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It's strange how something can grab you and take over your life. I've had many passionate flings with many different hobbies, but though they seem like the greatest and coolest thing on earth at the time, I've grown up, moved on, and now they are just a part of my history, with no other involvement in my life than a passing memory and an influence of who I am today. Yet playing games has been in my life from an early age, and I am still doing it now.
Back in the days when I was at school, a Japanese kid called Hiroyuki joined our class. We became friends as I was allocated to show him about the place, make sure he diddn't get lost and all the other things that the teachers wanted. We chatted a lot. We chatted about the way life was, computer programming (we both had speccys), and generally larked about.
A couple of weeks later we went to his house after school and he showed me this grey brick. He opened a flap on the top and stuffed another bit in it, and on the telly was this game. I must have played it for hours, in awe at the immense power this 'NES' had over my Spectrum. We played all his games to the end, and every game put into the system staggered me at the stunning graphics, the 'no waiting for a tape, it's just there!' loading times, the dedicated controllers, everything about this thing was amazing.
Time passed on, and he moved away. Desperate for my fix, I went to all the game shops my Raleigh Winner would get me to, and there it was. My mouth almost hit the floor as Sonic was running on a Master System. The next month was spent washing every car on the street, doing chores round the house, anything to get the cash together. I gave up sweets, saved my pocket money, and even sold other toys to other kids. Every time I added to my jar, I'd get out the sheet of paper that said what I did, how much I got paid, and how much was left to get before I could afford the Master System.
Just over half way into the saving, my mum found the jar. I told her about the MS and Sonic, and we counted the coins together. She put it all in little bags for the bank and we went to town to change it to notes, but she drove to the game shop first. We had a look, I was still in awe, then without warning, my mum said 'We'll take it'! She paid the difference. I was exstatic! As soon as I got home I was almost shaking, trying to get the box open. I wired it up as per the manual, and turned it on.
"Sega", the voices said. That was it. Hooked forever.
Over the years the Master system became the Megadrive, then I bought a SNES, had a fling with an Amiga A500, and then?
The Playstation. Now I had thought I'd seen the best every time I bought a new machine, but nothing prepared me for Ridge Racer. This was, and still is, the biggest technology leap I had ever seen. I was good mates with the guys at the local game shop, and they let me come in almost every day to play it until I had the money to get one. The shop people said that if I wasn't at college I could have had a job there.
I bought the PS2 on release day. Still stunned by the power, I played SSX to completion within 3 weeks. My collection of games has now grown to 62 PS2, 94 Megadrive, 35 Master system, 37 SNES and 90 PS1 games, with all the consoles still boxed. The megadrive was out last month, me and a mate played Speedball 2 to completion.
As I've got older, I've changed a lot. The hobbies that I had as a kid have evolved, My mountain bike is now a motorbike, and my RC cars are now real cars, but there has always been a console on the shelf and I can't see this changing for a very long time.
Thanks for reading,
Slave.
Back in the days when I was at school, a Japanese kid called Hiroyuki joined our class. We became friends as I was allocated to show him about the place, make sure he diddn't get lost and all the other things that the teachers wanted. We chatted a lot. We chatted about the way life was, computer programming (we both had speccys), and generally larked about.
A couple of weeks later we went to his house after school and he showed me this grey brick. He opened a flap on the top and stuffed another bit in it, and on the telly was this game. I must have played it for hours, in awe at the immense power this 'NES' had over my Spectrum. We played all his games to the end, and every game put into the system staggered me at the stunning graphics, the 'no waiting for a tape, it's just there!' loading times, the dedicated controllers, everything about this thing was amazing.
Time passed on, and he moved away. Desperate for my fix, I went to all the game shops my Raleigh Winner would get me to, and there it was. My mouth almost hit the floor as Sonic was running on a Master System. The next month was spent washing every car on the street, doing chores round the house, anything to get the cash together. I gave up sweets, saved my pocket money, and even sold other toys to other kids. Every time I added to my jar, I'd get out the sheet of paper that said what I did, how much I got paid, and how much was left to get before I could afford the Master System.
Just over half way into the saving, my mum found the jar. I told her about the MS and Sonic, and we counted the coins together. She put it all in little bags for the bank and we went to town to change it to notes, but she drove to the game shop first. We had a look, I was still in awe, then without warning, my mum said 'We'll take it'! She paid the difference. I was exstatic! As soon as I got home I was almost shaking, trying to get the box open. I wired it up as per the manual, and turned it on.
"Sega", the voices said. That was it. Hooked forever.
Over the years the Master system became the Megadrive, then I bought a SNES, had a fling with an Amiga A500, and then?
The Playstation. Now I had thought I'd seen the best every time I bought a new machine, but nothing prepared me for Ridge Racer. This was, and still is, the biggest technology leap I had ever seen. I was good mates with the guys at the local game shop, and they let me come in almost every day to play it until I had the money to get one. The shop people said that if I wasn't at college I could have had a job there.
I bought the PS2 on release day. Still stunned by the power, I played SSX to completion within 3 weeks. My collection of games has now grown to 62 PS2, 94 Megadrive, 35 Master system, 37 SNES and 90 PS1 games, with all the consoles still boxed. The megadrive was out last month, me and a mate played Speedball 2 to completion.
As I've got older, I've changed a lot. The hobbies that I had as a kid have evolved, My mountain bike is now a motorbike, and my RC cars are now real cars, but there has always been a console on the shelf and I can't see this changing for a very long time.
Thanks for reading,
Slave.
Nice, i cant remember when i first found gaming but i think it was when i went round a mates house and he had a nes, the bad thing was my parents said not till i was 10!! But whn i was 10 my life was complete.
It's strange how something can grab you and take over your life. I've had many passionate flings with many different hobbies, but though they seem like the greatest and coolest thing on earth at the time, I've grown up, moved on, and now they are just a part of my history, with no other involvement in my life than a passing memory and an influence of who I am today. Yet playing games has been in my life from an early age, and I am still doing it now.
Back in the days when I was at school, a Japanese kid called Hiroyuki joined our class. We became friends as I was allocated to show him about the place, make sure he diddn't get lost and all the other things that the teachers wanted. We chatted a lot. We chatted about the way life was, computer programming (we both had speccys), and generally larked about.
A couple of weeks later we went to his house after school and he showed me this grey brick. He opened a flap on the top and stuffed another bit in it, and on the telly was this game. I must have played it for hours, in awe at the immense power this 'NES' had over my Spectrum. We played all his games to the end, and every game put into the system staggered me at the stunning graphics, the 'no waiting for a tape, it's just there!' loading times, the dedicated controllers, everything about this thing was amazing.
Time passed on, and he moved away. Desperate for my fix, I went to all the game shops my Raleigh Winner would get me to, and there it was. My mouth almost hit the floor as Sonic was running on a Master System. The next month was spent washing every car on the street, doing chores round the house, anything to get the cash together. I gave up sweets, saved my pocket money, and even sold other toys to other kids. Every time I added to my jar, I'd get out the sheet of paper that said what I did, how much I got paid, and how much was left to get before I could afford the Master System.
Just over half way into the saving, my mum found the jar. I told her about the MS and Sonic, and we counted the coins together. She put it all in little bags for the bank and we went to town to change it to notes, but she drove to the game shop first. We had a look, I was still in awe, then without warning, my mum said 'We'll take it'! She paid the difference. I was exstatic! As soon as I got home I was almost shaking, trying to get the box open. I wired it up as per the manual, and turned it on.
"Sega", the voices said. That was it. Hooked forever.
Over the years the Master system became the Megadrive, then I bought a SNES, had a fling with an Amiga A500, and then?
The Playstation. Now I had thought I'd seen the best every time I bought a new machine, but nothing prepared me for Ridge Racer. This was, and still is, the biggest technology leap I had ever seen. I was good mates with the guys at the local game shop, and they let me come in almost every day to play it until I had the money to get one. The shop people said that if I wasn't at college I could have had a job there.
I bought the PS2 on release day. Still stunned by the power, I played SSX to completion within 3 weeks. My collection of games has now grown to 62 PS2, 94 Megadrive, 35 Master system, 37 SNES and 90 PS1 games, with all the consoles still boxed. The megadrive was out last month, me and a mate played Speedball 2 to completion.
As I've got older, I've changed a lot. The hobbies that I had as a kid have evolved, My mountain bike is now a motorbike, and my RC cars are now real cars, but there has always been a console on the shelf and I can't see this changing for a very long time.
Thanks for reading,
Slave.
Back in the days when I was at school, a Japanese kid called Hiroyuki joined our class. We became friends as I was allocated to show him about the place, make sure he diddn't get lost and all the other things that the teachers wanted. We chatted a lot. We chatted about the way life was, computer programming (we both had speccys), and generally larked about.
A couple of weeks later we went to his house after school and he showed me this grey brick. He opened a flap on the top and stuffed another bit in it, and on the telly was this game. I must have played it for hours, in awe at the immense power this 'NES' had over my Spectrum. We played all his games to the end, and every game put into the system staggered me at the stunning graphics, the 'no waiting for a tape, it's just there!' loading times, the dedicated controllers, everything about this thing was amazing.
Time passed on, and he moved away. Desperate for my fix, I went to all the game shops my Raleigh Winner would get me to, and there it was. My mouth almost hit the floor as Sonic was running on a Master System. The next month was spent washing every car on the street, doing chores round the house, anything to get the cash together. I gave up sweets, saved my pocket money, and even sold other toys to other kids. Every time I added to my jar, I'd get out the sheet of paper that said what I did, how much I got paid, and how much was left to get before I could afford the Master System.
Just over half way into the saving, my mum found the jar. I told her about the MS and Sonic, and we counted the coins together. She put it all in little bags for the bank and we went to town to change it to notes, but she drove to the game shop first. We had a look, I was still in awe, then without warning, my mum said 'We'll take it'! She paid the difference. I was exstatic! As soon as I got home I was almost shaking, trying to get the box open. I wired it up as per the manual, and turned it on.
"Sega", the voices said. That was it. Hooked forever.
Over the years the Master system became the Megadrive, then I bought a SNES, had a fling with an Amiga A500, and then?
The Playstation. Now I had thought I'd seen the best every time I bought a new machine, but nothing prepared me for Ridge Racer. This was, and still is, the biggest technology leap I had ever seen. I was good mates with the guys at the local game shop, and they let me come in almost every day to play it until I had the money to get one. The shop people said that if I wasn't at college I could have had a job there.
I bought the PS2 on release day. Still stunned by the power, I played SSX to completion within 3 weeks. My collection of games has now grown to 62 PS2, 94 Megadrive, 35 Master system, 37 SNES and 90 PS1 games, with all the consoles still boxed. The megadrive was out last month, me and a mate played Speedball 2 to completion.
As I've got older, I've changed a lot. The hobbies that I had as a kid have evolved, My mountain bike is now a motorbike, and my RC cars are now real cars, but there has always been a console on the shelf and I can't see this changing for a very long time.
Thanks for reading,
Slave.