It has been brought to my attention after many hours of listening to RetroforceGo! and reminiscing of the past that my gaming history, my childhood, does not in fact coincide with that of what we call "retro". My deepest and fondest video game memories as a child were not of Megaman but of Pokemon. I can't remember the Atari 2600 but I remember when my dad brought home a Sega Genesis. I don't find the label of retro unfair; it's just simply that the 90s really weren't that long ago, or so it seems.
We are of the generation after the great golden years of gaming. We accepted polygons into our lives more readily than the ones before us because it was all that we knew and we were young. We remember when Soul Caliber was called Soul Blade and handhelds had two buttons, a d-pad, and no backlight. Wireless was new to controllers and we went through a shit load of batteries (chargers were a thing of the future!). We saved our allowances for strategy guides because the internet took forever on dial-up.
RIP Pokemon Silver Version. You were the one I spent the most time with (other than Blue).
Today I turned on a GameBoy Color game and saw that the year on it was nearly a decade ago. I turned it on, and my save was gone. Over a hundred hours of my childhood was gone without me knowing of it. I merely turned it on so that I could remember it, something that my memory had failed to do, but it was in vain, as the hardware was as faulty as my mind. Time passes, memories fade, batteries die.
So, if you will allow me, I would like to reminisce of a time that is precious to me and my generation.
Adjust your green and gray screens and make sure you stand in good lighting. Analog sticks are not required!
I hope to keep this going on a weekly basis. Hope being the keyword. As my memory is quite poor and I was quite young at the time (retro goggles made me think that Gex was the funniest thing ever), I will be hopefully backtracking on older games but not to review them by today's standards, but more to just examine a time that was mine, as well as many others that are just hitting the age of 20 or so. The times have changed and it's pointless to dock the first Tomb Raider because of the atrocious graphics. There will be no scores or ratings. Just a shrine to the times were it was cool to wear chunky jewelry and neon colors and you could turn the radio on and hear the Goo Goo Dolls.
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I just was checking my Pokemon Gold and it's still had the save file intact which made me glee on happiness. I still had my Typhlosion at level 83. I spent so much time with my GBC and everywhere I went I was carrying it.
Ahh, good times, good times indeed.
I wish I still had my copy of pokemon. This was a good write up, i liked it a lot.
I agree. I am also a child of the 90s, Pokemon Blue was my first GB game...along with Pokemon Pinball, which was AWESOME cuz it came with that sweet little battery powered rumble pack...I think I'm going to go crack that one open now.
When I first realized the N64 came out over TEN years ago I nearly shat myself. I remember the excitement of getting that system. God, I remember even RENTING it. It was FOREVER ago.
Also, let me on in the affair with treasure games. You need to share them.
Gex IS the funniest thing ever. Don't let anyone fucking tell you otherwise.
I'm very sorry for your loss. The only time I remember losing a lot of game time (aside from those two N+ maps I accidentally deleted a few days ago) is when I deleted my 70+ hour Final Fantasy VII save. I made it to the final boss and later saw the ending cinematic, but never technically beat it. T_T
It's good to see you writing something for once. Keep it up! :P
Great read. Makes me wish i sill had my copy of Pokemon Blue.
Also my save on my original Zelda cartridge deletes itself every few days. Makes playing through a huge pain.
@Tino
You were THAT KID weren't you?
NINTENDO SIXTY-FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUR!
I have to tell you, I saw the picture of the Gameboy Camera, and I got hit with a huge wave of nostalgia. My God, that thing was the shit. I spent hours with the music creator.
I always wanted to play Pokemon Blue and red, BUT MY PARENTS NEVER GOT ME A GBC! I asked for it for 3 years!
My parents had friends that were all pretty into retro gaming, so I got to play a good portion of the good ol' games, but I wasn't really that into the NES and Atari 2600 or whatever the one with Missile command and all those other games that I can't really remember what they were.
I love this feature already. :)
You want to remember this?
DO YOU?!
P.S. You missed AMMO, on Friday. Sad face.
The 90s birthed my gaming obsession on a Super Nintendo and Game Boy. I had to have spent hours in front of A Link to the Past, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World, F-Zero and other games, and NFL Football on the Game Boy, as shitty as it was, was always a faithful companion. :)
Same as NihonTiger, I too was a child of the SNES and Game Boy. Of course, the Genesis had a bit of impact too, but seeing as how I had it taken away (same with my NES, though that was starting to act up, but still.) the SNES reigned supreme with GB days of Dr. Mario, Mario Land, Yoshi, and of course Tetris that number in the countless.
It may or may not be quite that retro yet, but I miss those days too. I found my old Brick Boy and played it a while the other day, the screens quite scratchy but otherwise it's workign great. I found my Pokemon Yellow and Red (the one I played forever) as part of a group playthrough of the first gem Pokemon games, and holy crap I forgot how great that game was. I've never completed another pokemon game (well, I beat the E4 in G/S but not the "aftergame"), buyt this one still holds me to this day. Im to the E4 now in yellow, after I beat them I want to check my red and see if my old save is still there. Man, I hope it is, even if my old party isn't. I still remember most of the movesets too...
Well at least you still have your copy of Pokemon. I traded my copy with probably 200 hours of play in for 35 cents a few years ago. At the time I decided I was too "mature" for Pokemon.
:(