Let the games begin! Video games, rather arcade or on a console, have been a bigger part of my childhood than i realized until this contest. It will be my pleasure to talk a walk with you down my memory lane. Until getting things prepared for this post i am pretty sure i have taken the influence video games have had on my life, until now!

^Arcade

Some of my first and best memories were of a few birthday parties at ShowBiz Pizza
I didn't realize until reading the link here on the history of the place that Atari co-founder and creator of Pong, which was one of my dad's favorite games, was involved in making Showbiz Pizza successful. This was a place where you could host parties, eat some pizza, and play a lot of video games. Some were the kinds where you win tickets and others were the Arcade games we have all come to know and love. They had a party room with an animatronic band playing music and then the game room for everyone to go have fun. Of course, you had to have tokens though!

^{ShowBiz Pizza}

I had an birthday party in the early '80s when i was a wee little one and i remember getting called up to the front of the animatronic band by the HillBilly Bear Billy Bob for birthday recognition. You can see a picture of him on that link and even back then i knew he wasn't real and that they weren't actually playing the music. Since my parents were musicians i was familiar with guitars and this bear had a banjo. I remember looking at him and knowing he would get angry, looked back at my parents and decided to pluck his banjo string. After doing it i turned back around to my parents and the crowd with a devious grin on my face. There is actually an old family photo of the moment but i couldn't find it so i am putting up one from around the same time in my life when i got busted getting into the guitar case.

Eventually, ShowBiz got bout out and absorbed by Chuck E Cheese's, which is still around today. It's definitely not the same though! At the time, it was pretty much all the same games and they just switched the Bear to a Mouse. There were some great memories made there as well.

^{Chuck E. Cheese}

One birthday i had there, i would guess to be about first grade, my karate instructor Mr. Oberg showed up for my party. Just having him there was an honor. I was one of his favorite students. He ended up giving me my favorite present of them all. I signed up for Tae-Kwon-Do after nagging my dad having seen Karate Kid the movie. I wanted to learn how to do karate and my dad had some martial art experience from his past too. Bruce Lee was one of my dad's heroes. My dad studied Jeet Kune Do as a second-generation student. Anyways, once dad signed me up he ended up joining a week later!

Back to the party, Mr. Oberg got me a handheld video game of Karate Kid. It was extremely similar to the one below but a generation or two earlier. I scavenged the internet to find a picture or link and couldn't find one. They were rare and expensive back then but i would recognize it if i ever saw it in an instant. That was a very special memory for me.

^{Hand Held Game}

Atari Era '77

I was born in December of '81 so i just missed out on the '70s. My dad used to go to an arcade and play Pong, Pac-Man, and his favorite Galaga. My dad isn't here with us anymore but he is still the Galaga champion. Every time we were ever at an arcade that would be the one he would look to see if they had. I remember how long he could play on one quarter or token. As a kid i hated waiting!

^{Galaga Arcade/Atari}

At home growing up we had an Atari just like the one below. I had some great memories of playing Atari. My dad used to be amazing at Kaboom. You had to have the wheel controller and a Hamburgalar looing dude would drop lit bombs. You had a flat looking bucket of water and you had to scroll left and right to catch and extinguish the bombs. The longer you went the faster the bombs got dropped. My dad was actually able to beat the game.

^Atari

Back when me, my younger sister, and another girl my mom babysat used to have naptime, since i was older, my mom used to let me sneak out the window and go next door to my neighbor's house. Cynthia and Cathey were my older sisters age and they used to have an Atari as well. One of them would open their window and i would crawl in and ask to play their games. In the future when i was the older one i still used to come to their house after they moved out and played Pokemon on one of the later consoles with their nephew. My favorite Atari game was always Frogger and especially Alien Invaders!

^{Space Invaders Atari}

There used to be another local place for video games and birthday parties. This was more of an ice-cream place though! They used to have a million flavors and the name of the place was called Cherries. I remember being at one of my friends birthday parties in Kindergarten and he got a Nintendo Entertainment System with Super Mario Bros. with Duck Hunt included, two controllers, and the gun.

Nintendo Entertainment System Era '85

Eventually, my older brother and sister got an NES from someone for something. I was glad that when we spent weekends together that i was able to play now some at home. We didn't have so many games but all it took was one to have fun for days.

^{Mario Playing Video Games}

Since only some of the games were two-player the wait time was difficult to endure as a youngster. My older brother and sister were a few years older and back then that made a big difference. I remember waiting my turn to play watching them as Mario and Luigi going back and forth figuring out all the secrets and exploring all the levels. The soundtrack still resonates with me today! I remember always being relegated to being Luigi every time i ever got the opportunity to play. Nobody ever wanted to be Luigi.

^{Luigi Crying - Super Mario Bros Super Show}

The thing that used to make things really insufferable was the trick to get all the lives you were allowed to have. My brother figured it out and was skillful enough to be able to get the boost of lives on the first level. My sister didn't take long to follow suit. I still never was able to get it to work for me. It was too risky and i usually died trying.

^{Extra Life Trick NES}

I usually got too excited by the time they died and it was my chance to shine. I would burst out of the opening scene... run like a mad man to hurry and catch up, and then jump to hit the first block which was the mushroom for the big man. I usually slid forward enough to almost always run into the very first Goomba. It was like torture watching this pattern unfold more times than i care to admit. Then another grueling wait time while they beat half the game before my next attempt. Needless to say, these were awesome times!

^{Contra NES}

One game my brother and i enjoyed playing together, once he figured out the code and got me an equalizer, was Contra. It was tough but we group up watching the Awesome Eighties action movies and this game kind of had it all. I used to like the spread gun the most. It was also one of the first games i can recall that had the orientation pointed forward to break from the side-scrolling action.

^{Contra NES}

My friend that got the NES from his birthday party i mentioned before used to have a bunch of cool games. I remember going to his house and spending the night and we would play and play and play. One of my favorites to this day is Ghosts 'n Goblins. I remember how you didn't have much life. Either you had armor or you didn't and if you got hit you died. I recall that being more true to life and realistic. It was one of the first horror-inspired games and growing up my family was real big into horror movies and special effects. The soundtrack to this game was even spooky. I enjoyed the sequel, which he had too, as well.

^{Ghosts 'n Goblins NES}

There were too many games on NES to mention that were part of my childhood favorites. I enjoyed R.C. Pro-Am, ExciteBike,SpyHunter, Skate or Die, Bubble Bobble, Double Dragon, Kung Fu, Zelda, Double Dribble, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, and so many more! As time went on and games were flowing out of the factory... there were many hits and many misses as well. My mom never really got into video games except for a few exceptions. Kid Icarus was one game she got really good at. I really enjoyed that game as a kid too. Of course Mega-Man, and Metroid were pretty cool too. It's like the more i stop and think about all this... the more that pops up and comes to mind.

^{Bubble Bobble NES}

I remember a cartoon called Captain N: The Game Master which kind of blended a lot of the Nintendo characters into one story. I always thought it was cool to see the characters come alive. I used to be an avid card collector of all sorts. I collected Garbage Pail Kids, Baseball, Basketball, and Football cards. I remember when they came out with Marvel cards and they also had these cool Dinosaurs Attacks and Mars Attacks made by Topps brand.

Eventually, they did come out with some Nintendo Cards too. Those were some of my favorites to collect. Sometimes, they came with a scratch-off Zelda card game. I don't think i ever won anything though. I still have many of them too.

One of my neighbors was having a garage sale at some point. My dad, knowing how much we all loved to play Nintendo, bought their Power Glove. That was like the Lamborghini of all Nintendo items to have. I remember putting it on and Feeling the Power!

^{Power Glove NES}

I am not sure if it was the reason they had it in the garage sale or just the norm... but that thing really sucked. The fingers didn't work like they were advertised, the controller was hard to use reaching over and only having the left hand to work with. I was severely disappointed. It just sat with all the game stuff looking cool... but that was about all it was good for.

I also remember when the Game Genie came out with all the cheat codes. The Nintendo Power magazine was pretty cool too for codes and updates as well as some sweet posters. I never had a subscription but was able to get my hands on a few editions.

We were fortunate in my family because when my dad was in between jobs at one point around this time he worked at a video rental store. It was before Blockbuster and it was local. We had about 3 or 4 local video rental places in the area where i grew up. Having him work there meant on Friday's we would all get to pick out one video game to bring home and test out for the weekend. That's how we got to know our favorites. I remember Friday the 13th, and Jaws, and many others. It always sucked when you picked out a crappy game.

^{Super Mario Bros.2 NES}

One of my all-time favorite games was Super Mario Bros. 2. It had a totally different style of music and theme. I remember it feeling a bit darker and the enemies were really creative. Jumping and riding on top of enemies was different and scooping them up to toss them was cool. It's still one of my favorites. We used to call Luigi 'Twinkle Toes' because he seemed to float, not as long or well as the Princess, a bit more than the others. I think it was a way to compensate people like me that got relegated to having to select Luigi in part one. The thing i never did care for about it though is that it was only one player.

^{Super Mario Bros Super Show}

I really used to like the Super Mario Bros t.v. show. The old wrestler dude played Mario and the Luigi guy seemed like a real-life version. The cartoons were pretty cool and since Toadstool was always my favorite to be in part 2, it was nice to seem him as a character here. The best part of this cheesy show was that on Fridays they had Zelda in it's own separate cartoon. That alone was worth the week's wait.

^{The Wizard}

I remember the movie the Wizard that was lined up to release around the same time as Super Mario Bros. 3 and they showed at the end of the movie the trick to get the first flute in the game. It showed the kids basically run-away from home, hitchhike to Las Vegas, join a tournament and pretty much cause a lot of trouble along the way. The dad and older brother are on the trail to find the kids and the dad gets cracked out on the Nintendo. Great classic... and it makes you love the 80's all over again!

Arcade Era 'to this very day'

For me, the Arcade games is what led to the interest in playing console games at home for the most part. There are so many Arcade games it would take me forever to recall them and list them. One game i don't even know the name to that was one of my first favorites was a Conan-like game where you could get a flaming sword and the adventure music was epic. They used to have it at the grocery store on one end of my street for a while.

My dad always used to give me a quarter or two to play video games while he did his shopping if i were ever with him and we had time. When he would finish he would watch sometimes and i remember wanting to show off for him which usually resulted in me dying faster!

On down on the other side of my street, there was a gas station called L&M. They had like 2 or 3 arcade games there that hardly ever changed. One that i remember loving to play was RoboCop. It was supremely difficult.

^RoboCop

One of my favorite memories was this time my dad took me up there with him to get some of his supplies. He was talking to the cashier lady and i kept interrupting to ask for quarters to play RoboCop. He told me he didn't have any, but i know he did. The lady was trying to flirt with my dad i think so she opened the register and gave me a handful of quarters to go play as much as i wanted. I thought i had died and gone to heaven. I think my dad was trying to escape though and now had to talk longer than he was planning to.

^{RoboCop Arcade}

Sega Genesis Era '88

^{Sega Genesis Console}

We got a Sega Genesis one Christmas in the early '90s once the price came down. We used to love a lot of games on there. It was cool to see a lot of the arcade games being able to make it to the console.

^{Golden Axe Sega Genesis}

Golden Axe and Altered Beast were two of my favorite games in the arcade and now on Sega Genesis.

^{Altered Beast Sega Genesis}

Mortal Kombat to me was the better version of Street Fighter 2 although that's like comparing Apples and Bananas. I always thought that Mortal Kombat had piggy-backed it's characters from the movie Big Trouble in Little China. Raiden, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero were like the three storms. Johhny Cage was like Kurt Russel's character Jack. Sonya was like the reporter chick he was crushing on. Lui Kang was like his martial artist friend. Goro and the main boss were like Lo-Pan and the beast monster in the movie. Of course, some creative liberties and changes had to be made.

^{Mortal Kombat Sega Genesis}

My favorite parts were always the bonus rounds.

^{Mortal Kombat Sega Genesis}

As much as i hate to admit it... Alladin was a really good came. It didn't hold a candle to the original Prince of Persia game... but it was super fun none the less.

^{Alladin Sega Genesis}

Gameboy Classic Era '89

^{Gameboy Classic}

I didn't have a Gameboy and after playing a little of the Mario on there and Tetris realized i didn't want one. With things like Sega Genesis and TurboGrafix-16, the portability didn't really make up the difference enough to make it worth the cost for me. I will admit it was revolutionary when it comes to upgrading the hand-held gaming part of the industry.

^{Tetris Gameboy Classic}

TurboGrafix-16 Era '89

Not many people are familiar with the TurboGrafix-16. It was supposed to be revolutionary when it first came out. I got this as a present just for me one Christmas. It was probably the biggest and most expensive gift i ever got. It came with Bonk's Adventure which you can see below. There weren't too many games for it though. You had to buy the games since they weren't available to rent at the video stores. It was really good on graphics and the opportunity was there to be a competitor with Sega Genesis and the upcoming Super Nintendo... but it fell to the wayside. I think it did much better in European and Japanese markets.

Bonk's Adventure TurboGraffix-16

My favorite game on this console was SplatterHouse. It was awesomely gorey and definitely more up my alley. The dude wold walk around exploding alien-demons with a 2x4. I think he could get a machete and a chainsaw at one point if i remember correctly.

SplatterHouse TurboGraffix-16

I never wanted to tell my dad that TurboGrafix-16 was a bust so i kept it's shortcomings to myself. The games cost 2 or 3 times the price of normal video games since they were all imported in. However, one day the guy who owned the card shop down the street next to the grocery store heard i had one. Being the good dad he was asked to buy it from me for his son's birthday. So, i tried to warn him but he wouldn't take no for an answer. He traded me 150 dollars worth in Emmitt Smith rookie cards. Emmitt Smith is still the all-time leading rusher in the American NFL. I still have them all. Dennis also gave me 50 dollars cash which was a bundle back then. I would say my dad made a good investment after all!

Super Nintendo Era '91

^{Super Nintendo}

One of my older sister's boyfriends ended up buying me and my younger sister a Super Nintendo to win over my older sister. I was thankful to him for that. Donkey Kong Country always had a special feel to it like no other game. The soundtrack was incredible. I use to go through the game slowly smashing the ground to try and find all the hidden bananas!

^{Donkey Kong Country Super Nintendo}

At this point many of the same games on Super Nintendo were also available on the Sega Genesis. Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam to name a couple. I generally preferred the controls on Super Nintendo much more but liked the graphics on Genesis better. To each their own i guess. Super Nintendo was a game changer though and i think it like many before it, paved the way for things like DreamCast, Nintendo 64, Playstation, and on down the line.

^{NBA Jam Super Nintendo}

I just realized this post is getting way too long. There was so much more i wanted to share! Me and a buddy back in the NES days made an NFL tournament on TECMO SuperBowl. We played every team vs one another to end up with our own playoffs and eventually a SuperBowl of our own. Later on in Jr. High me and a buddy used to regularly rent anime or get a Sega CD from the video store and get some taco bell and play some pretty weird games on there.

I remember many friends used to only come over to play the games on our consoles at times. I would be lying if i said i hadn't done the same thing every now and again. I don't think it was with ill will or intentional... games can just be so captivating.

^{Super Mario World}

I will leave you all with a few parting thoughts. There was an Italian restaurant down the street from my house called Angelo's. It's still there and pretty famous for it's Lasagna. In the entry where you wait to be seated, they used to have a tabletop Ms. Pacman. We would all play that and it's a memory i will never forget.

My dad was really good at Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. One time, in High School, my dad, me and my best friend went on a camping trip. Well, it was in these cabins so not really camping. We were all a little lifted and went in the middle of the night to have a Ms. Pac-Man tournament. They had by the pool which was closed for the season a couple of Arcade games. One was Joust, and the other Ms. Pacman. So, we were all playing and taking our turns.

At one point in my turn which was going on and on... there was a glitch in the game and i went right through one of the ghosts. It tripped us all out. I had already had the top score but it kept getting faster and faster. I went through another ghost in the same turn later on. After i finally lost and we had been there for a long time we went back to the cabin. My dad finally admitted that i was the new Pac-Man champ of the family.

^Pacman

Anyone that knew my dad would know he didn't concede his titles often. That Pac-Man memory is one i still cherish, look back on and laugh. When i ever speak to my friend we still make mention of that night. Video games apparently have been an incredible part of my best childhood and young adulthood memories. Thank you for taking the time to read all this and i hope it's jogged your memory as well.

I am thankful for this contest helping me remember some of the best times of my life! It's never too late to start making new memories either! But for now...
"GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER"

^{Game Over Man, Game Over}