5 Video Game Memories

So, Empire Magazine (best known for concocting soul-stealing lists that dare me to conquer them) has announced their newest feature: The Greatest Videogames of All-Time. And they're leaving it in the hands of the people (as that's never gone wrong before). They're asking people to write in their top 5 nominees, and in addition provide their "fondest memory". While normally I'd be too busy, what with my currently hectic schedule of unemployment and banging my head into a laptop screen with writer's block (or more accurately, writer's "Everything I do sucks, why continue? You overweight failure, you might as well just star that teaching career your parents keep pseudo-subtly suggesting"), but as I'm currently bed-ridden sick, I though "What the hell?". While video games have never really been my first love, nor have I ever written about them extensively or intensively before, I was surprised at the emotional attachment I'd had for some of the titles I'd selected. So I thought I'd reprint them here (since they'll never see the light of day otherwise) and see if anybody else feels the same. Feel free to chime in in the comments, or do your own shit for the magazine article you won't actually be able to read in this country here.

1st pick- The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time

I came really late to the Zelda series. I grew up in a Mario home, and only got around to the Zelda games senior year of college. Tracking down an N64 and copy of the game was arduous, but when I finally got down to it, and popped the game in the system…it was something else. It was amazing. It hit me with a wave of nostalgia in its graphic simplicity, but still felt fresh. Still held an appeal beyond the historical. It was like seeing Citizen Kane for the first time, or listening to Sgt. Pepper. It was different than any other game I had played, yet felt so familiar. Its no surprise its the title every Hyrule habitué swears by, and the one people keep going back to. It didn't just define what the N64 was capable of. Narratively, it defined what the medium of gaming was capable of.

from pushselectsmagazine.com

2nd pick- Bioshock

My favorite memory is likely everyone's favorite, and for damn good reason. The turnaround, the about face the narrative takes with the reveal of the importance of the phrase "Would you kindly?" rivals any movie twist (or any revelation of the factuality of a promise of pastry), and elevates the game from shooter with social commentary to an almost labyrinthian mind-bender.

from the Bioshock Wiki

3rd pick- Red Dead Redemption

The final appearance of the Strange Man. Before the Strange Man ever makes an appearance, the game plays just like a GTA game, but albeit with far more desert and a Leone-esque score. It's all just "shoot this" and "race that", with vague mentions of a "past" or a "family" in order to put some sort of story on the mayhem, like most of Rockstar's other entries have tried to do. But then he appears, high on a precipice, dressed in all black like a mix of Abe Lincoln and Henry Fonda in Once Upon A Time In The West. And he talks about people you killed, things you'd done, and asks you to make moral choices, neither praising or damning you, whichever you choose. It lends the game an air of the supernatural, an element of the philosophical, and a depth elevating it beyond "Grand Theft Horse". When his final appearance occurs, at what would become Marston's final resting place, you realize just how important the title's final word is, and just what kind of redemption John's seeking. What other game has you searching, not for gold coins, but for God?

from Digitaltrends.com

4th pick- Pokemon Red/Blue

Though I personally started with Blue, the games are interchangeable. The fondest memory is, of course, beating the Elite Four. Because at age 8, that might have been the most effort I'd ever had to put into anything; the most long-term goal I'd conceived and committed to. And while what followed didn't quite live up to my expectations (no, beating the Elite Four did not let you open your own gym. It did not translate into real-world praise. President Clinton was not going to send me a letter of congratulations), it was the first time in my life I'd get to look back on something and say "Look how far I've come". To marvel at the single-minded zeal I'd demonstrated in my months long attempt to reach that point. To this day, I get nostalgic for a time when my biggest worry was beating the Elite Four, when there was a tough but clear path to success, and when the hard work you put in collecting the badges had guaranteed results. And that's when I fire up the old Gameboy Color.

from http://img.gamefaqs.net

5th pick- Final Fantasy VII

The death of Aerith. For a 7 year old in suburban New York in 1997, this was Ned Stark's beheading. It was Snape killing Dumbledore. This was Piggy getting got, Adrianna getting whacked, and Lt. Henry Blake's plane over the sea of Japan all rolled up into one. This was why you pages through every Game Informer you could, talked to every 6th grader in the cafeteria, and even braved the yet-untamed wilderness of the internet to find the cheat code to bring her back from the dead. And this was why your mom wouldn't let you play any more T for Teen games after she found you crying when you found out that nothing could.

from the Final Fantasy Wiki

So, there's that. Hope y'all enjoy.