My Personal Video Game History

Have you ever wondered what video games got me into gaming or what I was playing during such and such console war? Well, lemme break it down for you.

Early Days

I’m going to take you back to 1994. I got my first gaming system (not including PC), the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sure, my dad should have got me a SNES, but it was free, and looking back, it was a piece of s*** system. Cause it barely worked.

I had so many games. I had, like, more than 30. So take that Nintendo with your discontinued piece of…ahem, lol.

After that I got an N64 in '97 I believe. Yeah, I was 9 years old. Let me tell you, back in 96-97, we had never seen graphics like that before, so it was a beautiful system.

The N64 was also arguably the golden age of my gaming.

However, I’m going to reexamine that quote later but remember this might be my golden age. Why? I played video games like all day! Games like Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye 007, Star Fox 64…. Zelda Ocarina of Time came later, but it's still my favorite Zelda game to this date.

I remember getting a Gameboy color in '98 I think. It’s something I lusted over for a long time. I remember I bought it with my own money. It was revolutionary for me. I played Pokémon a lot. I think that’s the only game I really needed; Pokémon Red, then Yellow. Red was my older cousin’s, Yellow was mine.

Golden Age Days

Okay so lets fast forward to 2002… as you know there were 3 new systems out, but I was a Nintendo fan boy. I loved Mario and Zelda and naturally,Smash Bros was arguably my favorite game on the N64.

So I was over a relative's house in 2001, and got to play Gran Turismo 3 on PS2 — and my jaw dropped. However, that wasn’t enough for me to “Want It” over a Gamecube. My Dad, however, wanted a DVD player, so as the story goes, I had a pretty bland day of school in 8th grade, back in 2002. I come home one day and there it was… a PS2.

It was the best system out at the time!

The PS2 was arguably my golden age, too, so why here and not N64? Well, I think it comes down to the amount of games I was playing.

I rented a lot more games during this period. Of all the games I played/rented, two really made my day. I’m pretty sure I had Grand Theft Auto 3 pretty early on.

So, although I loved that game, I ask you; who didn’t love that game? Of course I loved ESPN Basketball (NBA 2k4). Final Fantasy X I think, was the heir to the Ocarina throne. I mean I loved it so much, and I played it an awful lot. Also, God of War in 2005 was a terrific game.

I really, really enjoyed it from the first rental. I would be negligent if I didn’t mention Star Wars Battlefront II. Did I mention I rebought the PS2 in 2016? Yeah its old but still fun. I rented all kinds of games, but didn’t buy them. My favorite was Shadow of the Colossus, which I'd later buy the remaster for PS3.

Now let me backtrack. In 2002, I got a Gameboy Advance which was arguably my favorite handheld system of all time. I mean I got to play games that were originally Super Nintendo games or remakes of SNES games. Most notably Zelda A Link to The Past, Mario Kart Super Circuit, and Metroid Fusion. All three were hard to beat.

So yeah my Dad inadvertently made me a Sony fanboy. Well, I was actually a dual fanboy (Sony and Nintendo). I didn’t like Xbox at the time. So naturally in 2005-2006, when the Xbox 360 came out, I called it the Xbore 360 lol. I really couldn’t care less about it.

Let me back up. I got the Nintendo DS Lite in 2006. I frigging loved it! So much so, I think I stopped playing my Gameboy Advance. I mean why play it? The DS Lite played most GBA games! I had a lot of good games for NDS. There basically just upgraded versions of the GBA games… LOL. However, I hated Zelda Phantom Hourglass. Great concept. Good controls really. But the Temple of the Ocean King’s later stages… 'nuff said.

Sony’s Dominant Years

Now fast forward to 2008. I decided one day to buy a PS3 and 2 games: NBA 2k9 and Metal Gear Solid 4. I also bought another controller. It came up to 600 dollars. Interestingly enough it was the beginning of a renaissance of my love for video games. I admit…things had gotten kind of stale in 2007. I was playing PS2 games. Besides NBA 2k7 and God of War 2, it was all getting kind of stale, from a home console perspective.

So let me just say that MGS4 was another heir to the throne. It’s a game I wish they’d remaster, cause it was SO DAMN DOPE. It really was the first of many: Street Fighter 4, Little Big Planet (yes I really liked it), Resistance, Killzone 2. I could go on and on about how dominant the PS3 was for me. I really liked Tekken 6 and Uncharted 2. The former was a return to form…and my 2nd favorite Tekken(#5), the latter made me a fan of Nathan Drake!

Somewhere in 2010, I sold my PS2 and got a Nintendo DSi XL. Maybe the order of those two events was reversed. I really didn’t give a f*** about the PS2 at the time, like I mentioned earlier, I played the PS2 up until 2008. The DSi XL was dope. I bought Pokémon Heart Gold, which is the best Pokémon game of all time. No argument there along with Soul Silver, of course.

Precursor to Present Years

Around this time handheld gaming kind of took a backseat around like 2011. That was until 2012. I got a 3DS XL. And to be honest I wasn’t all that impressed. I mean, I loved the previous DS sets but this one was like, yeah, I expected it to be great. The 3D effect I liked, but honestly, I just felt like I was playing a portable N64. I had a lot of 3DS games and I still do. I will get into that soon as to why I said it like that.

My memory is a little shady, but I’m pretty sure this where Nintendo, STRIKES BACK. I got a Wii U in 2012. That's just a month after it came out! I frigging loved it!

I loved the game pad, I loved the graphics, and I loved the fact it was backwards compatible. I loved games like...well, all of them, pretty much. I didn’t like Bayonetta 1. I hated it so much I didn’t get to Bayonetta 2! I like to play games in linear order if I can. I think my favorite Wii U game is Super Mario 3D World. I really enjoyed that one. Along with Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros 4 of course.

Now notice I made no mention of the PS4 or Xbox One yet. I’m getting to that. In 2014, I felt like I was stuck in the past again. I needed something new to play. The Wii U (which I just praised) was great, but I wanted one of the big boys.

And naturally, I chose the PS4. I still had some disdain for Xboxes. I remember I was in Gamestop one day, and this guy was trying to convince me to buy an X1. I listened but I didn’t like Xboxes so I was like, meh.

Now, how did I afford a PS4? I didn’t. I apologize for not mentioning the PSVita which I had in 2013. I was very unimpressed with the Vita, which is why, when my PS3 and 30 games were not enough trade value for PS4; I threw in the Vita. I mean, we all know why the Vita failed. I don’t need to mention that here.

So I enjoyed the third wind for gaming here… But to be honest it wasn’t as big as PS2 to PS3. PS4 felt natural, but I wasn’t super impressed with the games It had in 2014. Now, sure I went with NBA for my first game, along with COD Advanced Warfare. This was initially a weird move cause I had just bought both games for PS3! However, bless their souls, GameStop gave me both games for free!

Current Years

Fast forward to 2016. I have a PS4 and Wii U. Well for some reason it just wasn’t working out… for the Wii U. It really got old despite having all the best games minus a couple. Splatoon I liked, Mario Maker I liked.

Notice I said liked not loved. So my best friend convinces me to sell my Wii U. I did, but originally the plan was to wait and get a Nintendo Switch. Well, a lot happened in that 2-year stretch. My best friend and I played Xbox One. We played Halo 1 remaster. I liked it. We played Gears of War 4…and I loved it!

I used the Wii U Credit to get a Xbox One. I also got a used Vita. I also sold my 3DS XL only to get it again in 2016. So there you go, I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane.