Happy new year gaming bees!
Today I woke up feeling nostalgic, for it was 20 years ago that I got my first console and my first taste of gaming.
In summer (southern hemisphere, so December) 2004, my dad gifted me a Super Nintendo. I know, I was a bit late to the party, in 2004 we already had the Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox but my family didn't have enough money to purchase any of those, we really were pretty broke (we still kinda are, just less so lol.)
I paid no mind that it was an old console, I wasn't very old to begin with to understand the differences and the ever evolving gaming landscape. I was just happy I had a new toy... But if only I knew were that toy would take me.
That toy would be my main hobby for the rest of my life. It would be the reason I'm here on Hive writing about games and meeting all you folk.
I stayed with that SNES for almost 2 decades, before selling it (and regretting it).
If one of my posts ever does well enough for it, I might just buy another SNES with my HIVE money and gift it to my dad. That would be sweet.
But anyways, I thought I'd do a little retrospective of the first 3 games I played on that system as a kid.
- Super Mario World
This was my introduction to the SNES and gaming, it's the only game I have real vivid memories of playing back then and not emulating now or playing later.
Mario World felt gigantic for a kid my age, for someone who until then only watched cartoons.
Mario World felt like I was living in a cartoon, defeating foes and saving the princess. It truly did feel like a real adventure.
- Super Mario Kart
This was the game that wowed me with its visuals. Those mode-7 tracks and the way the sprites scaled was just incredible to see.
The game was really fun also, I loved racing ever since I was a baby and I remember watching Felipe Massa and Rubinho Barrichello race on Formula 1 every race weekend.
And talking about F1...
- Nigel Mansell's World Championship
This one has quite a story for me, because I didn't own the actual original cartridge, I owned a rom hack of this game that replaced Nigel with Senna and translated the game into Portuguese.
Regardless of how the game was presented, the gameplay remained the same and this was were I truly fell in love with racing games and it's the big reason I still play them up to today, spending ludicrous amounts of money on F1 games and playing every new Forza title :p (Now Gran Turismo, because the new Forza kinda sucks).
The gameplay is fast, responsive, and it just feels kinda real. The roar of the engines, the customization, the qualifying sessions, it just felt realistic.
This is one hidden gem I constantly go back to.
Anyways, that's my quick little look at my first few games that I ever owned and played, I did end up owning more SNES games but those came later.
Thanks for reading!