BIGsheep – With Christmas swiftly approaching, 7outof10′s mind keeps drifting to sugarplum fairies, stocking hung by the fire and, of course, the wonderful posibility of large presents under the tree. But just like Scrooge, we must also consider the Ghost of Christmas Past as well as Present. What are some of your fondest gaming related Christmas memories? What were your best gaming presents?
whduryea – As much as I hate to put myself in the company of the infamous screeching child in a certain inexplicably popular YouTube video, I would have to say my Nintendo 64. While I don’t remember if I spent three and a quarter minutes hopping from foot to foot screaming the console’s name, I do remember how much fun I had playing it. The system had its merits (and a collection of some of the most fantastic console titles ever released), but I think my affection for it had more to do with the time it arrived in my life than with the system itself.
It wasn’t my first console, that was the Sega Master System, however it arrived at that perfect moment when the upward curve of my gaming ability and the downward curve of gaming difficulty intersected. Prior to the N64, I had been more a video game voyeur than player. The games had been difficult, and I was too young and my dexterity too limited to make any real progress. But the N64 changed that. Titles like Super Mario 64 had just the right level of difficulty to challenge me into trying a level again and again without frustrating me into surrender. In fact, I think SM64 was the first game I finished, and it may still stand as the title in which I’ve logged the most hours.
Manuel – I’m torn between two things here, one hardware and one software.
Receiving the original Gameboy was probably the most excited I’ve ever been on a Christmas morning; I didn’t put that thing down for the entire day, and Tetris hooked everybody else in the family rather than being a solo pursuit – something of a novelty in those pre-Wii days. That was also one that sneaked up on me nicely. I had asked for a Gameboy many months before, but my parents had stated they were out of stock and even went as far as asking me to choose something completely different. I had no clue it was coming, and actively thought there was no chance in it turning up. Devious, but fantastic. I can still see each section of the packaging even now.
The other one, bizarrely, is NHLPA ’93 on the Sega MegaDrive; primarily because the game itself was awesome, but also because it fostered a spirit of videogame competition between my brother and I that lasts to this day, except usually now with PES or FIFA. Let’s put it this way, there are two things that I consider to be essential on any given December 25th: the first is having watched Die Hard at midnight the evening before, and the second is spending the morning schooling my older sibling in the latest and greatest sporting simulation. Without those, I’d have to grow up; and I don’t want to do that just yet.
Pogo – This is a tough one. Probably my best memory of a videogame themed Christmas must have been when I was about 8. My grandparents came round on Boxing Day with big presents bundled in bags. We soon came to realise that the presents were only for my sisters. Me and my brother waited patiently for our bin bag full of fun times, but they didn’t have any. My granddad then announced that he was buying my brother and me a games console. It was our choice to decide what we wanted: a Sega Megadrive or a Super Nintendo.
We decided we wanted Mario, so it was the all about the SNES. I’d never been so excited in my life. I’d spend all my time around other friend’s houses playing on their NES or Master System yet I’d never owned my own console (except for a crappy ZX spectrum). We sat there for three days playing Super Mario World. As soon as we got up, to the moment we had to go to bed it was Nintendo all the way.
BIGsheep – Did you lot always know what you were getting, or, like Manny’s Gameboy, did some things sneak up on you?
whduryea – I usually knew what games I would be receiving before Christmas morning, but sometimes the quality of the game was a surprise. (One year I received Rise of the Robots. That was not a pleasant surprise.) Probably the best example of this came in the form of Yoshi’s Island. Having no PC at the time, I had asked for the Super Nintendo port of Doom. However, this was at the beginning of the era of violent game paranoia, and my grandmother was unwilling to buy a game known primarily for its gore for her pre-adolescent grandson. When I received Yoshi’s Island instead, I was underwhelmed. Not only was this a cutesy platformer but Mario was a crying, diaper-garbed infant. This seemed, literally, to be a “baby game”. How wrong I was. What I soon discovered was that it was one of the most endearing, brilliantly designed platformers I had ever played, full of wonder and ingenuity, and it still stands as my favorite title on the SNES.
Pogo – As for a sneaky Christmas present, it came in the form of a ‘rumble vest’ for my Dreamcast. I truly had no idea I was getting it, or even what it really was! It was a vest you’d put on and it would react to the in-game rumble. It kind of worked but after a while just made you feel really sick. My belly would be full of Toblerone and coke so a vest which just rumbles your whole body wasn’t the best idea. It also began to smell funny after about an hour’s use. I don’t know if that was me or the vest though!
BIGsheep – That’s awesome, I’d never even heard of that particular peripheral. Although from how you describe it I can see probably why.
Pogo – Finally, some of my best video game themed Christmases have been the more recent. Last year was particularly amazing. I took Rock Band 2 home and we all just dove in and had some fun, including my sister attempted to sing Soundgarden when she’d never heard of them before; she sang it an about three octaves higher than Chris Cornell! Also, my mum’s boyfriend getting drunk and dropping the drumsticks after every other note. It makes for a funny spectacle. My mum discovered my voice after belting out some Steve Ray Vaughn. She said I should do it more, and then I got embarrassed and hid behind the guitar.
I’ll never forget a line she said to me though. After buying that Super Nintendo and my brother and I playing every game we got our hands on to death, she came upstairs and said: “Will you never stop playing these stupid computer games?” “No way.” we answered. She confided in herself that it was “just a phase, and they’ll grow out of it”.
I love thinking back about that day and then looking at where I am now. 18 years of gaming, countless consoles in storage, our website right here, and more plastic game cases than you could build a house with… it just makes me smile.
Manuel – I actually have one other story on the videogame Christmas front which is the most memorable for personal reasons, and it might sound a little depressing but it really isn’t. I’m happy to share it if only to communicate the other side of gaming that people rarely see outside of charities such as Childs Play.
A couple of years back, a very close immediate family member became seriously ill and it became fairly obvious that they only had a couple of months left to live. Throughout the doom and gloom that obviously accompanies such an event, Christmas was the one shining beacon of hope as it represented the only day in the year that my immediate family actually inhabits the same space as each other – if only briefly. Obviously this one was a little more emotionally charged, but just as the morning threatened to spiral downwards into self-pity and sadness, the Wii was powered up demonstrate to people that hadn’t seen it before.
Bowling, golf, whatever we ended up playing, it was all magical for the family members that had had no clue about such things, and it brought everybody together at a time which could easily have been remembered for all the wrong reasons. As it stands now, some of the last memories of that person that I have are of laughing, smiling and a contented familial glow that lasted from those moments until the end. It sounds like a cheesy marketing advert in retrospect, but it happened, it was real, and I’m incredibly thankful that something like that was able to provide the levity and relief that everybody needed to turn it into a wonderful day.
I make my living as a programmer at a British games developer. In my spare time I try and spread myself between writing, gaming, drumming, goalkeeping, rolling dice and keeping my hair blue. Somewhere around that my wife fits in.
Disclaimer: the views expressed are my own and do not neccessarily reflect those of my employer. "
3 Comments
I had some great christmases revolving around Megadrives and Gameboys, but I’ll remember the sinking feeling of firing up Shadow of the Horned Rat on the PC when I was 12 or 13 and finding out it didn’t have enough RAM to play it! Viva la console.
Man I remember the power vest! I was always dubious about it though! For me it would be between getting my Megadrive (with Altered Beast) and a copy of Moonwalker. Brilliant! The other time would be getting Street Fighter 2 on my Megadrive. At the time I didnt care if the SNES version was better or not, i just know that i was so excited about getting it that before Christmas I picked up an unplugged pad and pretended to play the game so I could practice dragonballs! Sad I know but hey I was young! Must have worked though, I did go on to complete the game on 10 star difficulty!
Hehehe good work, both of you.
Well, merry christmas everyone here at 7outof10. Thanks for sticking around and taking part in our ramblings. I hope you’ve enjoyed them so far. Look forward to more of it in 2010. Have some great time off guys!