Note: I didn't number these. I am not sure if any of them stand out that much from any of the others. Maybe that's cheating, but who makes the rules any how.
One-yard to go
I think it was the first time my brother and I played through a Techmo Bowl season. For some reason I was the 49ers, I don’t recall who he was. But we met in the super bowl. With seconds left he took the lead and then kicked off. After the return, I had time for one play. In Techmo, it didn’t really matter where you were on the field the end zone was always a possibility. I remember dropping back to the opposite end zone, launching a pass that Jerry Rice dove for catch on the one-yard line where he was tackled. Even though it was only a video game, I’ll never forget coming up one-yard short in the super bowl.
Golden Eye war
In the dorms we’d have four man wars on Golden Eye. Like I stated before, I sucked at this game, but I still played for shits and giggles. Anyways, our one roommate Mike was pretty good, but he was also fairly sensitive. So as he knocked us off, we all complained how he like sneaking up from behind and couldn’t do it like a real man. The ribbing usually increased as the games went on until Mike eventually got mad and stopped playing. It usually took a couple days to get him to play again. Mike’s a good guy, but man did we like pissing him off.
It’s all gone
The Snakester and I played a couple shorter seasons on Sega’s World Series Baseball ’95. I remember though, we finally decided to go the long haul with a 162 game season with our drafted teams sometime in high school. We got a long way through, I believe past the all-star break. Which meant we spent a lot of weeks trading the game back and forth as usually it worked out where one of us had three or four games to play and then the other person did. Then I remember getting the game back one time, putting it in the system and the system going haywire for a second. When I got the game going, the whole season was gone. It was disgusting. I am not sure either of us touched that game again.
High Score
For a long time, when I took up Breakout again after work on Friday’s I really sucked at it. It just takes a long time to get used to the joystick. Anyways one night after a long night of work, followed by several hours of drinking, I hit a personal high score in the 400s. Very close to breaking through the first screen. I got up and took a picture on my cell phone, or at least I thought I did, I never actually been able to find that picture. Now it’s become tradition for someone who’s hits an unusual high score to mark that experience with a phone picture.
Macho Madness
The Snakester and I worked pretty hard to create exciting shows for a fake promotion using NWO Revenge. One time we we’re getting close to the big card of our year, Starcade. We had the main event between Sting and World Champion Goldberg. On the Nitro before we decided to have Goldberg wrestle Randy Savage in a world title match. Savage wasn’t real strong in the game so we figured it would be okay. I don’t remember if I controlled Goldberg or if Snakester did. As was the case with Revenge, sometimes guys were unbeatable in the ring. Savage came out firing and beat Goldberg in like five minutes. Our pay-per-view card was thrown completely for a loop.
My first Nintendo
Everyone has that one great Christmas present. This was mine. I had waited a long time to catch up to my friends and have a Nintendo system of my own. (Little did I know that newer better systems were all ready hitting the market). Anyways I tore at the paper and stared at the box. It came with Mario, Duck Hunt and the power pad track game. I used that system through all the blowing in the cartridges and tinkering just to get it to work. But that thing will always have a special place in my heart.
Crazy Dan and his exploits
Snakester and I lived our first year together in the dorms. Across the hall was a young man lovingly called Crazy Dan for some pretty good reasons. Anyways, Snakester and I had a nice collection of systems included a sega, a Nintendo, an NG4 and I think that was it, Snake would remember better than I. Well Crazy Dan always wanted to play Nintendo, but always asked to play like a kindergartner asking to go to the bathroom. It was funny because I don’t think he meant to. It was always enjoyable when Dan came over to play, because you never knew what he was going to talk about while sitting there.
Mints Galore
As stated in my previous list, Mario Kart was a way of life in the dorms in college. My second year there, we lived in a four person suite. Three of us were pretty close running buddies with the fourth, Alex, being the not so well liked space filler. Anyway one of the few times he joined us for a MK session, he pulled a late upset over my roommate Erik. Well Erik was a little competitive and he definitely didn’t like losing to Alex. He punched a small floor fan over and then tossed a cup full of National mints across the room. Then just left the room. It was hilarious especially later when Alex went to see if he was okay. Classic.
The Devil Train
This was the Snakester, the Style’s and my fictional wrestling stable. Snakester was named Lucifer Menedez. I was Jeffery Diablo. The Style was Hades McKenzie. Anyways in later Wrestling games like No Mercy and Wrestlemania 2000, the Stable came to life in the create a character mode. I remember the first incarnations just being monsters. I’ve always thought this would be an excellent name for a real wrestling group. Heck when I get new wrestling games, I still make these guys up. Each time a little different, but with similar resemblances to the originals.
The Rivalry
Snakester and I generally got along most of the time. But we were guys. Competitive guys. Video games were just another outlet for us to outdo one another. Things could get pretty petty when we matched up. Somebody had to lose and that person didn’t always handle it well. We liked to raise the stakes by playing long seasons of baseball, football, wrestling, whatever game we liked at the time. The more time we put into it the more we got into it when we inevitably met in the postseason. I don’t remember who won what that much because we played so much, but I know we both went home mad a fair share of times.
Showing posts with label Video Game Memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Video Game Memories. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Snakesters Top 10 Video Game Memories
With our favorite video games comes good memories of playing them. I am trying my best to celebrate that here and hopefully didn't give alot of it away with my favorite games list.
10. Watching the AI play a cage match: This is an example of taking a wrestling game a little too seriously. I believe the game was Wrestlemania 2000 for the N64. Big Red, The Style & I were trying to make an awesome pay per view event and were even recording the game on the VCR because we thought magic was gonna happen. Except when it came to a cage match, our player matches never lived up to the hype of a cage battle. So we let the computer play itself. I don't remember who the wrestlers were but I do remember cheering like hell and being rather entertained.
9. Drafting baseball teams: The games were the World Series Baseball games from like '95 to '98 maybe on the Sega Genesis. We would draft baseball teams just to see who we could end up with. As we got better, we would try to draft the crappiest teams we could and still turn lifetime .230 hitters into .410 guys. I remember we never made it too far into the seasons. We would have more fun trying to draft weird teams and see who the other teams ended up with.
8. Circle of Death: I think I was kidding myself, but when my first Xbox 360 made it a year I thought I would end up in the clear. Then all of a sudden I went to turn it on and it happened. I got the 3 red lights known as the circle of death. Panic set it as I had Rock Band already preordered to come in the next two weeks. So I went ahead and brought a new Xbox & sold the old one when it came back from repairs... to my brother.
7. Searching our town for a Game Genie w/ my dad: I am pretty sure my dad was more excited than I was when they came out with the Game Genie for the NES. He was determined to try it out so we scoured our town a whole Saturday until at about the 6th rental store we stopped at they finally had one in stock. I am pretty sure after all that build up, actually using the genie was a letdown somehow.
6. Finally beating Bark At The Moon: Guitar Hero was a test of wills for me. I got to the final stage. Texas Flood wasn't too bad because it was slow. Godzilla was just fun. Cowboys From Hell was doable once I got the rhythm down. But Bark At The Moon haunted me for a week. I would try for 3 hours on end and still mess up at a few key spots that required alot of fast chord changes. I remember the relief when I finally past it and the sort of let down of having nothing follow except a screen to tell me to do it on Hard now.
5. First Online Gears of War match: Xbox Live and the other networks have given a new life to video games adding playability to what used to be shallow games. Gears of War is an awesome game and a good time online. I learned that I was a Noob and would be getting Powned for a long time to come. It was still a thrill every time I got into a match and the anxiety I had of being killed and losing.
4. Wii bowling with my nephew: The Wii is an amazingly fun system and can bring everyone into the game, even my 4 yr old nephew. He tries to play Xbox with me but it usually doesn't work too well. But when he started bowling, he would kick my butt every time. He figured the game out on his own and has learned many of the spin tricks. Of course, I think my in-laws hate me now for getting him hooked on the Wii.
3. Playing Mario Kart 64 in crowded dorm rooms: As referenced my in game list, Mario Kart brought everyone together because it was pretty easy to play. Dorm rooms though aren't the biggest thing in the world and when you split a 32" TV into 4 sections you kinda need to sit close. So we would all cram together on the beds and play for hours on end shooting each other with turtle shells. The best part was no one really ever dominated the games, so that keep everyone going.
2. All Night Wrestling Tournament: NWO Revenge brought of the best in our creative juices. My brother had a friend over and I had Big Red over. We put all the wrestlers names from the game into a draw and laid it out. We played until 4 in the morning I think by the time we got all the matches done. Well my brother quit way before that because all he could do was cheat and we wouldn't let him. Somehow Alex Wright always won every tournament we ever put him in. It was very strange.
1. NES behind the couch at Christmas: Don't ask me what year it was or how old I was; I don't remember. But I remember vividly opening my last present that was under the tree then finding a note somewhere. Santa told me to look behind the couch. There it was! my very own NES. I am pretty sure dad had it hooked up in about 10 minutes (which is impressive for his poor knowledge of TV wiring) and we were off an running. That was the beginning! I would never be the same after that fateful Christmas.
Honorable Mention:
Finally beating Super Mario Bros
Whooping Big Joe at wrestling
Looking in the Zelda: Ocarina of Time guide at Wal-mart whenever I needed a hint
10. Watching the AI play a cage match: This is an example of taking a wrestling game a little too seriously. I believe the game was Wrestlemania 2000 for the N64. Big Red, The Style & I were trying to make an awesome pay per view event and were even recording the game on the VCR because we thought magic was gonna happen. Except when it came to a cage match, our player matches never lived up to the hype of a cage battle. So we let the computer play itself. I don't remember who the wrestlers were but I do remember cheering like hell and being rather entertained.
9. Drafting baseball teams: The games were the World Series Baseball games from like '95 to '98 maybe on the Sega Genesis. We would draft baseball teams just to see who we could end up with. As we got better, we would try to draft the crappiest teams we could and still turn lifetime .230 hitters into .410 guys. I remember we never made it too far into the seasons. We would have more fun trying to draft weird teams and see who the other teams ended up with.
8. Circle of Death: I think I was kidding myself, but when my first Xbox 360 made it a year I thought I would end up in the clear. Then all of a sudden I went to turn it on and it happened. I got the 3 red lights known as the circle of death. Panic set it as I had Rock Band already preordered to come in the next two weeks. So I went ahead and brought a new Xbox & sold the old one when it came back from repairs... to my brother.
7. Searching our town for a Game Genie w/ my dad: I am pretty sure my dad was more excited than I was when they came out with the Game Genie for the NES. He was determined to try it out so we scoured our town a whole Saturday until at about the 6th rental store we stopped at they finally had one in stock. I am pretty sure after all that build up, actually using the genie was a letdown somehow.
6. Finally beating Bark At The Moon: Guitar Hero was a test of wills for me. I got to the final stage. Texas Flood wasn't too bad because it was slow. Godzilla was just fun. Cowboys From Hell was doable once I got the rhythm down. But Bark At The Moon haunted me for a week. I would try for 3 hours on end and still mess up at a few key spots that required alot of fast chord changes. I remember the relief when I finally past it and the sort of let down of having nothing follow except a screen to tell me to do it on Hard now.
5. First Online Gears of War match: Xbox Live and the other networks have given a new life to video games adding playability to what used to be shallow games. Gears of War is an awesome game and a good time online. I learned that I was a Noob and would be getting Powned for a long time to come. It was still a thrill every time I got into a match and the anxiety I had of being killed and losing.
4. Wii bowling with my nephew: The Wii is an amazingly fun system and can bring everyone into the game, even my 4 yr old nephew. He tries to play Xbox with me but it usually doesn't work too well. But when he started bowling, he would kick my butt every time. He figured the game out on his own and has learned many of the spin tricks. Of course, I think my in-laws hate me now for getting him hooked on the Wii.
3. Playing Mario Kart 64 in crowded dorm rooms: As referenced my in game list, Mario Kart brought everyone together because it was pretty easy to play. Dorm rooms though aren't the biggest thing in the world and when you split a 32" TV into 4 sections you kinda need to sit close. So we would all cram together on the beds and play for hours on end shooting each other with turtle shells. The best part was no one really ever dominated the games, so that keep everyone going.
2. All Night Wrestling Tournament: NWO Revenge brought of the best in our creative juices. My brother had a friend over and I had Big Red over. We put all the wrestlers names from the game into a draw and laid it out. We played until 4 in the morning I think by the time we got all the matches done. Well my brother quit way before that because all he could do was cheat and we wouldn't let him. Somehow Alex Wright always won every tournament we ever put him in. It was very strange.
1. NES behind the couch at Christmas: Don't ask me what year it was or how old I was; I don't remember. But I remember vividly opening my last present that was under the tree then finding a note somewhere. Santa told me to look behind the couch. There it was! my very own NES. I am pretty sure dad had it hooked up in about 10 minutes (which is impressive for his poor knowledge of TV wiring) and we were off an running. That was the beginning! I would never be the same after that fateful Christmas.
Honorable Mention:
Finally beating Super Mario Bros
Whooping Big Joe at wrestling
Looking in the Zelda: Ocarina of Time guide at Wal-mart whenever I needed a hint
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