My gaming roots run pretty deep. I started gaming in the Atari 2600 era. Videogames have always been a part of my life in some manner.

I first started playing videogames at a small, seedy diner near my grandparents' home. It was a short walk away and boasted five arcade cabinets. Every Sunday my cousins and I were given $2 and sent on our way. Joust was the first game I was obsessed with.

A few months later, my father bought an Atari 2600 for my family and, thanks to that, Space Invaders and Combat dominated much of our "family time." I eventually discovered River Raid and my love for shmups was born. I played that game every chance I had and eventually got really good at it. My long-term goal was to "flip it." I never did reach that goal but I was always convinced that it was one game away.



Anytime we ended up in a place with arcade cabinets, quarters were distributed and good times were had by the entire family. The first fighting game I ever played was Karate Champ. In typical fashion, my mother taught me how to lose graciously.

As the NES was gaining popularity, my family was moving away from gaming. I played NES at the homes of my friends, but most of them only played sports games, which I had no interest in, so the NES never really caught my attention. The arcades did still own me thanks to titles like Xevious, Tron and Double Dragon. I remember being at a beach front arcade and wandering around and finding Strider. I was completely awestruck as I watched an insanely cool ninja fighting Russians with searchlights in the background.



After that trip, the arcade scene in the area was slowing down. I wasn't really interested in videogames as much as I had been, but all of that changed when I saw Street Fighter II on my college campus. Games had once again caught my attention with the introduction of this intense and challenging game. At first I was intimidated by the sheer number of buttons and the competitive aura around the game; in time, I began to truly cherish these feelings. It was a similar rush to the other games I'd loved, but was somehow much more intense. Once I heard that SF was coming to a home console, I knew that it was time to buy into the console scene. Since SF was going to be SNES exclusive, I bought that system which was bundled with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and came with a coupon for a free copy of Super Mario All-Stars.



When I got home with the SNES, I popped in A Link to the Past and started the game. I had not played The Legend of Zelda so I had no idea what to expect. As I started the game, I was absolutely stunned at the graphics, music and atmosphere. I still clearly remember being amazed by the lightning and thunder effects as well as Link's footsteps causing tiny splashes of rainwater as he ran across Hyrule Field. In a sense, it wasn't the game itself that floored me but this specific moment in the first three minutes of the game. It was this moment that convinced me of the effectiveness of video games as a narrative medium. I wasn't experiencing the usual adrenaline rush I was accustomed to; I was genuinely moved.