Among my friends, I am often known as the one that plays video games. My love for the medium is so great that many assume that I probably came out of my mother’s womb with a controller in hand. Most think that I’ve played everything from the early Atari 2600 to more recent consoles such as the PlayStation 4. As such, it came as a shock to Bleachpanda that I had never owned the original PlayStation. I didn’t even have a Nintendo 64. Or a Sega Saturn. Yes, this blogger of video games never quite got to experience the joys of those first few games that transitioned to 3D. 

Despite that, I had a couple of friends and neighbours that allowed me to stretch my gaming wings quite early on their home consoles. From my neighbours, I was able to enjoy the likes of Crash Bandicoot. I was never any good at it, but it was good to enjoy for an hour or two before I darted back home.

It was my primary school friend, however, that really gave me more control and choice in what games to play. I remember going to his house on the weekends and enjoying such titles as Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style and Barbie: Explorer (which mostly belonged to his sister). The two games that stole my imagination, though, was Croc: Legend of the Gobbos and Disney’s Hercules Action Game.

I am not sure whether or not he was missing a memory card but always I played the first few hours of Croc. Unfortunately, we never finished the game in one sitting and I was vaguely disappointed by the fact that I never saw the game to its final conclusion. What little plot that I did enjoy was quite charming and the graphics at the time, impressive.

Disney’s Hercules Action Game was another beast entirely. I remember playing through and finishing the game in about six hours. Perhaps it was because we tried to collect everything or because we were fairly young and had yet to grasp that memorising the levels was key to finishing the game more quickly.

Regardless, I remembered that we would hand the controller over once we had completed a level and enjoyed the simplicity of re-enacting the scenes from the movie. 

I also had another set of family friends that were quite wealthy. The twin boys used to play a plethora of games and I would occasionally participate. One memory in particular that stuck out was playing Pokemon Stadium. I remember that though I never owned the console or had time to practice, I was always able to quickly grasp the controls and thoroughly beat them in several mini-games. My pride and joy was the Sandshrew Dig! Dig! Dig! Lickitung’s Sushi-Go-Round and Clefairy Says were only memorable, though I didn’t always win.

If it had not been for these gaming moments during my childhood, it’s hard to say whether or not I would have grown up to write my impressions on video games and post it on my blog. Or perhaps I would have still loved it for I had Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos to whet my appetite. I probably shouldn’t be admitting this but I had many of the earlier chapters memorised. I knew each and every line, and would quote it to myself during long road trips down to Jindabyne.

So, even though I might not have played many games when I was a lot younger (or finished them), I often reflect back on these integral moments of my childhood. How else would i have discovered the likes of Advance Wars and Golden Sun if it had not been for my envy? Would I have bothered with the likes of Final Fantasy if my imagination had not first been captured by Kingdom Hearts?

So many things could have played out so differently. All I know is that I do not regret the time that I spent enjoying video games with my friends and neighbours.