Second Playthrough | Introduction

About a month ago I turned 25. I got to think about all of the video game experiences I have had during that 25 years (among other things, but that's for another blog).

It was really before my time, but I have many fond memories

My first gaming experiences came on my father's old (even then) Atari 2600 that he would bring down from the Attic on the occasional weekend and allow myself and my sister to play - Missile Command and Donkey Kong I remember well along with a few others. The family also got an original Gameboy sometime in the early 90's (I believe for Tetris) and I remember playing Donkey Kong, Kirby's Dreamland, Super Mario Land and of course hours and hours of Tetris. Later in 1997 (I believe) my parents got us a Super Nintendo for Christmas (it was pretty old by then, but we were young and that just meant the games were cheaper!). I had a blast with Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, Zelda A Link to the Past, Mortal Kombat, and so many others. A friend down the street had a Sega Genesis and I loved playing Street Fighter and Sonic with him, but he was always envious of my Super Nintendo. Another neighbor (a little older than us) had an old NES and I snuck games of the Original Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. 3.

Funny how I thought this looked amazing back then, the gameplay still holds up though.

My sister's best friend's house was one that I spent a lot of time at during those years as well (they would hang out and as it happens a lot with siblings close in age I had to tag along) they would do what girls that age do and I would sit down in the family room and play on their N64! They had Mario Kart 64 and GoldenEye 007 (at least those are the two I remember most!). They also had an NES and SNES with a few cool games, but those were old hat by the later 90s. One Christmas (I think 1998) we got Game Boy Colors (my sister and I) along with Pokemon Red and Blue! I've been playing Pokemon games ever since, although Silver (once it came out) quickly became my favorite and remains so to this day (the remake was amazing, and a lot of the newer stuff is cool, but I still love Silver above all)

This is still basically my favorite game of all time (at least tied with the top 3)

In 2000 I saved all summer and bought a PS1 (yeah, the same year the PS2 came out). Final Fantasy VIII was my first Final Fantasy (not VII like most although I did eventually play it) but my true love was Final Fantasy Tactics! That time also coincided with my Yu-Gi-Oh! obsession and Forbidden Memories was an awesome game that I loved. The next year I got a GBA for a belated Christmas (my parents had to delay my christmas a few months for getting in trouble in school) but when it did come it came with DBZ: The Legacy of Goku and I eventually got several DBZ, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon and other awesome games for it.

As I 'grew up' and went to High School I stopped playing console and handheld games as much, although Realtime and Turn-Based strategy games on PC, like Starcraft, Age of Empires, Civilization, etc. kept me occupied during these times. I also played A LOT of Mechwarrior IV and its expansions (I had played Mechwarrior 2 in the early/mid 90's and I am a major BattleTech fan to this day, I own nearly all of the sourcebooks.... but that's a whole other story).

Did I fall for the hype? You bet I did, and I enjoyed every minute of it!

2006 saw my reintroduction to console gaming when I heard about Nintendo's Revolution (as it was called pre-launch) and camped out at the local Wal-Mart midnight on November 19th 2006 to get myself a Wii. I played Wii Sports and then Zelda: Twilight Princess for something like 100 hours over the next two weeks. I was so excited to renter the video game world and had the entire Gamecube library to explore (and I did, Melee, Battalion Wars, Star Fox: Assault and the Rougue Squadron games were some of my favorites). Games like Fire Emblen: Radiant Dawn, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Mario Galaxy/2, Mario Kart Wii, DBZ Tenkaichi Budokai 2/3, Brawl and Xenoblade had me enthralled while I also had a blast with the Wii line of games (Sports, Resort, Fit, Play, etc.) and both Guitar Hero and Rock Band which I loved.

The Wii also resparked my interests enough to buy a DS Lite in 2007 (special edition with Phantom Hourglass) and played several Pokemon games, a bunch of RPGs and had a blast! Around this time I also got an iPhone and started playing all of the amazing games on there (and a lot of the stinkers as well, like any popular gaming system it has quite a few) later I got android phones as well.

Then in 2012 I was resparked again with the WiiU (and I got a 3DSXL) and fell in love with console gaming once again. The Wonderful 101, Pikmin 3, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (both), Super Mario 3D World (& Land), Mario Kart (7 & 8), Pokemon X & Y, Fire Emblem Awakening and so many more. I'm still pretty deep into that love right now, although I've also started playing more retro games and I still play a lot of mobile games. I even picked up a PS3 in 2013 to play some of the games I'd missed.

I've gotten excited about games all over again with some of the titles that are coming out. I'm thinking about picking up a PS4 (although I'll likely wait until NEXT holiday season due simply to money - I'm trying to get debt free and own the home I live in, gotta make good financial choices - it's also why I'm resisting the urge to buy an iPhone 6+) but what I have decided to do is to go and play all of my old games.

My plan is to play all the old games I used to love, in the order that I got them (or as close as memory will serve) and I also plan to sprinkle in a few games, systems and experiences I wish I had gotten at the time.

I'm also blogging a timeline of great and/or important video games here: http://ataritozelda.blogspot.com/

but this is not that, this is my own personal 'Second Playthrough' timeline where I will play through all my memories once again and hopefully spark some new ones and a greater appreciation for all that I've had.