Remember 16

Okay, now that I’m on my summer break, it’s time to spend more time actually posting stuff in here that’s of some worth… Also, I couldn’t help myself, I just had to use a Macross reference for the title of this entry.

Do you remember what video games were like back when you were 16? It wasn’t that long ago for me and I’m sure it wasn’t that long ago for many of you, but I think that that age is an interesting time to look back on. We were all still back in school and we probably didn’t have as much money to spend on video games as we do nowadays… that said, we had a lot more free time to spend playing them.

I turned 16 back in late 2000 and it was quite an interesting time for gaming…

In those days I was enjoying quite a lot of Nintendo 64 games… in fact, most of my gaming time was spent on that system. I’m sure some of you are wondering what I could possibly be playing on the N64 considering that more people had the first PlayStation and were eagerly waiting for the PS2 to come out at the time… well there were quite a lot of excellent titles on the N64, some of which I played during this time period.

Of course, while I didn’t own a PlayStation, I still managed to play quite a few PlayStation games my friends owned… and as I said before, the PS2 was on the way, oh and the Dreamcast was in full force during this time. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to play Dreamcast games to a couple of years later so I won’t bother discussing them here. But here are some of the games that I did enjoy back when I was 16…

Perfect Dark

One of the biggest things that’s changed over the years is the position Rare holds as a video game developer. When they were with Nintendo they released a tonne of games, most of which were pretty damn awesome. As a company they were very well respected and their partnership with Nintendo had them working on some very interesting titles, both with Nintendo franchises and with their own unique works. Nowadays they’re not anywhere near as good as they used to be and they release hardly anything one would consider… new… or good or a video game. However, when they were awesome they came up with classics such as Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007, Banjo Kazooie, Jet Force Gemini and Perfect Dark… just to name a few.

The XBLA version of Perfect Dark that was released recently brought me back to those old days for at least a few days… however, back then when I was 16 I played the game almost non-stop. I completed the single player aspects of the game 100% in all difficulties and my best friend helped me complete the co-op part of the game 100% too.

I also spent a hell of a lot of time in multiplayer, with and without my friends. I think Perfect Dark was one of the only console FPS games at the time that had computer controlled multiplayer characters you could set. Either way, Perfect Dark was definitely my most played game during this time period and just like with GoldenEye 007, I was undefeated amongst my friends who would all challenge me. I even had 3 against 1 matches with them, it was awesome… though I’ve lost that level of obsession with FPS games and ever since online gaming has taken off, my multiplayer moments are a lot more limited. I’ve lost my competitive edge over the years, but I still love playing co-op… which is why most of my online gaming these days revolves around playing co-op with Jeff.

I wish I still had my original cart for Perfect Dark so I could tell you all just how many hours I spent playing it… as well as tell you about all of my other statistics on my game file. But since I had a lot of free time back in those days, I’d estimate that it’s comparable to a very obsessed Halo fan is these days.

Star Wars: Episode 1: Racer

Oh wow, now during this time period LucasArts was still pretty damn awesome and actually spent time making their own games instead of just carting them off to some other developer because they couldn’t be bothered doing things themselves. Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace was in full force during this time so there were quite a lot of promotional material going around, some of which were in the form of video games. One of the awesome games that came out of that promotional campaign was Ep 1 Racer.

I seriously loved playing Ep 1 Racer back in the day, it was 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS!! RAHH!! lol… well actually it was pretty much just F-Zero with a Star Wars skin, but it also had some nice extra elements like being able to tune up your racer and adding newer and better parts. I remember the Podracer I used as my main racer once I unlocked him was “Bullseye” Navior… a very strange looking guy who doesn’t look very cool, but his pod was perfect for the way I did things.

His acceleration was pretty terrible and although his racer had a really high top speed he was still outclassed by quite a few other racers. However, he had no equal when it comes to responsiveness and manoeuvrability and this was why I was able to mop the floor with computer controlled players as well as my friends so easily. Also, his racer is really tiny compared to the others so it was a lot easier to zip around obstacles and dangerous elements that appeared in many of the courses.

I only wish LucasArts would continue on with the Racer series… well they did release Racer Revenge a couple of years later on the PS2, unfortunately that game was terrible. I’d like to see them release “Star Wars: Pod Racer” for current generation consoles but I don’t think that’ll ever happen. They’re more interested in things like The Force Unleashed at the moment which isn’t anywhere near as good as the games they used to make.

Pokémon Silver

Ah, my first Pokémon game… it took me awhile to get into Pokémon and I can’t remember what ultimately got me into the series, but I’m so glad I did… and I’m so glad that Silver was my first Pokémon game cause it’s fucking AWESOME!

I obsessively and successfully caught them all and I battled many of my friends and won. I played Silver and later Crystal and Stadium 2 almost as much as I played Perfect Dark when I was 16. I’m really glad that they remade Gold & Silver for the DS cause it gave me such a nostalgia high… I also caught them all for my copy of SoulSilver as well actually.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Ah, Majora’s Mask… one of my most favourite games of all time. A lot of people like Ocarina of Time a lot better than Majora’s Mask but I always felt that Majora’s Mask was the superior game and in many ways a lot more epic in so many ways. Many people complain about the whole 3 day cycle gameplay mechanic but it’s one of the greatest aspects of the game and allowed for extremely fleshed out non-playable characters. You had the standard Zelda adventure, going from dungeon to dungeon till you fight the final boss, but in between were a huge collection of side quests that intertwined and interacted with each other.

Travelling back to the start of the 3 day cycle would allow you to experience every single aspect about Termina in a million different ways. Everything had a set path and everything could be effected depending on what actions you took during that particular cycle. You ended up getting a very intimate look into the lives of all of the characters in that world… so much so that during some cycles I’d just hang around particular characters or locations just for the fun of it. I spent a hell of a lot of time hanging around Romani Ranch for that reason… it was one of the more relaxing and, at the end, heartbreaking places in the game.

A lot of people want Zelda games that are based around A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, but I really want more Zelda games that delve more into the personal lives of the non-playable characters just like Majora’s Mask did. It was really one of the greatest things I had ever experienced and I’ll never forget the way that game made me feel. In fact, thinking about it makes me want to rant on for ages about how much I love this game… I think I’ll save that for a Game Spotlight though.

Star Wars: Episode I: Battle for Naboo

Battle for Naboo was another one of those promotional games for The Phantom Menace released during the 2000 – 2001 period. It was by Factor 5, the creators of the Rogue Squadron series for the N64 and GameCube… and it was a pretty good game too.

Along with the regular flight elements, they also added speeders to the list of vehicles you could pilot as well as some heavier vehicles such as tanks. The ground based combat was pretty well done and at times I ended up enjoying them a lot more than the flight stuff. Actually, now that I think about it, I think the 2002 game, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, was heavily based on the work Factor 5 did on Battle for Naboo. At least that’s what I think since the two games are very similar…

Anyway, those were my memories of the video games I played when I was 16… how about you guys? What kind of vidya were you playing when you were 16?