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It’s always good to let your readers know a bit about you. In fact, I can remember being told at one of the first writing seminars I ever attended how vital this practice was. In order for your readers to take you for a legitimate source of knowledge in any given field, you must first tell your audience why you are an expert.
That said, I feel it is important to divulge the details of my entire gaming history. Of course, this story is so epic, I feel that it only makes sense to release this tale episodically. Behold! Part one of the epic trilogy!
I was born on a cold December afternoon in 1986, and was brought into a household that had an NES waiting for me. If it wasn’t in the house before me, I certainly don’t remember the day my parents bought it. As for their motivations, I’m sure they wanted to get the new hot thing for my older, then 3-year-old brother. Still, the NES was more than a game console; it was a status symbol.
Anyone who was anyone had an NES. Back when I was a child, an NES was as common-place in any family’s living room as a VCR player.
I can’t remember what the first game I played was. Among the games in our young library were hits like Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt (with orange Zapper), and a bunch of Mega Man games. Honestly, my fondest early gaming memories were simply watching my older brother and his friends fight through Dr. Wily’s outlandish and memorable Robot Masters.
My sole duty was, upon completion of a Mega Man game, to jump up and yell “Capcom” when the distinctive logo appeared after the credits.
After a bit, I graduated from watching and began playing, with the Mega Man and Mario games being my favorites. Zelda and Metroid were still a bit over my head. I preferred the more simple platforming games.
The first console I can remember playing as new was the Sega Genesis. I thought that Sonic the Hedgehog was the coolest thing ever. I watched both cartoon shows, read all the comics, and spent every night snuggling close to my Sonic the Hedgehog doll. I remember once leaving my beloved Sonic doll behind in a Toronto hotel room, prompting my dad to drive back and retrieve it.
Of course, not much long afterwards we had the arrival of the Super Nintendo. We got one on my birthday, which put us in a unique situation in the neighborhood. When it came to that first great console war, everyone else I knew had to choose between a Genesis and an SNES. We were lucky.
Still, if I had to chose a side, I was definitely a Sega fanboy. I was simply devoted to Sonic. I remember once seeing fan art in an issue of GamePro that depicted a giant Yoshi stomping Tails into a bloody mess, as Sonic watched helplessly. I was infuriated.
Not that I didn’t enjoy my SNES. Truth be told, I missed out on most of its great games at the time, not really discovering Link to the Past and Super Metroid till some time in my teenage years. That said, Super Mario World still remains my favorite Mario game.
I think a big turning point for me as a gamer was when I saw Final Fantasy III (now Final Fantasy VI) for the first time. I couldn’t really play it, still being way too intimidated by the RPG genre, but FFVI was the first game that I appreciated for anything beyond gameplay. The look of it, its art, its world, and its music all captivated me. These would be things I would later value immensely in gaming.
Super Mario RPG was the first RPG I really played. It was a wonderful “My First RPG”, as it eased you into popular RPG mechanics, while keeping everything wrapped in a friendly Mario themed blanket.
Around this time was when I first began to notice PC gaming. It had existed in my life before, but mostly as weird versions of game shows, like Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune. It wasn’t until the dawn of the disk drive that I realized it was its own legitimate platform. Our first CD-rom drive came bundled with King’s Quest VI.
This was the first game I played that had voice acting. It kind of creeped me out. I never did beat the game, but it still stands as a pretty big gaming memory for me.
Soon after, CD gaming began to hit the consoles. Of course we had a Sega CD, not a bit aware that we were witnessing the beginning of the end of the company’s hardware days. We even had a 3D0. Actually, we had two. One broke, and we replaced it, only to have the original start working again later.
I didn’t get much enjoyment out of those 3D0’s outside of Mad Dog McCree. Sega CD, meanwhile, at least had Sonic CD. I also remember Sewer Shark. I am relieved, as an adult, to see that FMV did not become the future of gaming.
We also had the 32X. I was bit confused as to why we were going back to cartridges, but being the Sega loyalist I was, it was bought without question. Our enthusiasm for the system was not overwhelming, since we were well aware of the Saturn at this point.
I remember an early ad for the system in an issue of EGM, with screenshots covering a naked woman. I must shamefully admit, this shallow marketing tactic worked quite well on little Mike.
We were also beginning to hear about the PlayStation for the first time. Back then, I thought of it as little more than a pretender. I couldn’t imagine why Sony would even try to enter a market that was already so well defined by Sega and Nintendo. Of course, I was still too blinded by my Sega love to see that they had effectively removed most of their consumer goodwill with the Sega CD and 32X.
As for Nintendo, well, their next system seemed a bit… weird. Cartridges when everyone else was going CD, and a controller that looked like it came from another planet. I was an exciting time, with the possibilities of the future of gaming seeming endless. Of course, it didn’t work out the way I would have thought.
To be continued…
– Mike Minotti (Still jobless, but hey, it’s only part 1)
See this post and more on my site: Give Mike Minotti A Gaming Journalism Job.