I've been playing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom since launch day in April this year. It's, uh, more advanced than one of the earliest games I played, Maze Craze, in the mid 80s. Yeah, games have changed a lot over the decades. And I've basically played them from every console generation, except for one that I missed.
80s
My first console was the Atari 2600. I played classics like Asteroids, Pitfall, and Space Invaders. But my favorite was Maze Craze. My dad bought the system and games from a yard sale. I had to learn to hook it up to our TV, which is when I first became interested in electronics.
Soon after that, my friend got a Nintendo Entertainment System for his birthday. I was blown away — I got to spend the night a play games with him. He had R.O.B. to play Gyromite. We loved playing Rygar.
My earliest memories of Mario, though, were from arcade machines. One was Donkey Kong located inside our church. The other was, of course, Super Mario Bros. at the local convenience store.
These made me want my own NES — I had to get one! So I saved up my money and got my little brother to chip in too. I'll never forget the day I had finally saved up the $100 for a NES, went to a K.B. Toys store, and the cashier rang it up for well over the sticker price. TAX! This was the first time I learned about it.
I was flummoxed. I also felt bad because I was in line at a public store trying to buy something and I simply didn't have enough money. I was afraid. My dad was with me and I asked him to cover the tax; I think I offered to repay him later. He was reluctant to bail me out, and for a few moments I was anxious, sad, and on the hook! Thankfully, my dad helped me out after all. Thanks, Dad! I walked out of there with that big box elated.
Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt kept me busy. Other favorites were Excitebike, Top Gun, and SMB3. I also played Zelda and Zelda II. My brother played all the baseball games he could.
Around 1988 or 89, I started a Nintendo Power subscription, which lasted until around 2002. I had kept all the magazines from all those years until around 2008, when I sold them. Ouch. Wish I'd kept certain ones!
90s
While I tried to beat SMB3, my friend got a Super NES. So I was at his house every chance I got just to watch him play Final Fantasy II and Zelda: The Adventure of Link. Eventually, my brother and I got our own SNES systems for Christmas. We owned few games, but we rented many from the video store all the time, long before the internet and streaming.
Also in the early 90's, another friend had a Sega Genesis that I played, but I remained a Nintendo fan.
1994
Up to around 1994, I'd played adventure, action, arcade, and sports games. I knew of nothing else. I had some money saved up, visited WalMart, and was searching for a new game to play. That game was Final Fantasy III. It was SPECIAL. For that story, I blogged about it here; I nearly returned the game, thinking it was awful.
FFIII (FFVI) was “The Game Changer.” I was initiated into the JRPG genre for the first time. It was like a revelation.
In the mid-to-late 90s, I kept playing my SNES with great titles like Super Mario RPG, Super Metroid, Illusion of Gaia, and Killer Instinct. But I also bought my first PlayStation. More advanced than the SNES, it was so cool — CD-ROMs! Also, it had a system seller for me: Final Fantasy VII. Another breakthrough JRPG across 3 discs! After finishing that, I bought FFVIII and FFIX.
Finally, in the late 90s, Nintendo answered Sony with the N64. I loved Super Mario 64and Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Somehow, though, I never really got into GoldenEye, but many of my friends did. Instead, I played Quake.
00s
I'd finished college in 2001 and, for unknown reasons, never bought a PS2 despite wanting to play Final Fantasy X. That would come much later. I did, of course, procure a GameCube and a GameBoy Advance SP. Some favorites: Animal Crossing, Zelda: Wind Waker, and Metroid Prime.
I had owned computers by now, of course, but never got into MMOs or became a hard-core gamer. But I played a ton of Age of Empires II and SimCity 4 Deluxe, which I loved.
In the mid 00s, I was busy with adulting: mortgaging a house, starting a career, and starting a family, which took much time and money. So I entirely missed the Wii generation! I never had my own Wii despite what seemed like “everyone” around me did. And motion controls never captured me.
In the late 00s, my Nintendo and home console days seemed far behind me, a thing I did as a kid. It was then that I…still kept playing video games! But it was thanks to Apple's iPod Touch in 2008. Mobile gaming was cheap, easy, and accessible via the iOS app store. As a parent with several toddlers, casual games on the iPod Touch were great.
10s
My kids were growing, and I kept playing on mobile. It got better as I went from a tiny iPod Touch to an iPad. I also played games on a Kindle Fire HD tablet. But not much else happened in gaming for me between 2008-2018.
2017
The Switch launched with Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was a critical and commercial success early on, and the hype put Nintendo gaming back on my radar…but for my kids instead of me.
By now, my kids were old enough to grasp gaming for themselves. So my wife and I bought them all their own 2DS handhelds. We also bought them a used Wii. This returned Nintendo and console gaming within my own grasp, too.
2018
Then it happened. Father's Day, 2018, my wife gifted me…Breath of the Wild and…the Wii U! YES!! We finally got the newest genre-bending open-world Zelda that was all the buzz. Sure, it was for the Wii U, but I had my own Nintendo console after so many years! I could be like a kid again while also experiencing gaming with my kids.
And I'm so glad I got the Wii U, because it led me to one of my favorite RPGs to this day: Xenoblade Chronicles X. Buying this game had a similar impact on me as when I bought FFIII in 1994. XCX was SPECIAL. I still love it.
XCX must port to Switch or Switch 2. Please!
2019
For Valentine's Day, I bought my wife a purple 2DS XL and Animal Crossing: New Leaf.And I got the orange and white 2DS XL for the same game!
In November, Pokémon Sword and Shield released for the Switch, which by now had a huge and excellent library of games. It was time. I surprised my family with our first Switch for Christmas. Then we got a 2nd one for New Year's Day. One was mine, one my wife's, and we shared both with all the kids, each with their own profile.
We ended up buying BotW for Switch, plus many other games. And this is when, nearly two decades later, I finally played FFX. I also replayed FFVII. Some other new favorites, mostly JRPGs: Dragon Quest XI S, Ni no Kuni, Octopath Traveler, and Bravely Default II.
20s
2020
Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Need I say more?
2021
I dove further into RPGs. So I applied and was hired for an editorial position online at RPGamer. I wrote a monthly piece for a year and proofed much text. But then I chose to step down since my plate was too full with work and other things. Also, I felt bad because my writing energy going to RPGamer left my personal blog with scraps.
Grouvee, a social-catalogging site for video games, also became a site I enjoyed, though I let my Gold account go. It's still a great place, where I'm FullyRendered. (Well, my old Blogger blog is also Fully Rendered!)
2022-2023
With so much time going to long RPGs, I bought my own Switch OLED; I don't have to share. I started and finished my first play through of Xenoblade Chronicles: Def. Ed. And the day I finished it, I started the epic Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Afterwards, I took a little break and played through the first dungeon of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD.
For Mother's Day, I bought my wife her own Switch OLED, the TotK edition. And now we're all loving Tears of the Kingdom across four Switches.
I also still try to play mobile games on iPhone thanks to Apple Arcade. I have Stardew Valley+ installed, for example. But I just don't find the time. Likewise, I have Epic, Steam, and GOG accounts covered in dust. For a time, I did start playing with RPGMaker MZ — it's nice!
Future
A Switch successor is surely coming, with late 2024 seeming likely. I have a backlog of JRPGs to play on Switch before then, after I enjoy TotK for all it's worth. Octopath Traveler II is calling me, as are Tales of Vesperia and Symphonia, and Ni no Kuni II.
And after my house is an empty nest, surely I'll have time to create the RPG of my dreams with the next versions of RPGMaker! Maybe by then, gaming in VR will actually be attractive?
I'm interested in a used PS4 or a new PS5, maybe an XBX too. But I really don't have the time, and my funds are tied to Nintendo gear. The company's next hybrid console, I presume, will be backward compatible and forward thinking. If Nintendo can pull off a success just half as good as the Switch, I think we'll all be playing great games for many more bountiful years.