I am the Everyday Legend, and I am a male, 27-year old, Florida native and videogame addict.

Now, that's not an addict in the sense that some people are addicted to drugs, gambling or World Of Warcraft. I'm an addict from the standpoint that I am a dyed-in-the-wool controller jockey, and to back that up, I can honestly say that I own all systems that have had an American release save for six: Magnavox Odyssey, ColecoVision, Atari Jaguar, Philips CD-i, Panasonic 3DO and the SNK Neo-Geo (the last of which is the only one I'd consider punching a baby in the face to own). Every home console system outside of those six I physically own at the present time - NES (original and toploader), Sega Master System, SNES, Sega Genesis (with Sega CD and 32X addons), Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Gamecube, Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft XBOX, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft XBOX 360, and Sony PlayStation 3 - all of which can be powered on and played at will, and they are all played very regularly.

I consider myself a connoisseur of videogames, which is a really fancy way of saying that I'll play just about anything I can get my damn hands on. However, I do refer to my collection of assorted titles with a fair amount of pride, as while I might own a lot of things purely for their collectible value, I only spend dedicated time playing the gems of a particular console's library.

I got into gaming when I was 5, and my Aunt and Uncle had an NES that they had bought because they thought it was the coolest thing ever. As a matter of fact, they weren't too far off of the mark. I was introduced to Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt (naturally), and soon followed up with the very first Zelda. I remember the very first game I beat - Megaman 2, in 1988. I was 6, and by the time I had achieved that monumental feat, I was already leagues beyond the other kids I grew up with in terms of sheer skill with a D-Pad. I was getting phone calls in the late afternoons/early evenings to come over to a friend's house to help older siblings get past certain parts of games. I remember one time in particular - it was a Friday night in late 1990, so I had no school the next day, and one of my best friends called me up to come over and help his 14-year-old brother beat something. I went over to see what was going on, thinking that it would be a quick thing to learn and get through. The trouble was, he was playing Final Fantasy on the NES, and he was running into WarMech on the bridge to fight Tiamat late in the game. Long story short, it wasn't a quick cut-and-dry process - I ended up staying the entire weekend trying to level grind his characters and beat WarMech, only to not have him show up the next time we tried to cross the bridge, 20-25 levels of progress later (it wasn't until later that I found out that there was only a 1/250 or so chance of fighting him on that bridge).

Shortly after that, I played Street Fighter II for the first time in a local skating rink and was hooked. Bad.

I remember playing against the college kids that would come in there to hang out and chill - there was a lounge connected to the place that you had to be 18 to get in - and a lot of these guys used to come in and spend a ton of time and money on playing SFII. I learned how to play from these guys, and within a year, I had become just as good as they were. I was hanging out with people almost twice my age, and conversing with them on their level about a mutual passion - and that's where I've been ever since. Videogames don't make up my entire life: I cook, I paint, I write, I sing (now just for fun, but I have been in 4 different bands), I have a full-time job and am still attending college. Oh, and I drink when I can - nothing beats a good trip to a good bar where they serve good beer and have a good selection of good tunes.

Oh, and I really, really love sushi. I can put away amounts of that stuff that some may label as borderline criminal.

But, it does comprise a lot of who I am and what I have become. The header image that is there above the blog now is of the Megaman 1-Up head - the same image that is tattooed into the entirety of my left shoulder blade.

As for tastes, this is what I consider to be the short-short, Cliff's Notes version of my must-play list:

Chrono Trigger
Megaman 2
Metal Gear Solid
Final Fantasy IV and VI (fuck VII and VIII)
The Guardian Legend
Crystalis
Contra
Okami (for the love of whatever god you choose to serve, play this game)
Viewtiful Joe
God Hand (not the best game, but it had serious potential)
Any Street Fighter-related game (from Capcom - accept no substitutes, except...)
Mark Of The Wolves (SNK's finest hour)
Samurai Shodown
Rival Schools/Project Justice
Rez (if you haven't played it, you're pathetic, because you really have no excuse)
Virtual ON
Guardian Heroes
Gunstar Heroes
ActRaiser
Soul Blazer
Onimusha
Toejam & Earl
Super Turrican
Gradius
Ikaruga
Axelay (Mode 7 was f'n sweet)
Sin And Punishment
Panzer Dragoon (especially Saga, oh, and Orta)
Radiant Silvergun
StarTropics
Samurai Warriors 2 (a guilty pleasure)
Tech Romancer (for the Mecha Anime buff in me)
F-Zero
Gran Turismo
Lumines
Dr. Mario
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Yoshi (the puzzle game)
Puyo Puyo
Motherfucking Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Motherfucker
Mr. Driller
Star Wars Arcade
Star Wars: KOTOR
Ninja Gaiden
Any Capcom game with "Versus" in the title



The list could and should go on for longer, but I'll let you slide on that one. Boredom can be fatal.

So, that's it for now. That's all I have to say, and if you want to hit me up, my XBL gamertag is Everyday Legend, my PSN ID is Everyday_Legend, and the site that I run with a few friends of mine (that we're still trying to get off of the ground 3 months later...) is bkin-ubf.com - geared specifically towards the Central Florida area competitive scene. Hoping to throw a MAJOR scale tournament very soon - (UPDATE!) like December 3rd soon, for starters. Show up, fightans fans.

See you out there.

- EL