My Journey as a Gamer Part 2: The PlayStation 1

After our Sega Genesis gave out, and that 13” black and white TV blew up we were left game less. With no game system and no money to get something new we set our sights on the local game shop, Game Exchange. They always had the newest consoles and games. The only system they didn’t have was the PS2. At that time (summer 2000) my brother and I were all in on the PlayStation, and what intrigued us the most was the plethora of adult games. Being pre-teens we were infatuated with thinking we were more mature than we really were, so games like Resident Evil and Syphon Filter really caught our eye. After some persuasion of our grandparents we convinced them to send us an early Christmas gift. They sent us a PlayStation with three games that we DID NOT know of nor want. The story goes like this, they went to the local video game shop and asked the kind nerd, “I want to buy my grandsons a Play-a-ma-station, and what are the three most popular games?” So, the kind nerd advised them of Diablo, Final Fantasy 7, and Metal Gear Solid. In the nerd’s defense, they were the most popular and critically acclaimed games of the time, but we wanted Resident Evil! We poked around for hours in Final Fantasy, and Diablo but didn’t get very far. We lost a lot of hope in that little gray box, until we read about a little orange bandicoot. My mom got us Crash Bandicoot 2 from Wal-Mart (and she complained about the $50 tag for two weeks straight) and our lives were never the same. Never have I seen a game that was so colorful, so fun, with great music, great graphics, and crazy level design. We played that game until the screen went blank. Some more highlights of our PS1 years, was Crash 1, Crash 3 Warped, CTR, NBA Showtime, Marvel vs Capcom was EPIC! We eventually got our hands on Resident Evil Director’s Cut from a local scumbag pawn shop and many, many hours were logged in trying to figure out the puzzles, and the key location, and running from zombies, managing inventory and fighting the anxiety of not knowing what’s around the next corner. And also ink ribbons! (Ahh, simpler times), there was something magical about the first Resident Evil trilogy. Once again, we played that little grey box into the ground. Where could we go next?