The Worst Trick Anyone Has Ever Played On Me (or how I got my first Nintendo)

Have you ever seen the simple dreams of a boy smashed with utter humiliation? I have. Because it happened to me. 😉

My very first video game console was the Atari 2600. My acquisition of it was a quiet affair, even if it did come as a bit of a surprise. My dad and I were at a garage sale where we saw one for sale for $15.00. It came with four controllers and 8 games. We bought, I took it home, and my friends and I would play it occasionally. But, at that point, video games were not a given in a young boy’s life.

That all changed with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Pretty soon all of my friends owned their own Nintendo, leaving me to be the wing man in most cases- waiting patiently for a friend to buy a game I happen to like and then play it with them… if they were home and in the mood to play it.

My Top 25 Favorite Video Games of All-Time (#10-1)

 Continuing my all-time favorites list moving on to the top 10. To see the other 15 click here.

#10 Resident Evil 4 (Wii)  Before this game, I had zero interest in the Resident Evil franchise. I hated the long droughts of action and confusing puzzles in the past three games. But, this game has barrel-loads of action as well as beautiful graphics, tight controls (this makes the Wii version the definitive version of RE4), and zombie-blasting fun. Most memorable moment: So, I’m in the lab level and I run across one of those zombies that you can only kill by using the infrared scope, right? Yeah, I didn’t know that, so I get literally swallowed whole by this thing. And I said out loud, “Okay, THAT was creepy.”

My Top 25 Favorite Video Games of All-time (#25-11)

Just some thoughts on what were probably the most fun video games I have ever played. Why a top 25 and not a top 10? Because I”m 32 years old and have been playing video games since I was 8. Honesty, any one of these games could be in my top 10 depending on my mood. My criteria for picking these games is very simple:

• Great graphics ahead of its time.  This means comparable to other games in its generation. Obviously, old games don’t stand a chance to the new ones out there in terms of graphics.
• Innovative Gameplay. It had to have that “wow” factor. That little something extra that seperated it from the pack.
• Replayability. This is probably the single most important element considering that any game worth keeping is a game I know I will play again and again.

One more thing. I’m only picking one game from a franchise, so as to add variety and avoid loading up my favorites list with nothing but Contra, Zelda, and Halo games. Now that we have the criteria, let’s start with # 25-11.

Super Mario Bros (and why we should all love video game music)

One afternoon my dad and I were pontificating over the future of orchestrated music. Going to the symphony was something only older folks (like my dad, haha) did and it was and is a dying art. However, music always marches on. So, how are all the great composers in the present day getting recognition these days?

What we concluded was that the great composers of my day that were going to be remembered for generations to come were most likely those who write pieces for movies and tv shows. Think about it: all I have to do is type “Star Wars” or “Cheers” and you’ll have those tunes dancing around in your head the rest of the day.

But, since then I have come to discover another group of composers whose music very well may be passed down from generation to generation. I’m speaking of video game music. Think I’m joking?  Just check out Video Games Live and read through the list of sold-out performances. You’ll quickly learn how vast the fan-base is for something like this.

And I have to admit I am one of those fans. (If anyone is looking to get me a nice Christmas gift, two tickets to VGL somewhere close to J-ville would be really nice!) Yes, I am a geek but don’t tell me that hearing the Super Mario Bros. theme song wouldn’t brighten even the lousiest of days. To make my case that video game theme music has a major influence on our lives, let me point out that the original Super Mario Bros. game for the NES holds the record for highest selling video game of all time, topping out at 40 million copies. 40 MILLION. Then there are all the sequels and spin-offs which have combined, sold well over 250 million copies bringing the grand total to around 300 million- almost the size of the United States. I think it’s safe to say that people the world over that know the Mario theme song range in the hundreds of millions. This theme song was a huge part of many childhoods. It will go down in history as one of the most well-known and loved theme songs of all time.

So, here are some fans playing very unusual renditions of the Super Mario Bros. theme song- just to brighten your day :). 

The Legend of Zelda (and why we should all love video game music)

Being the first commercially successful RPG adventure game on a gaming console, it was nothing short of amazing to see how long the first Zelda game stayed on top of the Nintendo sales charts. Every month, I would read Nintendo Power and in the back, they would list the top selling video games of the last month, and well, month after month Zelda was at the top. Outside of the Mario franchise, Zelda was the NES top seller, with roughly 11 million copies sold between both Zelda and Zelda 2. There’s no doubt that one of the many reasons why Zelda was and is held in such high regard is its musical score.

I spent three months with my friends playing that game almost every day until we FINALLY beat it. Check this: before Nintendo Power came out with their full color, glossy “overworld” map, my friend James’ mom pain-stakingly drew us a map of the entire world of Zelda. And it looked just as good as the official version. For those three months, she was like the coolest mom ever! (except my mom)

Let’s see if these bring back some memories:

“It’s a secret to everybody.” The Lost Woods. Waking up the ghosts in the cemetery so you can score a lot of coin, only to lose track of the “head ghost”. Discovering a secret door only to have to pay some old man for destroying it. The “skull” shape of dungeon 9. The Magic Sword. The Power Bracelet.  Defeating those knights that can only be killed by stabbing them in the back. The Bait (most useless tool in the game). Accidentally drinking your last potion. Boomerang! “Dodongo dislikes smoke.”

Without further ado, here are a few unique samplings of the Zelda theme song played by its fans: