dazstormretro - Tumblr blog

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

Discovering Retro Gaming Part 4

Being given permission by my partner to once again have my own man cave was very exciting. Finally after months of storage my retro console collection would have a dedicated space, my games easily assessable and my magazines neatly collated and displayed. Having decided on a suitable spot in my garden to build my man cave it was now time to find a structure which would suit my needs (and budget).

In the end after much research I chose a small wooden log cabin which you assembled yourself called the Mercia Sarah which was available from Tesco Online. The item was promptly paid for and the order put through. I now had a month before the summerhouse would be delivered so it was time prepare the ground to support my man palace. Rather than describe each stage of the build I’ve decided to create a separate blog where I will go into detail about the process and give tips and advice on building an outdoor man cave.

I must admit at the beginning I didn’t realize how much time, effort and of course money this little project would entail but roughly nine months later my summerhouse/man cave was finally built, painted and ready to move in. New shelving was purchased to house my games collection, a lovely IKEA metal cabinet was bought to hold my consoles and old shelving was utilised to create extra storage space.

Before long my entire retro gaming collection was once again on display. The walls of the summerhouse were adorned with gaming related artwork and my old magazines had their own dedicated Billy bookcase so I could peruse their contents without having to rummage through umpteen cardboard boxes. Items such as my M.A.S.K Bolder Hill playset which had been given to me as a birthday gift by some mates was no longer hidden away in the garage, now it occupied it’s own space. So to did my Lego Millennium Falcon, childhood Transformers and original console boxes. At last I once again had my own place to relax and play video games (plus drink beer from the mini-fridge).

Of course having this dedicated space meant a few more items were purchased over the coming months. A SNES Mini was soon added to my collection plus a couple of amazing books by Bitmap Books, the NES and SNES Compendiums. If you haven’t yet checked out Bitmap Books I highly recommend you do, the quality of their publications are second to none. Another item I had being eyeing up for a while was the Super Shinobi soundtrack on vinyl by DATA Disks. Being a massive fan of the classic Mega Drive game I had to purchase this LP for the artwork alone. Still to this day I don’t own a record player so have been unable to listen to the music but I’m more than happy simply having this amazing piece on display.

As of October 2019 retro gaming is still booming. We are constantly being bombarded with the latest remasters of a classic games, new mini consoles seem to be releasing every few months, more and more YouTube channels keep cropping up dedicated to the subject and the subject as a whole is always in the media in some form. Thanks to Switch Online I now have access to many NES and SNES games on the go and when I feel the need to buy a physical publication I can pick up the latest issue of Retro Gamer Magazine. This really does feel like the golden age of retro video gaming.

This basically brings me up to date. The man cave is complete and my retro game buying has slowed down dramatically of late. This is certainly helped by the limited space which I now have but this obstacle has allowed me to appreciate my collection even more. I no longer feel the need to constantly scan eBay or Facebook for a bargain so it can just collect dust on my shelf. I’ve amassed my favourite games, consoles and magazines I once owned as a child and with various ports of old games being released on the Switch and PS4 I can simply download these, saving both money and space. Of course there will be the odd splurge on a new Bitmap book or figurine from time to time but for now I feel content with my collection.

There’s nothing I like more than taking a stroll to the bottom of my garden and spending a couple of hours a week locked away in my little nostalgic word. As I write this final blog Im actually sat in my little time machine surrounded by these items from my childhood. Almost everything in here brings back precious memories from my past, times spent gaming with friends, long summer school holidays, magical Christmases and birthdays.

Nostalgia is such a powerful emotion which we experience more and more as we grow older. The smallest memory can trigger that warm fuzzy feeling which takes us back to a key point from our past. This could come in the form of playing an old video game, listening to a particular music track, watching a movie or even a certain scent. It’s all part of being human and these past experiences have helped make us grow into the person we are today.

People say you should never dwell on the past and that’s very true, too much looking back can be damaging but there’s nothing wrong with celebrating your past and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Im raising a toast to the time I completed Secret of Mana with my best friend, to all those multiplayer Goldeneye marathons and the day I finally mastered Ryu’s Shoryuken.

As an adult it’s too easy to get bogged down with daily life and the stresses it can bring. To combat this some people go to the gym, others play football, me, I like to play video games both old and new. Everyone needs some form of escapism so if something can take you away from this crazy world for a short while and make you feel happy then I’m all for that and that’s what retro gaming does for me, it’s my escapism, my happy place.

Replaying these classic titles from my childhood rekindles those carefree days spent playing video games with both friends and family back in the 90’s and helps remind me just how lucky I was growing up in such an exciting era.

#1990s #nostalgia #retro gaming #video games #super nintendo #man cave #summerhouse

0 notes

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

Discovering Retro Gaming Part 3

By the October of 2016 my retro room was dismantled, games carefully bubble wrapped and all consoles boxed up ready for the big move. Saying goodbye to my beloved man cave was a little sad not knowing if I would ever have that kind of space to call my own again.

Within a couple of weeks my family and I had settled into our new house and all was well. It wasn’t until this point that I realised how large my retro gaming collection had become. Managing to fill most of the cupboards, a large wardrobe and two shelves in the spare room my consoles and childhood toys were tightly packed away. My umpteen classic gaming magazines and stupidly heavy CRT TV were carefully stored away in boxes in the garage. In fact the TV was so heavy I had to create a complex puppy system in order to hoist the bloody thing out of my attic space during the move.

Feeling a little apprehensive I decided to sell a few of my gaming items. Needing to make space plus knowing I truly didn’t have the nostalgic connection I sold my Dreamcast with games, Game Gear, Nintendo Super Scope, a few Mega Drive titles and my Sega Master System Light Gun with six compatible games. I was considering selling lots more but luckily I came to my senses as I now regret my actions, especially letting the Dreamcast go.

I may have been without a dedicated gaming room but I still managed to play much of my retro collection thanks to Hyperkin’s Retron 5 console which I had received for my birthday the previous year. Setting the system up in the backroom and storing my SNES, Master System and Mega Drive cartridges in a nearby unit allowed me to still keep up with the hobby. Playing on an emulation device did feel like a bit of a cheat but at least I could play a couple of rounds on Street Fighter 2 or blast away a bunch of aliens in Contra 3 whenever I felt the need.

Retro gaming was still growing in popularity so Nintendo had decided to jump in with both feet with their release of the NES Mini. Growing up I never owned an original NES, I wouldn’t get to experience the power of Nintendo until the release of the SNES in 1992. At launch these mini consoles were like gold dust, always demanding high prices on eBay. Luckily I stuck to my guns and after months of searching I finally picked up the console from my local Argos. Now thanks to the NES Mini I had access to some of Nintendo’s greatest titles which I got to experience for the first time as an adult

Though I was still able to have the satisfaction of playing plenty of my old games through the Retron 5, having my collection of classic consoles stored away felt like such a waste. It was time to solve this issue so after a bit of reconfiguration I managed to create enough space in the spare room to install a decent sized IKEA cupboard. Here at least, I could display my consoles out of view knowing I could nip upstairs at any point just to look upon their beauty!

Outside of playing games I was still listening to podcasts, watching my favourite YouTubers reminisce about their gaming childhoods and attending a number of retro gaming fairs in the North. Being able to visit these events and physically handle potential purchases was way better than the minefield which was eBay. So to was meeting fellow retro gaming fanatics like myself. I remember my first retro fair at Leeds town hall, people were actually queuing out of the door to get in, it was insane how popular buying up old video games had become.

Another milestone in the retro gaming scene around this time was the increased interest in old arcade machines. Throughout my childhood any visit to an arcade was a treat. Unlike some, I wasn’t luckily enough to live near the seaside as a kid so the highlight of any family holiday was defiantly a visit to the amusements where I could play the latest arcade games. This is where Arcade club comes in. Based in a three story warehouse in Bury, Arcade Club is a fantastic trip down memory lane crammed full of all the best arcade games from the 1970’s to modern day. After paying a one-off entrance fee all the games are set to free play so you can relive those carefree days of being a kid but without the stale smell of cigarettes or the chance of being beaten up over ten pence!

It was one evening after returning from a pleasant day spent at Arcade Club that I had a heart stopping moment. Feeling a little nostalgic after spending the afternoon playing four player Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles I decided to check in on my retro console collection. On opening the cupboard I was suddenly hit by a strange smell, the smell of MOULD! On closer inspection I could see each of my gaming consoles plus all the joypads had started to develop a thin crust of mould. I immediately went into panic mode, how could this happen, how could my console collection have become infected with mould safely locked away in a new and well ventilated space?

Not wasting any time I was straight on twitter for advice from the retro community. Luckily the community was quick to respond and having caught the issue relatively early I managed to save all the consoles and joypads effected. For the next week I painstakingly dismantled each and every item, gave them a thorough clean and got them back to working order. Turns out the damp had been coming through the outer wall of the house thus spreading to the back of the cupboard and then onto the consoles themselves.

Seeing the anguish and panic I went through thinking I had lost my beloved console collection my partner suddenly had an idea, well more of a revelation really. Knowing full well how much I missed my old man cave and how we simply didn’t have the room to build one within our new house she suggested I had one in the garden. “Why not buy a summer house and turn that into your new man space”, she suggested. As you can imagine I didn’t need much persuasion on this subject. On hearing those magical worlds I immediately started researching ‘man sheds’. It wasn’t long before I had found the perfect structure to purchase, all I had to do now was build it, and build it I did!

#1990s #nostalgia #retro gaming #video games #super nintendo #arcades #man cave

2 notes · View notes

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

Discovering Retro Gaming Part 2

It was now early 2009 and I was officially a retro gaming addict. Having previously purchased an old Super Nintendo on a whim I soon found myself with a decent collection of both games and video game magazines which I had enjoyed as a teenager. Now I was looking for my next fix of nostalgia so it was back to eBay.

It wasn’t long before I came across a PAL Sega Mega Drive with a copy of Altered Beast. This was an obvious choice as before I owned my Super Nintendo back in the 90’s I was a dedicated Sega kid. The secondhand console was instantly purchased and before long I was enjoying such classics as Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Shinobi and Castle of Illusion all over again. I remember loving the original design of the Mega Drive back in the day, it felt so sleek and futuristic and in my opinion still holds up.

Over the next few months I would purchase several titles for the console plus plenty more magazines including Mega Tech and Mean Machines Sega to accompany the system. My spare bedroom had now turned into a mini time capsule chocked-full of old Sega and Nintendo paraphernalia. I soon added a Sega Master System to the mix as this was the very first console I owned as a kid. My games library was (and still is) relatively small for the console but having titles such as Double Dragon, R-Type and Psycho Fox at hand felt great. The box art for these games might look primitive compared to later console titles but to me that basic artwork with its graph paper background screams my childhood.

As my collection expanded I started to outgrow the spare bedroom (plus my girlfriend wasn’t exactly over the moon having a room full of ‘old tat’) so it was time to relocate. Luckily I had an attic space which was bordered out and had several power points already pre-installed. After a lick of paint and a good clean I had my first man cave. Entering through a trap door in the landing roof (which wasn’t the most practical way) I suddenly had my own personal space to game. New shelving was bought to house my games, an old 27 inch CRT TV was purchased for a £1 and up went several of my retro gaming posters which had come free with Mean Machines from back in the day.

Obviously having more space meant more retro goodness was purchased including an original NES and Game Boy plus a Dreamcast and a Game Gear, two consoles I never owned as a kid. Around this time I received a text from an old mate asking if I wanted a couple of used game consoles he’d found at his parents house. Of course I jumped at the chance and soon found in my possession a GameCube, a model one PS1 and a model two PS2.

I now had retro gaming on tap. With a choice of multiple consoles to play and numerous games at my disposal my interest in the subject peaked even further. After a chance meeting with a friend I was introduced to yet another avenue to explore - YouTube. Up until this point I had not really bothered with YouTube, I had no interest in watching cute cat videos or people maiming themselves in skateboarding accidents but my eyes were suddenly opened to its true potential. Turns out there were thousands of people like me who shared this passion for retro gaming and many of them were making videos on the subject. The first show I discovered was Game Sack which I loved and for weeks binged watched the entire back catalogue. Next up was the Happy Console Gamer which was equally enjoyable and still watch to this day. Before long I had subscribed to around thirty different channels, all making exceptional content on the subject of retro gaming and gaming memories.

Off the back of Youtube I also started listening to various gaming podcasts. Shows such as Maximum Power Up and Retronauts suddenly made car journeys and walking the dog so much more bearable. Retro gaming was everywhere. I now had access to an unlimited wealth of information thanks to online videos, the aforementioned podcasts and could even read newly published material thanks to Retro Gamer Magazine, Twitter and various Facebook groups. The retro gaming community was growing rapidly and I felt humbled to be part of it.

The retro man cave was now properly established and looked eerily like my old bedroom from the 90’s. Crammed full of old posters, video games and magazines this was the place I went to when the real world got too much, a place to relax and switch off for a while.

Another interest which coincided with retro gaming was my love of vintage toys from my childhood, mainly G1 Transformers and a bit of Lego. This new hobby originally started after my dad dug up an old action figure one afternoon whilst gardening. Recognising the toy my mum called me saying she had something she thought I would like. I couldn’t believe when she handed me one of my original M.A.S.K figures, Brad Turner to be exact. This figure had been buried in my parents back garden for over twenty five years! Being reunited with this old friend after so long felt magical. Brad Turner was the very first M.A.S.K toy which I received as a child. That evening I was straight on eBay to purchase Condor, his green motorcycle which now sits on atop of Boulder Hill and takes pride of place in my current man cave.

Having amassed a decent sized collection of the games and consoles which I grew up with it was time to concentrate on the peripherals. For the SNES I hunted down a Hudson Super Multitap, Super Scope, and a Universal Adapter Japanese games converter. The Mega Drive got the Arcade Power Stick and the N64 the rumble pak plus the expansion pak so I could finally play my copy of Perfect Dark.

Approaching my 36th birthday I decided to celebrate one of my all time favourite games, Secret of Mana. On my 16th birthday I had asked for and received this amazing game. Being a big Final Fantasy fan at the time I couldn’t wait for the release of Square Soft’s latest RPG. Exactly twenty years later I thought it would be fitting to once again track down this game. Managing to acquire a boxed copy of Secret of Mana for a decent price I once again set about my quest to find the Mana Sword. To go alongside this beautiful game I commissioned a custom painted Secret of Mana themed Super Nintendo which to date has been my most extravagant retro gaming purchase. This now sits along side my other consoles and looks simply stunning.

Fast forward to October 2016 and my family and I had decided to move house. Of course moving up the property ladder is an important decision, you have to get the right location, suitable garden and of course the right amount of space which suits your budget. Whilst my partner was busy scouring property websites for these sensible options I was searching for a property which could house my gaming collection. It was time to move out of the hot and musty attic space and into a proper gaming room, but to my disappointment this wasn’t to be. We did end up purchasing a lovely house but unfortunately without building an extension there was no extra space to store my gaming collection, suddenly I was without a man cave!

#retro gaming #nostalgia #1990s #super nintendo #video games #man cave #n64 #playstation

4 notes · View notes

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

Discovering Retro Gaming Part 1

Over the last 43 blogs I’ve shared some of my favourite gaming memories from my childhood, the consoles I once owned and the fantastic games which me and my friends played back in the early to late 90’s. Jump to 2019 and I’m once again enjoying those classic titles all over again, on the original hardware plus discovering new games and consoles which I never had the opportunity to own back in the day. So what drew me to this unusual hobby we call ‘retro gaming’?

It all started about eleven years ago. As previously mentioned I’ve been a gamer since a young age and would always strive to get my hands on the latest gaming console. Nearing the end of 2008 I purchased a PS3, the newest and most exciting games system on the market at the time. The problem was after shelling out a load of cash on the newest console available I was stuck with just one game, a copy of Grand Theft Auto 4. The game was enjoyable and looked amazing on the next gen hardware but the gameplay itself soon became monotonous, not quite living up to San Andreas which I had thoroughly enjoyed on the PS2. As the weeks went on I found myself playing less and less on my new console, had I just thrown over £400 down the drain, even worse had I finally grown out of video games?

It wasn’t long before my childhood friend, Ben sent me a text asking if I had a free evening for him to come over and give my new PS3 a whirl. We agreed on the following weekend. At this point I had no interest in retro gaming, that was all in the past but thought it would be a laugh to try and get my hands on an old console for the night. I set about scanning eBay for an old Super Nintendo as this was the system we played together back in the day. This was just before the UK boom in retro gaming so prices were still relatively cheap. I ended up purchasing a SNES, two controllers, a copy of Mario Kart and a copy of NBA Jam (two of the games we played the most as kids) all for the grand total of £40.

This little surprise went down a storm and both me and Ben spent that Saturday evening reliving our childhood memories well into the early hours. I may not have been a retro gaming fan when I purchased that secondhand SNES but by the Sunday morning I had defiantly caught the bug. It’s amazing how many wonderful memories came flooding back when Mario Karts title screen music kicked in. Even though we were playing on a modern HD tv which made the 16bit graphics look blurry and pixelated it was the gameplay which had stood the test of time. For those few hours we were transported back in time to Bens old bedroom from 1993 where we would sit, listen to Guns and Roses and compete for first place in the Mushroom Cup.

Having that small taste of nostalgia had left me wanting more. I soon found myself regularly scanning eBay for more SNES games. The next on the list was Street Fighter 2 Turbo which I played to death as a teenager. Having originally forked out around £100 for an imported copy of the game back in the December 1992 I was quite happy picking up a loose cartridge for a couple of quid. Rather than buying up every cartridge which I came across I decided to concentrate on the games which I had previously owned or played as a teenager, a rule I still follow today.

As my collection of games grew I relocated the SNES to the spare bedroom where I connected it to a small CRT monitor which I was given to me by someone at work, now I had a true retro set up on the go. Playing these old games felt fantastic. It’s true to say some of the titles didn’t hold up as well as I remembered but it was more the initial experience of rediscovering the box art, reading the old gaming manuals and the excitement of starting up an old game which I hadn’t seen or heard in years which was most appealing.

Feeling myself slipping deeper and deeper into the retro wormhole I looked for my next big nostalgia hit so I turned my attention to old gaming magazines. Back in the 90’s I was a massive fan of the video games magazine. As a kid I would spend my pocket money on CVG, Mean Machines, NMS, Super Play in fact anything which related to my current console at the time. The first magazine which came to mind was Super Play, so into the eBay search bar it went. I couldn’t believe it when several issues of the magazine popped up on my screen. Images which I hadn’t laid eyes upon in years sent me right back to my childhood. I quickly purchased issue 26, the one with the the fantastic art work by Will Overton of the Final Fantasy Chocobo. A couple of days later I found an A4 sized envelope waiting for me when I returned from work, I was very excited.

That evening I read the issue from cover to cover. The condition of the magazine which was two decades old was immaculate, you would have thought it had been printed yesterday! It’s amazing how certain pages from that particular issue brought back lost memories especially the anime article featuring characters which I would draw over and over as a teenager. These images literally leapt off the page when I saw them for the first time in many years. I even enjoyed reading the old video game shop adverts from the back of magazine and was reminded of the high prices we once paid for games.

One magazine lead to another and before I knew it I had old issues of Mean Machines, Electronic Monthly, CVG and Games Master being dropped through my letterbox on a daily basis. Like with my game collecting I would only purchase magazines which I remembered owning as a kid and thanks to the amazing cover art most of these magazines proved to be surprisingly easy to track down.

One standout moment was receiving issue ten of NMS Magazine. I was flicking through this particular issue whilst enjoying a coffee when I stumbled across the letters page which included drawings sent in by the readers of their favourite video game characters. Turning to page ninety nine I almost spat out my coffee, there at the top of the page was my drawing of Ranma 1/2 for the Super Nintendo sketched in pencil crayon which I had sent to NMS wayback in 1993, I couldn’t believe it! As soon as a saw the picture the memories came flooding back of that day in question. I remember carefully copying the wonderful anime style artwork from a previous issue then using my expensive acrylic pencils (which had been purchased by my parents solely to be used during my GCSE Art coursework) to colour with picture. Over the next few months I would discovering yet more of my sketches which I had sent into the magazine over the years.

Similar to my ever-increasing SNES collection these magazines have unearthed so many wonderful memories from my past, but these weren’t just gaming related. I found I could map out large chunks of my childhood using these memories including holidays with my family, times spent with mates, birthdays, Christmas’s and many more. Being able to recount a particular game release date or console launch has helped pinpoint certain events long forgotten. I’m able to recount exactly what I did the day I received my copy of Secret of Mana for the SNES or the time my precious saved data was erased from my Final Fantasy 2 cart.

Retro gaming had now become an addiction, feeling that wave of nostalgia every time I opened a new eBay package was so fulfilling, I had to have more! Within a couple of months I had purchased a SNES, a number of classic games and a stack of magazines, now it was time to look for a new retro console.... but which one to choose?

#retro gaming #nostalgia #1990s #video games #super nintendo

0 notes

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

My Final Retro Memories - Sept 1999

Now in my final year at uni me and a group of mates had decided to move out of our dilapidated student house and return to dorms for one final blowout. So in the September of 1999 with my bags packed and both my PlayStation and N64 boxed up I arrived back in Derby to finish off university in style.

Unfortunately as the year progressed the workload on my university course increased dramatically leaving less time for video gaming. Saying that I still tried my best to fit in the odd hour here and there. My next purchase would be Final Fantasy VIII in the October of this year on the PlayStation (probably not the best choice when your trying to write a dissertation!)

Having loved the previous instalments in the series I was looking forward to this particular title with great excitement. I must have invested a good chunk of time into FF VIII but unfortunately due to my course work stacking up and the stop/start nature of RPG progression the game eventually ended up on the shelf, yet another uncompleted Final Fantasy game.

Feeling I needed a change of pace and having recently watched Saving Private Ryan next up was Medal of Honour. A brand new game created by Steven Spielberg which would kick off the trend for WW2 first person shooters on consoles. Medal of Honour was indeed a fantastic addition to my PS1 collection. Taking on the role of Lieutenant Jimmy Patterson I soon found myself being completely immersed in war-torn Germany. With many varied objectives and missions to complete I must have played through this game countless times over the coming months, I especially enjoyed the sniper based stages, taking out Nazi soldiers with the perfect headshot was extremely satisfying.

Throughout 1999 and into 2000 I consumed yet more episodes of the X Files, enjoyed watching Peter MacNicol in Ally McBeal and first came across Spaced created and staring the very talented Simon Pegg. Crammed full of nerdy references to tv shows, movies and video games Spaced was (and still is) such a great show featuring zany characters, hilarious scripts and summed up the late 90’s to a tee.

Fast forward to June of 2000 and my university career had finally come to an end and I was thrust out into the real world to try and carve out some kind of career for myself. Having a full time job defiantly effected my gaming time during this period. I stopped buying the latest gaming magazines, new consoles past me by and most of my spare time was taken up with girlfriends and socialising.

Not being on the pulse of the latest console releases during this time may have actually worked to my advantage as in the July after saving up some cash I purchased Perfect Dark for my N64. Launching late in the N64’s life meant a lot of people missed out on Rare’s latest first person shooter.

Being a massive fan of Goldeneye which I had played to death the year previous Perfect Dark was an obvious choice. I remember it took me a good few weeks to save the £60 needed to purchase the title plus some extra cash to buy the memory expansion pack which was needed to play the game, increasing the consoles RAM storage capacity to 8 MB.

Once again I would jump into this game with both feet, playing and replying missions over and over. In fact I would play this game on and off for the next two years up until I finally sold my Nintendo 64. Like Rare’s previous shooter you took on the role of a secret agent (this time a female lead called Joanna Dark) and set about completing various missions armed to the teeth with futuristic weaponry and later in the game a sidekick alien by the name of Elvis?

Still to this day I enjoy a quick half hour session on Perfect Dark, taking out enemies with the Laptop Gun, launching grenades into glass elevators with the SuperDragon and watching the blood fly.

Perfect Dark was my last memorable exciting gaming purchase from back in the day. As a kid the anticipation of receiving a new game to play was overwhelming. Reading reviews over and over, researching every last bit of detail all while counting down the days until it’s release was so exciting. At the point of buying Perfect Dark I might have been in my early 20’s yet I still remember that buzz of finally receiving my copy after saving my hard earned cash over the summer.

That Christmas there would be no video gaming related items, instead I had asked for a Sony portable mini disk as my main gift. Gaming was once again starting to take a backseat with only the occasional Perfect Dark shooting rampage occurring.

Everyone has their own perception of what they class as retro. In my mind my retro gaming memories finished around 2001 when I sold my N64 and handful of games for beer money at a local videos games shop (a regret which I still have to this day). I would go onto purchase Final Fantasy IX on release in the February of this year but this wouldn't last long before also being traded in and like my N64 my PlayStation was soon after sold to help fund a lads holiday to Greece. I do remember going over to my mate Robs house the day he purchased a Sega Dreamcast and playing multiplayer Power Stone well into the early hours which was great fun but not enough to convince me to once again join the side of Sega. By mid 2001 I was consoleless and and it would remain that way for over a year. This was the first time since receiving my Sega Master System back when I was eleven that I didn’t video game.

By no means was this the end of my love for video games, far from it. In late 2002 I would once again join the console generation after purchasing a PS2. Over the coming years I would continue play games in my spare time owning such systems as the PS3, XBox, Wii and most recently a PS4 and Nintendo Switch. In fact my interest in video games (both modern and retro) is just as involved now as it was in my teens. Granted my multi-player gaming sessions have dwindled over the years and that initial excitement of getting a new game or console doesn’t have the same appeal that it once did but video games still rule in my book.

Nowadays my gaming time is evenly split between actually playing games and both reading and watching YouTube videos relating to the latest gaming news or retro perspectives. I also enjoy whipping out an old issue of Mean Machines or Super Play once in a while to get a little nostalgia kick. Only time will tell if this hobby will continue into my later years but as of 2019 I can’t see any signs of it slowing down.

So that’s the end of my my retro gaming memories. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my adventures in the world of video games, maybe it’s even helped spark a few gaming memories from your own gaming past? I must admit I’ve thoroughly enjoyed casting my mind back and reliving some of these amazing times from my childhood.

Since first playing Roland on the Ropes on my brothers Amstrad 464 back in 1988 which lead to my Sega Master System the following Christmas I’ve been hooked. I feel very lucky to have lived through so many momentous gaming moments over the years. From the UK launch of the Mega Drive to the Super Nintendo, the now famous Sega vs Nintendo wars, the heyday of the video games magazine, the 90’s arcade scene through to the launch of the first PlayStation. These are just a few examples of how great the 1990’s were to a young gamer like myself, exciting times indeed.

Anyway that’s enough waffling from me, it’s back to my man cave to see if I can remember how to play Goldeneye with that bloody controller!

#1990s #nostalgia #retro gaming #video games #playstation #n64 #Final Fantasy #Perfect Dark

7 notes · View notes

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

Impromptu Gaming Nights- January 1999

It was now 1999, the year of the Willennium as Will Smith would constantly remind us in the latter part of the year. The whole world was counting down the days until the big 2000 would be upon us and everyone was contemplating if the Y2K bug really would destroy humanity.

The start of the new year also meant a new instalment of my student loan. Would I stock up on food, pay my terms rent or maybe save for a rainy day? Nope, instead of choosing one of those conscientiousness decisions I opted to purchase a second PlayStation instead. Ever since my original console was stolen the previous year there had been a nagging voice in my head telling me to get another system. With Metal Gear Solid due for release in the February now was the time to take the plunge, plus the new Dual Analogue controllers bundled with the package defiantly helped seal the deal.

For the next few months I would put my N64 on hold and concentrate on the PlayStation. Having devoured Meat Gear I would swap games with mates at uni and make many a pilgrimage to my local Blockbuster Video Store in Derby where I would rent numerous titles.

It was whilst perusing the Blockbuster aisles that I first laid eyes on the latest craze to come out of America, that craze was South Park. Being a massive Simpsons fan I had of course heard of this new adult cartoon created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone but not having access to Sky hadn’t yet had the pleasure. Of course on seeing these new releases me and my house mates grabbed every VHS we could find and spent the next day binge-watching each hilarious episode one after the other, and laugh we did!

Another series which I thoroughly enjoyed watching around this time was X Files. Having rented the X Files movie one evening I became hooked on Mulder and Scully's supernatural adventures and from that night on would always tune into the latest episodes on tv.

Still Being a poor uni student with limited funds (after the various student nights throughout the week) my PlayStation library was still pretty bare by mid 99. This was where my mate Phil came in. Phil might have been slow with the initial uptake of the PlayStation (not purchasing the system until later in its life) but he certainly made up for it with his games collection. You see Phil had the hindsight to buy a chipped PS1 from a dodgy video games store in the Manchester Arndale Centre. Just like in my Amstrad 464 days I had no idea you could copy and play pirated games on the console.

I was introduced to this amazing concept during an impromptu drunken night round Phil’s house. Armed with a stack of booze, spare controllers, various PlayStation games and some films on VHS a group of us bundled into my mates blue Ford Fiesta and headed out.

Phil literally had hundreds of different PlayStation disks stacked up thanks to his dodgy contact in Manchester and that night we must have played a good chunk of them. He had official releases, Japanese releases, bootleg releases and tonnes of games which I had never heard of? I distinctly remember playing my first GTA game that day. Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 was a brand new expansion game designed to run alongside the original title in the series. Unlike its modern equivalent this game was played from a top down perspective but still shared many similarities to the games we know and love today. Stealing cars and mowing down pedestrians whilst being chased by the cops around an open city map certainly felt like a novelty back in 1999.

Other memorable games that night included battling it out in Tekken 3, raving to Wipeout and lots of multiplayer mayhem in Bomberman World.

After many hours of video gaming fun (plus lots of beers) we finished off the night watching my all time favourite film Dazed and Confused which I had brought over on VHS. Still to this day if I find myself home alone for the evening I will often grab a four pack and sit down to watch this all time classic movie.

This was just one example of the many great gaming nights I shared with my mates back in the day. With cheap alcohol, no wives yet on the scene and no reason to get up the following morning these gaming nights were the perfect excuse to hangout with friends, get drunk and laugh our tits off, truly awesome times.

Unfortunately those impromptu nights of hanging out with mates, playing video games and watching movies until dawn have become some what of a rarity due to adult responsibilities. But it’s not all doom and gloom as on occasions (maybe twice a year) me and that same group of mates from back in the day do manage to get together and recreate some of those amazing memories from back in the late 90’s. Out comes the PS4, the fridge is once again stocked up with beers and a great night of hanging out once again resumes, love you guys.

#retro gaming #video games #nostalgia #1990s #playstation #x files #gta

0 notes

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

Ocarina of Time - Dec 1998

It took me a while to get over the anger of my beloved PS1 being stolen, after all when you lend someone an expensive games console you expect to get it back but time heals all wounds so they say.

Now in my second year at university and enjoying my new student house with a good bunch of friends all seemed well in the world. During the final months of 1998 I had been enjoying watching two new television shows, a sitcom called That 70’s Show and the phenomenon which was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Both shows had come over from the US and were a staple part of our weekly television watching routine.

As far as video games were concerned Goldeneye was still getting plenty of attention on my N64, often dipping in and spending an hour or so shooting up the the Facility level to let off some steam. The only new game which I had purchased around this time was Mission: Impossible which had been released in September of 98. With such great titles available at the time including Mario Kart 64, F Zero X and Lylat Wars 64 I’m not sure why I opted for this particular title, I wasn’t even a big fan of the movie? Whatever the reason for this unusual purchase it helped tide me over until the December of that year when a game which I had been patiently waiting for was finally released.

It was way back in the early 90’s whilst reading an issue of Super Play Magazine that I first discovered Nintendo was working on a new Zelda game. Already a massive fan of the franchise after playing A Link to the Past on my Super Nintendo I could barely contain my excitement when I heard a new adventure was on its way. For years there had been a rumoured sequel set for the SNES but as more details of the fabled N64 console started to emerge it became obvious this would be the new platform for the next Zelda game. Accompanying the article was a small photo of the alleged game featuring a fully rendered Link fighting a silver knight. This image would later turn out to be a tech demo for the Ultra 64 as it was known back then.

If nothing else it was this article which sealed my decision to one day own a Nintendo 64 console solely to play the new Zelda game. Over the next few years Nintendo would slowly leak out information and early screenshots to entice its loyal fans, keeping us on our toes until the game would ultimately be revealed to the world. Finally on December 11th 1998 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released in the UK just in time for Christmas. Gaming magazines at the time had scored it extremely high stating it was one of the best games ever created and praising Nintendo. At last I could finally play the next Zelda instalment.

I remember the day in question very clearly. Knowing full well I would be getting Ocarina of Time that Christmas I had already packed up my N64 console along with suitcase and was waiting for my parents to take me home from university for the Christmas break. Around midday my luggage was in the car and we were ready to travel back home for three weeks of catching up with mates and plenty of festive merriment. On the way home we stopped off at Derby city centre for a spot of lunch but more importantly to pick up my copy of Ocarina of Time from HMV which would be put away until Christmas Day.

The next few weeks were spent celebrating the festive season with friends and family, hanging out at the local night club, dancing to the obligatory cheesy Christmas tunes and eating and drinking way too much. Finally Christmas Day arrived and I would get to enjoy the splendour which was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Since that initial experience with A Link to the Past my love of both action and JRPG’s had persisted to grow. Some of my past favourites included Final Fantasy 3, Secret of Mana and Breath of Fire but this was the game which had been at the top of my wish list to play.

Once again I found myself in the mystical land of Hyrule but with a big difference. Unlike my previous Zelda encounter this world was completely 3D. Just like they did with Super Mario 64 Nintendo had pushed the boundaries of gaming creating a fully immersive world where the player was free to traverse a rich landscape. Buildings and towns way off in the distance could now be explored either by foot or horseback. Main objectives and side quests could be attempted in multiple orders, so could acquiring certain items throughout the adventure giving the game a real sense of freedom.

I must have spent most of that Christmas Day lost in the world of of Hyrule. Starting off in Kokiri Gillage I soon found myself sneaking into Hyrule Castle for a secret meeting with Princess Zelda before being sent on my quest to gather the three spiritual stones.

To say Ocarina of Time blew my mind was an understatement, this game had it all. From it’s amazing 3D graphics to the beautiful music which accompanied the epic gameplay. The introduction of the Ocarina which allowed players to learn different melodies in order solve puzzles and help your progress was an ingenious touch. So was the moment I first learnt I could travel forward in time and become adult Link which opened up the game just as the Dark World had done in A Link to the Past years earlier.

Over the coming months I would slowly chip away at Ocarina of Time, progressing the main story, completing its side quests and gathering new weapons. Eventually one evening during the February of 1999 I managed to defeat Ganon. As the credits rolled I remember sitting back in the bedroom of my student house sipping a beer and feeling a little sad that this awesome adventure had finally come to a close.

The game would later be traded in for cash at a local video games store without a replay. It’s only now, twenty years later that I’ve gotten around to start a fresh game once again. So with my N64 control pad in hand it’s time to relive those nostalgic Zelda memories, let’s hope it still holds up.

#retro gaming #nostalgia #1990s #video games #n64 #legend of zelda #ocarina of time

1 note · View note

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

My PS1 gets Stolen! - Spring 1998

My first Mario experience had been way back in 1992 with Super Mario 3 on my mates NES. Being a hardcore Sega fan during this period the thought of playing a Nintendo console felt simply.... wrong. But as it turns out my first encounter with the little Italian plumber had a lasting impression on me, so much so that later that year I would sell my Sega Mega Drive, say goodbye to Sonic and purchase a Super Nintendo. Bundled with a free copy of Super Mario World I powered up the system and from that moment on I became a huge Mario fan, spending the next few months unlocking all 72 levels, finding all the coloured Yoshi’s and making it my mission to complete Star Road.

Fast forward to March of 1997 and the eagerly anticipated Super Mario 64 was finally released in the UK after much speculation and hype. All over the country eager gamers had been reading about this new Mario title for years, drooling over every leaked screen shot and hoping this new game could live up to its predecessor. Turns out it did and then some with magazine scores nearing 100% all through the board. At the time of the games release I didn’t yet own an N64 so I had to wait until the following year before I got my teeth into Nintendo’s breathtaking new platformer.

Funnily enough Mario 64 wouldn’t be my first N64 purchase, that honour was given to Goldeneye. Being a skint student I wasn't in a situation of being able to afford more than one game so decided to wait until my birthday in the February. Before I knew it that day had arrived and by the end of February of 98 the Super Mario 64 game cart had been permanently locked into my console.

It now sounds like the old cliché but it really did feel life changing (at least in the mind of a gamer) playing Mario 64 for the first time. I’ll never forget being greeted by a giant 3D Mario face on the games title screen before hearing Princes Toadstools voice for the first time as she read out loud a letter to our hero. From here I was met with an open world where the player was encouraged to explore huge environments which felt so cutting edge. Add to this Mario’s new and diverse range of moves, the ability to access so many different levels from the off with no time limits and the stunning 3D polygonal graphics made Nintendo’s latest instalment unforgettable.

It was now approaching the end of spring, Easter had been and gone and I was back at university ready for the summer semester. Having sunk countless hours into this fantastic title trying to discover every level and every hidden feature the game still drew me in. Between lectures, exams and drunken student nights Mario 64 was always sat there waiting to tempt me back, beaconing me to complete just one more level, find one more of its 120 power stars or simply explore its free roaming world.

Eventually I would dust down my PlayStation and play a quick game of Doom or attempt to try and beat Emerald Weapon in Final Fantasy 7 (without any luck might I add) but I would always find myself returning to Mario.

After receiving the next instalment of my student later that year I decided to treat myself. Having played mainly N64 games since January I thought I would give the old PlayStation a bit of love and opted for a new fighting game for a change of pace. I had always been a massive Street Fighter 2 fan but hadn’t owned a title from the franchise since Super Street Fighter 2 on the SNES so decided to pick up a version. For some reason I came across Street Fighter Plus EX in my local Game Station. Unlike previous Street Fighter titles this version was a 3D polygonal fighter similar to Soul Blade which my mate Ste had brought over earlier that year. Having thoroughly enjoyed Soul Blade and with my love of all things Street Fighter I presumed this would be a good investment, turns out I was very wrong. The blocky graphics, the sluggish gameplay and the obscure cast of characters made for a terrible gaming experience so soon found itself back on the shelf with the console.

It was now late July and my first year of university would soon be over. Most of my course work was finished and I was preparing to move out of my student dorm and head back to my parents house for the summer vacation. Having already sorted out my student house for the following year the final week of term was mostly dedicated to partying, playing video games and packing my bags.

It was during this last week that one of my dorm mates asked for a favour, could he borrow my PS1 over the summer? Still heavy invested in my N64 having not yet tired of Mario 64 and Goldeneye I happy agreed, after all I didn’t even have the console currently set up. Later that day I packed up my boxed PS1, two controllers with a bunch of games and handed them over for my mate to look after until the new semester in the September.

Unfortunately that would be the last time I would ever see my precious PlayStation as this ‘so called friend’ for some unknown reason never returned to university the following year, taking both my console and games with him. This was a harsh lesson to never lend out video games to mates, especially mates who live at the other side of the country and who you’ve only known for nine bloody months!

Having lost one of my gaming consoles was extremely annoying back in 1998 but there was a silver lining on the horizon with a massive new release about to hit the shops, a release which I had been waiting for since my Super Nintendo days.

#retro gaming #nostalgia #1990s #video games #playstation #street fighter 2 #mario 64 #n64

0 notes

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

The 2 Blades on PS1 - Feb 1998

Unless you were living under a rock during the first few months of 1998 you couldn’t have escaped the behemoth that was James Cameron’s Titanic which landed with a bang in UK cinemas and would go onto break many box office records. I was unfortunately part of the problem having seen the movie twice during the late January and early February of 98. Worse was still to come when later that year I would actually attended the midnight launch of Titanic at my local HMV and queued for two hours to receive a limited edition movie poster which came free with the VHS.

Fast forward to mid February and my birthday was once again looming. Landing slap-bang in the middle of the first semester my mate Ste decided to come over from Manchester and visit for a few birthday drinks (and of course a bit of video gaming). This was the first time in my life that I owned two different gaming consoles thanks to my impromptu purchase of an N64 the previous month. As well as bringing plenty of booze Ste fetched a couple of N64 controllers for more Goldeneye goodness and two PS1 games, Bushido Blade and Soul Blade.

Saturday day was spent drinking plenty of beer and kicking seven shades of crap out of one another on the PlayStation. First up was Soul Blade, a 3D fighter based on the Namco arcade classic. Being a massive Street Fighter fan I was looking forward to some new one-on-one brawling action.

Before the game had even begun I was extremely impressed with the lengthly opening sequence. Featuring all the games playable characters beautifully rendered and accompanied by a thumping soundtrack I remember thinking graphics couldn’t possibly get much better than this! These stunning visuals would help set the trend for future fighting games competing against one another to create more lavish and more cinematic opening sequences.

The game itself was simple but great fun. Choosing one of eleven playable characters each with their own distinctive fighting style the aim was simply to defeat you’re opponent by diminishing their heath bar or forcing them out of the arena. I loved how each character fought with a sword rather than their fists and the fact that you could disarm your enemy during battle gave Soul Blade an added original charm.

Another innovative feature was the side-step. This technique allowed characters to jump between the foreground and background helping the player to avoid attack’s rather than simply block which again added a new dimension to the game. Having only briefly played Tekken this was my first proper 3D fighter. Big chunky graphics, over sized swords combined with arcade quality gameplay made for a good all round multiplayer experience which lasted well into the afternoon.

Next up was Bushido Blade. Created by Square (of Final Fantasy fame) I was intrigued to see how one of my favourite software developers handled a different genre of game. Like Soul Blade this was another 3D fighter where the player could choose from a roster of characters before fighting to the death using an array of weapons. The big difference with Bushido Blade was its realistic fighting style. No longer was there a time limit or health bars in play. It was now possible to kill you opponent with one carefully well timed blow making for a more skilled approach rather than mindlessly jumping in and simply mashing buttons. Fights could last for ages or if you weren’t paying attention, mere seconds.

Out of the two Playstation titles we played that weekend Bushido Blade was defiantly my favourite. Being a longtime fan of samurai movies back in the day, having the chance to wield a deadly katana knowing a single strike could win or lose a round was exhilarating. Add to this the games body damage system which allowed players to wound their opponents thus losing use of vital limbs made Bushido Blade extremely playable.

I remember being amazed by the vast levels which the player could explore. No longer were you confined to an arena type situation as seen in Street Fighter 2, you could run around freely, interacting with the environments before skilfully choosing your moment to attack. This all added to the emersion of the game, creating a realistic fighting sim which felt as if you were participating in a real life Japanese martial arts film.

Fighting amongst blossom trees as petals delicately fell to the ground or slicing your way through thick bamboo forests created such a memorable experience which has stayed with me even to this day. You could certainly feel the love and attention which Square had invested into this one-on-one fighter making Bushido Blade a classic game and one which I feel the need to track down once again for my current retro collection.

That day was finished off with a home cooked meal of spaghetti bolognese kindly prepared by Ste followed by a very drunken night out on the town, happy days.

#retro gaming #nostalgia #1990s #video games #playstation #soul blade #bushido blade

1 note · View note

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

Goldeneye - Jan 1998

With the long Christmas break behind me I returned to university in the January of 1998 with three new editions to add to my student dorm room. Firstly I had a brand new Sony hi-if system which I had received from my parents. At long last I could listen to my mix tapes, CD collection and the radio at the flick of a switch.

Next a copy of Tomb Raider 2 for the PlayStation which had been a gift from my gran. Having enjoyed but not owned the first game in the series I thought the sequel was a good point to jump in. Regardless of the clunky control mechanics this was an enjoyable game which I would eventually see through to the end but it was the third item which I was the most excited for.

During a drunken night out over the Christmas season I had been chatting to my mate Rob who had purchased an N64 console at launch. Turns out he was already bored of the system and was thinking of getting rid. Of course being a big Nintendo fan and very drunk that night I jumped at the change of owning this new console. The next day there was a knock on my parents front door and in walked Rob with the boxed console. I think I paid around £150 for the system with one controller which was a steal in December of 1997. Finally I had my very own N64, now I just needed a game to play.

Using leftover Christmas money I managed to scrape just enough cash together to purchase one game, after all you were still looking at £50+ per title back then. Even though I was still a massive Mario fan after enjoying Super Mario World on the SNES there was one title I had to buy, Goldeneye.

Released in August the previous year Goldeneye was the must have title to own. It received outstanding reviews for both its single player and multiplayer modes and brought the first person shooter genre to the forefront of the console industry. Having throughly enjoyed both Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct on my SNES the latest release by Rare was a no brainer in my opinion. I had never really been a fan of the Bond movies but I loved the concept of this game, sneaking around taking down enemies secret agent style or running in guns blazing sounded awesome. I would pick up my copy of Goldeneye just before starting my new term at university so I hardly had time to make a dent in the game whilst staying at my parents house.

I remember being dropped off by my parents at my student accommodation and seeing the envious faces of my fellow flatmates as I walked by holding my new N64. I had literally just unpacked my suitcase when there came a knock on my dorm door, it was my mate George who lived in the room next to mine. Having heard the rumour that I’d just turned up with a new games console he was intrigued to check out the system. Together we set up the N64 on my fourteen inch CRT television and powered up Goldeneye.

As previously mentioned I had only played the first couple of levels so not wanting any spoilers I allowed George to select a new save game and start from the beginning. That evening I was due to go out with a few mates to a student club so I left George to it. Not being a big gaming fan I expected George to play for an hour or so before becoming bored. Turns out this wasn’t the case as when I returned to my room around midnight he was still beavering away having got all the way through to the Military Archives on Mission 6!

The following day I finally got the chance to delve into Goldeneye properly. Starting a fresh I must have invested hundreds of hours into this classic game over time. I’d previously played Doom on the Playstation which was a good blasting experience but Goldeneye really captured my interest. The choice of weapons, it’s diverse set pieces and mission objectives plus the open 3D environments made this game so much better than the competition. I would play and replay certain levels many times over just for the fun of it. Some of my favourites included Mission 1: the Facility and Mission 5: the Bunker.

Nothing could beat the feeling of dual wielding two DD44 Dostovei pistols whilst shooting out the windows and leaving hundreds of fresh bullet holes strewn across the in-game scenery. Just as exciting was hiding a number of remote mines throughout the levels and watching the carnage unfold upon detonation or watching the enemy drop to their knees after a well placed head shot from a far. The whole experience of this game was simply wonderful and that’s before you even get into the addictive multi-player modes.

It would be a few months down the line when my mate Ste purchased his own copy of Goldeneye with a spare joypad. It wasn’t long before the four player split screen death matches were in full swing at Ste’s house. Well stocked up with beer and spirits we spent many happy evenings playing this game to the max. Trying every weapon combination possible ranging from rocket launchers to remote mines, sniper rifles to the infamous Golden Gun. We couldn’t get enough of Rare’s multi-player masterpiece.

Even once I had competed all seven missions (plus the two secret stages) Goldeneye was always my go-to game whenever I had a spare half hour. Jumping straight into one of my favourite levels and causing havoc was extremely satisfying. Plus there were three difficulty settings, hidden easter eggs and many many secrets to unlock which only helped prolong the lifespan of this great game in further. I would continue to play Goldeneye well into 1998 and beyond.

Goldeneye truly was the king of first person shooters back in the late 90’s and even today I believe the single player campaign still holds up well. Sure the controls can be cumbersome at first and the 3D graphics haven’t aged particularly well but the fundamental gameplay and overall fun experience is still there. Goldeneye would remain my favourite first person shooter up until the release of Perfect Dark three years later.

#retro gaming #video games #nostalgia #1990s #goldeneye #n64

0 notes

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

Final Fantasy VII with Soup? - Nov 1997

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs I have many video gaming related memories from my childhood but there are particular ones which standout more than others. One of these standout memories was purchasing Final Fantasy VII back in the November of 1997.

Since first playing Final Fantasy 2 on my Super Nintendo back in 1993 I had fallen in love with the series. The epic storyline, the fascinating character developments and the addictive gameplay all added to the charm of this title. Then once again during the Christmas of 1994 I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Final Fantasy 3 which took the franchise to the next level incorporating amazing graphics and an orchestral musical score which still sounds fantastic today. Unfortunately with both titles my game progress was mysteriously deleted so I was never able to see either game through to completion.

A few years later after learning Square were going to part ways with Nintendo thus no more Final Fantasy titles I purchased my PlayStation solely on the promise of a new game. Finally in the November of 1997 this game was released in the UK and I was at the front of the queue.

That day in question I was working on a student film at my university. Studying theatre my class was often asked to take part in short films which the Media students would create as part of their coursework. Giving up a whole morning to go do a bit of acting wasn’t everyone’s idea of fun but the £40 payment which they were offering defiantly made the experience worthwhile. After filming a coupe of scenes I was finished for the day so jumping on a bus I headed to Derby city centre with my payment in hand.

This would be my first PlayStation purchase in months due to the fact I was a poor student living off my grant so any extra cash would normally go on food or beer. This time however it was different. I’d been waiting for this game for ages so armed with my £40 I headed to the local Game Station store.

This game had been hyped to death and received rave reviews across the board. Being the first Final Fantasy title to break into the mainstream in the West advertising was rife. Television adverts, posters plastered on the sides of buses and billboards featuring a massive Cloud Strife holding his mighty Buster Sword could be found everywhere. This game was defiantly a big deal and any PlayStation owner at the time seemed to want to own a copy. Interesting fact, it was also one of the biggest returned games ever due to the fact many people who purchased Final Fantasy VII didn’t realise it was a JRPG and were disappointed when they learnt it wasn’t an action adventure similar to Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Having purchased my game I headed to the local super market to grab some lunch before I settled in for the day to play video games. Money was tight so I remember buying a tin of pea and ham soup, a pack of crumpets and a four pack of cheap larger, this was going to be an epic afternoon. Turns out the crumpet and soup combo would become somewhat of a tradition for me. Whenever a new Final Fantasy title goes on sale I always make sure I stock up on these essential items for the release day. The last time I ate this meal was for the long awaited release of Final Fantasy XV on the PS4.

Once back at my student dorm I heated up the soup, buttered a couple of crumpets and cracked open a beer before sitting down in front of my PlayStation and watching the opening cinematic. To say my mind was blown was an understatement. With no access to the internet back in 97 this was the first time I had watched these full motion visuals in action and they were beautiful. From the second Aerith stepped out onto the busy street of Midgar and the camera panned back through the hustle and bustle of the city to reveal the Final Fantasy logo I was in ore. In one continuous motion the camera then followed a freewheeling train on its journey before pulling into a station as the main protagonist, Cloud appeared. Unlike previous Final Fantasy adventures there was no time to wander around a small village learning the games basic mechanics, this time you were thrust straight into the action given the mission to destroy the Shinra Mako reactor before escaping with your life.

This was by far the most cinematic experience within a video game I had encountered up until this point. The pace of the action was electric, the music moved you along with a sense of urgency causing my heart rate to increase. I was soon given the chance to create my charters name, as usual Daz was inputted. Next I was introduced to Barrett (one of my favourite FF characters) and as is tradition with any RPG I play his name was soon changed to Ben.

For the rest of that day I sat on my dorm room floor drinking beer and playing Final Fantasy VII and it was awesome. Over the coming weeks any free time I had was spent progressing the story, levelling up my charters and collecting Materia. I remember finally escaping Midgar after many hours and venturing to the world above only to be met with a vast landscape to explore, this game truly was huge! Spread over three disks the first disk alone took me over five hours of solid play to beat. It was whilst playing disk two that I ran into trouble and would become stuck. I remember traveling to the next location on the map. To get there I had to use a submarine to explore the waters. Here I ran into a boss battle which I could not beat. I tried over and over for a week but still no luck. Admitting defeat I decided to put the game down and returned to it a few weeks later but once agin I could not for the life of me beat him.

This boss was of course Emerald Weapon, a large and very difficult robot boss which uses a timer forcing the player to beat him within twenty minutes. I remember pulling my hair out trying to defeat this boss, every time getting my arse handed to me on a plate or simply running out of time. In the end I simply gave up and retired the game back to my gaming shelf. The annoying thing is years later I would discover the Emerald Weapon was actually an optional boss placed in the game to challenge more experienced players and could be completely avoided, SON OFF A B#@CH!

Unfortunately as with both FF2 and 3 I would never see the ending of this amazing game due to my copy along with my PS1 being stolen, but that’s a story for a future blog. Final Fantasy VII is certainly one of the standout titles from my gaming past and having now added it back to my retro gaming collection and with the new PS4 reboot hopefully on the horizon I hope to finally beat this masterpiece and end my Final Fantasy curse once and for all.

NOTE

As of 21/08/19 I finally beat Final Fantasy 7 after 22 long years. What an amazing experience to see this quest through to the end and finally put this game to rest (well, until the remake gets released on the PS4 that is!)

#retro gaming #video games #nostalgia #1990s #playstation #final fantasy vii

1 note · View note

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

Bored of Gaming? - Jan 1997

“Who loves orange soda? Kel loves orange soda! I do, I do, I do-oooh!" is an all time classic quote from a kids television show I had discovered around this time. The show in question was of course Nickelodeon’s Keenan and Kel which I would religiously tune into watch. Granted by January of 1997 I was eighteen years old, out of college and shouldn’t really have found this comedy duos tomfoolery entertaining but I didn’t care, I loved this show and from what I can gather so did many more people my age.

Other notable goings on which spring to mind around this period include Professional Widow by Tori Amos which was riding high in the music charts, one of my favourite films The Frightners staring Michael J Fox was selling well at the cinema and Chris Evans had left BBC Radio One to concentrate on his TFI Friday television program (man I loved that show).

My latest gadget was a Motorola Pager which I had received that Christmas from my parents. Prior to mobile phones becoming affordable owning a pager was the only convenient way to receive messages on the go plus you could swagger down the street thinking you looked cool. Now I was at the height of technology and could be contacted within minutes (as long as I had ten pence and access to a payphone!) Thinking about it that was actually the first Christmas in seven years that I hadn’t asked for anything video game related?

Having decided to take a year out before heading off to university most of 1997 consisted of making pizzas at my local Asda for minimum wage then spending that wage on going out, music and the occasional video game. My latest PlayStation purchase was inspired by that great summer of 1992 when I borrowed my cousins Amiga 500. One of the standout games which I couldn’t get enough of that summer was The Secret of Monkey Island and once completed I craved more point and click adventures. Over the next couple of years I would play through Full Throttle, Toonstruck and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

Fast forward to February of 1997 and after reading a glorious review I splashed the cash on a copy of Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templar’s. Blasting demons in Doom and ragging around race tracks in Ridge Racer was all well and good but getting lost in the plot of a decent point and click adventure was defiantly a welcome change of pace.

Taking control of George Stobbart, an American tourist on vacation in Europe I set about my quest. After surviving a bomb attack outside a small cafe in Paris I was whisked away on an adventure which would take me to various locations around the globe eventually finding myself investigating the Knights Templar. For the time the graphics were extremely detailed and well animated plus having a fully voiced cast was quite novel coming off the back of the SNES.

Broken Sword was certainly a worthwhile purchase and kept me entertained during those long winter nights but as March rolled around my attention was once again distracted by Nintendo. On March the 1st following numerous delays and years of waiting the fabled N64 was finally available in the UK. Released alongside five titles which included the aptly named Mario 64 and and Pilotwings 64 the system was an instant sellout at £250 (plus another £50 per game).

I’m sure like with most previous consoles I would have been foaming at the mouth to get my grubby mitts on the system but at those prices I had to wait until the following year. One person who did purchase an N64 at launch was my mate Rob (probably with his student loan). Unfortunately Rob was still away at university so I was unable to marvel at Nintendo’s latest creation so it was back to my PlayStation for the time being.

The months past bye and if memory serves me correct I didn't purchase many new PS1 titles during this period. For the first time in my life I was working full time plus combined with a busy social life and girlfriends video gaming was put on the back burner. My PlayStation was now gathering dust underneath my TV and with home consoles becoming more powerful the arcade scene was basically dead. Sure there was the odd drunken night following a pub crawl when a group of us would get together and play Tekken 3 until the early hours of the morning but these were few and far between. Was I becoming bored of gaming?

The actual prospect of ‘growing out of video games’ was rather scary at the time having enjoyed them for so many years which in turn had produced so many wonderful memories, memories which had defined who I was. Luckily this was just a dry spell and my passion for video gaming would once again resume later that year.

By the September of 97 another chapter of my life had begun, I was now a full time university student. Armed with a single suitcase which contained my clothes, music cassettes (including I’ll Be Missing You by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans which I played on repeat) and of course my PlayStation. My main reason for bringing the PlayStation were twofold. Firstly it would serve as a way to kill time until I found my feet in this strange new environment and secondly as a social magnet to hopefully help bring together the people who I would be living with. Turns out this was a good move and I soon found myself surrounded by like-minded people who shared the same interest in video games as I did. What better way to end a good drunken night out than getting together in a small cramped student dorm room whilst playing PlayStation with your fellow flat mates until the sun came up.

I have fond memories of those late night gaming sessions which shared many similarities to my couch co-op days growing up as a kid. This was of course pre-online gaming (unless you were a posh PC kid) so any multiplayer gaming happened under the same roof. Back in my Mega Drive and SNES days those shared gaming experiences of trying to beat Contra 3 in two player mode or taking on a mate in Street Fighter 2 were priceless. Unfortunately as we grew up those days seemed to be long gone but with the help of a few fellow students I was able to rekindle those happy times once more so I’m happy to report that couch co-op was still alive and kicking back in 97!

#retro gaming #video games #nostalgia #1990s #playstation #kenan and kel #n64

2 notes · View notes

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

PS1 4 Everyone - Jan 1996

Having owned my PlayStation for only a few months my attention was suddenly captured once again when in the January of 1996 Nintendo finally revealed more details of its up and coming console now renamed the N64. Magazine coverage was rife with photos of the final console design, rumoured games and a strange looking joypad which resembled the top of a trident. Gamers had been waiting for what felt like years for this juicy information and I must admit I was intrigued to see the console in action especially as a new 3D Mario and a Zelda game were in development.

Elsewhere life was plodding along nicely. I was now in my second year of college, my 18th birthday was just around the corner and between hanging out with friends on student nights drinking Castaways and my studies I was still finding time for some video gaming. On television I had discovered an American teen drama called My So Called Life staring a young Claire Danes. The show captured everything about being an angst ridden teenager in the 90’s and embarrassingly influenced my fashion sense at the time. On my Walkman I would have been listening to Warren G or the Fugees whilst looking at the world through my parted curtained hairstyle. Everywhere you looked grunge and indie rock had taken hold and you couldn’t go more than a few meters without bumping into a depressed looking teenager moping around like their dog had just snuffed it.

As 1996 progressed more and more of my friends entered the PlayStation generation. There will still many different systems on the market including the Sega Saturn, 3DO and the Atari Jaguar but it was the PlayStation which now had mass appeal. People who up to this point hadn’t played video games since their ZX Spectrum days were suddenly talking about Twisted Metal and Wipeout during lectures. The PlayStation had officially infiltrated youth culture and was showing no signs of slowing down.

Another standout memory of that year (even though not video game related) was Euro 96. Not necessarily the football tournament but the song which accompanied it and would go on to define that glorious summer for me, that song was of course Three Lions by the Lightning Seeds featuring Baddiel and Skinner. Every radio station, nightclub and pub would constantly play this tune which seemed to bring the whole country together during the month of June. I remember the last day of college myself and the whole of my drama class had gone to the local park and armed with plenty of beers we chilled out in the sunshine listening to Three Lions whilst reminiscing about our last two years together. Every time I hear those lyrics “three lions on a shirt” it takes me back to that carefree summer of 96.

By the time September came around my best mate Ben had also sold his Super Nintendo just as I had done the previous year and now owned the all powerful PlayStation. One of his first games of choice was the conversion of Ridge Racer which we hastily set up on his parents ‘big tv’ in the living room.

Having played the amazing full-sized sit down version in the arcades we were excited to see how this compared to the original and we weren't disappointed. Before the game had even begun we were treated to an interactive load screen in which you could play a mini version of the Namco classic Galaxian followed by the announcement of ”Ridge Racer” booming out of the tv speakers. In fact the amount of sampled speech throughout the game was pretty impressive and so was the echo of the cars engine as it zoomed through the winding tunnels. Getting to grips with the controls was fairly easy (even with the original PS1 controller) and once the corner drifting technique was mastered the game opened up immensely. I remember being a bit disappointed with the lack of tracks to race on but the one track available looked and played so well it could be forgiven. Impressive smooth 3D graphics, fast energetic gameplay accompanied by some classic 90’s techno music made Ridge Racer a welcome addition to our slowly growing PlayStation collection.

The following month there would be more PlayStation shenanigans, this time at a famous nightclub. My mate Rob was the first out of my group of friends to attend uni. During the September of 1996 Rob packed his bags and headed off to the bright lights of Sheffield Hallam University. Of course having a new city to explore which contained new pubs and clubs me and my mates weren't far behind him. Once Rob was unpacked and settled in a group of us decided to pay Sheffield a visit. That weekend we lived the student life to the max, drank cheap booze, stayed in a shitty student flat and headed to Gatecrasher for a night of debauchery.

This was my pre-Ibiza days so Gatecrasher was my first experience of a superclub. My memory of that drunken night is pretty hazy (which is no surprise) but what I do remember was heading up to the top floor which overlooked the hundreds of clubbers below. Apart from a small bar which was located in one corner the entire room housed loads of free-standing PlayStation units. Whilst enjoying a drink and bouncing around to the music people were playing Wipeout and Tekken. This was yet another genius move by Sony to get their games console into trendy establishments such as nightclubs in order to spread the word of PlayStation.

As 1996 came to a close yet another mate decided Sony was the way to go and it was on his console that I first laid eyes on the hottest new title that Christmas. The original Tomb Raider was released in the November of this year to much hype. An action-adventure game staring a sexy (if not a bit polygonal) female Indiana Jones-esc protagonist who had many excitable teenage boys pinning her image to their bedroom walls around this time.

On that evening a group of us met up at my mates house for a night on the town in Manchester. Enjoying a few pre-evening beers before heading out a couple of friends were playing Tomb Raider in the background. Whilst I didn’t get to play the game that night I was impressed by the graphics and main game mechanics. Watching Lara Croft perform acrobatic feats whilst taking down enemies with her dual wielding pistols was very satisfying. It might look and play primitive by today’s standards but back then Tomb Raider was the bomb and paved the way for many sequels and imitations.

1996 was certainly all about the power of the Sony PlayStation. My games library may not have evolved as quickly as it did back in my Mega Drive and SNES days but this was just the beginning, it would be 1997 which would confirm my love for the console with a long awaited release.

#retro gaming #video games #nostalgia #1990s #playstation #ridge racer #euro 96 #three lions

1 note · View note

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

RIP Blockbuster Video

I thought I would use this opportunity to to say goodbye to a much loved franchise which as a child gave me hundreds if not thousands of hours worth of entertainment. The franchise is of course Blockbuster Video, which was a staple part of my childhood growing up.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog my local Blockbuster was several miles away from my house and so either a lift in my parents car or an hours bus journey was needed in order to partake in its many delights. But before I begin to wax lyrical about the good old days let’s take it back a few years.

In the late 80’s my nearest video store was a small Jack Beanstalk Video which was located on Market Street in my home town. Being only a twenty minute walk from my house this was the perfect place on a weekend to rent cheap movies especially seeing as we didn't yet have Sky TV. I remember some of my favourite VHS titles of the time included the numerous Ernest movies (especially Ernest Saves Christmas which I would rent many times over), the Monster Squad and the Simpsons compilation videos. The shop might have been on the basic side and the number of films limited but my family and I would spend many happy weekends choosing films plus the mandatory sweets to accompany our Saturday nights entertainment from the small tuck shop area.

It was early 1991 when things took a dramatic change, our local Jack Beanstalk began renting video games. This was so amazing. Being a poor thirteen year old with only limited pocket money was no fun when it came to video games. Now for only a couple of pounds I could rent brand new Sega Mega Drive games, and rent I did. Me and my friend Rob must have gone through every title which that shop had to offer and throughout the next year we got to experience a wide range of fantastic games.

Things moved on and by the Summer of 1992 I was a proud owner of a Super Nintendo. It was whilst reading an issue of CVG magazine that I came across an article which stated Blockbuster Video had started to rent SNES games in the UK. Without repeating myself from a previous blog later that day I found myself stood in a recently opened Blockbuster Video. To say the store was impressive was an understatement. This was the Toys R Us of video stores. Compared to my local Jack Beanstalk this place was gigantic. There were shelves upon shelves packed with VHS tapes from floor to ceiling. Instead of three or four copies of each film which I was used to there were several rows of each title. The snack section resembled a cinema food court with fully working popcorn and Mr Slushy machines. The whole store had an energetic buzz about it, and each visit felt like an event which I would look forward to all week.

Of course I wasn’t there to peruse the films or buy popcorn I was there to rent a Super Nintendo game. Finding the games wasn’t hard, turns out there was a whole section dedicated to video games, very exciting for a young teenager at the time. My final choice that afternoon was Zelda: A Link to the Past which would ignite my love for the series from that day forth.

Over the next few years I would often make the long pilgrimage to this Blockbuster store renting such titles as Dead Dance, the Lost Vikings, Rock n Roll racing and Pocky and Rocky 2. On more than one occasion I would go back the following weekend and re-rent the same game hoping my saved data hadn’t been deleted.

With each rental costing only a few quid this was the perfect excuse for me and my friends to try games which we wouldn’t normally play. As most SNES titles often came with a hefty price tag it was only through renting that I played the likes of Ranma 1/2 Part 2 and the Mystical Ninja. And let’s not forget about the wealth of arcade machines which always stood in the entrance waiting to tempt any kid on the way out.

If memory serves me correct it would have been around 1995 when I rented my final SNES game before moving onto the PlayStation. For some reason I don’t remember ever really renting anymore games after that point. Maybe it was due to the fact I was getting older and had less time to play as many games? I would of course continue to rent movies all the way up until it’s demise but for me Blockbusters glory days will always be back in the early to mid 90’s.

I’ll never forget that excitement of walking into a store, being met by the smell of fresh popcorn and scanning the shelves for a new Super Nintendo game knowing I had 48 hours of pure uninterrupted fun ahead. The same can be said for physically renting a movie. In 2019 we are spoilt for choice with streaming services such as Netflix but that experience of spending a good half hour choosing a new movie before loading up with snacks then heading home to bunker down for the evening will never be matched in my opinion.

Unfortunately those days are long gone (unless your lucky enough to live in Oregon where the last functioning Blockbuster still operates). My last visit to a Blockbuster store was back in October 2013 when the company was in its final weeks of business. With only days to go before closing it’s doors forever the store was having a last minute sale, everything must go! Most of the shelves had been stripped bare, the DVD’s had all sold, the popcorn machine empty and the fridges turned off. I remember purchasing a couple of Skylander figures at £3 each and talking to the staff who were generally heartbroken at the closure of this once great organisation. It truly was a sad time and unfortunately a few years later this exact episode would repeat itself with my final Toys R Us visit, it truly felt like a piece of my childhood had died that day.

Blockbuster Video might no longer with us but I will always have those happy nostalgic memories of being a kid back the 90’s, using my pocket money to rent video games and spending my weekends having hours of fun with my friends. Thank you Blockbuster for helping this happen.

#retro gaming #nostalgia #1990s #super nintendo #video games #blockbuster #blockbuster video

2 notes · View notes

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

The PS1 & the Game With No Name - Oct 1995

Receiving a new video games console back in the day was a BIG deal. The whole event would involve saving up a large sum of money, often trading in an old system and then trying to convince your parents this was something you needed in your teenage life. The entire process was very exciting if not a little nerve racking.

Just as important as the new console was that first game you played. This game could make or break your first impressions of a system which you had been pining over for months and months. Maybe it was a free pack-in game such as Altered Beast or a title which you had begged your parents for (I’m looking at you Double Dragon). Throughout my previous blogs I have mentioned the Master System, Mega Drive and the SNES and in each case the first games which I received with those consoles. Those memories are to this day still crystal clear and have stuck with me all these years but for some strange reason I can’t recall my first PlayStation experience?

I defiantly purchased my PlayStation around the launch in the October of 1995 after trading in my SNES at Electronics Boutique. Unfortunately this is where my memory becomes cloudy. I remember not realising I had to own a memory card to save my games and returning to the store the following day to buy one, I remember telling my jealous college mates that I was a proud owner of a PS1 on our way to Greggs one lunchtime, I even remember going to watch the Mortal Kombat movie at our local cinema that month but I’ll be damned if I can remember my first PS1 game?

I’ve spent weeks racking my brain trying to recall that first title, surely I wouldn’t have purchased a PlayStation without a game? With this being the first disk-based console in my collection you would think that first game would have made a big impression on me as previous game had but alas that memory has faded. I do remember owning Doom but on checking Wikipedia that game wasn’t released until mid November of 95 so it couldn't have been that?

One memory I do have however was playing the pack-in demo disk which went by the very original title of Demo One. This was a free CD which came bundled with each Playstation console and contained numerous playable demos of the up and coming releases. I remember playing and being blown away by games such as Wipeout, Loaded, Total NBA, Battle Arena Toshinden and Destruction Derby. I would spend hours playing these games on repeat, marvelling at the graphics and awesome sound. There were also non-playable tech demos including footage of Tekken and a 3D rendered Tyrannosaurus Rex which was put there simply to show off the power of this new kid on the block.

Besides playing some of the best looking games of the time the PlayStation could also perform another incredible technical feat, it could play music CD’s. Up until this point my entire music collection was contained solely on cassettes. I would constantly walk around college listening to my many mix tapes on my Sony Walkman. At home my dad had a large stereo stacking system which included a CD player but I had to ask his permission whenever I wanted to use it. Suddenly I had my own CD player in my bedroom (and it turns out it was a pretty good one to boot). With streaming services such as Spotify nowadays talking about CD players might sound pretty lame but back in the mid 90’s this was cutting edge technology and would have cost a fortune to buy a standalone unit. To celebrate my new musical upgrade I purchased my first ever CD single from HMV - Roll With It by Oasis.

So even though I don’t have a clear memory of those early PlayStation days I’m sure I thoroughly enjoyed my new console and what it had to offer. My Super Nintendo days were officially behind me and I wouldn’t go back and visit that system for another twenty years. Video games were maturing and so was I, the foreseeable future was all about this little grey box, I was now part of the PlayStation generation.

#retro gaming #video games #nostalgia #1990s #ps1 #playstation

1 note · View note

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

Farewell SNES - Aug 1995

It was now midway into 1995. I was seventeen years old, young, free and single. College was going well, I was out partying every other night and everything felt so exciting. During this time there was a definite buzz in the air, anything seemed possible. Video games, music and movies were all flourishing and their influences could be felt throughout all popular culture.

We were of course in the midst of the Britpop era, Britain was cool once again and I was constantly listening to Oasis and the Prodigy on my Sony Walkman plus a bit of TLC and later that year Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise on repeat. My clichéd 90’s wardrobe mainly consisted of baggie jeans, cream coloured grandad shirts combined with a woollen waistcoat and topped off with a black bomber jacket with a bright orange lining, classy!

With access to more money thanks to my part-time job spinning pizzas at Asda more cinema excursions were on offer with notable films that year included Dumb and Dumber, Bad Boys and the Usual Suspects. US TV was also on the up with programs such as Friends and ER finally getting their British premieres. The mid 90’s was indeed a great time to be a teenager.

Life was good apart from my gaming habits which had come to a slight hiatus. With the exception of a few Blockbuster rentals my Super Nintendo library had stayed near enough the same since my birthday. The last major purchases had been back in February with Donkey Kong Country and NBA Jam Tournament Edition which Ben and I still continued to play on occasion. With my college commitments ramping up and a busy social life by the summer I found myself playing video games far less. My Super Nintendo had begun to collect dust and I was no longer rushing out each month to buy the latest issue of Super Play or NMS. It wasn’t that I was growing bored of gaming it was simply down to the fact that no upcoming releases had peaked my interest. With Nintendo focusing on its up and coming N64 (or Ultra 64 as it was known back then) new quality SNES titles had started to dry up. What I needed was a new console injection to get me excited about gaming once again. Obviously being a massive Nintendo fanboy the N64 would have been my go-to system but with no official release date yet confirmed this would have to wait.

I would make one last purchase for my Super Nintendo at the end of August of 95, that game was the NTSC version of Killer Instinct. Being a massive fan of one-on-one beat ‘em ups and having thoroughly enjoyed Rare’s last offering Killer Instinct seemed like an obvious choice. Great graphics combined with some decent gameplay made for a worthwhile investment plus there was yet another free CD. This time it was titled Killer Cuts and unlike Donkey Kong Country’s freebie this CD actually featured the in-game music.

For the next week I would play through Killer Instinct many times over trying to perfect Jago’s ultra twenty one hit combo but my yearning for a new console persisted. After a bit of deliberating I decided that new console would be the Sony PlayStation which was being hyped everywhere and would soon be released here in the Uk. Ever since first owning my Sega Master System back 1989 I was constantly on the lookout for the next big thing. If it was new I had to own it and that’s where Sonys new CD based console came in.

I had been following the development of the PlayStation ever since it was first revealed that Sony was going to enter the video games industry. Like many other people at the time I originally laughed at the concept of the electrical company who had designed my Walkman were even considering taking on both Nintendo and Sega at their own game. Overtime however my mind was changed. The console felt more mature, more edgy than the competition. The media was hyping Sony’s new console as the future of gaming and after reading about its 3D polygon graphics, CD quality sound and the fact that Square has decided to release their latest Final Fantasy instalment on the system my mind was made up.

The PlayStation was due to be released on 29th September and with shops taking preorders it was now or never. Less than a month after buying Killer Instinct I headed to Electronics Boutique with my boxed Super Nintendo a bunch of games including Secret of Mana and Super Street Fighter 2 to do another classic trade in. The launch price was £299 so to make up the final amount I emptied my Halifax Young Savers account of £110 (to my parents disappointment) and preordered a brand spanking new Sony PlayStation.

Looking back this was the end of an era for me as far as video games were concerned. For the last three years I had been a proud owner of a Super Nintendo. From that initial moment of taking control of Mario in Super Mario World to finally being able to play Street Fighter 2 in my own home this little grey box had entertained and amazed me to the very end. This glorious console had introduced me to many classic games and created so many wonderful memories. It wasn’t just the games which had made a lasting impression on me either. The design of the SNES was timeless, the innovative control pad with its distinctive coloured buttons, the countless Nintendo inspired magazines plus the friends I’d met who shared the same passion have all added to my love of the console and it would go on to be my all time favourite gaming system as an adult.

Thank you Nintendo, you pulled a blinder with this one

#retro gaming #nostalgia #1990s #video games #super nintendo #playstation

1 note · View note

dazstormretro · 5 years

Text

More Great SNES Games - Jan 1995

January of 1995 had begun with a bang. Thanks to my disappointing Final Fantasy 3 experience over the Christmas period I now found myself plowing plenty of hours into the cyberpunk inspired world of Shadowrun on my SNES. Part RPG and part action adventure this game felt unlike anything I had played up until this point.

Of course being a single player experience Shadowrun was solely a game I would play in the evenings after college. The rest of our spare time Ben and I were still playing NBA Jam, rewatching his collection of basketball VHS tapes hoping to develop crazy new moves and put them into practice on his homemade court. To add even more basketball goodness into the mix Ben had recently acquired NBA Live 95 which unlike NBA Jam was a more serious and realistic basketball experience. I must admit it took me a few attempts to get the hang of the 5-on-5 games once again plus the isometric court perspective was confusing at first. However after a couple of games NBA Live became a firm favourite between us (plus I loved the squeaky shoe sound effects).

January soon turned into February and this month two brand new Super Nintendo titles were due to enter our lives. First up was the new and highly anticipated game from Rare which I would receive for my birthday. This game was of course Donkey Kong Country which had been previewed for months leading up to its official release. I remember NMS magazine dedicating a whopping twenty six pages to its review and scoring it a massive 97% (which looking back was a smidge too high in my opinion).

DKC may have been a bit overrated but you couldn’t argue against its stunning 3D rendered graphics making it easily one of the best looking games on the system to date. As a platformer it didn’t compare to the likes of Super Mario World, the longterm playability just simply wasn’t there but as a showcase to the strengths of the SNES this game defiantly delivered. Along with its jaw dropping graphics was a array of beautiful musical arrangements to accompany each stage. My personal favourite was (and still is) Aquatic Ambiance which can be found during stage six and brings a tear to my eye even today.

As with many big Super Nintendo releases back in the 90’s the price tag was pretty hefty costing around £60 new but the game did come with a free music CD titled Go Ape. On first loading up this CD into my dads outrageously large music centre I was expecting to be treated to the in-game music. As it turns out the CD comprised of several famous (at the time) musical acts and included bands such as Primal Scream, Terrovision and Oasis. I must admit the Go Ape CD was pretty awesome at the time but for some reason I ended up giving it away to a girl in our local chip shop?

With plenty of hidden areas and collectibles to find DKC kept me well occupied during the early months of 1995. I remember the game being pretty tough with the later levels becoming almost impossible to beat. In fact it was only a couple of months ago that I managed to see Donkey Kong Country all the way through to the end using many a save state on my SNES Mini.

The other must have SNES title that month which Ben quickly picked up was NBA Jam Tournament Edition. Basically a souped-up version of the original with more players, teams and unlockable characters. The main differences to the first game was the option of on-court power-ups and Hot Spots which if activated correctly would enable players to score up to ten points with a single shot on basket which lead to many ferocious and high scoring matches.

I have many great memories playing NBA Jam around this time with Ben. We were now both seventeen and attending different colleges. As with most teenagers at this point in their lives new and more exciting opportunities (mainly alcohol and girls) were starting to intervene with our video gaming time. For these reasons NBA Jam Tournament Edition was one of the last great couch co-op gaming experiences which I remember having (at least for a few years) and marks an important yet poignant turning point in my adolescent life.

#retro gaming #video games #nostalgia #1990s #super nintendo #shadowrun #Donkey kong country #nba jam

2 notes · View notes