Here Comes A New Challenger: My Origin Story

When I think of how long I've been playing games, an obvious answer is..."My whole life." Quite literally I've spent my whole life playing games. But after reading Tina's blurb about how she became a gamer, It only seemed fitting that I share my origin story as well.

Maybe when I about 4 years old, my mother bought me a Nintendo Entertainment System. Complete with two controllers, a Nintendo Zapper, and the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridge. My sister and I loved it! We played Mario Bros. so many times that we could play it with our eyes closed.

"Hey Mario! How is everything? Hey you wanna jump on my head for ol' times sake?"

When we got bored of Super Mario Bros., there was Duck Hunt. Now, if you had this game and you didn't push the zapper on the screen to shoot those stupid little ducks, then you're a filthy liar and you should die in a fire. I thought that the dog was crying when I missed the ducks. My mom told me he was laughing at me. Imagine what that can do to a 4-year-old child's psyche.

He laughs at my shortcomings and now I have commitment issues.

For two years after that, this was the only game we had. It wasn't until my stepdad came into the picture where my journey into gaming really began. The first time he came over, he brought his Sega Genesis and we would play every night.

So I guess this is how I got into gaming. It was definitely my stepdad who helped usher me into gaming. Among my friends, I'm considered a fighting game fan. Even though I am terrible at them, I would agree. My stepdad helped with this. He was a big fighting game fan.We would go to arcades twice a month and play the latest arcade games. Here, I learned about Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Mortal Kombat, World Heroes, and all the early 90's fighting games. 

Fatal Fury's Joe Higashi. Isn't it obvious where I learned my tact?

Going to the arcades to challenge someone was a great feeling. Not only was your token on the line, but your reputation was too. Rivalries would transcend games and continue with the new arcade cabinets that would line the black-light bathed walls of the arcades. My cousin and I would get into real-life fights because of tension that built from Tekken and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

When we got our Super Nintendo, the very first game we got for it was Street Fighter II. How cool was that? We brought the arcade action to our living room. No quarters needed. 

Ryu and Chun-Li learns of Blanka's lactose intolerance the hard way.

So while other's were journeying into The Lost Woods and traversing The Dark World in A Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, my stepdad and I were punishing each other with combos, hurricane kicks, and fireballs. I wouldn't change that for the world. It was so much fun to play a new fighting games and learning of new warriors and fighting styles. For the record, my stepdad never bought a game for the SNES that wasn't a fighting game. Unfortunately I haven't played fighting games in awhile. I've been playing a variety of other genres. I especially like cinematic experiences with great storylines in games. But the 90's arcade fighting scene made such an impression on me and I recently bought two fighting games and can't wait to be a contender again.

That is how I've earned the moniker, gamer.

What is your origin story? Were you an arcade rat, too? Let us know in the comments!