1988 - 4 Years Old - Super Mario Brothers -
I spent many an afternoon at my grandparents' house among my aunts and uncles, who were mostly still in their early teens at the time, and I'll never forget the day they got an NES. My mother had seven brothers and sisters, and the youngest ones all fought each other over who would get to play. I barely got a few minutes with it myself, but man, right then I knew gaming was going to be a HUGE deal for me.
1990 - 6 Years Old - Mega Man 3 -
My folks had given me an NES for the previous Christmas, and man was it awesome. My mom surprised me one day when she picked me up from school and presented me with my first issue of Nintendo Power. I was mesmerized. Mega Man 3 was on the cover, and I still vividly remember reading it over and over again. The game itself was okay, but that's not really why I put it on this list. When I think back to getting that magazine now, I get a little misty-eyed and feel an urge to call my mom and tell her I love her, because she was always doing stuff like this for me when I was a kid. What I never realized until I was much older was just how hard my parents had it at the time and how much they had to sacrifice to give me little moments like that, and that's memories like this have taken on a whole new meaning for me. Thanks Mom and Dad.
1990 - 6 Years Old - Dragon Warrior -
The same year, my mom gave me this as a Christmas gift. Little had I known that she had kept it hidden all year up until then, as it had come with the Nintendo Power subscription I mentioned above. I mainly remember this as my major introduction to role-playing games. I had, not one, but TWO big disappointments involving this game. The first was when my aunt Dawn deleted all of our save games by failing to hold reset as she turned off the power! Grrahhh!!! The other was that my mom actually beat the game before I did! I was like, "Mom! You were supposed to let me beat it first cause it's MYYYY game!" Ah, youth.
1992 - 8 Years Old - Final Fantasy II (IV) -
This was a big one for me. At the time, I was adjusting to a recent move we'd made and my aunt Dawn was actually living with us as she was transitioning into college or... something like that, I think. Lucky for me, she was dating a guy with good taste in games (he'll be mentioned again later), and he loaned her Final Fantasy II (IV). I will never forget playing through that game. The first time I experience the Lunar Whale flying to the moon, it very nearly blew my tiny, little brain to pieces. My love for FF wouldn't be what it is now without this game, but honestly, the main reason it's on this list is because it reminds me of that time in my life and just how tumultuous everything was at our house at the time. We had three of my mom's sisters living with us at one time or another during this period of a few years.
1995 - 11 Years Old - Illusion of Gaia -
I had bought my first Super Nintendo a few years prior at a local auction I went to with my dad. I got the deck with no cables or controllers for about $15 and bought the rest of the stuff I needed later on, as well as getting several games I had wanted not long after that. I had already played most of the best games via my aunt, but in 1995, I beat her to the punch when I got one of my favorite games of all time.
This was the first game that I can remember becoming FANATICAL about. I recorded myself playing through the whole game, and I, embarrassingly, started reading ALL the dialogue aloud and would get really into making unique voices for each character. I developed a love of acting later on and eventually had a short career working as a stage actor, and I honestly believe this at least partially due to this habit I developed. This game also infused me with a fascination for ancient historical sites. I'm still bound and determined to visit Angkor Wat someday.
1997 - 13 Years Old - Final Fantasy VII -
My aunt Dawn had married the boyfriend that I mentioned earlier by this point, and they would often come and visit us for lunch on weekends. Now, I had only just realized that Playstation was a thing, as I was still primarily a Nintendo guy at that point, but I had recently seen that preview on TV for FFVII that was done like a mock movie trailer and my interest was off the charts. Enter my new uncle, who decided to bring over his Playstation to show it off. After he showed me the Bahamut Zero summon, I was literally begging him to let me borrow the system for a day to try it out. He actually loaned me all of his PS1 games, some of which probably should have caught my attention right then, like Castlevania: SotN, and Wild Arms; but I didn't care about those a bit. I played all the way up through the Gold Saucer before I had to give it back. A few weeks later I sold off some other games and used money in combination of what was left of my savings to get my PS1 and my very own copy of FFVII, and I was officially a Final Fantasy fan for life.
**For the record, I had also played FFVI before this. I loved it, but it didn't have as big of an impact on me.
1998 - 14 Years Old - Xenogears / Final Fantasy VIII -
I really have to include both of these as a single entry because of how close they were in terms of where I was at in my life when I played them. Honestly, I'd like to include Parasite Eve, Brave Fencer Musashi, and Final Fantasy Tactics in here too, but I guess I can deal with just these two for now. Gaming had taken over my life fully and completely at this point and that's why I feel like these two kind of go hand in hand.
When Xenogears came out, I can still remember my mind being blown at what happened after the point where the demo cut off. Immediately, I knew I had found something amazing. I think this game may single-handedly be responsible for my general dislike of organized religion. Despite being raised in a very religious household, this game really started me down the path of asking some very hard questions of myself and others, which ended up being a really positive experience for me.
Final Fantasy VIII was... not as good. Still, I can't forget how touched I was by the ending for some reason. Maybe it was because of the music, but that last shot where Squall and Rinoa embrace made me bawl like a little baby. I didn't want it to end! I was attached to the world and the characters now, and I didn't want to have to say goodbye! It also sticks out because I remember my mom walking in and being surprised to find me with tears rolling down my cheeks. I was about as embarrassed as I could get, let me tell you.
2001 - 17 Years Old - Shenmue -
My aunts had gotten me into gaming and anime over the years, and gaming magazines had done a lot to educate me about where my favorite games originated. Japan had become this exciting land of mystery for me. Shenmue gave me my first glimpse into that world in a way no other game could. I was so into it that I actually stayed up to beat it at 5:30 in the morning on a school day, and yet, just the act of beating it made me feel so awesome that I went through that day like I had just won the lottery. I couldn't believe how palpable everything in the game felt. I think it really fed my interest in Japanese life and culture, and it can probably claim a lot of responsibility for me eventually going to Japan as an exchange student at age 19. One of my best memories is of walking the streets of Dobuita with the Shenmue soundtrack pounding into my headphones. I would later move back to Japan to teach English from 2009 to the end of 2013, and my time there has played a huge part in my life that I can't imagine having never experienced.
2010 - 26 Years Old - Ys Books I+II -
I had never really paid much attention to the PC Engine. I had only heard about Rondo of Blood, which by this point I had already played thanks to its inclusion with the PSP remake. It wasn't until I decided to get Bomberman '94 from the Japanese PSN store on a recommendation from a friend that I started to get curious as to what else was out there. I opted to get Ys I+II, and holy cow was it AMAZING. I couldn't believe I had been content playing NES all these years when I could have been playing games like THIS! It pretty much led to me devouring the entire Ys series, and also to checking out other great series like Tengai Makyou, Exile, Cosmic Fantasy, and Valis. I still have a ton of games that I want to try for the system and it has really reinvigorated my love of classic gaming. It's especially poignant to me now, because lately I've been finding it harder and harder to come across newer games that I enjoy, and I often find myself longing for that same feeling of awe and wonder that I got from gaming as a kid all those years ago.
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So, that's my life story in gaming! I'm really curious to see if any games in the future will have as profound an effect on me as these games did. Honestly, writing all this has been a very interesting exercise, and brought up a lot of old memories that I didn't even think I could remember. Here's to hoping that there are many more good memories to come.
