the gaming cycle

In a long lost past, many years ago, I was a dedicated gamer. No game was hard enough, no boss nasty enough to keep me from finishing whatever I was playing. And even if they were, I kept at it until I beat them anyway. But then stuff happened and I gradually stopped gaming altogether, coming to a full stop about two years ago.

Until last Christmas, when I was introduced to a cute little Nintendo handheld.

a Nintendo DS, all black

NES

My gaming years started when I was six years old. Everyone had one and I wanted one too. So along came Christmas and my parents gave me a NES. I can vividly remember the first time it actually worked (which took some time as I was only six and my parents are not the best choice when it comes to hooking up technology). It took me four long months to finish Super Mario Bros 1 but by then I was more than hooked.

The next couple of years I improved my English by playing the likes of Zelda and other rpg-ish games. Happy were the times I ran to my mom in the kitchen to ask for the meaning of the word candle. Another word learned. But then time passed and my NES became old. It's corners weren't curvy enough anymore and the lack of colors and power became a nuisance.

SNES

And so my trusty old NES was replaced with a brand new SNES. I was a Ninty boy all the way. I bought newer versions of Zelda, Mario and introduced myself to games like Mario Kart which made the whole gaming experience even better. Until one day I ran into Secret of Mana and the gaming world as I had known it for years was no more.

The days of leveling up began. It was all about finding new swords, gaining levels, buying new equipment, finding secrets and advancing storylines. Until the days of pixel-gaming faded and we were giving shitty polygons to game with. Luckily at the same time a retrogaming scene formed and I could happily game away again, playing Japanese and US games that had graced my Super Play magazine pages but never my own SNES. I missed two generations of consoles because of this, but didn't really care.

the dead zone

After I was more or less through with playing all SNES and Neo-Geo games I could get my hands on, my gaming days came to a slow stop. I had started work and my fascination with film became bigger than my fascination with games. Not to mention the fact that it takes a lot longer to finish a game than it does to finish a movie. So slowly I stopped playing games and the days of J-RPGs slowly faded.

The last game I played was Doom 3 (because of the way it handled lighting, with Alien Vs Predator still fresh in mind), I never even finished Half Life 2 because I deemed it too boring. And that was that.

Nintendo strikes back

But then came last Christmas. Linn was considering buying a Nintendo DS so I looked around for a while to see what the fuss was all about. And leaving all those dog/horse/farm games out of the picture for a second, it's true upgraded retrogaming heaven. It's like a portable follow-up of the SNES, with better graphics and upgraded games. Rejoice gaming spirit!

I'm not as hooked as before, I still lack the time to game hours at a time and other priorities have entered my life. But I love my DS all the same and look forward to playing remakes of Final Fantasy and new installments of Dragon Quest and Tales. Long live the new old days of retrogaming. Long live the DS.