Everything Yet Nothing

My Gaming History

I began gaming in 1980. Some of the first systems I used were the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Intellivision, Coleco Vision, and Apple IIe (the first computer I used because the school had one and I used it while I waited for my dad). I had received a Star Wars Collection with Millenium Falcon, At-at Walker, X-Wing, figures and I can’t remember. I sadly sold all that to a kid whose entire room was Star Wars where his mom said they’re only collecting one TOY. I hope he saved all that and sold it for bank later. But anyway, I sold it all for an Atari 2600 and a pack of games. I then played on for 1982-1986 until I had to make the first decision:

Sega Master (bastard) System OR NES?

You were either a Sega person or a Nintendo person and I was a Sega person. Everyone else was an NES person. I didn’t meet anyone who was a Sega person besides me. I bought the Sega Master system purely because of Rambo First Blood Part II. I picked based on the game and that game was similar to Ikari Warriors which is one of my favorite arcade games. The problem with Ikari Warriors was that it required a special joystick with a spinner at the top. That was impossible to replicate at home because no one made a joystick for only ONE game. But Rambo was the closet KNOCKOFF. The Sega Master system had way better graphics but other than a few games, way crappier games. But I missed out on some of the NES games. I did play/beat Legend of Zelda and Excite Bike was another favorite of mine.

You were either a Sega person or a Nintendo person and I was a Sega person.

I also had a chance to play a PONG machine which we regularly enjoyed.

Sega Genesis

My next upgrade was the Sega Genesis. I had saved for a year or two for $210 to buy it. I continued through high school until senior year where I finally got a Super NES for Street Fighter 2.

At that point, I moved to PC Gaming when I got my first computer in 1994. A 486 for $4500. I was still paying that LOAN on the computer until the 2010s. haha.  Once I got my computer, a coworker came over and loaded me up with warez. I had pirate everything: Warcraft 1, Doom 2, Myst (but hated it). I had bought a few games though such as Dark Forces or Tie-Fighter.

I did get into Play Station 2 games and XBOX360 games but otherwise skipped console.

I’m a non-mainstream gamer so I skip the Nintendo stuff mostly or Final Fantasy, etc.

TOP FAVORITE GAMES OF ALL TIME

• NHL 94 – Genesis. Never found anyone that could beat me. Went to college and owned people.

• Uncharted Waters (Super NES). This started my love of pirate games. This game was the absolute best. You could form fleets, trade, attack as pirates. RPG. You could also use REAL WORLD MAPS. So amazing. They made lots of sequels but mainly for Japan and I never found one I could enjoy (but might exist).
• Doom 2 – Online Mulitplayer. I’d never play it again but that was my first online FPS and we had so much fun using custom maps and the Simpsons sound effects plugin.
• Warcraft II – It was a complete fluke how that game turned out so well because of the awesome things were bugs or unfair map design. That magical combination of greatness never happened again (for Warcraft players). Many of the people that worked on that game disappeared after.

In the beginning, one of my favorite arcade games was APB (later made a revised game).

• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – 80s music, Ray Liotta acting. I also love MIAMI setting. The missions were incredible as well as the buildings you buy + missions associated with them. They also added a motorcycle
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – It’s hard to say what is better between the two but it had gang takeover areas + the thugg life.
• Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, Battlefield Hardline – So amazing and fun. Battlefield 1942 introduced vehicles to FPS. Rest of versions sucked.
• Call of Duty 1,2, Modern Warfare 3, COD (2019) – The people creating the game left or were forced out after COD MW3 and then it started to blow because it wasn’t the original people making the sequels.
• Sea of Thieves – Love it but it is always buggy or griefers ruining hours of work or lack of content until 2020. This was the 3D world of pirates that World of Warcraft was supposed to deliver but never did. It’s four years old now and has a ton of content.
• Assassins Creed: Black Flag. Top 10 game for sure.
• Fallout: New Vegas. I did every faction.
• Commandos 2 : Very frustrating gameplay and lots of reloading saves but fucking amazing.
• Counterstrike, year 2000 – Not the one that kids play 15-20 years later, the first YEAR of Counterstrike. I made most of my friends online during that year as I hosted a server. So much fun and that game defined all FPS games going forward.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (194.9 hours played)
• Tie Fighter (PC)
• Dark Forces (1-2)
• Saint’s Row 2,3,4, etc
• Rock Band 1-3, Rockband Green Day
• Cyberpunk 2077. It’s amazing after they fixed the bugs.
• DJ Hero 1-2. They shut down the store for more songs.
• Deadpool – So funny
• Mass Effect 2/3 (skipped 1)
• Zelda Windwaker (because boats)

Honorable Mention

• World of Warcraft – Enjoyable for the time we played it up until they killed the Garrisons.
• GTA 1 – Started it all off. It was kind of a pain to play through. Rest of GTA except IV blew.
• Bioshock 1-3, Infinite (114 hours)
• Far Crys: Far Cry 3 (120 hours), Far Cry 4 (109 hours), Far Cry 5 (140 hours), New Dawn (16 hours), Primal (130 hours)
• Call of Juraez Gunslinger (64 hours)
• Mad Max (131 hours)
• Max Payne 1-3
• Tomb Raider 1-3 (the NEW 2013 versions and up): Tomb Raider (50 hours), Rise of the Tomb Raider (120 hours), Shadow of the Tomb Raider (113 hours)
• Batman Games (2?)
• LA Noire
• Gods of War PS2/PS4/Handheld
• Gran Turismo 2
• Elder Scrolls: Morrowind (all brown), Oblivion
• some Guitar Heroes

Unsure

• Skyrim – I have 475 hours played but not sure if I enjoyed it
• Fallout 4 – 251 hours played
• Witcher 3 (172 hours)

Probably missed a lot of games.