The Pivotal Moment
Our next issue should kick off all proper-like next week. As a prelude, we’ve assembled a sort of preview teaser for the entries to come. I’ve asked everyone to write a brief reminiscence about the one game that most shaped their outlook and tastes in gaming, and the next four (hopefully) weekly updates will delve into several of these entries in greater detail.
18 thoughts on “GameSpite Issue 13.0: The pivotal prologue”
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Mine was Xenogears.
Mine was FFVII, same as Nicola’s, and partially for the same reasons.
Also, Kat’s experience with online StarCraft is quite similar to mine, though it wasn’t the first time I’d gamed online (just one of the very last) and I was only getting berated in good ol’ American English. Still love the game, though.
Looking forward to the full entries!
Sonic the Hedgehog was my first love, but it was Ocarina of Time that really and truly blew my mind. And it’s still my favorite to this day!
Looking forward to the full issue to see some of these expanded upon.
Hey, this is looking pretty great! I would’ve loved to have contributed, but I don’t think anyone would want to read about my undying love for Double Dragon II anytime soon.
I wish I could’ve written something for this.
Yeah, this makes me wish I was more decisive about jumping on bandwagons. Anyways…
Anecdotal Answer: Bubble Bobble taught me a lesson about friendship.
Wait For The Punchline Answer: Xenogears taught me a lesson about story.
Sincere Answer: Super Mario Bros. was a great video game.
When I think about the question its kinda rough to come up with just one.
Got me into Gaming: Sonic Fury for the Action Max. It was the first video game I ever played and owned. The game was horrible and the system broke after a year, but if my folks had not bought it for me I would probly be some sort of jock instead of a gamer.
Shaped my Gaming Tastes: Street Fighter 2 (arcade) & Shining Force (Genesis). Was never big into either genre until I played these games. I have been a fighting game and RPG fan ever since.
I was nearly too ashamed to say that FFVII was a pivotal moment in my gaming history, but Nicola summed up my feelings exactly. Parish (among others) can bash it all they want, and they’re mostly right (except about the music. the music still kicks ass). Doesn’t change the way this game changed how I saw games, and like Nicola said, how it had so much character in it, which it turns out I love.
Metroid – Quite possibly the most overrated game of all time. I played it back in the day on the NES, beat it (after losing the ginormous passwords a few times), and was like, “…that was it?” Metroid: Fusion is my favorite of all the Metroids. Also, I’m surprised nobody listed Symphony of the Night.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – Few people realize this game had an alternate title in the Japanese release it was “Nippon Ichi 余りにロングゲームを作る最初の物” ( or “Nippon Ichi not the first ones to make too long games”)
Final Fantasy VI – Awesome music as noted. Unfortunately, it had better music than its fanboy-adored sequel.
EarthBound – I’ve never taken LSD, so I don’t see the appeal of this game. Perhaps I should bring a little 13″ TV and SNES to a Phish concert?
ActRaiser – YES!
Final Fantasy VII – When Square-Enix remakes this with the higher res battle models used in place of the “Popeye” field models Jeremy will be forced to acknowledge how superior in every way it is to FFVIII.
I’m surprised that it wasn’t a total NES love-fest myself.
As last in a line of evil wumpii, I am obligated to return Paul’s evil: FF5 has *far* better music than 6, although I’ll give you that 4 and 6 have the most memorable motifs. And Metroid is *so* not overrated — the newer ones may be better games, but the original practically invented the idea of brilliantly hidden-in-plain-sight nooks and secrets, and I daresay no-one’s done them better to this day. God knows I tried with the Abuse engine.
-20 maturity, +1 offtopic, +1 discussion. YOUR MOVE
“FF5 has *far* better music than 6”
Wow, I thought I was the only one who thought along these lines!
I really like this concept. I am now stoked for the new issue.
As for my personal pivotal game, I have to go with Punch-Out. It essentially primed me for Street Fighter II and the deluge of fighting games that have followed. I certainly follow other genres, but my choice of console used to be determined by the fighting games available for it. The emotional peaks and nadirs of Punch-Out have carried on for me with Street Fighter, the THQ N64 wrestling games, Guilty Gear, and so on and so forth.
Yeah, calling Metroid “overrated” is basically like shouting, “I have no understanding of historical context! And gosh, weren’t the Japanese silly for liking Space Invaders so much back in the day!”
Wumpwoast: I was a…. a… Commodore kid! (sobs) So I played a lot of Times of Lore trying to convince myself that i was playing The Legend of Zelda.
For whatever reason, Dragon Warrior wouldn’t (and didn’t) spring to mind as the answer to this question, but now that Red Hedgehog mentions it, that game was really different from anything I’d ever played before and it really did make a huge impression on me at the time.
I thought Metroid was overrated playing it in 1989 or thereabouts when I was 8 or 9 years old. Simon’s Quest was much cooler despite being impossible to figure out without buying a Nintendo Power back issue. Flame whips are awesome.
OK, but that doesn’t change the fact that responding to someone’s anecdote about how something was a personal revelation for them by saying, “No way, that’s sucky and overrated,” is a pretty dickish move!
This was a great read. Some of the answers really touched on my own memories, such as Actraiser, FFVI, and Starcraft.
Personally, Ogre Battle on the SNES is probably the game that has most impacted me. It introduced me to an awesome mix of genres that has yet to be truly matched, and only Matsuno’s own games come close. The mix of turn-based/real-time strategy (Most of my favorite games give the illusion of real-time, like KotOR), the incredible level of micro-management, and the characters all have a special place in the memories of my youth. I also vividly remember spending SEVENTY dollars of my precious allowance on the game.