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Gaming Memories

First published on Saturday 22 June 2013 02:00:00 CEST

Last revised on Friday 19 March 2021 21:53:00 CET

This article was originally published as "Gaming Memories" on my Blogspot/Blogger blog "Ramblings of a Coder", back in June of 2013. I’ve tried to keep the article altered as little as possible.

"Gaming Memories" on my Blogspot/Blogger blog "Ramblings of a Coder"

It all started with a friend’s personal top 100 of games

A friend of mine, Raiden, has been posting "Raiden’s personal top 100 of games" along with memories attached to those games and quite some of it is recognisable.

"Raiden’s personal top 100 of games"

For instance, in his second post in this Top Games List, he briefly describes his memories of playing:

Snake Rattle 'n' Roll (NES).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Gameboy Advance)
Pokemon Emerald (Gameboy Advance)
Final Fantasy Legend 3 (Gameboy)
Gremlins 2 (NES)
Chip’s Challenge (PC)
Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (PC)
Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires (Playstation 2)
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out (NES)

Snake Rattle 'n' Roll (NES) screenshot; image depicts a pixelised snake head jumping through a chequered green 3D isometric landscape with lakes and waterfalls. [IMG]

originally posted on Wikipedia by Bngrybt under a Fair Use License

Of all those games, I think I only played Wing Commander, and perhaps Gremlins and Snake Rattle 'n' Roll (but then for the Game Boy Classic if that is possible… ⁽¹⁾)

It got me going down memory lane though, which made me wonder: are my memories about specific games in particular, or something more generic about gaming itself?

Renting games

For me it’s mostly the gaming itself I think. Having saved up to buy a game, or being allowed to rent a game at the video store, for instance. Every now and then my brother and I could pick three games and rent them for a short period; it was either for three days or a week, depending on how recent the game was.

The Videoland video store where we rented most of our videogames. [IMG]

Photograph is a screenshot of Google Streetview, used under a Fair Use License to depict a (no longer existing) public location.

Game Boy Era

At first the games we rented were Game Boy Classic games. It was a great way of trying out games without having to fork over a lot of money, only to find out it was a rubbish game after all. Especially when we were able to finish the game before we had to bring it back, it was both a feeling of achievement, and a feeling of relief that we didn’t buy it. Other games proved to have a lot of replay value, and so either me or my brother would end up buying it.

We each had our own Game Boy games, but we would share the games with each other. I remember him getting Super Mario Land 1, The Hunt for Red October and Revenge of the Gator for instance, while I got Super Mario Land 2, Wario Land and Solomon’s Club.

Front of the original game box and the game’s booklet for Solomon’s Club for the Game Boy. A figure with a magic wand, standing on a several stacked blocks can be seen on both, surrounded by a dragon breathing fire, a golem blocking the entrance between two columns, a fairy above the golem, trapped behind bars, with a golden key shining in front of it. [IMG]

Photograph by Filip H.F. "FiXato" Slagter and licensed under a CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 Creative Commons license

Super Nintendo Era

Time passed, and Nintendo brought the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) on the market. The first time I briefly played the device was a bit of a magical moment. We had visited a zoo in Emmen and afterwards we had gone into the city to shop around a bit. When we got to the electronics department of the local Vroom & Dreesman (a well-known Dutch department store), I quickly spotted the new console’s promotional cabinet where the machine ran in demo mode and could potentially be played.

Photograph of a Super Nintendo Entertainment System cabinet as it appeared in shops during its hey-days. At the top a long tube with the Super Nintendo logo can be seen, lit by a red/orange tube-light inside it. On either side of the tube, controllers can be seen hanging. Below that, a CRT screen showing the currently playing game (Power Rangers?). Below that a North American SNES console underneath a transparent plastic cover with promotional blurbs on either side. The cabinet is surrounded by shelves full of games for other consoles. [IMG]

Photograph originally posted on Flickr by Jeremy Riel, licensed under a CC-BY-NC-2.0 Creative Commons license

It was showing Super Mario World and I was instantly swept away by the music, the playful and gorgeous graphics and the smooth and refreshing gameplay. The playtime on the machine was limited, but I probably spent as long as I could playing on it.

It wasn’t until quite some time later though that our parents offered to rent a SNES for about a week. I still remember that it was at the same day elections for some local government thing were being held; it’s funny how memory works.

I think we ended up renting the whole package again some other time and eventually we got the system as a present from our parents; I guess my mother just loved playing it too much herself as well 😉.

From then on we would leave the video store mostly with rented SNES games, and the Game Boy saw a decrease in playing time. It also meant looking for good deals on SNES games in game stores.

One of the SNES rental memories was of Secret of Mana. The first time we rented the game, we couldn’t get the game to work —the characters didn’t want to move, or the screen was full of glitches— the downside of rental games I guess. We returned it, but weeks later we gave it another try; possibly with a better NTSC/PAL converter as the rental game was an NTSC release and we had a PAL Super Nintendo.

That time it was playable and we ended up extending the rental period because the game was so addictive (despite the graphical glitches it still had at times). After saving up for several weeks or months, I ended up buying it in a local shop for 79.95 NLG; probably at Dixon’s in Beverwijk or Haarlem.

Photograph of the Dutch release of Secret of Mana’s Game Pak for the Super Nintendo. From top to bottom right: the world map of the land of Mana, showing the map, a short introduction, and list of locations; a promotional „Now you’re playing with Super Power” poster from Nintendo, showcasing a couple of the games for the system, such as Super Metroid, Stunt Race FX, Super Mario Kart, Super Punch-Out, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Super Mario All-Stars; and finally the Dutch manual booklet and box, both with the pretty box art showing the protagonists at the base of the Mana Tree, overlaid with 'Secret of Mana'. The price sticker of fl. 79,95 can still be seen on the box. [IMG]

Photograph by Filip H.F. "FiXato" Slagter and licensed under a CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 Creative Commons license

I still regard it as one of my favourite SNES games. Maybe especially because it was one of the few RPGs I actually finished… but apart from that the music is still great and really set the mood for the wonderful story and refreshing game mechanics. I’m still surprised so few other games have adopted the ring menus.

Not just about games

But those memories aren’t just about the games themselves. It’s everything around it. Being fortunate enough to be able to afford the consoles and games, getting the random games and accessories as presents, having parents who saw the positive sides of video games (feeding an interest in the gaming- and computer-industries, improving hand-eye coordination, stimulating the social aspect by playing games with/against friends) and having a mother who was a wonderful gamer herself.

The best memory of it all

I guess that is the best memory of it all for me; playing those games with and/or against my mother while she was still alive. I still miss those gaming sessions… She was quite a games fan and together we played many games on MSX2, Game Boy, SNES and N64. Mostly puzzle games such as Tetris, but also a lot of RPGs. Heck, she even got further into some RPGs than I did! If I recall correctly, she did beat Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, while I still haven’t.

She was one of my best gaming buddies and it’s those memories I will cherish forever. Building a city together in Sim City, trying to beat each other’s times in Super Mario Kart, exploring the castle and finding all the stars in Super Mario 64, working out the puzzles together in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, visiting MSX fairs (I’ll save my MSX-related memories for another post) and just spending time together.

So… What are your favourite memories? Are they related to specific games, or gaming in general?

Footnotes:

footnote¹: Note from 2021 FiXato: turns out the game I played on the GameBoy was the sequel to Snake Rattle 'n' Roll instead, "Sneaky Snakes". You can find gameplay footage of Sneaky Snakes for the Gameboy on YouTube. I have somewhat fond memories of renting the game for a few days, but its difficulty level is probably why I never added it to my collection.

"Sneaky Snakes"

gameplay footage of Sneaky Snakes for the Gameboy on YouTube

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