Here are a few of my golden gaming memories:
- Skipping school to pickup Zelda: Ocarina of Time on November 23rd, 1998. Then playing it over the whole Thanksgiving break, for 20 hours a day. My mom even watched me play it for the majority of the time. And my mom HATED games.
- Waiting in Blockbuster for 1 whole day to wait for someone to bring back their Goldeneye 007 rental. My friend, Matt, and I took turns beating Starfox 64 on the koisk... I think we beat the game 6 or 7 times that day. Truly classic.
- After finally getting a hold of Goldeneye, we also picked up FF7. He was in one room, playing FF7 for the first time, and I was in an adjacent room playing Goldeneye for the first time. We then switched every 2 hours for a good 20 hours. Quite possibly one of the best gaming nights of my life.
- Going in Blockbuster Games and seeing all of the glory in there. Anime, Games, and A LOT of koisks. I went there a week before I was supposed to pay for my drivers license (and a day after my 16th birthday). Instead, I stayed there for 8 hours playing games like Gran Turismo, Tetrisphere, 1080, and Doom 64 for the first time. Needless to say, all of my birthday money went to Tetrisphere and Doom 64. I still don't have a license.
- Screaming like a little girl playing Resident Evil 2 in January 1998. I was honestly startled. Great game, great times, man...
- Buying my own first console (Nintendo 64), with my own money, on December 29th, 1996. The whole launch of the N64 was one of my favorite gaming moments by far.
- Shadows of the Empire. All of Level 5. This level still inspires me to this day. So much so, that I bought 2 copies of the game and 2 N64's recently so that I could share the love with my friends.
- Getting a brand new Japanese PS2 with 3 launch games a week after it was launched FOR FREE. Getting a brand new HK Dreamcast with D2 and Shenmue FOR FREE. Oh yeah, also getting 2 Z64's and a few parallel port modchips for FREE from Visoly.
- Going in Microplay to try to get a used game I was looking for and I overheard someone talking about their new Japanese Dreamcast. I really didn't like SEGA at the time, so I asked idiotically, "What's so special about it?" We had a little argument and then he told me he'd be right back. 5 minutes later, he brought his DC with Sonic Adventure and Powerstone. Needless to say, I was convinced and converted. I bought an import DC a week later. Thank you, guy, whoever you are.
- Getting my ass whooped in Halo by my friend, Luis for 3 months straight. That's 21 matches in a row that he won. Until one day, I laid the smackdown and we've been on equal footing ever since. Still, it's a testament to my determination to finally beat him and let me tell you that it was one of the sweetest victories ever.
- Fighting games. I've had about 10,000 rounds of Mortal Kombat 1/2/3/4, SF 2/2T, SFA 1/2/3, Tekken 1/2/3/TT, Battle Arena Toshinden 1/2, Last Blade 1/2 that were so good, they should of been recorded. On an average day, I play around 50 rounds (combined) of Killer Instinct, Tekken Tag Tournament, Street Fighter 3, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter Turbo 2 and Mortal Kombat 2. Of course, this is thanks to my job, because we have 1 hour lunches and 30 minute breaks. Truly awesome stuff.
Honestly, I could do this all day. I have 100 or so of these moments and they're all very special to me. They grow every day, too. Just recently I was playing co-op super double dragon with my friend. Never played the game but was a big fan of the DD on the NES... Awesome times!
I LOVE GAMES!