150th Post: The Games That Shaped Me

I recently started listening to the Button Mash Dads Podcast, a duo of gamer Dad’s who were discussing in their first episode the five games that helped to shape their lives. And so I began pondering – what were the games that shaped my life? Could I truly narrow it down to just five?

The topic seemed impossible, and further questioning followed. How do I define “shaping?” Should I pick games that hooked me, solidifying my interest in the hobby altogether? Should I pick games that connected with me, giving me deeper insight about who I am as a person? Or should I pick games that built relationships, helping to establish friendships and how I developed socially?

On top of all that, I’d like to think I’m still being shaped! Would a newer game sneak its way onto my list even though there’s not as much time behind it?

I’ll do my best. In celebration of my 150th post, here are the five games that I’ve chosen that have shaped my life!

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Super Mario Bros.
(NES, 1985)

Let’s get this one out of the way. I think many of us can confidently say that the original Super Mario Bros charmed our hearts from the very first screen. Hearing those opening notes, the sound Mario makes when he jumps, the feeling of breaking blocks and collecting coins, getting the super mushroom, shooting fireballs, stomping on goombas, moving through pipes, sliding down flagpoles, etc etc etc – these actions are engrained into our DNA.

When we got our Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas one year, I was sneaking down to our living room early in the morning just to see if I could make it a little further than I did last time. Gosh, back then, even getting to the second level took some serious effort. Nowadays, I know about all the hidden one-ups, I’m taking the warp zones straight to 8-1, and I’m…still probably losing on 8-4 (damn that firebar in the underwater section!). I’m just thankful I can consistently get across that awkward jump in the last world!

Mega Man 3
(NES, 1990)

I have completed thirty Mega Man games across its various entries (Mega Man 1-11 + Rockman & Forte, Mega Man V, Mega Man X 1-8, Mega Man Zero 1-4, both Mega Man ZX games, and Mega Man Legends). THIRTY! It is easily the series to which I am most committed, and it all started with Mega Man 3.

There were so many discoveries connected to this game that made it special for me. Trial and error was at its core. I had to painstakingly try out every weapon in order to discover a boss’s weakness. I had to play around with Rush in order to learn the optimal path across obstacles. I had to take meticulous notes, writing down every password so I’d never lose a second of my progress. I didn’t have any guides back then. I did the work, and it felt so rewarding to finish a game based on all my own efforts.

Furthermore, my sister and I stumbled across the tricks to slow down time and high jump out of pits by utilizing button combinations on the second controller – LONG before we ever read about them in strategy guides. Not only could I beat the game, but now every level was my own personal sandbox.

People like to compare this one to Mega Man 2 and say that it wasn’t as good. I’m sorry. Mega Man 3 is maybe the best the entire series!

Final Fantasy II (US)
(SNES, 1991)

I’ve talked about Final Fantasy II (US) a number of times with a special shoutout happening just a mere 100 posts ago. In that post, I explained how FF2 was a game where I’d watch my friend’s older brother play while we (I) sat in confusion. Since I wasn’t really sure what was happening in the game, I latched on hard to the incredible soundtrack – melodies that have stuck with me for decades. I have a career in music now, and I’d like to think that Final Fantasy was a major contributor to that pathway.

Coming back to this game over time meant finding new appreciation in the narrative. Deception, genocide, revenge, romance, mind control, sacrifice, family – these were heavy issues to digest as a child! I’m glad through the Nintendo DS 3D Remaster and the newer Pixel Remaster versions, I’ve been able to experience details from different perspectives in my life. Now, I should really do myself a favor and play the After Years sequel just to fill the hole.

Myst
(Macintosh, 1993)

The same friend who had Final Fantasy II also helped me dive into the world of PC gaming. It started initially with The Manhole, a 1988 point-and-click adventure from the same developer that made Myst. In that game, you simply wandered around a fantastical world filled with friendly, animal characters who greeted you with all sorts of whacky dialogue. There was no point. You couldn’t beat it. It was just meant to be exploratory, challenging your imagination to fill in the blanks of the new place in which you’ve been dropped.

Myst took this point-and-click exploration and built a fascinating mystery around it. Now, with the touch of a book, you’ve been transported to a strange island with two brothers trapped in books of their own, urging you to find pages of their respective books in order to be freed from their prison. Each brother insists that you cannot trust the other one. Who do you believe?

It’s up to you to pick up clues around the island, intrigued by the strange architecture and machinery built around you. How does everything connect? Myst really made me think and helped to grow my natural curiosity about the world. All I could do was grab my trusty pencil and paper to write down anything that could be relevant later in the game. It’s an incredibly satisfying journey with a wonderful twist at the end!

While I never was able to devote much time to the game’s many sequels, I did fall head-first into the novels. This came at an especially pivotal moment in my life after I had discovered the joy of reading once again. I love how these books expand upon the game’s lore, and I’m desperately hoping to see some sort of TV or theatrical adaptation one day!

StarCraft
(Windows, 1998)

While StarCraft was not my first soirée into the realm of online gaming, it began a nearly 3-year stint of heavily addictive play amongst my cohort of friends. After staying up all night playing a little ol’ game called WarCraft 2, my friend and I discovered a CD in his room; the word StarCraft was sprawled across the top and there lingered an image of a strange, alien creature. “StarCraft? Wait. Is this like WarCraft…but in space?!” We had to try it.

We spent the next couple hours deeply invested in learning the game, trying to figure out the various buildings and units that could be spawned from them. We couldn’t win a single match. We then learned that another one of our friends was seriously into the StarCraft. “Try building a bunker.” VICTORY! Okay, now we’re getting the hang of it.

Slowly, more of our friends discovered this game, and soon everyone I knew was playing it. Battle.net was our most-visited website. We’d stay up til 2 or 3 in the morning playing the game, not caring that school was starting in a few hours. On the nights that we needed to get to bed, we’d sometimes wake up at 4 or 5 am so we could get in a round or two. We had several LAN parties, lugging our giant PC monitors and towers to a central location so we could take on the challenge in the same room.

Later, we discovered the game had an expansion: Brood War. More buildings! More units! We never played the main story of the game. We didn’t care about that. Big Game Hunters 24/7! And, our thirst for online play bled over into other genres. Soon we were playing the likes of Worms 2, Quake 3 Arena, Counter-Strike, Age of Empires II… some more than others. It was a wild time. Whenever I think about the game today, I say to myself, “I can’t play it again. I’ll get addicted.” And, it’s totally true.

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Thanks for stopping by to read my post! What are some of the games that shaped YOU? I’d love to hear about them! If you enjoyed my content, please consider clicking that “like” button, and follow me to read more of my stuff.

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