Oha!
My name is Joe, AKA Sal Paradise. I'm 28 years old, and after living in Japan for 4 years, now call Hawaii home. While I'm not sure I'll be staying in Hawaii permanently (land is just a bit expensive), it's a good place for now.

As for gaming, I've been playing ever since my friend had a Commodore 64 back in the day. I had an Atari 2600 growing up, but most of my fondest video game related memories came from my NES. I still recall the Christmas I received my NES, I got 4 games with it: Paperboy, Double Dragon, Contra, and Megaman. Personally, my most memorable game for each system often is not the one I played the most, so I've jotted down the game with the most lasting impression for me and the one I played the most.

Atari Memory: Yars Revenge
Atari Game Addiction: Kangaroo



8Bit Memory: Destiny of an Emperor / Clash at Demonhead
8Bit Addiction: Super Tecmo Bowl



My 16 bit era gaming mostly consisted of SNES RPGs and NHL 94. While Madden, NBA Live, and Triple Play baseball were all great, my friends and I always came back to NHL to see if we could break the crowd meter!

16Bit Memory: Final Fantasy VI
16Bit Addiction: NHL 94



The PS1/Nintendo 64 era was quite an interesting one. Despite my fierce loyalty to Final Fantasy, I wasn't too interested in Sony's new console. Also, while many loved Super Mario 64, I didn't adapt to the 3D and redoing levels over and over for the stars. I probably would have taken a break from gaming altogether, but about 6 months after the PS1 release, I won one through one of those raffle thingies at the supermarket.

PS1/N64 Memory: Final Fantasy Tactics / Resident Evil 2
PS1/N64 Addiction: Mario Kart 64

For the next generation, my first purchase was a Panasonic Q. For those who don't know, it was basically a Nintendo Gamecube but with a Panasonic DVD player as the drive and a really nice (blue lit controller ports) toaster-esque outside. I didn't pick up a PS2 until Dragon Quest VIII arrived in Japan, which conveniently allowed me to bypass the bulky PS2 original.

PS2/GC/XBOX Memory: Shadow of Colossus
PS2/GC/XBOX Addiction: Dynasty Warrior 3



The portable system holds a special place for me, as the Gameboy was the 1st system I purchased by myself. Portables, back then and even today, I mostly use for RPGs. Many many great games over the years, especially in the RPG department.

Portable Memory: Final Fantasy Adventure
Portable Addiction: Fire Emblem GBA


We shall see what this space holds in the future, but I guess for now I'll finish with a Now-playing section, so here it is:

XBOX 360 - Star Ocean IV, Otomedius G
PS3 - White Knight Chronicles, NHL 09, Flower
DS - GTA:CW, Bimoji Training, Kanken Renshuu
PSP - DJ Max Portable Clazziquai, DJ Max Portable Black Square, Boku wa koukuu kanseikan -airport hero- New Chitose