shadow of the Beast games, highly regarded as some of the most impossible and worst programmed games Jim Guys have ever played! My favorite 16-bit games include:

Favorite Genesis Games

• Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (and other Mickey games - could beat these in 20 minutes)
• Earthworm Jim 1 & 2
• Golden Axe series
• Gunstar Heroes
• Kid Chameleon
• Shadow Dancer
• Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2
• Streets of Rage

Favorite Super Nintendo Games

• Actraiser 1 & 2
• Contra III
• Cool Spot
• Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 & 3
• Illusion of Gaia
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• Lost Vikings
• Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts
• Super Mario Allstars
• Super Mario World 1 & 2
• Super Metroid - one of my favorite games of all time

Here is a list of video game console systems I have actually played on (some ever so briefly):

• Atari Lynx
• Commodore 64
• Gameboy
• Gameboy Advance (I currently own one)
• Neo Geo
• Nintendo (NES)
• Nintendo 64
• Nintendo Game Cube
• Playstation
• Playstation 2
• Sega 32X
• Sega CD
• Sega Dreamcast
• Sega Game Gear
• Sega Genesis
• Sega Master System
• Sega Nomad
• Sega Saturn
• Super Nintendo (SNES)
• Turbo Graphix 16 & Turbo Express
• Virtual Boy
• X-Box

I haven't fully embraced the new 3D systems and can't convince myself it is worth the investment of time and money. Most of my video game playing has been lived out through my fanatical friend(s). I guess I'm still stuck in the golden age of video games. I know, I'm old. Oh man, the good ole summer days of playing games up to 8 hours a day. Now I have to work 8 hours a day. If only I could be a kid again...