Why I love Gaming: Spicy's Gaming Nostalgia Story

I love video games, whether it be PC, Console, or mobile, I love them all--maybe except the really bad ones, but I still try them out anyway. Video games have always been a big part of my life; playing games has been my hobby, my stress-reliever, my escape from the real world at times, and I fail to see a point in my life where I would completely stop playing games.



So what exactly hooked me to gaming? Well, the first time I saw a game being played on a PC, I was barely even able to comprehend what it was. My Dad visited one of his friends and brought me along, my dad's friend's son was playing something on a computer, it had jet planes on it and I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen. It was amazing even though I had no idea what he was doing. What was that? I needed to try it.

Fast-forward a few years, the summer before I started the first-grade, my grandma bought me a Playstation one. It was my very first console. I only had a few games and even though they were fun at first, they immediately became really boring. On second thought, I think those games were on a demo-version CD, maybe that's why they sucked. It was not until my dad decided to play the first game that really caught my eye, that also made me want to play more games.

First game I watched my dad playing

My dad bought a game called Resident Evil 2. I am going to assume everyone knows this series, seriously who hasn't heard of Resident Evil. Anyway, my dad played the game every night and me, my brother, and my mom watched him play. It was like a family bonding thing and it was really fun. Why wasn't I playing the game? I was six and the game was full of zombies and jump-scares, there was no way I was ever going to play it at that time.

From start to finish, we would watch our dad solve puzzles and kill zombies. Sometimes, my brother and I would be able to help with the puzzles, and we would celebrate all day and believe we're geniuses. Come on, some puzzles on that game were hard for a six year old. When my dad was finally able to finish the game, we celebrated, I mean we literally celebrated, like with a cake and everything. After watching my dad finish that game, I started appreciating games more and always made it a point to finish a game I've started.

Retro Gamer Crate from Man Crates!

Before I start my super entertaining and amazing story on the game that really got me hooked, take a moment to check out Man Crates! They ship out amazing gifts for men...in crates! Yes, crates that have to be opened with a crowbar, how awesome is that? To make this not sound like an inconveniently placed ad, Man Crates offers a retro gamer crate which includes a NES console, 2 games, and sweet sweet candies. The candies remind me a lot of lazy days playing casual games and munching on sweet delicious candy. They have tons of other stuff too, check them all out.

Seriously though, check out Man Crates, cool-stuff in there and their retro-gamer crate really inspired this post. Now, that one game, that one tough, controller-smashing, hair-pulling, tantrum-causing game, that gave you several weeks of crying and screaming because you couldn't get pass one stage, or chapter. In my case, it was Suikoden II.

One of the best games ever. In my opinion.

Suikoden II is a Japanese RPG game for the Playstation 1. Basically, you play a guy that turns from a lowly junior soldier into a king that destroys the kingdom he used to work for. You will also be able to recruit 108 characters(called Stars of Destiny), most of which can be included in your 6-man party. Getting all of them is not easy. Back in the times before the internet's popularity, you'd have to believe in rumors people tell you. One of the rumors I believed was to make my character remain completely still for 8 hours, because doing so will make me get 10 characters easily. Obviously, that didn't work and yes I wasted 8 hours making sure my character didn't move an inch.

The Boss that caused me weeks of frustration

There was one specific chapter in this game I spent weeks on, and it was the final one, the chapter you need to complete to see the ending. The final boss battle. I literally spent weeks on this final battle with a two-headed wolf. On weekdays after class, my mom would let me play an hour which means I can do two attempts on the boss battle; On weekends, I'd spend all day(6am to 9pm) trying to beat the thing. It was a very frustrating time, I almost gave up and moved on to another game.

But one day, I sat down and told myself I would beat this wolf today, and I did. I got some food and drinks from the fridge and sat on the couch, turned on the TV and Playstation, stretched my body, and put my game face on. First try, failed; Second try, failed; Third try; failed. I took a short break trying to compose myself and to not break another controller. On the fourth try, I decided to spam healing spells every single turn, after several turns I was finally farther than I have ever gotten. And then a super boss move kills half of my team including my healer. 3 of my strongest fighters were at half health, so I said F*ck it let's do this. After attacking him, he killed one of my fighters, 2 left; Attacked him again, he killed another one, hero is left. At this point I thought I was going to lose again, I've gone so far, I was losing all hope, but then an opportunity! My hero still had one of his strong spells, so I used it and success!! Boss defeated, Extreme victory shouts, and mom telling me to shut up.

I did it. It was a long road. I finally defeated the boss. I saw the ending. Now it's time to move onto another game. But this game, this one particular game has always been one of my all time favorites. Even though I'm unable to play it on a Playstation console because mine got destroyed by a flood a few years back, I still emulate it from time to time, just to bring back those days of hard grinding and constant trials and errors.

So what's your gaming nostalgia story? Share it with us! and check out this retro gamer crate on Man Crates. I wouldn't be recommending it if it wasn't awesome, seriously. I mean who doesn't like opening crates?