Your favorite video game memory
Nov 26, 2017 11:20:48 GMT -5
Post by TOS on Nov 26, 2017 11:20:48 GMT -5
Let's avoid discussing our favorite DOOM memories...we all have them and have all probably discussed them on here or other doom forums at some point.
But as this last Halloween passed, I was flooded with memories involving Halloween when I was just a wee TraceOfSpades, shopping for Halloween costumes with my mother in the year 2000, mere days before my tenth birthday. We always went to an American store called Target to do our annual Halloween shopping. We never seemed to go there for anything else as far as I can recall. The smell of the costume section brings back many memories.
My mother always instilled a fear of strangers in me from a very young age...yeah, this is smart...but the way she went about it comes off as a little concerning to many, myself included. "(TraceOfSpades), you cannot leave my side when we are at the store...otherwise a man will take you and play with your peepee!" Yeah, real fucked up shit.
Now...at this time, my favorite videogame was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I had just recently beat it and was upset that there were no more secrets of Hyrule for me to discover...the land had been saved, I was the Hero of Time, Ganondorf was sealed away "forever"...that was it. Game over.
But then I saw it. There at the new game display and available to play...I saw the familiar letters: Z-E-L-D-A, written in a familiar font...but what? THE LETTERS ARE PURPLE AND THERE IS A CREEPY FACE BEHIND THEM.
Unknown to me at that moment, I was staring at the cover art for what would become my favorite game of my childhood: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Oh good gawd almighty! ANOTHER ZELDA GAME FOR ME TO PLAY!
I was so excited, that I forgot all about how we were at Target to shop for my all time favorite holiday's festivities. This was a turning point in my life. As I picked up the controller to try this game out from the very beginning, my mother said to me, "(TraceOfSpades), come on. We need to go find a costume." But despite my mother's warning of strangers giving me the "Uncle Badtouch" treatment...I stared at the screen in front of me...that mask spinning toward me marking the title screen of the game...and I said without looking at her, "Nah, that's okay. I'm gonna stay here and try this out." This game is what made me cut the cord attaching me to my mother's hip. I had become a man. But not just any man...I became The Goddamn Hero of Time once again!
Everything about this game in the first moments I played it was perfect. Familiar characters, mysterious new ones, a semi-familiar setting accented with the perfect atmosphere for the Halloween season. This was a new type of game for me. This wasn't the typical adventure game I had grown accustomed to. This was something darker. Something new. Something bordering on creepy. But I loved every second of it. This game was already touching on thematic elements that I had not been exposed to at such a degree, and later in the game to even darker themes. Theft. Betrayal. Despair. Death. Mourning. Revenge.
To me this game was more than just a game. This game exposed me to elements that I firmly believe helped develop my outlook on life, be it for better or for worse. I sometimes find myself taking pessimistic or nihilistic stances, moods that are present throughout the entire game.
There was also something that I had in common with the games antagonist, The Skull Kid.
So that's my favorite gaming memory. What's yours?
But as this last Halloween passed, I was flooded with memories involving Halloween when I was just a wee TraceOfSpades, shopping for Halloween costumes with my mother in the year 2000, mere days before my tenth birthday. We always went to an American store called Target to do our annual Halloween shopping. We never seemed to go there for anything else as far as I can recall. The smell of the costume section brings back many memories.
My mother always instilled a fear of strangers in me from a very young age...yeah, this is smart...but the way she went about it comes off as a little concerning to many, myself included. "(TraceOfSpades), you cannot leave my side when we are at the store...otherwise a man will take you and play with your peepee!" Yeah, real fucked up shit.
Now...at this time, my favorite videogame was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I had just recently beat it and was upset that there were no more secrets of Hyrule for me to discover...the land had been saved, I was the Hero of Time, Ganondorf was sealed away "forever"...that was it. Game over.
But then I saw it. There at the new game display and available to play...I saw the familiar letters: Z-E-L-D-A, written in a familiar font...but what? THE LETTERS ARE PURPLE AND THERE IS A CREEPY FACE BEHIND THEM.
Unknown to me at that moment, I was staring at the cover art for what would become my favorite game of my childhood: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Oh good gawd almighty! ANOTHER ZELDA GAME FOR ME TO PLAY!
I was so excited, that I forgot all about how we were at Target to shop for my all time favorite holiday's festivities. This was a turning point in my life. As I picked up the controller to try this game out from the very beginning, my mother said to me, "(TraceOfSpades), come on. We need to go find a costume." But despite my mother's warning of strangers giving me the "Uncle Badtouch" treatment...I stared at the screen in front of me...that mask spinning toward me marking the title screen of the game...and I said without looking at her, "Nah, that's okay. I'm gonna stay here and try this out." This game is what made me cut the cord attaching me to my mother's hip. I had become a man. But not just any man...I became The Goddamn Hero of Time once again!
Everything about this game in the first moments I played it was perfect. Familiar characters, mysterious new ones, a semi-familiar setting accented with the perfect atmosphere for the Halloween season. This was a new type of game for me. This wasn't the typical adventure game I had grown accustomed to. This was something darker. Something new. Something bordering on creepy. But I loved every second of it. This game was already touching on thematic elements that I had not been exposed to at such a degree, and later in the game to even darker themes. Theft. Betrayal. Despair. Death. Mourning. Revenge.
To me this game was more than just a game. This game exposed me to elements that I firmly believe helped develop my outlook on life, be it for better or for worse. I sometimes find myself taking pessimistic or nihilistic stances, moods that are present throughout the entire game.
There was also something that I had in common with the games antagonist, The Skull Kid.
The Skull Kid, before he put on Majora's Mask, was a mischievous lost child, always pulling pranks on people. He never meant any harm by it, he just wanted to be liked and have fun. But his constant joking around would cause him to often become alienated by other kids, shunned as the weirdo. This was me as a kid. Constantly bullied for being the chubby one trying my hardest to be the funniest one so other kids would like me...mothers would force their children to invite me to their birthday parties because I was in their classes. I knew it too, that was the worst part. I knew that my going there was only the result of parental pity, not a true desire to be included on the part of the other children. So in Skull Kid, I found similarity and even had sympathy for his plight. But when Skull Kid put on that mask, the powers it granted him turned him from a mischievous child into an evil monster. At first I admired the power and wanted it for myself. But upon completion of the game, I learned a very valuable life lesson. Absolute power corrupts even the most innocent minds. This made me not want such power anymore. I didn't want to hurt anybody...I just wanted to feel like I mattered. The game taught me that the best way to overcome hardship is not to overpower people, but to overpower yourself. I learned to be more confident, which made dealing with bullies so much easier. It taught me that when other kids are being mean, maybe they just need to be healed.
So that's my favorite gaming memory. What's yours?
