Poll Results - Favorite Game Genre

So the voting has ended and the scores are like this:

RPG = 2 votes
Shooter - 8 votes
Everything else = 0 votes

I'm a little surprised that hack and slash, racing and platforms didn't get any notes. I guess I shouldn't be since I'm pretty sure only my friends voted in the poll and we play a shooter game every night.

I voted for RPG. And if I hadn't have voted for RPG I would have voted for hack and slash. Why?

As much as I like to play a shooter game like Star Wars Battlefront or Call of Duty 4 someone is always going to be better than me. Sometimes it's not always fun to see your name at the bottom on the list all the time. And it doesn't seem to matter what I do to get better because it doesn't work. When I was level 50+ in Call of Duty 4 and my friends were starting over in another level of Prestige with just the basic weapons they were still getting more points than me in each round. I don't have a High Def TV so I don't have as clear a picture as others and I have issues with my eyes, but that's a post for some other time.

My first foray into "action" (or as some people like to call it "violent") games was through the hack and slash genre. Hunter the Reckoning and Serious Sam to name a few. I liked the running in with sword flailing and see who's still standing in the end. It suited my style. Other hack and slash (or button mashers) like God of War and Conan are great for releasing stress on inanimate objects (instead of co-workers).

But although my very first time with a video game was Tetris and the second time was Mario Bros. I really fell in love with games while playing an RPG. The game was Legend of Dragoon. There was just so much to do and see and collect and master that I spent hours on end playing that game. And when it was done and the credits were rolling I felt sad. Sad that I wasn't playing it anymore. I gave myself time to grieve (play the game and you'll know) and then I immediately wanted to start playing it again. I cared about the characters. They meant something to me. Games could have a human touch instead of mindless button mashing. I missed that game. Could I pick up everything and master everything and finish the game in a shorter amount of time? I certainly wanted to try.

For racing games I'm more inclined to like kart racing games than "real life" racing games. If I wanted to see that kind of racing I'll take the freeway, thank you very much. Besides, you have to agree that there's something about dropping a banana peal behind you and watching someone close on your tail wipe out. It's hilarious

As far was platform gaming is concerned it's all about the timing. Once you learned the timing (admittedly through trail and error) it seems to take the fun out of the game. It seems the game is programmed so that there is only one way to make it through the level. Which to me means I have to play the game the way the developer wanted me to play it. Don't tell me how to play a game. I want to play a game they way *I* want to.

I guess you could say my mind is with the hack and slash type of games, but my heart is with the RPGs. It doesn't really matter too much because I love playing video games and I'll play anything I want.

Dusting off the old systems

I dusted off my old Super Nintendo system and replayed a lot of my games in preparation before complying my list of favorite games for that system. It was nice to play games I hadn't played in quite some time. Years even. It brought back some good memories.

This last weekend I tried to do the same thing with my N64. Notice how I said "tried." Things didn't go so well. I packed up my system and almost all of my games (except Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask and Magical Tetris Challenge) and headed to my parent's house. My brother was going over to do laundry and I wanted another person to help out with some of the multiplayer options in the games. I was a little disappointed to find that I only had 12 games for the system. That didn't seem right, but that's all I had.

Once the system was hooked up my brother popped in Gauntlet Legends and went to load a file from the memory card that was still in my controller. Apparently I had saves from games that I didn't have the cartridge for. At least for none of the cartridges I had in front of me. Did I sell some games back? Do I have a stash of games somewhere that I haven't unpacked?

Yes, I have lived in the same place for 5 years now and still have boxes I haven't unpacked. At least unpacked completely. I have a lot of boxes that are partially unpacked because I couldn't figure out where to put things so it was best to leave them where they were. I thought I knew what treasures were in those boxes but maybe I don't. I've always meant to unpack them and now maybe I have the motivation to do it. I've got games that are missing people. I need to find them!

But since it's been a long time since I played my N64 I was wondering if I sold any of those games back. I remembered owning Aidyn Chronicles (it was a black cartridge) and I have a save for it but did I sell it back? I think I remember owning Turok too. I didn't have a save so where's that game? I've gone through a list online of N64 games and I think there's 10 more games I should have . . . somewhere. Unless I sold them back of course.

I remember when I got my N64. I was just out of college with very little money to spare. I couldn't get every game I wanted to. Even when I found Game Stop and their used games for less money. I had to pick and choose which games I would get because every game was a splurge and my budget couldn't afford too many of them. I also remember picking up a bunch of older Super Nintendo games during that time. They were cheaper.

So I guess I'm going to have to spend some time unpacking boxes and looking for N64 game cartridges which I may or may not still have. I don't feel comfortable putting out a "favorites" list of games for the system if I don't even know what games I have anymore. Maybe I should have dusted off those old systems more often.