I've Got A Fever

Often times when I'm talking to someone about video games, I'm usually met with "Oh, I can't play video games, I'd get too addicted", and that always bothers me. I feel like people should be able to exercise more self control. Video games aren't a drug that one can get addicted to. However, looking back there have been many cases of the masses getting addicted to video games. Back in the days of the arcade there was PAC-MAN Fever. Later on in the mid 90s, there was Pokemon Fever. Maybe video games can be addicting. Maybe video games have the propensity to get people hooked without them ever intending to be.

Surely, one can exercise self control when playing video games. After all, how simple is it to just hit the power switch and turn off the game console? Apparently pretty dang tough. I know this all too well. I have spent many nights arguing with myself that this will INDEED be the last try, and if I fail I will turn it off. Alas, there was that moment of "I almost had it! This next time will be the one." time and time again: no. It took me seventeen years to put my initials at the top of the scoreboard of Star Fox 64, so there must be some reason as to why I keep on trying.

Games are a challenge, and there is something within us as players that it beckons to. We feel the need to overcome that challenge, and when we do we feel accomplished and empowered. Video games make it very easy for us to pick ourselves up and try again. It's just one "retry?" away from another endeavor into whatever game we were playing. Too many times have I faced down that "Game Over" screen, and thought to myself that I could beat this. It's something that goes beyond pride, I feel. There's something withing us, a will, a strength, that drives us to go for the finish line. We want to win. It feels good, but it is so much more than that. I'm sure that athletes, after training and training and training, when their hard work finally pays off and they bring home the gold, it's more than just a feel good sensation and a stroke of their ego. No, they've invested heavily into that victory. It was months before kickoff that player spent running plays. It was years before that runner got to the Olympics that he started training. We gamers are very similar on a number of levels.

This is where that addiction comes from. Games are our battlefield, our track, our court, our test of worth. We feel that accomplishment when we finally overcome.We spend nights working on our leveling, working on our strategies, working on our skills, to overcome whatever may come our way. How are we not to get pulled in, when the promise of greatness is on the horizon? It's right there, and it is within our reach. Just one more continue away.

New High Score!!!

Today I have set a new high score on Star Fox 64. A game that I've had since its release back in 1997. It feels like it's been forever that I have been gunning for that top spot on the score board, and today, I finally did it.




The top score was 1028 and it always felt just out of reach. Today, on a whim, I decided to play some Star Fox 64, without even making an attempt for the high score. I just wanted to relive some glory days. By the time I finished up Sector Z, where I only got 49 hits, it didn't seem like I was going to make it. Until I looked at my score of 623 and realized that I could get over 200 hits on the next level, and I was guaranteed another 200 on the one after that. All I had to do was fight my way through Area 6 and score over 200 points. It was quite the harrowing tale.



Two of three members of my squad were in good shape, except for Slippy. Oh, Slippy, you will always be a disappointment to me. The level started off, and I began to shoot at everything on screen with extreme prejudice. Even if it didn't move I shot at it. The points started to quickly rack up. "HIT +2", "HIT +3". More and more enemies filled the screen and my lasers were shooting down all that they could find. "Great Fox will cover you" called ROB 64 over the comms. Frantically I mashed down on the A button to take out the targets before my allies could. I had to score these points. I had to get that high score. I had never played more aggressively than this night. I deftly maneuvered my ship through the onslaught of enemy fire, making my way towards the end of the level. Just before reaching the boss, Slippy was shot down. She was nowhere in sight, and there was nothing that I could do about it. I thought nothing of it, until I reached the end. The only thing that makes me, or anyone, appreciate Slippy is his ability to analyze the health of the boss at the end of each level. Not having any idea of how much damage I was doing to the end boss made me fight even harder. The boss at the end of Area 6 is the most difficult, and my least favorite, though this boss had no idea what he was in for. My heart was racing, and my nerves were tense. As the adrenaline surged through me, I reacted faster than I have. Shot quicker than I ever have. I had slain the boss without taking a hit. It was awesome. What came next was the final level: Venom.



Because I had gone through the hard route, I would get the true ending, along with the true last level where I would face down a modified Star Wolf. Even though I hadn't fought Star Wolf in this particular campaign, they still acted as though they were taking revenge for my defeating them earlier. The standard format for a Star Wolf fight, is that each member of Star Wolf will chase down each of my team respectively. Only, I was down a member: Slippy. That means that I would have two ships on my tail, as opposed to just one. I would have to take care of the other ships that were dogging my wigmen as well as the two ships that were on me. The start of the battle had me chasing down Pigma, who chases down Peppy by default. After landing a few hits, the AI had Pigma do a somersault to avoid my incoming fire. However, this did not go according to plan as he crashed into one of the many pillars that dot the level. I lucked out, and had a moment of hysterical laughter. One down. Next, I had to take down Leon, who chases Falco by default. On my way to circling around to get to Falco, there was a great deal of enemy lasers coming from my 6 O'clock. I pulled a successful somersault, unlike Pigma, and my assailants scattered under me. I scored a few solid hits on them before I lost sight of them. I found Falco and his mark, and started lighting him up like the Fourth of July. Leon managed to escape my blasts with a somersault of his own. The somersault seems to be a pretty reliable move. Enemy ships seemed to be everywhere, even though they were down to just three. I shot at anything that I could paint my reticle  over. I managed to score some decent hits on the ships that would pass me by. The remaining enemies would chime in with taunts that went over my head because I was so focused on dog fighting that I didn't have time for any of their guff. The only thing that mattered was to see their health that was dwindling further and further to the left. I had one in my sights, and I refused to let him go. I hunted him down, and viciously attacked him. Star Wolf cried out in agony as his ship exploded into oblivion. Two down. I went back to Leon because I knew where I could find him. Sure enough, he was right on the tail of Falco. I lined up my shot and let loose on the A button. Three down. Finally there was Andrew. As he was the last ship to take out, his movements were erratic, and he managed to lose me a couple of times. Moving like a fly that got lost inside of a house, he was hard to hit and just as annoying. In my effort to find him, I lost track of where my ship was and ended up running into a couple of the pillars that claimed Pigma. Andrew Eventually made the mistake of getting in front of me, and his days of flying came to an end. That's all of them. Now, it was on to the final boss.



Before reaching Andross, the game has you going through a small labyrinth with a few forks in the path. This forced me to choose either left or right. I've played Star Fox 64 many times, but I still don't know where to find the best pick ups to take on Andross. This made things difficult, as my health was low. Low enough to get a slow warning sound from my Arwing. When I finally reached Andross, I exhaled and began the fight. First I fired at the left hand and then the right. I was rather careless with my movements, as he landed a few good hits. When he clapped his hands together to draw me in to his mouth, I let him get away with that, too. This fight was not going well. I managed to defeat his first form with only a sliver of health left. I wasn't going to win this one.



Andross' final form is a brain, and he makes a pun about it. It's super lame and super annoying. His two eye stalks chase after you, and they are relentless. Not only do they shoot lasers, but are also tethered to the brain via lightning. Running into that lighting will do a number on your ship. This was going to be a tough fight. It didn't last long, because I was so low on health, but because I hadn't died this entire run, I had a few lives in stock. The second attempt had me at full health but with only a single laser. I ended up choosing the wrong path, and got no bonuses for my ship. Single laser it is. Taking only a few hits from Andross' punches, I got back to his final form. This time around I tried a somersault to lose the eyeballs, and it worked. I got behind them and handily took care of them. All that was left was the big ol' brain. For a brain, he moves pretty quick. The key to beating this boss is to get behind him and shoot the cerebellum. However, this brain is faster than you, and will pull you in when you get too close. When he does pull you in, Andross drains your health and usually takes off a wing, hindering your maneuverability. He ended up taking off both of my wings and I ended up dying because I was too slow, and couldn't make those turns that I needed to. The third try, I was determined to beat him. I missed the powerups again, and was facing down Andross with only a single laser. Well, beggars can't be choosers. I nimbly flew past his defense of giant hands, and blew up his face to reveal that Andross is in fact, a brain. I exhaled another time, and got straight to work on the eyes that flew about the area. Taking care of them, I did my best to get in good range of the brain. I peppered it with a few shots, but fewer connected with the hit spot. Without Slippy, I had no idea how much I ended up doing. I managed to set up for another attack run, this time it didn't go so well I was caught. I lost one of my wings and a good deal of health.



 Relying on my last wing, I was flying in big circles to get some distance. I managed to get a clear shot, and let loose. Just before I was pulled in to get trapped by the giant brain, I had killed it. I did it. I won. All that was left was to escape with the ghost of my father. I was so ready to be done with this nightmare that I boosted the heck out of my one winged plane. I got so giddy, that I ended up crashing into the walls and died. Oh dear. Luckily, the game started me off after defeating the big brain, and I had both my wings were back, as well as a full bar of health. This got me even more excited and I boosted the heck out of my two winged plane. Again, I crashed into the walls and died. My next life, I decided that I would take it slow. I wasn't going to lose him, so I boosted only when I thought it necessary. The ghost of my father led me out, and I really had beaten Star Fox 64. "I'm going to do it! I'm going to do it! I'm going to do it!" I shouted as I rose from the couch. I met with the end of the tunnel and triggered the ending cutscene. I sank back into the couch with exhausted ecstasy. I laughed hysterically as the credits rolled. I was so elated to beat Star Fox 64 with a new high score. I had been chasing down that number for so long. To finally get that number, and blow past it, was an extraordinary feeling.

Feeling limp, and basking in the afterglow of achieving something that is as lame as it is awesome, I wore my smile with pride. I may not always give credit to points in games, but damn, did it feel good to get that score.

The PS2 Shot My Pa

The other night I dusted off the old PS2 so that my friend could watch a movie on the living room TV. After the show was finished, I decided to take a trip down memory lane and dust off some of the games that I have for my PS2. I noticed that of the consoles that I have from that generation of consoles, all of them, the PS2 had the most games. It's rather interesting, as for most of my gaming career I had been strictly anti-Sony.

I didn't own an original Playstation. Instead, I had the N64. The Playstation was such a foreign thing to me. Only a few of my friends, whom I didn't get to see that often, had a Playstation. As a dedicated Nintendo fan, I was opposed to this new brand of console trying to take over a market that was already a tumultuous battlefield between two giants. The age old battle between Sega and Nintendo was a heated one, and having a new challenger step in would only muck things up, and muck things up it did. As my fanaticism of video games grew, so too did my library of consoles.

A friend of my brother's brought over his Sega Dreamcast and my mind was blown by the cutting edge technology. Graphics and sound that I couldn't believe could come from a video game were on full display with the Sega Dreamcast. A short while after, the Playstation 2 was released, and me, my brother, and his friend were none too impressed with the new console from Sony. It had about the same amount of power, and the game selection was nowhere near that of the Dreamcast, or so we thought. Shortly after the release of the PS2, the Dreamcast went into a downward spiral of sales. The PS2 killed the Sega Dreamcast.

Some say that it was the console's ability to play DVD videos, others say that it was its superior library of games, all I know is, gaming lost one of its finest consoles. When the Dreamcast was officially declared dead by the gaming public, I hated the PS2. I hated Sony for stepping into a ring where it had no right to be in. This was a travesty, that a once great and fun loving company should be shut out by this newcomer. I swore that I would never get a Sony Playstation 2.

At the end of the school year in 2005, I had just finished the worst year of my life. Everything about my Freshman year was awful. On the last day, I came home to a big box that game in the mail from my grandpa. It was a belated birthday present. My birthday was over two months ago from that day. It didn't matter though, I would have taken anything after that year. In that box was the Playstation 2 that I still own today.

The PS2 quickly grew to be the primary console that would occupy my living room with many nights of playing games like Guitar Hero, DDR Max 2, Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter, Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of the Colossus,  and quite a few more. Sony may have killed off the console with some of the most imaginative games that I've ever seen, but to its credit, the PS2 did have a few games that stood out as rather artistic.

During that time, the debate of whether or not games should be considered as an art from was rustling about the internet. This very notion shook my world as a gamer, and helped me to understand games in the way that I do today.

Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid 3, Katamari Damacy were all great games that did things differently from what was generally considered a game. The Playstation 2 library was expansive and diverse with many great titles that left their mark. These games have not, and should not, be forgotten. The Playstation 2 was a great console because of the games that it had available to it.

While the Playstation 2 may have killed off my favorite gaming console of all time, and may have beaten out Nintendo two generations in a row, as it outsold the N64, Sony has a place in my heart. Even with today's generation of consoles, or rather the last generation of consoles, my PS3 may have a smaller library than that of my Xbox 360, but it does have games which matter more. These games have a certain specialty about them, and they are unique. These games matter. Not just for Sony, but for the gaming industry as a whole. Games need not be defined by the standard formats of win/lose scenarios, or boss battles at the end of each level, or fighting the bad guys all the time. Games can explore so much more than just those basic concepts, sometimes they even use those concepts to explore them. Sony, at lest in their ad campaigns, understands the greatness that exist within games. How, games can turn players, into legends. How games can help us explore dark places, and come out of them stronger people. How games can encourage us to keep moving forward. How games can teach us that if we fail, we should try again. How games can help us find within ourselves, the strength to overcome that which we thought was impossible. So, here's to Sony, and here's to video games. Cheers.